World Building: Empires, Borders, & Maps

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After you draw your map for D&D, your novel, or just for your own world building, you're gonna eventually need to create countries and empires. That's what this video is here to help with. This video goes over how borders work, why empires and states have the borders that they do, and a bit about many different powers over the centuries. For all kingdoms, city states, tribes, nations, empires, provinces, regions, etc., this will help. This is mostly historical information, so it's most helpful when writing fantasy. But it'd probably have a couple things for the sci-fi writers among y'all too.
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[@Stoneworks]

Earth has the worst world building ever. Japan? Could never exist.

[@InquisitorThomas]

Stoneworks World Building Yeah, Oh they managed to avoid being invaded by the Mongols because of a freak Hurricane... TWICE. Whoever wrote this story should commit bathtub toaster because of how contrived this story is.

[@rundown_2043]

Oh jeez if you think that is bad i heard there's a country that straight up built itself, those damn dutch folk and their unatural land

[@InquisitorThomas]

Pickle Rick Or Fucking Venice. “Hey guys let’s build a massive marble city on a bunch of logs in this lagoon.” So stupid.

[@wothin]

Just a comment on your style. The China bashing is a little too much and out of place and seems forced. Most people watch your videos because of interest in world building, making it political may seem little off. Just my opinion though.

[@ozymandias3456]

@stoneworks world building can you rip my worldbuilding map a new asshole and over analyze it like you did Skyrims? Bonus, I made it on MS Paint

[@zangoloid]

The geography of italy is so unrealistic smh really its in the shape of a boot? How original and creative

[@the_goodest_boy]

how did you comment this one day ago when the video came out literally a minute ago

[@user-uj6ip9jk4m]

@@the_goodest_boy Pre access probably

[@zangoloid]

@@the_goodest_boy i'm a space wizard

[@mollof7893]

Real life has awefull gameplay and worldbuilding, graphics is the only good thing.

[@Tethloach1]

I generally don't compare the shape of nations to objects, I accept them as they are a land that has a shape.

[@kekero540]

James ”It’s difficult to make jokes when the subject is ethnic cleansing” Stone “what are the valley people gonna do AtTACK UP AMounTAIN?!?”

[@Darthwgamer]

Plains people: *teleports in the back of the mountain people* Mountain people: Nani!

[@disrespecc9678]

TACKUPAMTAIN

[@giorgospapoutsakis5271]

This comment predicted the name soundalike memes

[@Jacob-yg7lz]

One under rated aspect of empire building is ocean currents. If you ever wonder why a certain colonial empire colonized where they did, it was usually ocean currents. This is especially important with Gyres, circular ocean currents which enabled people to make return trips entirely sailing with the wind. For example, in the south atlantic there's a gyre that rotates counter-clockwise. This means that, in order to sail around Africa and get to India, the Portuguese had to go down along the coast of Brazil in order to sail with the current. This is one of the main reasons why Portugal colonized Brazil. The North Pacific Gyre was responsible for Spain colonizing the Phillippines, since it enabled ships to sail from Mexico to Manilla multiple times a year. The "roaring forties", an extremely fast current encircling Antarctica flowing east, was also pretty important for circumnavigation in the 1800s, and was important in the colonization of Australia and the Falkans by the British.

[@aiyahuntacheimumbi236]

Comment of the century.

[@great-wall-of-nowhere9377]

Also Pacific Islanders

[@jannestiemes4328]

Nice, was not expecting this comment, but you're completely right, also cold ocean currents create deserts, thus making an area way less hospitable, so that also played a part.

[@napoleonbuonaparte8975]

Wasn't the Flalklans colonized before the XIX century tho? Also didn't the English use maritime routes through Africa and India to reach Australia?

[@whoareyou1034]

I am suprised you mentioned Portugal. No one ever seems to mention Portgual.

