I've never read any discworld books so I don't know whether that world really is a disc or if it's a metaphor for something else, but the world I write about in my novel manuscript has always been envisioned as a disc. There's a lot of religious mythology focused on the sun, the moon, and the darkness and that's paralleled by a light and a dark side to the world. Lately, however, I've been wanting to come up with some science to give it an explanation (perhaps not as detailed as real science, but something to say that there's more than the current existing dogma--a reaction perhaps to the fact that D&D settings truly are creationist settings with gods creating man and little focus on any scientific applicability to the world around them except for the possible into steampunk or magic/science development).

So how does one create a (paper-thin) scientific basis explaining why the sun and the moon only appear on one side of the world and not the other? Today's solution is making the disk convex. The curve in the shape of the disc and the placement of the sun and the moon at angles (roughly) perpendicular to the areas farther away from the curve allows them to be blocked by the curve itself so that both orbs aren't appearing at the same time. The rotation of the moon around the world (if it does at all) would allow for eclipses while fitting into the mythology.

This has lead to a number of new requirements for plausibility in the world geography (Blizzard, for all their ingenuity, fails horrible when it comes to creating an imaginable landscape, a big frustration of mine). Firstly, plate tectonics spread outward through centrifugal force. This means mountain ranges would be on the outer edges of continents. It also means the island of Roanisa needs to be in the center of the world, the apex where all new land mass is born from. Something I'm happy to work into the mystery of the world. However, its movement to the center of the world rather than the southern center causes some problems with fitting things into this new cartography. The Injari Peninsula no longer fits southeast of the Great Hioupe Plateau. There is too much land mass and it would be too close to Roanisa. I have to figure out what to do with an entire civilization that has been comfortably in this spot since I first drew the map.

I'm considering saving up and purchasing a copy of CC3. Dundjinni isn't accurate enough for my needs (in fact, I'm planning on uninstalling it now that I'm done with LG), and while it was nice of everydaypanacea to offer to make me a map on his copy, he's never going to finish it and even if he does, it won't fit my vision. This is one of those things you need to do yourself (or hire and pay a real cartographer). Ironically, I'm friends with a real cartographer (Rob Lee, you've seen his name in d20 products for both Kenzer and Necromancer Games), but I don't want to spend money on this project. And if I do spend money, I want it to be when I've actually finished the book and such an investment would be warranted and beneficial.

Poop! Color me frustrated. It's like I'm starting all over again. It will require fixing in the manuscript too, as the Great Arches on Roanisa lead to each human civilization in order, and the Injari were number 4 in that order. Now they're going to be number two.

Uh, I think that's all. I went to Maine today. It's the first time I've ever been to Maine. New Hampshire is better. :)