Forum:Territory application/UL11m

Forums → Territory application → Territory application/UL11m

Please fill in the information below to make a territory request.

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

UL11m: Konungadömet Hjaldike (Kingdom of Hjalden)

	Physical geography
	An overview of climate, topography and landscape of the country. With the exception of Beginner territories, you should always create a sketch map to illustrate & explain your plans. You can add a link to this (hosted on imgBB, Postimages or similar, but not imgur.com)

Hjalden will be predominantly in a mixed temperate inland climate zone. It will have quite cold winters and relatively warm summers. Up in the absolute northern parts of the country, there will be glaciers. It would also be where the tallest mountain tops are. In the middle of the country it is plain and fertile. It is also where the capital and most urban region of Hjalden would be. In the south, there would be valleys and forests that mix in quite well with the eastern ends of Bärland. A main feature of the geography of Hjalden would also be the rivers. There will be several large rivers that lay the foundation for the historical development and economy of the country. Something that isn't on the sketch/map is that there would be lakes in mountain gaps, much like the geography near the Silland border.

https://postimg.cc/K4vdhMN5

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

Hjalden would be a densely populated country with big cities mostly located on the rivers in the western part of the country, near but not necessarily on the Arlsee. The population would be quite ethnically homogenous, with only Hjaldish and an indigenous group having Hjalden as their "ethnic homeland". There'd be little emigration from the country, and a quite large immigration, with both asylum seekers and labour immigration being quite uncommon. Hjalden's economy would be driven by IT-exports and industrial manufacturing, as well as chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Hjalden would have a very high HDI of approximately 0.960, and export-driven free market principals would make the Hjaldish economy one of the fastest growing. Infrastructure-wise, Hjalden would have a very extensive rail network, with new high-speed routes between the largest cities. The highways would mostly emanate from the ring route around the capital, spreading all over the country. The cities I intend to map will take inspiration from Sweden and Germany, with historical developments being very much considered.

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

The Hjaldish language would be an exact copy of the Swedish one, which is my native language. The cultural history of Hjalden would be shaped by farming traditions and the fast urbanising that happened in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The culture of the nation will also mostly be Swedish, but with small touches of Dutch and German.

	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.

I have mapped the country of Lingne for about a year. I have although reached a creative deadpoint and I don't think I can do anything fun with that territory anymore, partially due to the inactivity in the region, but also because of previous, inexpericened mapping destroying the immersion a bit. When I created the concept of Lingne I really didn't have it much thought out, and I punched way above my weight with trying to create a conlang and massively detailed nation with very little previous experience.

With that said, I have learnt from a lot of my mistakes and I now have an ambition and an idea that I really want to carry out. The best parts of my mapping in Lingne was probably the city of Bries and the nearby village of Gairdsby, as well as perhaps the island of Flausou. I have also mapped in blue territories before, and created villages such as Branthouse.

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

Souzzzzie (talk) 10:45, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

	Discussion
	Discussion for clarification & decision

Hello. Thank you for the application. I will have to at a minimum confer with my co-admin for the region, but I have a few clarifying questions first. (1) Is this a territory swap? It seems like it, and we will probably require that; but I want to confirm your intention. (2) Is there a reason for the landlocked UL11m instead of the coastal UL12c, UL12d, or UL12e? Just want to understand your intentions there also. (3) A few of the comments in the application are a bit contradictory or do not make sense. For example, "ethnically homogeneous" contra "large immigration" contra "uncommon" groups. Next, what would be the resources and trade routes that would spur on the types of export-driven trade, industries, infrastructure, and HDI that you're suggesting? They're not impossible, but they're quite difficult to imagine without knowing that vision. This would be uncommon for a small landlocked country like this unless there are active key resources driving it. Thanks. — Alessa _(talk) 13:17, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello, yes, this would be a territory swap. The are like a number of reasons I chose UL11m as the territory for Hjalden. It is paritally because of the size, and the composition of the territory being very square. I also don't want it to be too much to the north and still want a reasonable climate for farming and such, as well as I imagined large parts of Hjalden being quite flat. And you're absolutely right about the "ethnically homogenous" thing, I kinda imagine it as one culture being the norm and assimilation-standard and that immigrated cultures eventually adapt to it. But to like make it very concrete, I imagine it as like 80% Hjaldish, 9% WU immigrants, 9% non-WU immigrants, and like 2% natives up in the northern region. Regarding resources and trade routes, Hjalden has access to the Thomern river that flows out into the Vinn Sea, as well as a river starting in Hjalden flowing eastwards down into the Great Rift. This allows for quite great trade access even though the territory is landlocked. The rivers also create very fertile land and Hjalden would pre-industrialisation be a leading nation for farming. The exports would be centered around a world-renowned car brand, high-technological industries, IT companies and a small yet profitable mining industry in the northwest. If you have any more questions please ask :) Souzzzzie (talk) 18:20, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

I have compiled a number of questions and points that may be worth considering as you further develop the application and the territory in the future.