[@whyismyricewet1986]

you mean the province of Spain that speaks Brazillian? :P

[@tranglomango]

@@whyismyricewet1986 yeah boiiii, nice and hot

[@brumoment9376]

Portugal isn't real

[@whoareyou1034]

@@brumoment9376 bruh

[@suwinkhamchaiwong8382]

MC Jesus Christ64 It is. Denmark and the Philippines aren’t.

[@Divinemakyr]

I have a tender obsession with making a huge, Mongolian Empire-like state every time I make a new world. Help me.

[@TheRedname]

Do what I did and just put them in the ocean. Sea mongols. Boom. Originality secured.

[@florbengorben7651]

I love making thalassocratic civilizations. There's something really cool about having a massive Navy and a million little Oceanside cities with booming cross-sea trade.

[@jbdbibbaerman8071]

@@TheRedname Now make air Mongols

[@tarroakh3562]

Space-Mongols would be- oh wait, there's already a story about that. *Definitely not glancing at the Imperium of Man*

[@doomjoon_zmajich]

@@florbengorben7651 huh, and I have an infatuation with massive, sprawling bureaucracies like Persia. The three of us should team up.

[@HelloFutureMe]

Really enjoyed this video guys!

[@averongodoffire8098]

I’m just here to see if this video gets banned in China yet😂🤣 eDgyYYy!!!

[@vaughnjohnson8767]

Hello hello hello! HFM!!

[@talonkaine7121]

I love your content it really helped in making my own world!

[@talonkaine7121]

@@lek698 what does that mean?

[@lek698]

@@talonkaine7121 I have no idea when I even commented that lol it doesn’t mean anything, I already deleted it

[@Divinemakyr]

Artifexian, Stoneworks, James Tullos, Hello Future Me, that's are all I need for worldbuilding.

[@florbengorben7651]

And worldbuilding notes. If you haven't checked her out yet, you definitely should

[@purpleboye_]

A little bit of Shadiversity too

[@florbengorben7651]

@@purpleboye_ of course, dude!

[@Azier18]

Don't forget Biblaridion.

[@Azier18]

@@purpleboye_ and a bit of skallgrim.

[@gunarsmiezis9321]

Bretons did not remain in britany after the extinction of gauls, the bretons fled to britany when the anglo-saxons invaded Grate Britan.

[@crapwithanopinion2919]

never heard of Brate Britan before.

[@rairarku2964]

I mean.. the natives stayed there, but they were romanized. It used to be called Armorique. The Bretons were always in GB. After the fall of Rome, The island Bretons went to the mainland. Namely Brittany. That's why we have Great Britain and Brittany

[@gunarsmiezis9321]

@@rairarku2964 Grate Britan is Grate Britan because the romans never went to Ireland and called it Britan. What you say is true if you replace every keltic subgroups name with just kelts.

[@wanderingrandomer]

@@gunarsmiezis9321 In Grate Britain, they really like cheese

[@iumasz6088]

This mans edited the comment to correct his mistake to correct brate Britain to grate britian

[@JamesTullos]

Neat.

[@Divinemakyr]

Noice.

[@Discitus]

(takes photo)

[@gone41214]

*Snap* This one's going in my cringe collection

[@Stoneworks]

@@gone41214 saying the words "cringe collection" fills out your cringe collection.

[@deithlan]

I don’t know if the best thing about this comment is the amazing crossover, or the fact that it’s at 69 likes.

[@Chrischi3TutorialLPs]

Also a fun thing to consider: Those regions that make for the best empires are usually a little bit below the optimal temparature for humans. No, really, look it up. I think 21 degrees is the optimal temparature because at that temparature were at an equilibrium temparature wise. However, empires build stuff. They transport things. They do work. This heats humans up. So their enviornment needs to be a bit colder to achieve an equilibrium. Look up a map of temparatures and youll find that the Roman Empire aswell as the Chinese and the many Persian Empires and even the Meso- and South American ones fall neatly into that temparature range.

[@Stoneworks]

I love this

[@paigephillips92]

Its more about the evolution within a harsh yet predictable climate. It promotes teamwork for tribes/ethnicities to pull through, and low time preference (meaning that they are capable of planning for future concerns, e.g. for a harsh winter).

