It’s been quiet around here, and for that, I apologize. Kari-Lise and I have been prepping to list the house we’ve lived in for the last fourteen years for sale. Turns out that’s a lot of work! Over the last three days, we’ve painted our picket fence, touched up our house’s exterior paint, painted my office, power-washed the world, stained our enormous deck, cleaned up our yards, and taken many trips to storage. A lot of it is standard spring chores, but in the past, we’ve been able to spread them out over the weeks and months and not complete them all over a handful of days. As you can imagine, with all that work I have only found a little downtime for my personal projects. But there is an end date in mind. Only about a week and some days left, and I expect my time to open up after that, and I can get back to making cool things. (And frankly, I look forward to it.)
For my readers: I’m still writing, albeit less than I would like. I’m up to seventeen chapters in book five, and I’m making headway on the eighteenth. For my map fans: I have a new urban map asset pack that is nearly ready, though I still need to make a sample map and organize the assets. It’s about a day or so of work, and I expect it’ll launch sometime in April. I also have a few new Raunch Reviews in the works—a series that has been woefully neglected.
As for where we’re going to end up, we’ll see! We have some machinations about where we want to land—an island, most likely—but once our house sells, I expect us to drift a bit. We have an ideal property in mind and are patient, which puts us in a good position. The whole experience is equal parts terrifying and exciting, but then again, what adventure isn’t?
The “rule of cool” is a common piece of advice for artists. Let your imagination run wild. And that applies to fantasy as well. By its very nature, rules are meant to be broken. It’s part of the mystique. It’s why the genre can be so compelling. But to really break the rules effectively, it helps to have a solid comprehension of the underlying contexts. The rule of cool can backfire when we push boundaries without some rudimentary knowledge of the foundations on which boundaries are based. Instead of feeling vibrant and innovative, the work can come across as lacking depth and intention, losing its logical consistency, and coming across as hackneyed, as if we’re not putting in the effort required to create something meaningful.
Mouth of the Platte River, 900 Miles above St. Louis, by George Catlin, 1832
That brings me to today’s topic: rivers.
When it comes to rivers, I’ve noticed that quite a few fantasy writers don’t understand the basics. While their intent is noble, I’ve seen plenty of examples of authors struggling with the underlying science of rivers and river systems. I sympathize. These are mistakes I have made myself. Early on, in one of my first projects, I made a mess with the waterways in my fantasy world. Mistakes like these—I like to jokingly call them “river sins”—might go unnoticed at first, but when they are noticed, they can draw a reader out of the story or setting. It wasn’t until I later learned more about the behavior of these ecosystems that I was able to hone in on my worldbuilding, and the end result was something much more interesting and complex. The cool got cooler.
Rivers and waterways have played an influential part in humanity’s history, so it makes sense they also have a meaningful place within our fantasy work. Civilizations have been built around their tendrils of life. Battles have been fought over their control. They have served as highways, borders, walls, temples, power plants, and the source of fresh water and food. It’s no wonder they play a part in our stories. I’ve worked with fantasy maps for a while now, and my experience has given me a unique insight. Information I wish I had early on when I started my first forays into worldbuilding. I’ve found by following a few simple tips, you can use river systems more effectively within your fantasy stories and use them to enhance your work and further draw a reader into your creation.
What are those tips? Let’s talk about them.
Rivers are Fractal
One of the biggest mistakes I see comes from a misunderstanding of how rivers behave. Water seeks a path of least resistance; they are fractal for all intents and purposes. Smaller streams feed into more significant streams. They flow from a higher elevation toward a lower one. These are called Stream Orders, with the smallest being tiny 1st-Order headwater streams and the largest being enormous 12th-Order rivers. Depending on the geology, watersheds can flow in various patterns—the tree-like dendritic systems, the angular rectangular systems, the narrow parallel systems, the unpredictable contorted/deranged systems, and more. Still, the end result is the same, smaller waterways flowing into more prominent channels and then into even bigger ones before they empty into a basin of some sort. (We’ll get to those later.)
