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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 2918740" data-attributes="member: 22779">I don't ask that my fantasy settings be realistic.  I just ask that they be realistic enough for me to ignore it.  Here's an example from Scarred Lands.  In the SL setting, Shelzar is imagined as a kind of Middle Ages Bagdad with trading houses and the like.   It is the center of commerce for the continent - all trade flows through it, that sort of thing.Great idea, drips with plot hooks.Unfortunately, for me, there is one large stumbling block.  If you look at the SL map, all the cities are arranged on a fairly circular continent with nothing in the middle.  In other words, all the cities are on the rim of the wheel.How can you be the hub of trade when you are on the rim?  I've been trying to work it around, but, every time I try, the geography of SL just defeats me.  And it bothers me.  I cannot think of any sort of justification for why city X and city Y would trade with eachother through Shelzar when both X and Y are on the other side of the circle.  Shortest distance between two points and all that.So, yes, I agree that one shouldn't look too hard at things.  If you do, they tend to fall apart.  However, they also shouldn't be so loose that I can spot the holes from 100 paces away either.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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