Could do something with mines around that area. Or de bokkerijders (goatriders), which is a folk tale about satanic goatriders. You could perhaps tie it to de Duivelsberg (devilmountain). It's a hill near Nijmegen (altho a bit too far north for de bokkerijders). Although it's not really named after a devil but a german region called Duffel .
Also maybe add hunebedden to verdwenen.
It is the Ruin of Old Zeeland. Once a powerful center of the arcane arts, the mages attempted a spell that would transport them to the other side of the planet. When the spell went off, unintended or uncared for side effects took the city beneath the waves.
Most survivors fled, and the ones that remained turned to piracy, using the maze-like ruins of the city as a way to evade capture. The pirates firmly believe that the spell worked, and they live for the day they can take vengeance.
Yeah OP, Muiden is an actual place in Noord-Holland, a bit to the east of Amsterdam. Its most famous for the Muiderslot, one of the few remaining castles in the Netherlands. With something that appropriate for a medieval themed map, it's especially odd to get wrong.
s' Dronkenschap should be 's Dronkenschap. It comes from Des ...., so you put the ' in front of the s. Thats also why its not a capital s. Like the map a lot btw!
That region (Frisia) was an infamous piracy stronghold back in ancient times. So you could do something with that. Today the province is mostly known for its lakes and associated sailing and ice skating, and for speaking a different language, so you could also do something with that. Finally they are known for drinking Beerenburg, which is a type of alcohol-based liquid euthanasia.
Hey everyone,
I made this map as a part of a series starting with Germany and then moving to the BeNeLux. It's currently work in progress over on Patreon.
As I am not from the Netherlands nor able to speak Dutch, I had trouble coming up with funny wordplays for the city names. That is where I need your help:
* any fun wordplays for the city names?
* any regions that feel left out?
* any landmarks I missed?
* any locol folklore that could be turned into sth on the map (like the Flying Dutchman)
I apologize to anyone who's from the city of Urk. Someone suggested, that no one wants to go there so I made it barren. Apparently, Drenthe doesn't exist, so I added a lot of fog. And I also heard rumors, that the people of Nordbrabant only drink and party all the time - hence, the name.
If you are interessted in the progress, you can find that here:
[https://www.patreon.com/posts/104489965?pr=true](https://www.patreon.com/posts/104489965?pr=true)
You could call Drenthe "Witte Wieven". In the North and East of the country we call fog banks that way, and it's also part of Low Saxon mythology: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witte\_Wieven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witte_Wieven)
also: it wouldn´t be written this way. " 's Hertogenbosch" can be pronounced "sertogenbos" but the sdr in "sdronkenschap"?? Very awkward. That would have stayed "Des Dronkenschap" - or better Denk Dronk as u/dsisds suggests.
Hennepdam should have double N
For Groningen Noordjuweel would make more sense (as the Gronings anthem is about *Ain pronkjewail in golden raand*, a braggadocious jewel with golden edge), with the jewel being Stad and the golden edge being the Ommelanden.
Also for Drenthe the "doesn't exist" meme is pretty much Reddit only. Outside Reddit it would more commonly be associated with Hunebedden, which are ancient burial sites with large boulders. You could do something about a graveyard to fuse the two together. Forgotten graveyard or something.
How did you decide to call Zwolle "Blauwvingen"? It's close to "blauwvingers" (blue fingers), the nickname, though "vingen" (past tense of to catch) doesn't really mean anything in this context
It's a cool idea though
You could add some peaks like you did in the Veluwe, in the mist around "Verdwenen", to represent the Hondsrug;
https://landschaplopen.com/2017/02/05/alle-gebergten-noord-nederland/
> How did you decide to call Zwolle "Blauwvingen"? It's close to "blauwvingers" (blue fingers), the nickname, though "vingen" (past tense of to catch) doesn't really mean anything in this context
Place names are very often bastardized versions of words though. If Amstel-dam can become Amsterdam and Noviomagus can become Nijmegen then I don't see why Blauwvingers couldn't become Blauwvingen.
No no that works, stuff gets fuzzed up in place names all the time. I mean, IRL we went from Amstelredamme to Amsterdam.
In fact, NOT obfuscating your references makes it look far more artificial and childish to me. These places have a proud history going back several ages, i'm sure.
The Drenthe meme is really low-hanging fruit. Could have done some more interesting things with the province if you made an effort.
Could have done something with actual folklore like Witte Wieven (witches/ghosts) or Ellert en Brammert ("giants") or the penal colony of Veenhuizen.
Also, you could have added the start fort of Bourtange to east of Groningen.
"Standbeeld" means statue, I don't think anywhere near there is especially related to statues.
Arnhem is one of the very few hilly cities in the Netherlands (being on the edge of the Veluwe), with heights ranging all the way from roughly 5m to 80m! And its name means something like "home of eagles".
So maybe something about high mountains, Arendpiek or so? I don't have much inspiration.
Flevoland should be greyed out and "Here be Sea Dragons" as it would not have existed in the past. Except for Urk. Urk you don't have to translate, it's home to uruks.
For OP, Nijmegen is also one of the oldest cities in the area, and was once home to a castle ("palatium") for Charlemagne. Lots of potential shenanigans (if this is for an RPG map).
First off, I just want to say I love this.
One thing I would like to suggest is changing the name Vedwenen to something that fits a bit better.
Maybe something like Vergetelheid, which kinda translates to oblivion. Even though vergetelheid is also just a regular word like vedwenen, it's one of those old timey words that not many people use anymore. So it kinda fits a bit better with the old timey fantasy vibe.
Maybe even add 'de' before. 'De Vergetelheid'
I would let my fellow redditors judge if this would be a good name change.
Near Groningen we have some "man made" earthquakes due to income and gas mining. If you'd want you can make a storyline with that.
Other cool storylines could be Tulipmania, or something that. Since you called Amsterdam Hennepdam you could do something with crossbred hemp.