Dendritic
Parallel
Trellis
Rectangular
Radial
Annular
Multi-Basinal
Contorted
Examples of drainage basins by A. P. Howard, AAPG, 1967
Rivers are Alive
Unless your fantasy world has a corp of engineers, odds are your river will be alive and unpredictable. It’ll move and change channels; sediment will build up, causing a shift down a different path. An earthquake will happen, causing a landslide, and suddenly, a new lake is formed, and the water will find a new exit. A log jam upstream might send a river in a completely different direction, leaving a former river town high and dry. Depending on a river’s stage, these can happen quickly, or these shifts can take years. But unless it’s forced by humans (or beavers), your rivers will move. This movement is called a meander, and it can create some fascinating landscapes. Dry rincons, cutoff oxbow lakes, and point and scroll bars are all formations built by a river’s meander. While these meanders don’t necessarily have to play a part in your plot, knowing that rivers move is essential when laying them down in your fantasy world.
Rivers Have Three Stages
These are classified as youthful, mature, and old. This isn’t a reflection of a river’s actual age, but its behavior, and a single river might have multiple stages along its course.
Youthful These waterways have a steep gradient, few tributaries, and a fast flow. Its channels erode deeper rather than wider. (Zone 1 in the illustration below.) The Skoga River in Iceland is a youthful river.
Mature These rivers have a gradient that is less steep than those of youthful rivers and, as a result, flow more slowly. Many tributaries feed a mature river, and they have more discharge than a youthful river. Its channels erode wider rather than deeper. (Zone 2.) The Ohio River in the US is a mature river.
Old Like a curvy river? Then you’ll appreciate the old rivers. A river with a low gradient and low erosive energy. Meanders, oxbow lakes, and broad floodplains characterize old rivers. (Zone 3.) The Indus River flowing from the Himalayas would be considered an old river.
Source: Trista L. Thornberry-Ehrlich, Colorado State University.
If Your River Crosses a Continent, It’s Not a River
This is a mistake I see way too often. Rivers that start at one ocean cross a continent or landmass and end in another. Rivers don’t do this. (Sorry, East River, you’re a fraud.) They can’t. This is not a river. This would be a strait. If your oceans are salty, then that straight would be salty. Rivers can flow into your strait. But the strait must be at sea level to behave this way. You won’t find a river flowing from one side of a continent to the other without human interference—these are most commonly called canals—and even then, you’ll be connecting different systems, often flowing in separate directions. Remember: water always flows downhill. We divide our oceans, but the reality is they’re all connected—they’re technically one vast basin. Oceans don’t drain into themselves. The sea level is the base.
Rivers Only Permanently Split at Deltas*
Bifurcation is the term used to describe when a river splits. It’s how river islands are born. Most of the time, the secondary distributary channel will reconnect with the primary channel, forming those islands. Sometimes, those separations are large; more often, they’re small. It’s very unusual for a river to split otherwise. That said, this changes when in a river’s delta.
A delta is a flat expanse of land where the river meets the sea. Deltas come in all shapes and sizes. They can be enormous mega deltas or relatively minor. It’s not uncommon for them to incorporate an estuary. Estuaries often turn into deltas as sediment builds. Bifurcation in these areas can be extreme as the land is now at or near sea level, and the river moves and braids based on the distribution of sediment and the power of its discharge. While not always the case, you’ll often find a primary channel through a delta with many bifurcated smaller channels breaking away before finally terminating into the drainage basin.
Examples of various river deltas. (Nichols, 2009)
Okay, Let’s Talk About That Pesky Asterisk
There are some sporadic but notable examples of natural bifurcation, leading to unusual drainage systems. These tend to be on smaller waterways and are extremely rare (I can’t stress that enough), but occasionally, you’ll find some instances on larger river systems or through bifurcation lakes. We’ll talk more about the former since it’s the fantasy river sin I see the most, but it’s also worth looking into the latter.
