Okay, this will not be the best drawing in the world, but right now I am trying to get my ideas out of my head and onto paper. To be clear, this is not a complete map. A big thing I should note is that I went with the idea of Weigo being one big island rather than a large chain (more Kanto than Hoenn) because that is how I pictured it. If people want differently, that is perfectly fine with me. I also plan on doing my map on much nicer paper later, but this is about getting the ideas out and seeing what is good and what is not, because I really want to know what's where before I break out the sketchbook (it's hard to erase in.)
Map sketch here:
So, the idea of one big island stuck with me. I'll mark down the numbered things on the map and explain my thought process.
1 - the modern city. Someone said that this should be in the middle of a lake, someone else said that it should be in the center of the island, and the synthesis of that was what formed my idea of the Weigo Region's shape. Water likes to go down, so if there's a lake in the middle of an island, there needs to be something preventing the whole place from getting flooded, which is why I have the mountain barrier around the edge of the island. The river comes from two places, one from a large part of the mountain barrier (a real way that rivers form) and the other, larger branch of the river comes from a small gap the mountains where I crammed a lot of things in.
2 - the ancient city. This I took from elsewhere in the thread, that the modern city is built around the ancient city.
3 - your hometown. In all the Pokemon games, the trainer never starts in a city that has anything. It's always a small place, off the beaten path. I put here because towns form at river junctions (St. Louis) and was able to explain why there are no other towns nearby by stretching the mountains.
4 - This actually combined one of my own ideas with an idea from the thread. I wanted a huge mountain somewhere along the border of the island, so that the protagonist could have a really cool moment of looking out at the see, and in this case, seeing an archipelago beyond Weigo's mountain border, and
@KitkatKK2 suggested that the water type gym leader be on a volcano island. So, volcano island is connected to the main island with a small mountain pass leading to a volcanic beach that you surf across (or maybe walk across, if that's too early for surfing) to get to the volcano island. As for how 8 would be inaccessible from 4, maybe Team Luster does something here (try to blow up the volcano to make more light?)
5 - This is really poorly written, but it's in the upper right corner before 6, right behind the squiggly line. I was thinking that this would be Thorne's town, as it's really far away from anything. The squiggly line is supposed to represent forest boundary, so Thorne is in a small forest near a larger one, which I planned to be Calyrex's forest. Thorne prevents anyone from setting foot on the far side of the river without his approval, but you have to cross because reasons, probably Team Luster reasons, so you need to fight him?
6 - Okay, this gets kinda involved, but I had a big idea for Victory Road and the Pokemon League, and 6 is the first part of that. 6 is the waterfalls that are the start of the main river in Weigo.
7 -
@pinkshellos suggested a coral reef biome, and I was interested in that, so I thought that the coral reef could be on the other side of the falls, filtering the water from the sea and helping to limit it so the whole region doesn't flood. Also there is a super cool town here. Like Pacifidlog, but a coral reef.
8 - Okay, this is where I get kinda involved. So, the suggestion of the archipelago got me thinking about Victory Road, and how in every game I've played, Victory Road is mainly a cave. So, I was thinking, what if for Weigo, all the gyms are on the inside of the mountain range, but Victory Road is an archipelago leading from cool coral town to a big island (the one you see from volcano island) where the second group of people first saw the Weigo Region? That was what I was thinking for that.
9 - okay, so deserts are dry, which means that something needs to block both rain and rivers, so I went with a bunch of weird mountain formations creating a rain shadow effect on this particular place. 9 is the town between the river and the desert, it's got a bridge across the river, and also due to it's placement in the region
which was totally intentional might be a good place to first mention Calyrex: "Oh, except for that Thorne guy, people don't really go that far east of here because of the woods and those scary pokemon in them." "My cousin says that there's a really powerful pokemon deep in the forest who protects all the other pokemon." "Oh, that cousin fo yours! Always telling stories."
10 - This is where Sandy is, it's much smaller than the town with the bridge on the river. I am torn between a town that is in a really tough place to live (lots of sandstorms, go-goggles required (maybe get them in 9?)) or if only the route is tough to get through, and the town is in a pleasant oasis (Sandy could give a speech about how only though persevering through difficulties will you reach any rewards.)
11 - where Calyrex lives. I picked a corner of the map so that it would require you to walk through the whole area, but I am only now noticing that it is pushed up against some mountains. Maybe a cave with lots of moss and a skylight? Just spitballing ideas here.
So, I know it's incomplete, but it's late and I didn't want to forget any of this.