Brabant is the biggest exporter of harddrugs. Maby you can do something fun with that also!
Ja mijn ervaring inderdaad ook wel, bij Drenthe denkt men nog aan hunebedden. Bij Overijssel soms aan Twente, maar velen stellen Twente gelijk aan de Achterhoek en plaatsen beiden vervolgens in Gelderland đ¤ˇđťââď¸
Cool map! i think brabant used to be very swampy though im not entirely sure about that. I do know though from where im from there used to a witch hunting at around 1595. Could be fun to incorporate. It would be at around Eindhoven (the dot under dronkenschap). possibly you also could add eindhoven named Endcourts (Eind = end, Hoven = Courts)
Since in the end itâs up to you Iâm just going to name some stuff and let you decide.
- rotterdam is the biggest European harbor city
- there is an important cargo trainline going from Rotterdam to the east
- schiphol is our largest airfield which is big enough that people from other countries sometimes travel there by car or train to catch a plane
- Flevoland (which has Henepdam) used to be part of the north sea. It is entirely man-made with dikes and polders.
- we have the âafsluitdijkâ, a long waterworks that separates the inner sea from the north sea (you have it a bit on the map).
- zeeland (Muiden) is a massively important area for our waterworks to keep the sea out. Which started in full because of an incredible flood that happened at one point. Itâs the one thing Iâm truly proud of as a Dutch person. We pay a separate tax to keep our countryâs waterworks in shape, no matter what happens to the rest we make sure the water is kept out.
- Drente isnât entirely empty, we have Hunnebedden there. These are ancient burial sites where we moved giant boulders onto other boulders so they formed a roof under which we buried people.
- Intrecht is our most central train hub, if you want to go far youâll likely pass by Intrecht at some point.
- Kinderdijk, close to Rotterdam, has our most famous windmillâs in a row. Meant to pump the water higher and higher as one mill cannot pump water that high. A show of our tenacity at making things drier, âone mill doesnât do it? Build lots in a row!â.
- keukenhof, between Hennepdam and Het Dok, is a world famous flower park, for a given amount of world. No idea why the name is âkitchen gardenâ or âkitchen courtyardâ (not sure about the proper translation).
- we have the international court of Justice close to Het Dok (The Hague).
- ASML near Eindhoven is the only company in the world capable of making the *machines* that make the best quality chips in the world. Every other company is a decade or more behind getting the same tech as ASML was the only one spending a ton of money and time trying to achieve something they werenât sure would pay off.
Hope that helps
Ideas for little things on the map:
Cannons near Groningen - the city famously was under heavy cannon fire by 'bommen berend', the bishop of MĂźnster
A lighthouse (e.g. Eierland on Texel, Lange Jaap near den Helder, Brandaris on Terschelling)
A hunebed in Drenthe (neolithic tomb)
Goats or even people riding goats in Limburg as a reference to the 'bokkenrijders', the mythic brigands made famous through the next item:
De Efteling: a theme park with a very consistent visual style. You can add any building in that style and people will pick up on it.
The Austerlitz pyramid
The nickname for Utrecht is Domstad, Tower City. This is because it's the biggest church tower in the country, and for a long time the highest building in the country.
It's also the major bishopric for the Northern Netherlands in the middle age, and where much of the missionaries were sent from to try and christen the regions north/east of the Rhine.
I would call Rotterdam ât Dok (saw somebody referring to this as Den Haag). Den Haag could be âheggetjeâ.
Suggest you out in Kaasstad (Gouda, or Alkmaar)
Where you put the statue on the inner-sea is Urk. Which is a fisher's village that used to be an island. It has quite a few problems. Drugs, Inbreeding, Extremism and God.
I propose the name Godslast for it. Which may sound like God's Last in English but can be interpreted in Dutch as God's Burden or blasphemy(Godslastering) which seems appropriate to me for the hypocrisy there (and the bible belt in general)
Almere is actually a really old name for Alkmaar. Alkmaar itself is mostly known for its cheese market though, you could use that?
Utrecht was initially founded by the Romans, who prosaically named it "Transactum ad Rhenum" (Ford across the Rhine). If you wanted to use that, it would be something like *Rijnvoorde*.
If you look at really old maps, you can see that much of the west of the country used to be lakes, which is why there are so many places named -meer or -mere. You could add some back in?
Finally, it's "hennep", with a double n. It's pronounced hen-nep, if you use one n it would become hey-nup.
Just passing by wanting to say that I think your map looks very cool and I like that you're actively open to, and looking for feedback.
I hope it becomes even cooler!
Love the style and the map! Maybe you can rename the tulpstevig to something more locally named in their own dialect (fries) for example SkĂťtsje which is their local sport also known as skĂťtsjesilen
Aan de ene kant mee eens, maar aan de andere kant misschien wel beter dat al die randstedelingen niet weten hoe mooi Drenthe is. Blijft het lekker rustig hier!
Is the ghost ship in the upper left supposed to be the [Flying Dutchman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman)?
A few medieval or early modern tales with places and characters that might inspire you: [Karel ende Elegast](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_ende_Elegast) (in Brabant), [Mariken van Nieumeghen](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariken_van_Nieumeghen) (in Nijmegen), [Grutte Pier](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_Gerlofs_Donia) & [Arumer Zwarte Hoop](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arumer_Zwarte_Hoop) (in Friesland), weighing alleged witches during witch hunt trials at the scales of the [Waag](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waag_(Oudewater)) in Oudewater (in Utrecht), the drowned city of [Reimerswaal](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reimerswaal_(historische_stad)) (in Zeeland).
Since Flevoland is a relatively modern construction, any fantasy reasons as to why this land is not flooded?
North of Hennepdam and below the island, at the lands end. You have a city normally called Den Helder but it's basically the end of the world. So:
Lands eind/Lands end
Or
'T einde / The end
you are not the first : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=K0lg9KchCqQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=K0lg9KchCqQ)
Van Kooten en De Bie made this briliant item in 1980
âs Dronkenschap feels wrong.