The 200-mile Casiquiare Canal is one of the few large natural canals connecting two separate river drainage systems. But this sort of bifurcation isn’t permanent; with time, sediment, and no human interference, it’s likely the Casiquiare will be entirely diverted into the Amazon basin. Without interference, other instances of this sort of distributary system will also face similar shifts over time.
Often, if a distributary is long enough, it will be labeled as a new river. But you won’t find instances where Yangtze-sized rivers naturally split into two rivers permanently without an outside influence. Eventually, stream capture would occur, and one channel would die away to become a wind gap while the other would become the river’s main channel.
It’s worth looking into these systems if you’re looking for a unique landscape for your characters to explore, more so if you want to give them a navigational challenge, but understanding the complications and being able to write to them will only enhance your work.
On Inland Deltas & Inland Seas & Estuaries
Inland Deltas form when a river flows into an enormous valley or basin with no point for discharge, and often, they are surrounded by desert—the Okavango Delta in Botswana is the largest on the planet. Usually, the delta forms a vast wetland, and as the water moves further into the valley, it eventually evaporates around the edges. These deltas are broad, marshy, interconnected, and relatively shallow. The discharge of the river feeding these deltas would determine their size.
Inland Seas are a little different and are really divided into two categories. If they’re connected to the ocean, they are essentially enormous brackish bays. Something changes if they sit within an Endorheic basin and have no drainage. The water here forms enormous saltwater lakes with a higher salinity than freshwater. They get their excess minerals from evaporation. Size and location affect their salinity. The Caspian Sea has a salinity of about a third of the oceans. The Great Salt Lake, on the other hand, is smaller and can be as much as seven times saltier than the ocean.
Estuaries are partially closed bodies of brackish water. They can be a part of deltas or found on their own. For the most part, they are affected by tides or waves and also experience the sediment and freshwater of fluvial influences. There’s a wide variety of estuaries, and their unique mix of sea and freshwater creates fascinating examples of transitional zones.
There are some neat ecological systems around inland seas, deltas, and estuaries, and they’d make interesting settings, but knowing how they work is key to creating a vibrant ecosystem for your characters to explore or endure.
I wrote a whole article about this when I saw it happen on Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show The Rings of Power. It’s worth checking out if you want more than a bullet-point explanation. The reality is it is very difficult and complicated to sail upriver. The bigger the boat or ship, the harder it will be. It wasn’t until the development of machinery that humans found a rapid way to move heavy vessels (and holds full of heavier cargo) upriver. Before then, you needed to row, pole, or pull your craft upriver, and the bigger it was, the harder the work. Currents and winds are not our friends here, and they wouldn’t be in any pre-industrial fantasy either. That said, we always have the magic of… er, magic.
In Conclusion
That covers some of the basic tips surrounding waterways and drainage systems. I tried to keep the information relevant and not delve too far into the weeds—each of these tips could be expanded into books of information. Hopefully, as you set about creating your fantasy world for your book or game, you’ve found this guide helpful, and you can avoid those early mistakes I made.
As I’ve worked with fantasy maps over the years, I’ve seen all sorts of river sins. Some of those sins have embarrassingly made their way to print. You’d be surprised how many popular novels screw up. (And after reading this, I bet you’ll notice them yourself. Sorry!) The good news is that working in fantasy allows us to break all of these rules. We can follow the rule of cool! You don’t even have to waste a lot of time explaining your choices. A magic-powered boat can sail upriver! A god-like monster can split a river in two or pull seawater inland! River serpents can plow through marshland to create natural canals! The largest body of water in your world could be a vast inland sea! There are endless ways to construct the setting you want, but to do it well requires intention, and knowing how rivers naturally work can help make your intentions more unique and fantastic. It only enhances the rule of cool. That is the key to building a more lush, vibrant, and fantastical world, a world where readers can get lost for a while. And if we’re not doing that, what are we doing?