Firstly, how does the location and natural geography support the population and economy? The territory is located at around 60 degrees north, considerably distant from any maritime influences, with the closest open ocean being some 1600km away in the area of Ingrea and Kalm, the closed bodies of water of the Vinn and Sigal I would generally expect to be in large part frozen in the winter, similar to the Baltic. Moreover, with the mountains nearby, the area would generally be cooled substantially and likely have a significant winter high, leading to a very tough climate for half of the year. So while it may be similar in latitude to Stockholm (which is already agriculturally marginal), it may really be more comparable to at least Saint Petersburg or even further east of that. I think it would be a very challenging place to farm and support a significant pre-industrial population. Keep in mind Finland has only around 5m people despite having access to food from the sea. I think you also may be underestimating the challenges with trading despite the river access. Consider Russia's position in the Baltic, the number of potentially adversary states along the route to the Atlantic has always been a major challenge for them, despite having access via the Arctic for at least some of the year, and this is despite international law granting states significantly more right to passage through the seas than through rivers. UL11m has at least 3 states to pass through by river, and then still all the Vinn Sea coastal states and Kalm before it can access open ocean (UL12a would be unreliable due to ice). Contrast to the fact that the Nordic states have had a history of alignment, and have had to rely on significant natural resources (oil/gas for Norway and Denmark, Iron for Sweden) to gain wealth, and through each other have generally had open access to the ocean too, and are very resilient geographically to external pressure. All these factors had to align to create those wealthy economies.

Secondly, how do you envisage the relations to (potential) neighbouring territories? I am not entirely sure you will find the difference in activity matter significantly compared to where Lingnen is located, though I do expect you will find the more concrete existing geography of the region easier to work with than a blank slate as with your current territory. I do wonder how you would reconcile Hjaldish being what I understand to be a relatively closed and unconnected culture with other Nordic language group territories being open in the region, how would you envisage the development of these cultures having occurred throughout history? More generally I think it may be worth putting some deeper consideration into where the territory would sit with respect to the cultures of the surroundings. This would also be relevant to the first point of the economy.

I will emphasise I think you should stick to considering these points merely as you personally find them interesting, these are not a must-do by any means. Howeverm I do hope some of them may be helpful for reinforcing your application and fleshing out a territory that you enjoy mapping.

Regards --- Qhfreddy (talk) 00:19, 27 January 2026 (UTC)

I will like to add that the points given by both Alessa and Qhfreddy are very good points brought up. Additionally, based on your sketch, it would appear that you have confused the mountains and valleys in Silland for plains and mountains, respectivelly. The areas mapped with woodland are in fact the valleys between the mountains, whereas the blank areas are the mountains. I think contacting Liadrien for a more concise topography guide on what he already has mapped is a good idea, but I think you'd first need to understand how terrain and vegetation works in such latitude before mapping. I think Liadrien was going for this, or this type of natural mapping, with the forested valleys and barren hilltops. Please research the present mapping in the neighboring territories first.

Continuing with the other two mappers' points, I also believe you need to rethink the historical and modern dynamics of how your country came to be, its economic model and potential, and especially why it is so rich. Not because it's something that will alter our decision for this request, but because I'd prefer the general lore to be realistic alongside being interesting to you. I am not against ultra rich countries, and I'll not police around how rich each country should realistically be, but I'd like to see a solid thought process of why such is the case. I think the other users' arguments are solid counter-points. I mean still nothing forbids you from having a high-tech based economy in the modern age, but a defined historical background will also guide you when you map towns, infrastructre, etc. For example Sweden's economy grew due to plentiful iron and wood resources, while Norway focused on fishing and was the poorest Scandinavian kingdom before the discovery of oil, as far as I understand. As for the climate, indeed the common consensus is that the planet is a bit warmer to allow countries up north (or south) to thrive, but this is still a territory at 60 degrees north in an area shielded away from a Gulf Stream-equivalent. Your mapping is pretty good, but I'd like you to rethink the country concept a bit, and find a middle ground between what's realistic and coherent within the region's present scope of mapping, and what you prefer to map and create.── Bixelkoven (talk) (West Uletha Admin) 16:28, 27 January 2026 (UTC)

Thank you all for your remarks. They all bring up very valid things that I have missed and not thought through, and for now, I will withdraw my application and try to find a better territory for my idea, as well as giving my nation a much more thorough history with material context to its location and surroundings. Thank you! Souzzzzie (talk) 20:24, 27 January 2026 (UTC)

	Territory application closed
	Withdrawn by applicant. — Alessa (talk) 14:00, 28 January 2026 (UTC)