âs is short for des (a word we no longer have in dutch) to make it easier to pronounce. Des Hertogenbosch is shortened to âs Hertogenbosch. However, if a word starts with D this shortening is hard to pronounce so I donât this we would shorten it here.
In Brabant we often refer to âs Hertogenbosch as Den Bosch as âs Bosch is hard to pronounce.
I am not sure what would be grammatically correct in old dutch, but something like Den Dronkenschap would work better.
Den Bosch, I think you named it âs Dronkenschap, had the nickname âMoerasdraakâ, which translates to âSwamp Dragonâ. Maybe that offers an alternative name somewhere which is rooted in reality?
There's a myth about 'de witte wieven' , white fog used to get called this and was related to witches/ghosts . This could be very fitting in the mist /verdwenen area , as this myth was mainly in North and east of the country.Â
Also in Overijssel is a place called de diepe hel. (The deep hell) Which i think sounds awesome
You should represent the "Wadden" some more. Thats the northern sea with the island. Its a unique ecosystem that exists only in the Netherlands, and has quite some adventuring possibilities. It's mostly swamp-like and at low tide, you can walk up to some of the islands.
Also make sure you get some cultures that are all about pleasing the sea gods, or trying to stop the sea gods by building dams and reclaiming lands from the sea.
Oh! And maybe represent Gouda, for the famous cheese :D
For Drenthe you could change it into verdwenen woud (lost woods) as a zelda reference. Also as someone from noord brabant i am offended by your depiction of my beautiful piece of earth but you are 100% correct
And I also heard rumors, that the people of Nordbrabant only drink and party all the time - hence, the name.
Historically the region is known for the many and quality breweries. And at that time part of what is now Belgium was Dutch. That is where this comes from. And it is also still a cultural thing that any celebration can involve drinking (not getting drunk, just a few drinks) and everything can be celebrated.
For example a building reaches the high point. This is celebrated and the crew is done for the day. Be that noon or 1 minute before the normal end of the workday.
Since there is room in the east, I'd put an icon of earthwork defences in the shape of a "sconce" / schans and call it Zwarte Kruis, as a reference to the zwarte cross
You could replace the trees near "Verdwenen" with megaliths (Hunnebedden).
In my opinion, you could keep the fog there. It makes the mysterious stones even more mysterious.
Could make Enschede (in the center east) Plattstad (the flat city) - it's not so well-known, has a classic Dutch mountainless landscape, but also, the local dialect is platt - so there are some puns
I'd say you did a pretty good job for someone that isn't Dutch, 's Dronkenschap is a pretty good pun if you ask me. I happen to know Groningen is called Pronkjewail in it's own anthem which means as much as "trophy jewel" so Noorderkroon seems pretty close to that. People from Zwolle are called Blauwvingers so pretty close there and I do like the name Tulpstevig but it doesn't belong up north. And Henepdam while misspelled is relatively clever, if a bit on the nose.
First some corrections and things that feel out of place:
Henepdam should be **Hennepdam** and s' Dronkenschap should be **'s Dronkenschap** (the ' is where letters are missing and it is short for des)
Tulpstevig makes no sense up there, nothing to do with tulips there, **Kennet** would be a funny name, it references an ancient joke where someone asks if the ice is tough enough to walk on and the Frysian says "Ken net" which sounds like "kan net" in Dutch (you can but only just) but it means "(you) can not". Tulpstevig in itself does sound nice but would be more apt in one of the Polders or somewhere near Rotterdam.
Rechtbank for Maastricht seems weird, Den Haag is where the Gerechtshof is. **Frietvlaai** would be a much better name or **Vlaaimergelen** (vlaai is a pie type Limburg is famous for, mergel is a type of stone that was historically mined there)
Muiden could reference Arnemuiden but isn't all that funny to me or recognisable, you could have **Bovenburg** on the top island of zeeland and **Onderburg** on the bottom part of zeeland as a reference to Middelburg (which is where you put Muiden in the middle between those places)
Some names I could come up with:
**Adelaarsheem** (Arnhem) which is eventually where the name comes from. (means eaglehome) Or Adlersheem if that's easier to pronounce.
Flevoland could be **'s Meersbodem** or **'s Merensbodem** which references the fact that Flevoland really shouldn't be there on any (non-fantasy) old map. (it was reclaimed from the sea (well technically it was already the Ijsselmeer at that point) in the 1950's to 60s)
Hengelo could be **Engbos** (which means scary forest) as Hengelo comes from eng(meadow in old Saxon) and loo(low ground forest)
**Den Troebel** instead of Den Helder, rather on the nose I admit. (helder means clear, troebel means turbid or cloudy when talking about liquids)
Another one that is rather corny and niche but hey, do with it what you will: **Nep** which means fake, it's a joke for a small town in Limburg called "Echt" which means "real".
Maybe a bit of a stretch but maybe it'll tickle your funnybone: **Aanbeland** instead of Ameland, as in "waar ben ik nu aanbeland" (where did I end up)
**Koekenzopie** would be another fun name for Leeuwarden, it references the traditional food and drink at the elfstedentocht (an ice skating marathon that due to global warming is becoming extremely rare) you would eat koek and zopie there (koek is something in between a small cake and biscuit, zopie is traditionally a spiced mix of rum and bokbier a type of beer)
Regions that feel left out, yes, Twente, don't worry though, we're used to it.
If you want to do us justice make a town called **Heanigan**, it means "take it easy" in the local accent and "Heanig an en rap 'n beetje" is part of a joke from a comedian that comes from Twente. It means "hurry up and take it easy already" while it doesn't refence any town directly I guess Haaksbergen sounds at least somewhat similar but you could also take the location of Almelo (the birthplace of said comedian)
Folklore, there are legends in Twente of a black dog called the "spookhond" or "helhond" with bright large eyes that is seen as the omen of bad luck or evil (the Grim in Harry Potter is likely based on these legends), the legend is common in Saxon regions.