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Wanted to post a quick housekeeping update. Kari-Lise and I are in the process of moving! As a result, I am taking my store temporarily offline. For those souls desperately seeking a signed copy of one of my books. Well, you’ll just have to wait a bit.
Normally, I had boxes of books sitting in my office closet. But they are no longer there, having been moved into storage. Since we’ll be between homes this spring, it doesn’t make much sense to run across town to a storage unit every time someone places an order.
Fear not! The store shall return, ’tis but a minor inconvenience. You can still get copies from Amazon or your local bookshop. The story is the same. They just won’t be signed.
As a statistics enthusiast and a guy who now regularly works out, I have fully embraced the data I get from my Apple Watch. I’m not alone. Go to a gym or any popular trail, and you’ll see everyone from runners to cyclists tracking their workouts on their smartwatches. I watched the US Olympic Marathon Trials today, and one of the announcers talked about the Strava runs from one of the competing runners. Data has become a part of sport and exercise. Tracking that data is beneficial for more than just coaches and athletes. As a normie, it lets me make many choices in my daily life, and using the information, I can track and push for improvements.
But, over the last few years, I’ve grown frustrated that some of that data has been contaminated. Treating each day as the same, these watches and the software that powers them give you a single view of your workout history. Recovery days are almost treated as taboo; they break streaks and those quieter days lower averages. But it was when I was recovering from an injury that this stood out the most.
With any regular exercise and training, injury is inevitable. Yet, all these data access points on Apple’s Fitness products ignore that injury occurs. It just compiles data all together and treats every day the same. Aren’t exercising? It’ll nag you to go for a walk. Need to stay off your feet? Too bad, it’s going to encourage you to stand. Gotta keep those streaks alive. (This is where I state that I don’t care about streaks, but the Apple Fitness ecosystem is heavily built on streaks as a gamification reward for exercise. They do matter to a lot of users.)
So, if I end up hurting myself (my right knee has been a persistent problem) and take a few days off to rest and recoup, those down days are recorded equally alongside workout days. There’s no way for me to flag those days, meaning there’s no way to filter the aberrant data. So, when I look at my averages, they’re all averages in the aggregate, meaning they include down days, sick days, injured days, and quieter days of recovery with less activity, which means all of my data points falter and streaks break. How much have those averages faltered? It’s hard to know because I can only parse the data on a macro level. It’s all or nothing, bucko.
The fix is simple in concept: build a way for the user to flag periods of time with an injury designation or even a broader “recovery” designation. Even professional athletes need down days. On those days, target goals would be lowered automatically, exercise could be tracked differently, and pestering messages could change. When looking at your trends, you could filter out those days from the end-point data, giving the user a better glimpse of progress or regression. It’d even allow you to filter to just those days, which could also be helpful. This isn’t a cheat; I doubt any health professional would encourage a day of unabashed slothfulness. We should strive to be active every day. This additional data point would allow the end user to adjust their data. It would make understanding setbacks or tracking improvements easier to parse and give statistics enthusiasts like me more ways to study their data.
This is absolutely a first-world problem sort of complaint. But it’s been on my mind recently. I figure once we get this solved, we can talk seriously about why the Apple alarm snooze is only 9 minutes*, and you can’t adjust it without a third-party app. Hrumph.
* The reason is historical! Back in the mechanical clock days, manufacturers couldn’t line up the clock’s gear teeth for a perfect ten-minute snooze—they either had 10 minutes and 43 seconds snooze or nine minutes and three seconds. They opted for nine. But, in reality, we all know they should have shot for fifteen like good and decent people.
January has already been a busy month for me, both personally and creatively. Kari-Lise and I rushed off to New York City to celebrate her birthday and attend one of the final showings of Sleep No More. (More on that in a coming Trip Report.) I’ve put down a few thousand words on my latest manuscript, plus I’ve also shifted away from my standard brush sets to focus on a new section in my expanding #NoBadMaps Toolkit: Decorative Assets.