[@admiralpaco507]

I have to disagree with this assessment as it ignores so many powerful and long lasting empires in Central Asia, Indonesia, India, Arabia and North Africa that don't fall neatly into the temperature concept. Temperature making the "best empires" looks more like "the most well known empires".

[@vitriolicAmaranth]

I saw the same video you did but don't agree with the conclusion you're parroting. I think there are likely a number of factors at play, but I would say the strongest is probably that we evolved in a limited equatorial area with mild weather thanks to a girdle of mountains, meaning the temerature never changed, and when we migrated literally anywhere else, where there are these things called weather and seasons, larger groups found colder climates more favourable because- and never forget this age-old piece of good sense- you can always light a fire or wear more clothes in the winter, but you can only get so naked when it's hot. Mild summers, even if they mean harsh winters, are better for human life than the reverse. Other potential factors: Those same winters encourage stockpiling crops, and therefore large scale agriculture and conquest. Those areas historically coincided with favourable geography (eg the Mediterranean). Those climates tend to promote easy biomes to develop in, instead of deserts, rainforests and tundras. Also to that one guy, it's most large civilizations, not all. Pointing out a handful of exceptions isn't debunking the observation, it's splitting hairs. Population densities and level of development have been concentrated in mostly similar climates.

[@deithlan]

@@admiralpaco507 Watch “what’s the best temperature for civilization” from Atlas Pro, he explains what you said perfectly.

[@rolandsquire6555]

Adding onto mountains serving as borders : historically, borders weren't always on mountain tops, but were also often at the bottom of mountains, where the valleys meet the plains. There, it's much easier to build castles and controll the territory, than on a high mountain ridge which might be hard to access but where a sufficiently determined person can find a way to slip past unnotices. Also, controlling both sides of a strategic pass is much more profitable than controlling just one side, which means having to split the profits of whatever toll is being connected. Nevermind it making you a lot safer from any potential invasion. As a result, both sides of the mountain would often be part of the same entity, and the plain on one or both sides would be a different one. This was true both for political borders and language/culture borders -though the two rarely overlapoed-. For example, while the Alps are now mainly a political and cultural border (with some exceptions like Switzerland), you historically had many states that straddled the mountain ranges, like Savoy or Tyrol,. You also had the valleys on the Italian side of the mountain range speaking various variants of French, German, Occitan, and other languages, while the plain spoke various variants of Italian. Mountains ridges acting as borders isn't a new idea by itself, but it's something that became more and more popular as time went by. In part because the growing popularity of the nation-state model, which works well with an idealisation of natural borders, in part because new modes of transport makes mountain passes (a bit) less strategic, and in part because modern technology and better knowledge of geography means that we can now clearly define where exactly the divide between both sides lie. Peple medieval or ancient societies might not know where the exact location of the divide is, and probably won't think of it as particularly relevant.

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

Additionally, people who don't like the state often flee into the mountains to be independent, which makes controlling those areas even more difficult or even more effort than it's worth

[@vitriolicAmaranth]

I like the RIVERS as borders meme, as if nations are US states.

[@yodef6828]

Whenever he talks about any empire rising in the Americas it always suddenly ends with the phrase: "...And then the Spanish came along."

[@ryanrichardson5844]

if he'd talked about the cree or iroquis he couldve had the british or french come along

[@WoFDarkNewton]

Right after he said "The editor has all the power" at 9:42, I got an ad, reminding me that really, the advertisers are the ones who actually have the power.

[@Stoneworks]

haha but what if I like... placed an ad there haha

[@davevaderlp784]

This is surreal education. Finally something new.

[@FaoladhTV]

Wales and Cornwall (and Brittany) are not Gaelic. They are Brythonic, which is an entirely different sort of Celtic. Also, Brittany was re-settled after the fall of Rome by people from Britain, probably around the same time that Galicia in northern Iberia (Spain/Portugal) was. The Celtic mainland was primarily Gaulish, but also Belgic and a number of other Celtic language speaking groups, reaching all the way over to Anatolia, where the central region of the Anatolian peninsula was settled by a number of Celtic language speaking tribes known as the Galatians.

