Because No-One has had the audacity to pile stones and clay on top until it is 300Meter/1000Ft Above Sea Level. Or at least that was the definition when I was a kid.
The best mountains are mesas huge, flat topped tables of rock i constantly dream of a world where the 'known world' is the top of a GIANT mesa surrounded in all directions by steep cliffs so tall clouds block the view to the bottom a people living under the illusion that the edge of their hill is the edge of the world
Side note: if I ever get my crafty rat hands on a PC that I can play the Minecraft server on I am absolutely starting a mesa-top town maybe even a whole civilisation if it gets popular
@@kitchengun1175Next thing you know, Your civilization will grow an Elf level of arrogance believing your civilization is superior to all because you have the high ground
Unironically I might use flat earth theory as inspiration for worldbuilding, once you get knee deep into that muck you start to see some wild, wild theories on what the world looks like. To some of those nutcases, the world isn't just a flat disc made up of the continents we know. To them, there's continents beyond the ice wall, things like abyssal seas and oceans of mud.
A little tip from my own country and region: mountain ranges with some or lots of volcanoes make good farmland or grazing fields. Mountain civilizations with high agriculture rates are very viable.
You can also look at japan they are literally all mountains with not so much flat areas and they have still some of the highest population density. That really shows how much nutriens are in the soil.
@@mistereiswolf70 Not necessarily the best example, because Japan imports a lot of food to sustain that population. That said, they do still have a decent amount of agriculture despite the limited space.
Mountains are a quite interesting habitat. Mountain communities can be quite the melting pot and can be quite divers. Also and I think that is quite important. Mountain communities are often great keepers of cultures and knowledge. The Alps contain some of the oldest chapels and monestaries in Europe for example.
Notable thing about Thermopylae was that the Spartans did garrison the pass that outflanked them, but it was with inferior troops and they were destroyed
I’ve found a lot of information about where to put mountains, but this was the first I recall that talked about the difficulties of living in the mountains and various civilizations that have sprouted up there along with how they survived there. I knew it wasn’t easy, but I hadn’t thought about the specific reasons, so this was interesting and very useful. Thank you.
I have four weeks of parole left and I am NOT gonna have this ruined by no STUPID CLIMATE PROTESTERS. I hope yall like this kind of video. It's not heavily edited, and therefore is mostly to listen to for all 45 mins of information. Thanks!
When i draw up maps, i start with "continental" plates, by just drawing random circles on a paper, i get the outline of regions and plates, these circles governs the general shape of the land mass as well where i put my mountains. This is a personal shortcut to get more realistic maps but that i can, ive done this for ages and i get nice maps a lot easier and with less brain power. Then for further world building i choose the direction of the "wind", where forests form where a lot of moisture would be carried and dry lands where there woudnt be a lot of moisture. Then from there i get rivers and lakes flowing from forests and wet lands, and maybe a few rouge rivers, and from there i start telling tales of what happens and how this shaped the world and society. This is just my way of world building for my DnD campaigns and "novels", do with it what you will.
You forgot horst and graben topography - this is what created the Rwenzori mountains, some of the tallest mountains in Africa, tall enough for glaciers! Its pretty damn weird for horst and graben to create such dramatic uplift, but it _did_ happen and the effect is really neat. Its a good way both to get mountains in a rift zone, and to get really small yet really high mountain ranges. Its a very ignored form of mountain building. Some mountains in the American Basin and Range province are also formed this way.
I’ll also add that even neighboring mountains can be very different, I was in the alps recently and you can be in a forest, look across a valley, and see grass or snow.
One of the things i Love about the Gotrek and Felix series is they explain that the tectonic plates are locked by the old ones and that why the mountains have been the same for thousands of years
I think it would be interesting to figure out sky islands for world building too. One of the most mythical landscapes, yet so hard to imagine on how they would work realistically...😊
It all depends on how they stay up. Look at subnautica floating islands. They are kept up by floaters (a symbiotic creature that lifts up rocks and feeds off the organic detritus produced by the surface life) or a giant floating lily (a sub floating island) If the up is permanent then people would need to know how to fly to settle there to begin with. Take "Project Nomads" floating islands that permanently float through the skylands. All the people have flight tech and the ability to move certain islands as sudeo battleships. If the up is temporary, or born from some clear origin. They will likely be religious, exiled, or purposefully taking to these islands, perhaps as a way to move between continents, or to "ascend". Then you need to decide on size. Big islands? Possibly self sufficient. Small islands? Well they will likely be raiders or have incredible storehouses as they drift through the heavens for a limited time.
Sky islands are a staple in Japanese RPGs. From what I've seen, they're usually floating by some form of magic object or resource in the world. Skies of Arcadia takes place in a world of sky islands, and airships are the main mode of transportation- not only a logical technological progression, but airships are just cool. Alternatively, you can populate sky islands with bird people or some other winged race.
@@solomon4554 indeed, but that is heavily shaped by how they are up in the sky. Permanent sky islands that are held aloft by magic/minerals ala Studio Ghibli's "Castle in the sky". Are going to be vary different from a temporary sky island, that is torn from the earth to drift temporarily through the heavens. And that would in turn shape how a society functions. For example small temporary islands would be doomed. As it would likely lack sufficient water for an earth like ecosystem to operate. Thus the people would likely avoid farming on them, as it's too small for them to work. Raiders would bring goods in so small "vermin" would hang around their warehouses as they're more likely to drop food and other such miscellaneous materials. Whereas permanent islands would have ecosystems that were totally independent from the ground below. My mention of how people would interact with said islands was simply a continuation of my standard thought process. As that would shape how I incorporated them into the story I was telling.
