It has been perhaps more than a decade since I last designed my own imaginary world map, but the other day I felt compelled to make one. To help people understand the map, here's a legend I found online that uses relatively similar symbols.
This particular map that I produced is of a city called Alexandra, the principal city and port of Zellieland. The city is situated on a rough glacially carved landscape near the ocean. Since the landscape is very rugged and dynamic the city has to conform to the lay of the land. This causes the urban areas to be more spread out, with distinct neighbourhoods forming within the different valleys and more gently undulating areas.
In gently undulating areas where urbanization hasn't sprung up, there are apple orchards. Aside from the urban areas and orchards, the rest of the land is covered by forests, mountains, and moving streams. There are many paths leading to camps and cottages situated on the many lakes in the area.
Due to the elevation that the many streams in the area drop, the area is very conductive to the production of hydroelectric power. In the northwestern part of the map is the Big Dam and Powerhouse, which is situated on the Great Slice River and regulates the outflow of Greater Slice Lake. From this powerhouse three high voltage transmission lines originate. One of which heads north of the city, the other two go to the industrial area around the city's harbour.
The area around the harbour is heavily industrialized possessing many rail yards, quays, and docks, a roundhouse, container port, oil refinery, tank farm, steel mill, toy factory, and a paper mill. Access to the harbour is controlled by a lock which regulates the water level within the harbour independently of the tidal fluctuations of the ocean. The route to the harbour from the ocean goes through a series of glacial channels found behind Cork Island. The main exports of the city include; steel beams and coils, paper, plush toys, refined petroleum products, and apples.
The transportation structure of the city is relatively unique in that it is designed to be reliant on rail transportation, opposed to personal automobile transportation. All of the neighbourhoods are connected by a rapid transit system that can easily bring the inhabitants to any other place in the city.
Although the urban areas are decentralized, the services and industry are fairly centralized. The Central area, located around Alexandra Channel, contains the meeting house, community centre, hospital, senior home (beside the hospital, both with a view of Alexandra Channel) arena, marina, museum, central high school, cemetery, University of Alexandra, and a ferry service.
The meeting house is situated high upon a hill and is serviced by a funicular to assist those whose mobility is limited.
Although the high school and university are centralized, each neighbourhood possesses its own elementary school, park, fire hall, and at least one rapid transit station.
Among the attractions of the area other than the many trails, cottages, camps, and lakes, include the Zellie Skiing Resort and the Anarchy Beach and Camp Ground. The ski resort is situated on Great Zellie Mountain, which on the map is situated at the top to the left. The beach and camp ground are situated at the very bottom of the map on the Firth of Anarchy.
A large area of land to the right on the map is allocated to the Tuly Hills Wildlife Refuge. The area possesses a rare endemic species of bear known as the tuly bear. The tuly bear is largely identified by its light pinkish fur. Sometimes a population of the bear can be found climbing Zellie Mountain.
Many of the places found in and around the city of Alexandra are named after places in the American Southwest, Ireland, Scotland, and Romania, as well as quite a number of postmodern theorists.
Some similar real life examples of this place include:
- Johnstown, Pennsylvania: Possesses a similar urban settlement pattern and a funicular.
- Area south of Wawa, Ontario: Glacially carved landscape with elongated lakes.
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