[@Lu_R]

21:40 Poles in Hungary and Hungarians in Poland, that's like living in your best bro's house. No one would mind, but that's only because it's Poland and Hungary the bro-nations of the world!

[@beepbop6542]

The only people who might mind are the Slovaks! lol.

[@starsixseven9259]

Square linear borders are the best most natural don't even lie.

[@JamesM1994]

Quadratic borders are better than linear ones.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

@@JamesM1994 Log borders are better

[@eazy8579]

There's the Brit

[@boxcarz]

When will we get F R A C T A L B O R D E R S ?

[@silvertheelf]

No, actually triangles are better.

[@sephikong8323]

20:21 Just to correct on that front, the Celts of Britanny aren't descendants of the Armoricans that lived there prior to the Roman conquest, they are descendants of the brythonic tribes of England that fled the arrival of the Anglo saxons as there was a power vacuum in the area at the time and it was safe for them. So there's something else to add to the list of abnormalities that can be cool to add

[@tomvanbeek925]

Great video!!! Only, the origin of the Breton people is somewhat more complicated. (They’re insular celts, pushed out of Britain by the anglo-saxons)

[@ianlilley2577]

@Uphorix do Breton's speak French mostly or do they have their own language?

[@scorpixel1866]

@@ianlilley2577 Norman here, the Bretons were always very attached to their heritage (long time independent duchy even at the time of the Franks, had their own regional parliament), however the previous french republics cracked down hard on regional languages (and by hard i mean it) to the point that most went extinct Breton did not and is trying to revive, all signs have both it and French, it's available in school and there are quite a lot of cultural events over there, they still speak French fluently and as primary language But most importantly if you want to hear what Breton insults sound like just ask them if they ever visited the Mont Saint-Michel in Normandie

[@PedanticNo1]

"The editor has all the power" *KZbin injects ad*

[@christopherheselton9421]

Why does the Chinese over the Yongle Emperor you added say "Vagaina Destroyer"?

[@daviderenda9211]

It's the same in latin over Charlemagne

[@noodles24601]

"Remember, the editor has all the power" Gets immediately interrupted by ads.

[@nightfall4031]

You got a sub for calling Tolkien a Chad. He is the Chaddest Chad, a truly great man!

[@itheivoidi9151]

I know you hate me but you totally deserve 10million subs

[@Stoneworks]

why would I hate you come give me a smooch

[@melodiousapollo7307]

He smooch?!

[@droopsmoop]

@@Stoneworks that shit gæ

[@suwinkhamchaiwong8382]

John DC well you don’t know if he said no homo

[@romulusnuma116]

Never forget Cornwall

[@bleddynwolf8463]

cornwall for smash

[@ianmcmahan2295]

the second i saw a chad rendition of Tolkien and an anti-china message, sub

[@daseapickleofjustice7231]

Your brain on western media

[@ginrr3739]

@@daseapickleofjustice7231 cry about it

[@daseapickleofjustice7231]

@@ginrr3739 why should I cry about the existence of NPCs bro?

[@ginrr3739]

@@daseapickleofjustice7231 because we don't love jungguo and the virus capital of the world

[@daseapickleofjustice7231]

@@ginrr3739 lol Covid came from Fort Detrick, the US has had some of the first cases cope

[@Axatttt]

I made a fantasy map when I was 5 naturally it looked like a chess piece but I kept the continents shape and now it has diverse people and a good history

[@osun7121]

as a chinese, I'm actually happy to see the first scenario ;)

[@DJLite4011]

Six months later now... Are you still alive?

[@mitonaarea5856]

@@DJLite4011 why shouldn't he be?😂

[@melofiloii3130]

Then you no true chi nese

[@lifeuncovered6188]

Free Hong Kong, independent Taiwan, Tiananaman square massacre

[@R-H-B]

@@lifeuncovered6188 you saw “Chinese” and went on a rang about authoritarianism. Look past it for once

[@ObiWanBillKenobi]

“I’m just here to show you some maps and stuff.” He says this at the end of a 27-minute video that taught me more than my entire 10th grade social studies class. 🤩

[@BrotherSantodes]

Damn I wasn't expecting to hear James's voice here. For a second I thought my phone glitched out.

