No problem, I just didn't want new Alera series readers to get totally confused. Everyone is very welcome to post comments and opinions. It's important that we have a lot of eyes looking at the texts.
We went through a lot of iterations to get where we are now. If you see something in the maps that doesn't make sense we can search through the pdf (from the first map thread) and through the current map thread and see how we arrived at the positioning. And yes, sometimes the texts can be interpreted different ways.
Surprisingly or not though, the map clues are in the text, sometimes they jump out and hit you in the face and sometimes they are very subtle. Like when Amara is flying Bernard out of Kalare at the end of CaF, she stops in Attica after flying east for a day. It's subtle in terms of positioning.
At the beginning of CaF, Amara has flown ( in record time), 3000 miles to get to Kalare from the capitol. Indicates distances, although I'm not sure we have all of that correct. (Like how much land there is from the capitol east to the coast. ) Or that Forcia is on the west coast because of a line in AF near the end where Tavi is describing Gaius's furniture as dark wood from Forcia on the west coast.
By the way. The shape of the Calderon Valley was based on comments that Jim made in a signing.
I'll look up the reference for you. It's on youtube. He described it as a land bridge between the Aleran continent and the land inhabited by the Marat. Also, there is a line in FoC where Amara flies over the Sea of Ice to get to the Calderon Valley from in-country. That's part of the reason that the Valley's shape looks like it is.
If you have a question, please post it. I should have re-read my post and deleted it before I hit the post button.
Mikey
Belgarion
Wasn't trying to take over anything. These are just ones I've been working on independently for a while. I made these maps for my own reference and decided to share them to show how I have seen things. I have read the .pdf file and this thread. Your general Alera map is very similar to how I've pictured it, and much more detailed (Some of the cities on mine are placed very generally). I really haven't had the time to put alot of work into the political map. The real difference here is that I see the Caldreon Valley different, based on the 4 or 5 times I've read the books. Unfortunately, alot of the directions and locals in the books are very general. Until Jim himself chooses to step in give a definative answer on anything, most of this is pure speculation and up for interpretation.
I wasn't looking to have you remove your maps. I guess I thought everyone was entitled to an opinion on a public forum. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to spare on this that others might, or I might have been posting more often and added my 2 cents worth sooner. I'll just continue my work for my own benefit and leave you to yours.
BTW, I use AutoRealm.