Forum:Territory application/AR120-38 - Minnesaugiaw (NEW)

Forums → Territory application → Territory application/AR120-38 - Minnesaugiaw (NEW)

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	Territory ID and proposed name
	The Territory ID (from OpenGeofiction:Territories, e.g. AR123a) and proposed name of the country

AR120-38 - Minnesaugiaw

	Physical geography
	An overview of climate, topography and landscape of the country. It is advised to also create a sketch, you can add a link to this (hosted on imgur or similar)

Minnesaugiaw is a heavily forested and mountainous state that is rich in minerals such as iron and copper. The state is located on Lake Ashani, and has many other lakes dotting its hilly and densely forested terrain. The Lake Ashani coast is mainly marshes and grasslands, with some beaches that are mainly visited during the state’s mild summers. The easternmost portions of the state on the border with Saint Agnes (which is defined by a mountain ridge) are generally hilly and transition

to mountains closer to the border, with those portions being even more forested and sparsely populated than the rest of the state.

	Human geography
	A brief description of the territory demographics, economic development, land occupation, infrastructure and mapping style

The state has one of the smallest populations in the FSA. It has always been sparsely inhabited even by the natives, and is rather infrequently visited, partially due to its reputation of being run-down and mostly abandoned. The plains along and near the Valterra River and the coastal valley near Lake Ashani contain most of the state’s population, with the relatively flat terrain and grasslands allowing for more agriculture than the rest of the state. The remaining portions of the population are concentrated mainly within river valleys that cut the through the forested mountains of the state’s interior (most of the state outside of the Valterra River Valley and Lake Ashani coastal area is mountainous and forested, with these regions looking much like West Virginia with most of the towns in the mountain region being located within thin river valleys), with a large amount of lumber-related industrial activity due to the abundance of forests. The state capital is the city of Martinsville (Pop. 62,000) and the largest city is the city of Ironton (Pop. 117,000).

Current territory sketch: https://ibb.co/wNxzhSxM

	History & culture
	A brief description of the intended culture and language

As a state of the Federal States of Archanta, a majority of the population speaks Ingrean. It has a notable Kaartian diaspora due to many early settlers hailing from there and staying due to being used to the harsh climate, with some even still speaking Kaartian as a language. The primary indigenous people within the state are the Minneiska people, who speak a language isolate. There is also a small Valonian-speaking diaspora near the border with the Astrasian Confederacy. As for history, the state was inhabited by the natives for thousands of years, up until the northern potions by the Valterra River were colonized in the late 1700s, which caused an industrial boom that led to Minnesaugiaw obtaining statehood in the 1810s; however, the southern portions of the state were not particularly heavily colonized until the 1890s when important and large ore deposits were found in the state, therefore causing significant mining towns to spring up near the ore deposits as said deposits were mined and cultivated, causing a population boom after the state!s growth began to stagnate in the 1870s; however, as supplies and resources have been depleted, the population of the state has stagnated/declined starting in the 1940s and remained small ever since (Around 600-750k).

	Past mapping
	To support your request provide links to areas of OGF mapping which showcase your mapping skill. Mapping relevant to the requested theme & geography is especially useful.
	The {{coord}}, {{node}}, {{relation}} or {{scalehelper}} templates can optionally be used to link to the OGF map - they result in nicely formatted links. Or you can paste in a URL.

https://opengeofiction.net/relation/458383 Sininenmetsa/Black Woods Township: This is my example town, the state’s main college town of Sininenmetsa and the surrounding township. It is not 100% done, but the parts that are mapped are perfectly what I’m planning for my state.

https://opengeofiction.net/#map=16/-33.5480/161.8609 This is an interchange I mapped, I decided to include it since there isn’t any interchanges like this mapped in Black Woods Township (yet).

	Username & date
	Sign and date the application by typing four tildes (~~~~) without spaces or "nowiki" tags.

Berdly (talk) 03:18, 28 June 2025 (UTC)