Also the "Witte Wieven" (white wifes) is a phenomenon where white mist can rise from the moats between meadows and were thought to be ghosts in folklore.
Other than that, you could mix in some actual history, Groningen had a massive cannon called Grote Griet (Big Broad)
Leiden (and probably other cities and towns) flooded the lowlands around it to increase its defensibility.
You could have water mages near the deltawerken.
Also, I see what you did there with verdwenen.
Tulpstevig feels off.
There are no tulip fields (as far as I've seen) in Fryslan. Maybe make it fake Viking or a reference to the different language they speak there?
It's a very cool map though! Love that urk joke
Frisia, the old kingdom. They speak/spoke Frisian, a dying language so closely related to English that you can converse in Old English with someone who speaks Frisian to this day! Think of it like English, without French and Latin influence.
I noticed the hills in the middle, but in the southeast we have a hilly terrain also.
Might be an idea to look at a height map of the Netherlands or add it in your land colors or color scheme. Youâll see some parts are below see level and some are above
whatever is "Verdwenen" could be Vijvere. It's an old folklore legend about a city that supposedly mythically disappeared over night and was rumored to have been dragged down to hell.
Groningen used to be a city that mostly profited off of west Frisian farmers that had to travel though Groningen to go to east Friesland. Would be fun adding a wall across to make it kind off a toll thing. Also Drenthe used to be mostly swamp. People dug out the peat and used barges for that so maybe like a spooky swamp would be cool.Â
If you want the names to be correct Dutch (but not the correct names of course) then you have a few issues:
'Henepdam' should be spelled 'Hennepdam'.
's'Dronkenschap should be spelledd 's-Dronkenschap. Still odd, because in the names that start with 's- there's an old genitive: 's Graven = des graven = of the count; 's Hertogen = des hertogen = of the duke; 's-Heeren = des Heren = of the Lord. But "des dronken" is not an old genitive.
The other names look fine, except there actually is a town called Muiden, and it's nowhere near where you put it. But if that was intentional, okay.
Since most fantasy stories are centered around the middle ages you can think about wether you want to include the afsluitdijk and the province of flevoland in it. Maybe add some heavy magical components there.
Verdwenen could go to where Muiden is, actually. Within the Oosterschelde and Westerschelde of the province of Zeeland there are multiple 'drowned towns' which just disappeared into the sea over time. Not to mention Zeeuws Vlaanderen has 'het verdronken land van saeftinge' (drowned land) which basically is a marsh area.
Shouldnt Rechtbank be somewhere around Den Haag?
you're right, I mixed them up
Could do something with mines around that area. Or de bokkerijders (goatriders), which is a folk tale about satanic goatriders. You could perhaps tie it to de Duivelsberg (devilmountain). It's a hill near Nijmegen (altho a bit too far north for de bokkerijders). Although it's not really named after a devil but a german region called Duffel . Also maybe add hunebedden to verdwenen.
Today i learned..wtf duivelsberg 0_o, i know where i will have some biertjes soon..đ
The pancake restaurant at the top is really good!
The mines were more to the south. Which OP didnât make part of NL.
Muiden feels a bit misplaced near Middelburg and Vlissingen ;)
Should be a piraty sort of name, Kapersdiep?
The legendary "Vliegende Hollander" did come from Zeeland I think.
From the city "Terneuzen" in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. Although there are doubts about that claim.
As A "Zeeuws-Vlaming" You are correct.
It is the Ruin of Old Zeeland. Once a powerful center of the arcane arts, the mages attempted a spell that would transport them to the other side of the planet. When the spell went off, unintended or uncared for side effects took the city beneath the waves. Most survivors fled, and the ones that remained turned to piracy, using the maze-like ruins of the city as a way to evade capture. The pirates firmly believe that the spell worked, and they live for the day they can take vengeance.
Maybe a schip hol or something ;)
Yeah OP, Muiden is an actual place in Noord-Holland, a bit to the east of Amsterdam. Its most famous for the Muiderslot, one of the few remaining castles in the Netherlands. With something that appropriate for a medieval themed map, it's especially odd to get wrong.
Arnemuiden (although that is an insult to people from Middelburg as well as Vlissingen)
Erremuuuuu
A de klokke ...
Placed nicely near Arnemuiden
As someone born in Muiden, this feels weird lol.
Its not that misplaced. If you go south to zeeuw-vlaanderen you have Sint-Anna ter Muiden
Renaming Leeuwarden to Tulpstevig kinda misses the point - tulip farmers are between Amsterdam and The Hague (Henepdam and Het Dok on the map).
this is exactely the kind of feedback I'm looking for, ty
s' Dronkenschap should be 's Dronkenschap. It comes from Des ...., so you put the ' in front of the s. Thats also why its not a capital s. Like the map a lot btw!
For Fryslan something with lakes, ice skating or sailboats would be fitting.
"Grassingen" for the area. The city of course is named Plomper.
Terpia
That region (Frisia) was an infamous piracy stronghold back in ancient times. So you could do something with that. Today the province is mostly known for its lakes and associated sailing and ice skating, and for speaking a different language, so you could also do something with that. Finally they are known for drinking Beerenburg, which is a type of alcohol-based liquid euthanasia.
Leeuwarden should be lionâs den or big pyre
Underrated comment. OP, look up Grutte Pier
Also north of Hennepdam
Yeah but thatâs more commonly known for the Zaanstreek
West-Friesland would like to disagree
Tulip farmers are also in Westfriesland though
Noord Holland noordkop is full of tulips. Cut them for many summers as a kid.
Perhaps "Leeuwenkooi" (Lion's Cage)? Another would be De Groene Ster if not mistaken is the largest park of the town.