I found this review refreshingly well researched and informative. I actually learned a number of things from it. Many people know very little about mountains. I love them and try to spend as much time as possible in them. You really nailed it. You earned a sub
Something I would have included: In Arizona, we have mountains aplenty. The State is geologically divided between the Sonora Desert, and the Colorado Plataeu. This division is along a massive escarpment of the earth called the Mogollion Rim (mo-gee-yawn). South of the 'Rim is the Valley of the Sun, where the Phoenix Metropolitan Area resides. South of this is the desert proper. In the expanse of this desert (slowly changing in appearance from American to Mexican), there are huge lone mountains, mesas with cold forest ecology (reminiscent of the San Francisco Mountains north of the 'Rim) that are remnants of the previous great Ice Age. These are called Sky Islands. Pumas rule there.
So the Appalachian mountains used to be connected to the Scottish Highlands, and then many eons later, when they had been separated for millions of years, Scots would cross the ocean to settle them. That is glorious.
As the swiss we have some knowledge abot building citys in rocks. So you are quite save if you are really deep in the mountain and dont have very heavy earthquackes. Another builing method we have for building nuclear bunkers in mauntains is a room supended by steel cables in another room.
The honeydew intro caught me attention immediately 😂 I still wonder, from time to time, when the Shadow of Israphael will be concluded.. I was 14 when that stopped and I need my peace!
Great and complex video! It is awesome to hear some smart stuff about realistic worldbuild PS: 33:26 I've heard that only ONE elephant of the Hannibal's army managed to march through mountains.
This video was awesome. Right up my alley. Scientific, educational, quirky and hilarious with perfect humor all for the nerdy sake of explaining the use and process of world building with mountains. Well done
Really great video! I'm impressed by your research and its breadth. I'd add to the religion section that in archaeoastronomy, mountains were also oriented to for the cardinal directions. Certain sacred mountains were aligned with solstice/equinox solar risings connecting the natural world, the calender, and religious rituals to these cyclical patterns.
I might not like your jokes much, but other than that, this was a really well researched history/geography video. Would never have thought I'd see such Aztec bloody pictures in a video like this... Kudos and thanks.
my take on dwarfs is not that they find a mountain and hollow it out but instead build up a mountain as the expand their tunnel a bit like termite mounds
I work on my draconic race that has a fudal houses and class system and they inhabit a very long mountain range and the flatlands between the mountains and the ocean. Do to a big war they now life mostly in the big mountain citys that survived the war do to their defensive positions. This video really helped me to think more about how thr montains would shape the hole system I was working on. Thx for the very longer video das gives more time to really think about everything.
Loved your video! Would love to see a collab with GoT lore expert and analyze Westeros. Even though i love ASOIAF I can’t get over how rivers there make no sense lmao
This video was all fine and dandy and very informative, up until the point where you mentioned Daddy Dagoth. ...Been playing Morrowind since it came out and i truly did not think about him while watching this video, but yes it seems Bethesda took some inspiration there with the story about the sleeping king under the mountain.
When you mentioned hero's i couldn't help but think of high altitude training and how much of an advantage that would give a "hero" and would be another expination about why Hero storyies tend to be around mountins.
I couldn't help it, when you mention glacial lakes, i had to think about the hydroelectric power plant Kaprun. Also, a shame that you forgot hydroelectricity in regard to why settle in mountains. When you mentioned potential energy minutes earlier
I was playing on google maps, and took a look at the Sun City Resort, here in South Africa, I realised it's in a random almost perfect circle of mountain ranges on a flat piece of land, It's formed from a volcano eruption 1200 million years ago, and make for cool place to put a ancient city, like they faked with the Sun City Resort.
Anyone think the idea of scattered moutains based dwarven holds in a large desert area could be fun to work with? You have the obvous harsh conditions of deserts, but the moutains could be relatively plesent once your high enough and the heat drops, plus places where rivers start?
The Geology class paid off! Great tutorial. Last one I checked out was when you were looking at island arcs, like Japan and east Asia. And you mentioned something about WTF is going on north of Australia. It is quite the clusterf***. That said, I’m wondering if you ever touched on the creation of the Rockies, being that they are made up of accreted island arc onto North America.
I will continue to pronounce Himalaya the same way that most English-speaking people pronounce it so that 1. people know what the f I'm talking about and 2. I don't come off as condescending.
I'm liking the idea of putting my people in a part of the mountain range that's above the clouds. Usually that's supposed to be pretty cold but I don't want this to be a cold-adapted culture. I saw the Aka/Akha people in Laos live in mountains literally above the clouds and it didn't seem cold at all. Can't find an answer on how that even works, any tips?
The mushroom btw is a species of Cordyceps and we can actually grow one species of the genus called Cordyceps militaris. The Cordyceps genus acts pike caffeine just more subtle and healthier
Appalachian native here and i can attest to us having a very diffrent culture to the rest of the country. I go north and they think im southern and i south and they think im a Yankee. We are neither lol.
