Rivers and Wetland Biomes || Worldbuilding Guide Part 9

Welcome to the next video in my worldbuilding guide series for creating an Earth-like planet! This 9th part on determining our major river basins, major river systems, and finding our largest wetland biome regions.
DISCLAIMER: If you are looking to create a fantasy world in a few hours, this guide is not for you. If you are looking for good value between time spent and realism in your fantasy world, this is probably not for you either. This guide goes way more in depth than most other worldbuilding guides to a level that is objectively not necessary. However, “necessary” is not the point here. If you want to understand WHY your world is the way it is and let your world come alive as you slowly mold it, then this guide is for you.
To already contradict my disclaimer, the reason I go to this level of detail in creating my fantasy worlds is not just because I enjoy it. Things like geography and climate have a huge impact on civilization. Knowing about the world around your people is the first part in understanding them.
Worldbuilding Guide Playlist: • Worldbuilding Guide
Worldbuilding Guide Vlog: www.madelinejameswrites.com/w...
Part 9 Worldbuilding Blog: www.madelinejameswrites.com/b...
Major Resources can be found through the blog post.
00:00 Understanding Rivers
06:55 Drainage Basins
09:08 Mapping Drainage Basins
15:08 Major River Systems
16:18 Mapping Major River Systems
23:43 Endorheic Lakes
24:39 Wetlands
25:38 Bogs and Lakes
28:31 Marches and Swamps
31:11 What's Next
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Website: www.madelinejameswrites.com/
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Twitter: / author_mjames

[@cf453]

As a civil engineering tech and land surveyor, I have to say your contour interpretation and hydrology are spot on. My one critique would be that Exo, Endo, and A- are all prefixes, so it should be En-do-REE-ick.

[@madelinejameswrites]

Oh I'm so glad! And I really struggled with those, I even listened to pronunciation online a few times before filming and I still messed it up! But thank you, that will help me remember these in the future (I desperately hope haha)

[@SebRomu]

You've inspired me to look at my existing world map in greater detail. I see that being a project for the new year. I'll definitely be re-evaluating my climates zones for seasonal variation and more realistic weather patterns.

[@madelinejameswrites]

Im honored to have been an influence 😊

[@alexkempes1919]

I'm so stoked for the first civilizations to develop along those rivers!! Really helpful stuff, as always, thanks Madeline!!

[@madelinejameswrites]

Me too! I have so many notes and plans and I'm so excited!!! 😊

[@roguesmile1491]

I'm always impressed by the amount of research you do and share with us. Thanks!

[@madelinejameswrites]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoys getting into all this! 😊

[@iagocasabiellgonzalez7807]

Good one, very interesting. Capes should be considered extensions of mountain/hill ranges for the most part, and are usually part of the divide between watersheds: A point to start drawing a divide up to the nearest Mountain Range. This is more accurate as we zoom in into regional and local maps. Large scale "capes" on a global level may be part of a rifting system like cape Saint Roch in Brazil or sediment filled continental shelfs like the Florida Platform.

[@madelinejameswrites]

I could have considered them at this level then! Capes will definitely have to be a part of regional mapping. Thank you!

[@iagocasabiellgonzalez7807]

@@madelinejameswrites Thanks for your videos, they are very inspiring. I love cartography, and after some years playing around with maps, I learned to appreciate hydrography a lot, as it gives you a very accurate picture of the land in 3D at a glance, with very precise borders. The prevalent contour maps are more complete, but not so good at conveying the great picture of the land to everyone, and are also very work heavy. Take Cristopher Tolkien's big Middle Earth map: with the mountain ranges, capes and rivers you can easily see the different "countries" and "regions", and it is closer to the ancient knowledge of the land that a people would feel as their own, where they would farm, hunt on and roam through. A dominion would be defined by all the lands you could see from the castle/keep, which ended at natural borders like mountain ranges, rivers and the sea. So hydrographical maps with coastline, rivers and watershed divides are very informative for worldbuilding, as you can deduce at a glance all theese cultural and territorial aspects.

[@crlprickles9385]

Although I am most excited to see where & why the civilisations pop up, I just had the idea that exploring land & sea trade routes & obstacles that impact them such as areas with frequent rogue waves interupting sea trade routes would be interesting

[@madelinejameswrites]

That's a really fun idea. You definitely get trade limitations around the horse latitudes, and ice around the poles can seasonally block routes, but I bet there's other things that make it tricky like you said!

[@gregwochlik9233]

I do appreciate the amount of effort put into this! Looks like I got the wetlands not right on my regional map! It is too late for that, as adding the civilisation (year 2024 of our system) has been added. I would love to collaborate with someone in a fun project like that. I would love for someone to use my maps for their own stories.

[@Alcarinqu]

Again a very good an inspirational video! I really should start with adding this details to my worldmap! The only thing I'm still pondering is the question of whether the rivers or the mountains came first. They influence each other as they "grow". A closed valley can only form if it is in an extremely dry region, otherwise a constant water drain should ensure that there is always a valley to the outside... 🤔

[@madelinejameswrites]

The paths of rivers change pretty frequently over time, and the mountains themselves are eroding or growing with plate tectonics too! It's a constant process that has been going on since there was running water on the planet!

[@VallelYuln]

Awesome work! My one comment doesn't have much to do with this topic itself, and is only that I think you can have more rainforest on the equator area of your Eastern continent. That in turn would bring more recycled moisture in the air and would allow for more major rivers in that area

[@madelinejameswrites]

I think you're right. I'm going to try to bump that up at the biome level at least!

[@thedorklylionchannel415]

Invaluable. Honestly please keep making videos

[@madelinejameswrites]

I hope to! I really appreciate the support 😊 thank you

[@Bevillia]

Thanks for the video! Nothing to add on this one, but definitely enjoying and being informed still.

[@TMThesaurus]

I would read them as exo-ray-ic and endo-ray-ic personally

[@Ratchet4647]

The waters will only cut their way out of enclosed basin when the water level reaches the height of the lowest point of the 'enclosure'. This means that the lake you drew could, given enough time and enough water, fill that whole basin. This may happen seasonally as glacial deposition and runoff vary through the seasons and over the eons. Every time the lake overflows the basin, it will begin to carve out a channel out. The channel will deepen with every overflow, requiring a lower water level to overflow and meaning less of the basin will be underwater during overflows over time.

[@madelinejameswrites]

Oh yes, which is a fun thing to think about when it comes to societies living there

[@Ratchet4647]

Thanks for the heart and the reply! I wasn't expecting either! I agree that it'd be very interesting for societies living within the basin, with the amount of available land for living and crops varying with the variation in the water within the basin, settlements built along the water eventually being lost to flooding. The society living at the lowest point of the enclosure would have potentially catastrophic experiences whenever it overflows, particularly if glacial accumulation temporarily blocks the overflow like a dam, making the eventual overflow particularly violent! This happened in the last Ice Age in the North American Northwest multiple times, which drastically affected the region beyond the overflow.

[@Ratchet4647]

I belive the H is silent in Rheic, like with the Greek letter Rho. At least in General American English