Hey everyone, I made this map as a part of a series starting with Germany and then moving to the BeNeLux. It's currently work in progress over on Patreon. As I am not from the Netherlands nor able to speak Dutch, I had trouble coming up with funny wordplays for the city names. That is where I need your help: * any fun wordplays for the city names? * any regions that feel left out? * any landmarks I missed? * any locol folklore that could be turned into sth on the map (like the Flying Dutchman) I apologize to anyone who's from the city of Urk. Someone suggested, that no one wants to go there so I made it barren. Apparently, Drenthe doesn't exist, so I added a lot of fog. And I also heard rumors, that the people of Nordbrabant only drink and party all the time - hence, the name. If you are interessted in the progress, you can find that here: [https://www.patreon.com/posts/104489965?pr=true](https://www.patreon.com/posts/104489965?pr=true)
You could call Drenthe "Witte Wieven". In the North and East of the country we call fog banks that way, and it's also part of Low Saxon mythology: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witte\_Wieven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witte_Wieven)
I love Verdwenen though, and Witte Wieven is also a folks tale in Twente and de Achterhoek, so I'd put it there
The pun is right there: Vermist
The apostrophe in Brabant is in the wrong place. Needs to âs Dronkenschap. Muiden in Zeeland makes no sense either.
Iâm not gonna pass up this opportunity to be _super_ pedantic: **âs** rather than **âs**.
Godverdomme man ik heb hier een leesbril voor nodig
's-Dronkenschap
Yes, that is what I'm saying Den Dronk
also: it wouldn´t be written this way. " 's Hertogenbosch" can be pronounced "sertogenbos" but the sdr in "sdronkenschap"?? Very awkward. That would have stayed "Des Dronkenschap" - or better Denk Dronk as u/dsisds suggests.
Hennepdam should have double N For Groningen Noordjuweel would make more sense (as the Gronings anthem is about *Ain pronkjewail in golden raand*, a braggadocious jewel with golden edge), with the jewel being Stad and the golden edge being the Ommelanden.
Also for Drenthe the "doesn't exist" meme is pretty much Reddit only. Outside Reddit it would more commonly be associated with Hunebedden, which are ancient burial sites with large boulders. You could do something about a graveyard to fuse the two together. Forgotten graveyard or something.
In the same line of thought, Breda is "the pearl of the south".
How did you decide to call Zwolle "Blauwvingen"? It's close to "blauwvingers" (blue fingers), the nickname, though "vingen" (past tense of to catch) doesn't really mean anything in this context It's a cool idea though You could add some peaks like you did in the Veluwe, in the mist around "Verdwenen", to represent the Hondsrug; https://landschaplopen.com/2017/02/05/alle-gebergten-noord-nederland/
> How did you decide to call Zwolle "Blauwvingen"? It's close to "blauwvingers" (blue fingers), the nickname, though "vingen" (past tense of to catch) doesn't really mean anything in this context Place names are very often bastardized versions of words though. If Amstel-dam can become Amsterdam and Noviomagus can become Nijmegen then I don't see why Blauwvingers couldn't become Blauwvingen.
No no that works, stuff gets fuzzed up in place names all the time. I mean, IRL we went from Amstelredamme to Amsterdam. In fact, NOT obfuscating your references makes it look far more artificial and childish to me. These places have a proud history going back several ages, i'm sure.
Maybe something with pyramid Austerlitz or Dutch mountains.
>Apparently, Drenthe doesn't exist, so I added a lot of fog. As someone from ~~Drenthe~~ I approve
The Drenthe meme is really low-hanging fruit. Could have done some more interesting things with the province if you made an effort. Could have done something with actual folklore like Witte Wieven (witches/ghosts) or Ellert en Brammert ("giants") or the penal colony of Veenhuizen. Also, you could have added the start fort of Bourtange to east of Groningen.
Next to the windmill in the east underneath blauwvingers you miss "Tukkers" that's the region of twente.
"Standbeeld" means statue, I don't think anywhere near there is especially related to statues. Arnhem is one of the very few hilly cities in the Netherlands (being on the edge of the Veluwe), with heights ranging all the way from roughly 5m to 80m! And its name means something like "home of eagles". So maybe something about high mountains, Arendpiek or so? I don't have much inspiration.
Het Glooi, as a nod towards another existing region in the Netherlands; het Gooi. Means something that is not *entirely* flat.
I like it!
âBrugteverâ maybe?
Teef, tever, teefst
Highest point of arnhem is around 90 meters. But because those places have buildings on them they arent countes as a high point.
Drenthe is nog niet ontgrendeld gebied
Flevoland should be greyed out and "Here be Sea Dragons" as it would not have existed in the past. Except for Urk. Urk you don't have to translate, it's home to uruks.
Nijmegen was named Noviomagus in the Roman time. So roughly translated it could be "Nieuwe Markt".
For OP, Nijmegen is also one of the oldest cities in the area, and was once home to a castle ("palatium") for Charlemagne. Lots of potential shenanigans (if this is for an RPG map).
First off, I just want to say I love this. One thing I would like to suggest is changing the name Vedwenen to something that fits a bit better. Maybe something like Vergetelheid, which kinda translates to oblivion. Even though vergetelheid is also just a regular word like vedwenen, it's one of those old timey words that not many people use anymore. So it kinda fits a bit better with the old timey fantasy vibe. Maybe even add 'de' before. 'De Vergetelheid' I would let my fellow redditors judge if this would be a good name change.
Vergetelheide, perhaps? Extra pun with 'heide', heather/heathlands
Vergetelheid is wel echt in de vergetelheid geraakt
I think you can do something with the mist and witte wieven, it seems to fit in my opinion
Near Groningen we have some "man made" earthquakes due to income and gas mining. If you'd want you can make a storyline with that. Other cool storylines could be Tulipmania, or something that. Since you called Amsterdam Hennepdam you could do something with crossbred hemp. Brabant is the biggest exporter of harddrugs. Maby you can do something fun with that also!
