r/mapmaking
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u/qhqhTerra
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19h ago
Map The Greater Mossmarch Isles: an atlas-style map I traced from moss on a tree [OC]
The Kingdom of the Greater Mossmarch Isles
The Greater Mossmarch Isles are a large archipelago in the Indian Ocean, stretching some 1,700 km from north to south. Almost all of it belongs to a single state, the Kingdom of the Greater Mossmarch Isles, which faces the African mainland across the Mozambique Channel.
The climate varies sharply with terrain and prevailing winds. The east coast is generally humid, and northeastern Keenaghia has a tropical rainforest climate found nowhere else in the islands, while dry hill country covers southwestern Mossmarch. The entire archipelago is a biodiversity hotspot. The main industries are cash crops such as coffee and vanilla, nickel mining, and seafood processing.
History
In the 17th century, local kingdoms arose on Keenaghia and on Mossmarch, growing rich on trade with visiting European and Muslim merchants. In 1869 the whole archipelago became a protectorate of a foreign empire and lost its sovereignty. Mossmarch gained independence in 1958 as a federal republic, and Keenaghia, independent in 1960, joined it as a constituent state. In 1985, disputes over corruption and electoral fraud fueled a growing separatist movement in Keenaghia. After an army coup and the restoration of the monarchy in 1991, the country was reorganized as the Kingdom of the Greater Mossmarch Isles.
Two capitals
San Franciscoke, the kingdom's second city, was developed under imperial rule as a modern steamship port and served as the seat of the colonial governor-general. Under the federal republic it housed the presidential office and the central government, and it is still home to the prime minister's office, the ministries and the Supreme Court. With most foreign embassies there as well, it remains the country's administrative, judicial and diplomatic center.
Mossterdam, the legal capital, was the royal seat of the local kingdoms before the protectorate. Set on an alluvial fan where the lowland and highland societies meet, it is a traditional city of centuries-old temples and markets. After the 1991 restoration it regained its status as capital and became home to the royal palace and parliament.
— from A Regional Account, qhqhTerra Map Bureau, 2026 edition
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About This Project
Okay, confession time: I didn't put that much thought into the lore. (You can probably tell I tried to break away from the Madagascar analogy and... didn't quite make it. But that's not really what this project is about.) If you came for deep worldbuilding, I hope the map itself makes up for it!
The place names are mass-produced too. The "koke" you'll see all over the map is Japanese for moss (苔). "Moss" is, well, moss. The rest are moss and lichen translated into various languages.
The real starting point was a tree I spotted on a walk in the park, covered in moss (and some lichen too). As an amateur map artist, I couldn't help seeing a map in it: "Wait, isn't that a bay? And look, there's a ria coastline over here!"
So I drew it 💪
I wasn't going for a simple tracing or a vague Age-of-Exploration chart. My goal was coastlines and administrative divisions that could hold up as a modern atlas-style map. I hope some of that comes through in the finished piece.
Honestly, the hardest part wasn't the coastline, it was the finishing. I love drawing maps, but the antique look was a real challenge: unfamiliar techniques, a cartouche, ever-multiplying layers, and a drawing hand that nearly got tendinitis from all the clicking.
A Note on Generative AI
I used generative AI for a few things outside the core of the artwork: the parchment texture, mass-producing city names, and translating this text. For the texture, I didn't hand my map to the AI to process. I had it generate a standalone PNG texture, then reworked it myself in my drawing software. The map itself, including the drawing, the ideas and the layout, is all mine. If this kind of use isn't appropriate here, I'll replace the textured version with an alternative.
Sharing and Feedback
I'm releasing this map under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) licence. You're welcome to use, share, and adapt it under the terms of that licence.
Comments, critiques, and suggestions are very welcome, especially on the coastline design, cartographic detail, and overall presentation.
And if possible, please go easy on the place names. There are rather a lot of them.
Thanks for taking a look!