[@jcarm185]

This video was ALLOT of fun to watch! Thanks so much for putting it together!

[@caldoesstuff7290]

20:37 Yay we are remembered! Gotta subscribe for that!

[@ndf2719]

I’m glad to have found this channel because you do worldbuilding but with a sense of humour I like. I do like the more straight laced academic type stuff but this is a nice change.

[@Gregsplays]

"or *Cornwall*" That's it, he mentioned it, I'm subscribing

[@Stoneworks]

always gotta include the dudes of Cornwall

[@Feder01]

25:13 that moment is art

[@aiyahuntacheimumbi236]

Now I understand the historical connotation for the Game Borderlands! Different galaxy spanning corporate entities, bandit factions, and black market weapons merchants all fighting over the same patch of dirt. lol

[@jonathandavis8051]

His excessive use of Sid Mayer's Civilization gave me a brilliant idea. Make a Civ game, play it for a while, take whatever borders formed throughout the course of the game, change the names of the kingdoms to some fantasy shiz. Boom, instant fantasy world. You could even use some of the more complicated politics the pacifist losing his shit and trying to cleanse the land. Alright, maybe not that bit, but maybe some other stuff.

[@beepbop6542]

Civ 5 has an excellent world builder which is basically a tool you can use to draw and edit worlds (Im using it right now)!)

[@neimadize]

Only 30 seconds in and I love it already! Now back to the video.

[@mollof7893]

Just watched James Tullos. You two are epic

[@John-bq6mg]

Dude, you deserve more views, you've worked so hard on this and you are so funny with telling the story.

[@eliad6543]

This is gonna blow up I feel it sure deserves to

[@jannestiemes4328]

0:13 Tibet is larger than that and you can probably make some more areas independent.

[@whoaitstiger]

I love the new format, these videos are very entertaining!

[@enixxe]

I was sure I watched a decent video on how to make natural looking political borders before, but couldn't find it, so this is well-timed.

[@Zaire82]

I watched one 2 year old video before this, and it is like night and day. One is quite educational and semi serious, the other is near pure chaos.

[@Keegah]

"Wow, this is a really well-made and researched video. Damn, he actually has some idea how to pronounce Mandarin consonants and Nahuatl names. Damn man, I'm actually pretty impre-" Video: "... other Gaelic nations like Wales and Cornwall..." *eye twitches*

[@Jackb290]

You posted twice the same week. This makes me happy, keep it up!

[@stonalisa3729]

I was just watching one of James's videos before this! you are both great

[@zedmain1387]

Great history documentary while teaching a new DM how to world build. Thanks

[@andrewbrann6693]

I’m absolutely DEAD rn if there was ever a living definition of chaotic neutral it’s you sir

[@evodolka]

that intro was just golden, well done

[@christianbaum120]

Excellent video. Keep up the great work!

[@emilianohermosilla3996]

This video is so in-depth! Amazing!

[@callusklaus2413]

"Gaelic" "Like the Welsh" Your body is going into the bog, world maker meme man.

[@trevorklyne8280]

You got me at the China bit love the work mate.

[@Ronta..]

The intro is the best part 😂❤

[@sadgiraffe6669]

That was such an amazing video, thank you

[@democracymmmk]

Your video collages and narration are so funny and also educational

[@Terragen]

That intro got me to sub. Thanks for the vid!

[@abeladams3618]

I came here from the Rathnir server expecting some lol-funny poorly made history expository but no this is actually really good. It's well put together, well-edited, and interesting. Good job dude.

[@chikun4268]

I love how an ad interrupts right when he says the editor has all the power. Apparently KZbin disagrees on that.