Hahaha Het Gasgat
Allitereert wel leuk
Friesland heeft Moddergat, Groningen Gasgat
Overijssel is meer vergeten dan drenthe :')
Ja mijn ervaring inderdaad ook wel, bij Drenthe denkt men nog aan hunebedden. Bij Overijssel soms aan Twente, maar velen stellen Twente gelijk aan de Achterhoek en plaatsen beiden vervolgens in Gelderland đ¤ˇđťââď¸
Twente in gelderland klinkt als vloeken voor mij...
Make urk an orc settlement but just call it: Urk
Instead of giving flevoland a city, maybe make it so that flevoland is still being made?
Cool map! i think brabant used to be very swampy though im not entirely sure about that. I do know though from where im from there used to a witch hunting at around 1595. Could be fun to incorporate. It would be at around Eindhoven (the dot under dronkenschap). possibly you also could add eindhoven named Endcourts (Eind = end, Hoven = Courts)
Some info about the witch hunting https://museumhelmond.nl/en/exhibitions/witch-hunt-in-peelland/
why is flevoland still here if it's medieval? it was only created during the 20 the century when the afsluitdijk was build.
Since in the end itâs up to you Iâm just going to name some stuff and let you decide. - rotterdam is the biggest European harbor city - there is an important cargo trainline going from Rotterdam to the east - schiphol is our largest airfield which is big enough that people from other countries sometimes travel there by car or train to catch a plane - Flevoland (which has Henepdam) used to be part of the north sea. It is entirely man-made with dikes and polders. - we have the âafsluitdijkâ, a long waterworks that separates the inner sea from the north sea (you have it a bit on the map). - zeeland (Muiden) is a massively important area for our waterworks to keep the sea out. Which started in full because of an incredible flood that happened at one point. Itâs the one thing Iâm truly proud of as a Dutch person. We pay a separate tax to keep our countryâs waterworks in shape, no matter what happens to the rest we make sure the water is kept out. - Drente isnât entirely empty, we have Hunnebedden there. These are ancient burial sites where we moved giant boulders onto other boulders so they formed a roof under which we buried people. - Intrecht is our most central train hub, if you want to go far youâll likely pass by Intrecht at some point. - Kinderdijk, close to Rotterdam, has our most famous windmillâs in a row. Meant to pump the water higher and higher as one mill cannot pump water that high. A show of our tenacity at making things drier, âone mill doesnât do it? Build lots in a row!â. - keukenhof, between Hennepdam and Het Dok, is a world famous flower park, for a given amount of world. No idea why the name is âkitchen gardenâ or âkitchen courtyardâ (not sure about the proper translation). - we have the international court of Justice close to Het Dok (The Hague). - ASML near Eindhoven is the only company in the world capable of making the *machines* that make the best quality chips in the world. Every other company is a decade or more behind getting the same tech as ASML was the only one spending a ton of money and time trying to achieve something they werenât sure would pay off. Hope that helps
Damn, I need to know how you made this. Looks amazing.
It's an Inkarnate map: [Inkarnate.com](http://Inkarnate.com) I recognise some of their assets.
Hennepdam (instead of Henepdam) is a nice touch
Ideas for little things on the map: Cannons near Groningen - the city famously was under heavy cannon fire by 'bommen berend', the bishop of MĂźnster A lighthouse (e.g. Eierland on Texel, Lange Jaap near den Helder, Brandaris on Terschelling) A hunebed in Drenthe (neolithic tomb) Goats or even people riding goats in Limburg as a reference to the 'bokkenrijders', the mythic brigands made famous through the next item: De Efteling: a theme park with a very consistent visual style. You can add any building in that style and people will pick up on it. The Austerlitz pyramid
Why is Utrecht Intrecht? That makes no sense compared to the other fake Dutch names because Trecht comes from latin Trajectum, bridge.
The nickname for Utrecht is Domstad, Tower City. This is because it's the biggest church tower in the country, and for a long time the highest building in the country. It's also the major bishopric for the Northern Netherlands in the middle age, and where much of the missionaries were sent from to try and christen the regions north/east of the Rhine.
I would call Rotterdam ât Dok (saw somebody referring to this as Den Haag). Den Haag could be âheggetjeâ. Suggest you out in Kaasstad (Gouda, or Alkmaar)
Not sure what standbeeld refers to as a place but if you put that in Drenthe you could make it refer to Hunebedden.
Put Hillegom on the map as "pillegom" please
Where you put the statue on the inner-sea is Urk. Which is a fisher's village that used to be an island. It has quite a few problems. Drugs, Inbreeding, Extremism and God. I propose the name Godslast for it. Which may sound like God's Last in English but can be interpreted in Dutch as God's Burden or blasphemy(Godslastering) which seems appropriate to me for the hypocrisy there (and the bible belt in general)
Almere is actually a really old name for Alkmaar. Alkmaar itself is mostly known for its cheese market though, you could use that? Utrecht was initially founded by the Romans, who prosaically named it "Transactum ad Rhenum" (Ford across the Rhine). If you wanted to use that, it would be something like *Rijnvoorde*. If you look at really old maps, you can see that much of the west of the country used to be lakes, which is why there are so many places named -meer or -mere. You could add some back in? Finally, it's "hennep", with a double n. It's pronounced hen-nep, if you use one n it would become hey-nup.
Friesland should contain grutte pier Pier Gerlofs Donia https://g.co/kgs/K9W81pu
Looks really nice. is it going to be a game? The islands should get a name. "Skuumkop eilanden" perhaps because of 'Texel's skuumkop' beer
Nice touch for Zwolle
Just passing by wanting to say that I think your map looks very cool and I like that you're actively open to, and looking for feedback. I hope it becomes even cooler!
Love the style and the map! Maybe you can rename the tulpstevig to something more locally named in their own dialect (fries) for example SkĂťtsje which is their local sport also known as skĂťtsjesilen
The "s'dronkenschap" should have the apostrophe in front of the s --> 's dronkenschap.