	Discussion
	Discussion for clarification & decision

• Please refer to the closing comments at Forum:Territory application/AR120-38 - Minnesaugiaw, copying them here along with additional information, examples, and/or other responses to show how they have been addressed. Thanks/wangi (talk) 21:01, 4 July 2025 (UTC)
• Here are your comments, along with how I addressed each one:
  • “Sorry, but your level of mapping isn't yet sufficient. It's important to keep in mind that in the mapping examples we're looking for evidence that you can pull off what you are proposing. So, it needs a much broader range and scope of mapping - not just small rural towns. For example: lakefront natural mapping, forested natural mapping, a better concept for the region, and some degree of agriculture or industry. And if you are wanting to showcase urban mapping then you need to show yours, rather than a few buildings added amongst another mappers work.”
    • I mapped an entire town of around 10,000 people (Sininenmetsa) completely independently in my Beginner Territory, along with adding the surrounding forested natural mapping, along with a few rural industries such as logging and mining, and some protected areas and more suburban and rural towns as well.
  • “On the specific state proposal, it needs to take into account the neighbouring constraints - international boundary along mountain range to the east; lake and extended lake/marsh features to the neighbour state on the west; river forming boundary with states to the north... The outline map has far too many counties, with what would appear to be unfeasibly small population for that number of countries and proposed towns/cities. Is there a PLSS? Topo doesn't make sense, there needs to be some sort of explanation for the watersheds. Importantly, there needs to be consideration of historic travel flows via the major river and lake.”
    • I have went and established that the state’s eastern region is more sparsely populous and is home to some internationally mixed people from the other side of the border with the Astrasian Confederacy. The more marshy regions near the northwest coast of Lake Ashani are also less populous, and I’ll most likely follow and expand upon the preexisting natural mapping in this territory that is currently in that region. As for watersheds, I vastly revamped and improved them to make them more realistic. As for counties, I merged and therefore cut down upon the amount of all counties, I also will add the towns on the map are every municipality in the state with a population of at least 1,000, most of which having populations ranging from 1-5k. The state also does indeed have a PLSS, and contains townships similar to Michigan. As for topography, I made it more akin to West Virginia in the regions further inland from the lake, with the terrain flattening out the closer to the lake it gets. As for travel, the more major cities are all either on rivers or on the lakeshore, and I do plan to make a railway map soon.
• I hope this elaboration was sufficient, and if you suggest any more alterations and specific details, let me know and I will be happy to flesh them out and elaborate on them more. I’ll also make any alterations to what I wrote and planned previously if required. I wouldn’t say these plans are final, and they are still open to any adjustments that would make them better and/or more realistic. Thank you very much for reviewing my claim! Berdly (talk) 21:46, 4 July 2025 (UTC)

Hi, you'll appreciate there's been a delay in responding - this is ultimately because my feedback is the same as before, there is only so many times it can be repeated. It's also frustrated by your descriptions clearly getting east and west mixed up.

The Valterra River (flows west) at the northern boundary is a major natural feature in the area, one which would feature strongly historically for transport and settlement patterns (coming from the Astrasian coast). A fellow admin has this feedback: "The Valterra Valley should have been settled in the 1780s or 1790s. Statehood would probably have happened moderately early (1800s) based on that boom. A stagnation thereafter is plausible until more industrialization happened (still would have been early). I would push stagnation to the 1870s with another bump in the 1890s–1940s for mining. After that, decline. It's a legacy state, but it's population should be lopsided to the north"

The eastern international boundary is still a wall of indeterminate (is it grasslands, is it forest, no it's "high") nature which "none shall pass", rather than acknowledging the neighbouring country and the existing infrastructure waiting to be connected up there. Lake Ashani (which is to the west) still seems to have a strange repellent effect on settlement, rather than being a catalyst as it should be. There's still a weird refusal to sketch out the wetlands to the north of the lake, or to explain the topology of the area between Lake Ashani and the Valterra River.

The county boundaries still do not make sense, and really need to take into account a late-1800s industrial boom along the Valterra River, more population there... ~600-750k total state population. /wangi (talk) 10:24, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for responding! And don’t worry about the delay, there’s no pressure. As for the feedback itself, I have created a revamped map which connects existing infrastructure (if I’ve missed something obvious by chance, I will connect it), contains a more realistic terrain map, altered city locations (more settlement around Lake Ashani and the Valterra River), and revamped country borders that do account for a late 1800s industrial boom near the Valterra River and a more populous northern half. I have also sketched out the wetlands north of the lake, (I’m frankly not sure why I didn’t do that in the past), revised the geography sections to be more clear, delved into further detail on the history in accordance with the ideas provided in your post, and fixed the errors where I somehow mixed up east and west. Again, than you very much for reviewing my claim once again! Berdly (talk) 03:47, 3 August 2025 (UTC)

	Territory application approved
	Approved, and BG17 has been withdrawn. Please be sure to reach out to all neighbouring territory owners, to best collaborate across the borders. Thanks/wangi (talk) 13:23, 4 August 2025 (UTC)
	As you develop your territory, be sure to keep it realistic. Here are some resources you may find useful for starting out: Help:Portal, Help:Making realistic countries, Help:Making realistic cities and OpenGeofiction:Site policies