[@kiracarver988]

One thing I love about this channel is how you manage to be funny while educating. I've seen a lot of material like this but it's typically sort of dry or pompous in delivery.

[@OSRS_Emperor]

The casual racism is a bit too much. No thank you to that

[@M_osieb]

all the civ 5 things were really trippy cause i was playing civ 6 and i kept hearing the older noises and were getting flashbacks

[@bonnetshorestv2118]

Great video broooooo. Entertaining and informative!

[@Manomanali]

Dude what how have I found this just now this is some quality

[@Stuugie.]

I wasn't expecting the James Tullos crossover

[@gonzaliders1]

mygod this channel is super underrated, this vid is awesome!! greetings from argentina.

[@akmayernick3722]

The terrain? Mountainous The advantage? Home field Hotel? Trivago

[@stevenbolda4696]

Wonderful christmas present ty

[@mc_abber]

two vids in ONE WEEK? best christmas ever!

[@burnblast2774]

Aside from Earth clones, the most imo lazy/uncreative trope with copying irl boarders is copy-pasting Japan straight into a fictional map. As you addressed in your tectonics video, the conditions under which Japan formed, while not unique, are so chaotic that I would hardly expect a Japan-like landmass complete with a geographically distinct definitely-not-Hokkaido.

[@ozymandias3456]

stoneworks world building can you absolutely overanalyze my ms paint map like you did skyrims, make me cry

[@JTL1776]

LOVE THE INTRO man great intro.

[@liamnacinovich8232]

I honestly didn’t know this was about world building till the last minute I thought it was just a history video that explained how borders formed

[@benhallam9508]

I love how he showed the cyrodilic empire and as he was saying “ how they came to power” showed the numinium

[@jlinus7251]

Ayyye I was shocked to hear James pop up. I love him XD

[@rubisco9190]

The best intro I have ever the pleasure to see.

[@Parlepape]

Britanny isnt Gual, they came from britan, escaping the invading Anglos

[@NoirMorter]

Thumbs up the moment I saw the intro. Funny stuff and the video content was excellent.

[@Kolateak_]

Absolutely incredible opening

[@thm9867]

Informative and hilarious. Instant sub

[@concept5631]

I've had this in my "Watch Later" for so long. Time to watch it.

[@Stoneworks]

Did you enjoy it, Concept?

[@concept5631]

@@Stoneworks Of course. I am honored to be in your presence, fellow history nerd who also plays Minecraft. I hope I can enjoy my time on the Stoneworks Server.

[@j.mbarlow5952]

omg that intro! so good

[@orellendres4971]

I love how I got an ad just when you said the editor has all the power

[@matt.s9607]

I love your videos dude!

[@wangson3241]

I really liked that intro good stuff

[@ddude987]

Your old sauce is great. The worldbuilding stuff is good too. Moar vods!

[@dmitritelvanni4068]

Ive enjoyed your vids. But that opening was what won my subscription. Just so were clear.

[@dudemcradguy]

Okay the intro has made me a fan

[@VvRaTcHeTvV]

Soundtrack game is getting better. Definitely a plus.

[@hmwat1623]

-funny -good pronounciation of aztec words -history I think I’ve found my new favourite channel

[@ZackSlaughterPK]

gosh dang this is a juicy video ;D

[@snakey934Snakeybakey]

Great intro!

[@TheWizardGamez]

stoneworks: your borders shouldnt make sense Colonial Virginia: may i introduce myself

[@rxmd2661]

This man has his editing shit together. just look at that 10/10 quality

[@Stoneworks]

thanks fam we represent

[@storyzplayz4291]

I'm subbing for that intro right now

[@ilcondottierocartografo6770]

Superb content

[@lakanbsilo]

3:59 i kinda had this video playing in the background and when i heard the cliff racer noise i JUMPED

[@lakanbsilo]

yoo wtf that’s my first heart from a creator. thanks man

[@MD_Goose7]

Hi,I’m late to the party. Though would like to say I have much respect for this video my guy. You really put in some good work.

[@Stoneworks]

Why thank you, I’m glad you like it!