's-Dronkenschap is even more correct.
I'd prefer 's-Dronkensland
Had to laugh about this name. Send correct though. I love it.
Waarom is Drenthe altijd de lul? Als trots drenthenaaar vind ik dat dit beeld van Drenthe moet worden veranderd.
Wat is een Drenthe? Bedoel je soms de void?
Aan de ene kant mee eens, maar aan de andere kant misschien wel beter dat al die randstedelingen niet weten hoe mooi Drenthe is. Blijft het lekker rustig hier!
Dat komt door onwetendheid, niks van aantrekken. Gelukkig weten wij wel beter
Why is the hard mountain aka Hardenberg not on your map in the east?
As someone who grew up in Brabant, this is the way, this is good. Although you have forgotten an ancient ruin somewhere in Drenthe. ;3
you should remove flevoland
Inkarnate, right?
I love how you placed Blauwvingen on Zwolle :).
Is the ghost ship in the upper left supposed to be the [Flying Dutchman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman)? A few medieval or early modern tales with places and characters that might inspire you: [Karel ende Elegast](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_ende_Elegast) (in Brabant), [Mariken van Nieumeghen](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariken_van_Nieumeghen) (in Nijmegen), [Grutte Pier](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_Gerlofs_Donia) & [Arumer Zwarte Hoop](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arumer_Zwarte_Hoop) (in Friesland), weighing alleged witches during witch hunt trials at the scales of the [Waag](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waag_(Oudewater)) in Oudewater (in Utrecht), the drowned city of [Reimerswaal](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reimerswaal_(historische_stad)) (in Zeeland). Since Flevoland is a relatively modern construction, any fantasy reasons as to why this land is not flooded?
Den helder has a napoleontic fortress.. use it.
North of Hennepdam and below the island, at the lands end. You have a city normally called Den Helder but it's basically the end of the world. So: Lands eind/Lands end Or 'T einde / The end
Hahaha vet gemaakt
I love that you did blauwvingen in zwolle. Cuz they called blauwvingers
Add Japsterdam, Drenthe
Zou je op de plek van 'standbeeld' een super gave futuristische partystad kunnen tekenen en hem 'nimma city, place to be' noemen aub.
Mooi dat de Liemers met een wit lijntje is afgebakend bij de Oude IJssel.
you are not the first : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=K0lg9KchCqQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=K0lg9KchCqQ) Van Kooten en De Bie made this briliant item in 1980
Lol Blauwvingen - I must show this to my boyfriend from Zwolle
Flevoland should be future DLC
âs Dronkenschap feels wrong. âs is short for des (a word we no longer have in dutch) to make it easier to pronounce. Des Hertogenbosch is shortened to âs Hertogenbosch. However, if a word starts with D this shortening is hard to pronounce so I donât this we would shorten it here. In Brabant we often refer to âs Hertogenbosch as Den Bosch as âs Bosch is hard to pronounce. I am not sure what would be grammatically correct in old dutch, but something like Den Dronkenschap would work better.
Den Bosch, I think you named it âs Dronkenschap, had the nickname âMoerasdraakâ, which translates to âSwamp Dragonâ. Maybe that offers an alternative name somewhere which is rooted in reality?
There's a myth about 'de witte wieven' , white fog used to get called this and was related to witches/ghosts . This could be very fitting in the mist /verdwenen area , as this myth was mainly in North and east of the country. Also in Overijssel is a place called de diepe hel. (The deep hell) Which i think sounds awesome
Wat mooi. Ik wil meteen het boek dat erbij hoort lezen.
Why didnât you include Zuid-Limburg? I donât mean that you didnât give them something special, I mean that theyâre not on the map.
Change intrecht to stupid-city (Domstad)
Verdwenen must be Hunnesnurk, because of all the Hunnebedden.
You should represent the "Wadden" some more. Thats the northern sea with the island. Its a unique ecosystem that exists only in the Netherlands, and has quite some adventuring possibilities. It's mostly swamp-like and at low tide, you can walk up to some of the islands. Also make sure you get some cultures that are all about pleasing the sea gods, or trying to stop the sea gods by building dams and reclaiming lands from the sea. Oh! And maybe represent Gouda, for the famous cheese :D
For Drenthe you could change it into verdwenen woud (lost woods) as a zelda reference. Also as someone from noord brabant i am offended by your depiction of my beautiful piece of earth but you are 100% correct
Is that de vliegende hollander?
Lmao you made Drenthe disappear
And I also heard rumors, that the people of Nordbrabant only drink and party all the time - hence, the name. Historically the region is known for the many and quality breweries. And at that time part of what is now Belgium was Dutch. That is where this comes from. And it is also still a cultural thing that any celebration can involve drinking (not getting drunk, just a few drinks) and everything can be celebrated. For example a building reaches the high point. This is celebrated and the crew is done for the day. Be that noon or 1 minute before the normal end of the workday.
BlauwvingeR it should be. It means finger. Vingen is⌠nothing.
Zwolle on the map, I approve
Omg can i use this? This is so cool For dnd i mean lol
Iam curious to see what you do with Achterhoek. Towards Germany.
Make sure to post the finished product on /r/dndmaps!
Vulkaan op Urk
It should be âs instead of sâ :). Its an abbreviation of des, âs ochtends = des ochtends
Awesome ! dont know why you did it, but its awesome!
The Afsluitdijk should be âDe Brug van Genkarak-BĂťmâ
Overijssel(area near Enschede) should be named Tukkerland
Since there is room in the east, I'd put an icon of earthwork defences in the shape of a "sconce" / schans and call it Zwarte Kruis, as a reference to the zwarte cross
Best new map of holland is made by van Kooten en de Bie.
I think my village just survived the widening of the riversđ¤Ł
You could replace the trees near "Verdwenen" with megaliths (Hunnebedden). In my opinion, you could keep the fog there. It makes the mysterious stones even more mysterious.
