For an overall guide to the size and contours of the landmass the 'civilised world' occupies, start with North America, then cut away everything south of the United States' southern border and drop an archipelago of really big islands where Mexico used to be - there should be about 8-10 major ones, ranging in area between a little smaller than Honshu and a little bigger than Shikoku, -each-.
Now squash the American Rockies west about three hundred miles; they should get narrower, but higher and more rugged. Broaden the Great Plains to cover the territory that used to be mountain.
Next, fill in the gulf between Texas and Florida, and do the same to Hudson Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with the appropriate sort of mountains in the latter. Scoot Greenland due south until it grinds up against Newfoundland and Labrador, then erase Florida and some of the gulf fill so that the line of the Georgia and Carolina coasts continues all the way south.
Then drop a gi-normous impact crater (about 340 km across) dead center on Kansas City before moving the entire bloody continent south about twenty degrees of latitude.
Fill in everything from the north edge of the continent to the far side of the arctic circle, then cover your most recent addition with an ice sheet.
Finally, flip the entire thing left from right, so that the Rockies are in the east.
Not very recognizable anymore, huh? Especially when you erase the old river courses and political boundaries.
Next for the differences.
Three of the Five Rivers start off at the icecap as large streams of meltwater and flow into the Jewel, the impact basin. The fourth drains the entire eastern half of the 'Appalachians', before turning east and joining The River, which drains the Jewel.
If I'm reading my meterological cookbook right, winter weather should be clear for all of the central plains thanks to the permanent cold high you'd see over the icecap; mild in the south shading to 'my snot has frozen' in the north. Summertime would suck in hurricanes on the monsoon, and since there's no landmass at the equator at all, they'd be real doozies. Like, 'hailing sideways with stones the size of your head', until they got far enough north to run into the icecap's cold zone, at which point they'd spin out and drop all their water in a real hurry. Along the eastern coast you'd get warm thunderstorms coming in off the sea from the southeast during the summer and cold nor'easter types in the winter.
Given the above, the size of its drainage area, and the summer melt off the icecap, I wouldn't be surprised if The River's peak flow turned out to be bigger than the Amazon. And, unlike that Earthly equivalent, it's got a well-developed delta.
The geology of the major mountains is also fairly at odds; they're younger, and they started as three or four volcanic subduction arcs that got jammed together by running out of ocean plate between them. The Vales are what's left of the sedementary fringes they built up during their time as independant islands. The westernmost chains are the most 'smushed', enough so to have piled atop each other like the Himalayas, and there's exactly two real passes over them - both of which lead from the River Kingdom to the same Vale.
Implications...
The River Kingdom is, in many ways, modeled on ancient Egypt, with a dash of Mesopotamia. Among other things, this leads to suggesting an extensive use of irrigation, which, combined with mild winter temperatures, would extend the growing season year round... although the summertime is limited to crops that can stand up to getting hurricaned repeatedly.
The Inner (ie, more westerly) Vales are surprisingly dry, to the point of being nearly deserts.
The Outer Vales are rainforests or close to it.
The Jewel isn't a lake, it's a freshwater sea.
Architecture in the River Kingdom, the Delta, and the various coastal realms is going to be designed to stand up to storms worse than anything Earth has ever managed to whip up; very thick, possibly sloping walls, few if any windows and those very narrow.
Things I missed? Things I got wrong? Things you'd like to know more about?
Say so!
Please?
===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"
Now squash the American Rockies west about three hundred miles; they should get narrower, but higher and more rugged. Broaden the Great Plains to cover the territory that used to be mountain.
Next, fill in the gulf between Texas and Florida, and do the same to Hudson Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with the appropriate sort of mountains in the latter. Scoot Greenland due south until it grinds up against Newfoundland and Labrador, then erase Florida and some of the gulf fill so that the line of the Georgia and Carolina coasts continues all the way south.
Then drop a gi-normous impact crater (about 340 km across) dead center on Kansas City before moving the entire bloody continent south about twenty degrees of latitude.
Fill in everything from the north edge of the continent to the far side of the arctic circle, then cover your most recent addition with an ice sheet.
Finally, flip the entire thing left from right, so that the Rockies are in the east.
Not very recognizable anymore, huh? Especially when you erase the old river courses and political boundaries.
Next for the differences.
Three of the Five Rivers start off at the icecap as large streams of meltwater and flow into the Jewel, the impact basin. The fourth drains the entire eastern half of the 'Appalachians', before turning east and joining The River, which drains the Jewel.
If I'm reading my meterological cookbook right, winter weather should be clear for all of the central plains thanks to the permanent cold high you'd see over the icecap; mild in the south shading to 'my snot has frozen' in the north. Summertime would suck in hurricanes on the monsoon, and since there's no landmass at the equator at all, they'd be real doozies. Like, 'hailing sideways with stones the size of your head', until they got far enough north to run into the icecap's cold zone, at which point they'd spin out and drop all their water in a real hurry. Along the eastern coast you'd get warm thunderstorms coming in off the sea from the southeast during the summer and cold nor'easter types in the winter.
Given the above, the size of its drainage area, and the summer melt off the icecap, I wouldn't be surprised if The River's peak flow turned out to be bigger than the Amazon. And, unlike that Earthly equivalent, it's got a well-developed delta.
The geology of the major mountains is also fairly at odds; they're younger, and they started as three or four volcanic subduction arcs that got jammed together by running out of ocean plate between them. The Vales are what's left of the sedementary fringes they built up during their time as independant islands. The westernmost chains are the most 'smushed', enough so to have piled atop each other like the Himalayas, and there's exactly two real passes over them - both of which lead from the River Kingdom to the same Vale.
Implications...
The River Kingdom is, in many ways, modeled on ancient Egypt, with a dash of Mesopotamia. Among other things, this leads to suggesting an extensive use of irrigation, which, combined with mild winter temperatures, would extend the growing season year round... although the summertime is limited to crops that can stand up to getting hurricaned repeatedly.
The Inner (ie, more westerly) Vales are surprisingly dry, to the point of being nearly deserts.
The Outer Vales are rainforests or close to it.
The Jewel isn't a lake, it's a freshwater sea.
Architecture in the River Kingdom, the Delta, and the various coastal realms is going to be designed to stand up to storms worse than anything Earth has ever managed to whip up; very thick, possibly sloping walls, few if any windows and those very narrow.
Things I missed? Things I got wrong? Things you'd like to know more about?
Say so!
Please?
===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"