Back in December, my assets and brush sets were shared by some kind soul on Hacker News, which drove some fourteen thousand people to my site. It was a splendid early Christmas present. It’s been fun to watch that excitement spread, and I am amazed how many people find my weird little hobby useful. Along the way, I realized it was time to differentiate between my standard sets and the decorative sets designed to enhance other work. So, I moved them to their own page, which you can check out here.
There’s been a few other sets that have been in the back of my mind so I expect this section to grow. Over the last few weeks, I’ve also quietly launched two new decorative asset sets. Since they are smaller sets, I don’t usually write a whole post about these, but they are both unique and exciting enough that I think they deserve it.
Oceans are now battlefields with the thirty-eight 18th-century tall ships and a few other goodies you’ll find in this set. This mini navy is lifted from Jacques Nicolas Bellin’s 1785 Carte Geometrique De L’Entree De La Rivierre De Bordeaux, depicting Brittany’s coast and the Gironde estuary’s mouth—a perfect way to liven up the oceans of your fantasy maps. Expect a few more of these in the future. I’d love to capture more eras of naval activity.
Cannonballs aren’t the only thing seagoing vessels need to dodge. The oceans are vast and dangerous and often unexplored; bold adventurers must be warned of the possible creatures lurking in the deep. Here There Be Monsters is a historical asset set to help you do just that! This set features various sea monsters taken from (primarily) 16th-century documents. Version 1.1 features the monstrous imagination from the following cartographers and engravers:
Olaus Magnus (1539) is the earliest artist features, depicting some of the more fearsome creatures in this set. Magnus’ unique Scandavian style has been on my list for a complete set in the future, but his monsters were too good to pass up.
Italian engraver Ferrando Bertelli’s (1568) creatures are some of the sillier in this set. But he also decided to expand to the monsters on land as well and you’ll find both included here.
The man himself, Gerardus Mercator (1569), is our third artist here, and his creatures tend to be more realistic, except for that sea serpent, I suppose.
Spend any time in historical maps and you’ll come across the extensive work of Brabantian Abraham Ortelius’ (1570). Whaling had existed for centuries, but you wouldn’t know it from some of his depictions.
Johannes Baptista Vrients (1583–1608) is the last cartographers who’s work is featured in this set. His work was primarily based on Ortelius’ (he bought the plates from Ortelius’ heirs) and you’ll find plenty of similarities between his monsters.
More to come…? I plan on Here There Be Monsters to be a ongoing set. Expect updates in the future with new monsters by new cartographers and engravers.
All these and a few others can be found on my new Decorative Assets page. Check often to see what else I release over the coming months. (I won’t always make a post like this.)
Big thank you to all of you who bought my books and those supporters of both Kofi and Patreon; your support has helped make both these sets a reality. If you want to help support #NoBadMaps there are three handy ways you can do so:
I’m not just a map enthusiast. I’m also a novelist! The easiest way to support me (and get something in return) is by purchasing one of my cosmic horror urban fantasy novels.
A simple and quick way to support the #NoBadMaps project is through a one-time donation of any amount via ko-fi. Your support helps keep this project going and is appreciated.
If you want to continually support the #NoBadMaps project through a reoccurring monthly contribution, consider joining my Patreon and get sneak peeks into what’s coming.
It’s always a good idea to ring in a new year with a sassy Mark Twain quote. This letter was written on January 1, 1863, to the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. I found it amusing, and I think you will as well.
‟Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time. However, go in, community. New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.”
I hope you had a solid 2023 and that your 2024 is even better. Thanks for sticking around here, being a reader, and supporting this strange little corner of the internet. It means the world to me. I wish all of you a safe and healthy new year.
In keeping with my theme from Christmas, here’s a weird Victorian postcard of chicken people playing soccer. (I didn’t actually set out to have a theme. But hey, kismet.)
K. M. Alexander 
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