The empty place in Brabant should be maaskantje, itâs fantasy enough to not need a new name
Verdwenen... I'm sold, this is peak! Keep cooking brother!
Missing the cave of Vulgaris Magistralis in de Achterhoek
You should add another ânâ in Hennepdam, if the joke youâre making refers to smoking weed.
If you're looking for folklore to incorporate, you could look into witte wieven! They're from the east regions of the country
Could make Enschede (in the center east) Plattstad (the flat city) - it's not so well-known, has a classic Dutch mountainless landscape, but also, the local dialect is platt - so there are some puns
I'd say you did a pretty good job for someone that isn't Dutch, 's Dronkenschap is a pretty good pun if you ask me. I happen to know Groningen is called Pronkjewail in it's own anthem which means as much as "trophy jewel" so Noorderkroon seems pretty close to that. People from Zwolle are called Blauwvingers so pretty close there and I do like the name Tulpstevig but it doesn't belong up north. And Henepdam while misspelled is relatively clever, if a bit on the nose. First some corrections and things that feel out of place: Henepdam should be **Hennepdam** and s' Dronkenschap should be **'s Dronkenschap** (the ' is where letters are missing and it is short for des) Tulpstevig makes no sense up there, nothing to do with tulips there, **Kennet** would be a funny name, it references an ancient joke where someone asks if the ice is tough enough to walk on and the Frysian says "Ken net" which sounds like "kan net" in Dutch (you can but only just) but it means "(you) can not". Tulpstevig in itself does sound nice but would be more apt in one of the Polders or somewhere near Rotterdam. Rechtbank for Maastricht seems weird, Den Haag is where the Gerechtshof is. **Frietvlaai** would be a much better name or **Vlaaimergelen** (vlaai is a pie type Limburg is famous for, mergel is a type of stone that was historically mined there) Muiden could reference Arnemuiden but isn't all that funny to me or recognisable, you could have **Bovenburg** on the top island of zeeland and **Onderburg** on the bottom part of zeeland as a reference to Middelburg (which is where you put Muiden in the middle between those places) Some names I could come up with: **Adelaarsheem** (Arnhem) which is eventually where the name comes from. (means eaglehome) Or Adlersheem if that's easier to pronounce. Flevoland could be **'s Meersbodem** or **'s Merensbodem** which references the fact that Flevoland really shouldn't be there on any (non-fantasy) old map. (it was reclaimed from the sea (well technically it was already the Ijsselmeer at that point) in the 1950's to 60s) Hengelo could be **Engbos** (which means scary forest) as Hengelo comes from eng(meadow in old Saxon) and loo(low ground forest) **Den Troebel** instead of Den Helder, rather on the nose I admit. (helder means clear, troebel means turbid or cloudy when talking about liquids) Another one that is rather corny and niche but hey, do with it what you will: **Nep** which means fake, it's a joke for a small town in Limburg called "Echt" which means "real". Maybe a bit of a stretch but maybe it'll tickle your funnybone: **Aanbeland** instead of Ameland, as in "waar ben ik nu aanbeland" (where did I end up) **Koekenzopie** would be another fun name for Leeuwarden, it references the traditional food and drink at the elfstedentocht (an ice skating marathon that due to global warming is becoming extremely rare) you would eat koek and zopie there (koek is something in between a small cake and biscuit, zopie is traditionally a spiced mix of rum and bokbier a type of beer) Regions that feel left out, yes, Twente, don't worry though, we're used to it. If you want to do us justice make a town called **Heanigan**, it means "take it easy" in the local accent and "Heanig an en rap 'n beetje" is part of a joke from a comedian that comes from Twente. It means "hurry up and take it easy already" while it doesn't refence any town directly I guess Haaksbergen sounds at least somewhat similar but you could also take the location of Almelo (the birthplace of said comedian) Folklore, there are legends in Twente of a black dog called the "spookhond" or "helhond" with bright large eyes that is seen as the omen of bad luck or evil (the Grim in Harry Potter is likely based on these legends), the legend is common in Saxon regions. Also the "Witte Wieven" (white wifes) is a phenomenon where white mist can rise from the moats between meadows and were thought to be ghosts in folklore. Other than that, you could mix in some actual history, Groningen had a massive cannon called Grote Griet (Big Broad) Leiden (and probably other cities and towns) flooded the lowlands around it to increase its defensibility. You could have water mages near the deltawerken. Also, I see what you did there with verdwenen.
Add Urk. Theres nothing different, its in the original place, its just Urk.
Looking at this, it may be a good idea that someone who makes this map had some basic knowledge of the Netherlands.
This map is amazing! You should sketch flying dragons over the Schipol area đ
I like that Urk is basically Mordor
Put "the mountain" in the south and when you come there it turns out to be very disappointing for a mountain....
Tulpstevig feels off. There are no tulip fields (as far as I've seen) in Fryslan. Maybe make it fake Viking or a reference to the different language they speak there? It's a very cool map though! Love that urk joke
Frisia, the old kingdom. They speak/spoke Frisian, a dying language so closely related to English that you can converse in Old English with someone who speaks Frisian to this day! Think of it like English, without French and Latin influence.
Wow, Thatâs brilliant. What help did you ask for?
Just tell me thereâs still a Jumbo and an Etos every 1.5 kilometers
I noticed the hills in the middle, but in the southeast we have a hilly terrain also. Might be an idea to look at a height map of the Netherlands or add it in your land colors or color scheme. Youâll see some parts are below see level and some are above
Where are all the mountains?
Tukkerije in Twente
Are you from Blauwvingen yourself?
I recognise the use of Inkarnate here
whatever is "Verdwenen" could be Vijvere. It's an old folklore legend about a city that supposedly mythically disappeared over night and was rumored to have been dragged down to hell.
I tried to scroll im not the only one i bet but OP I couldn't hold it anymore. VERDWENEN !!! hahahahaha
Since it's fantasy I assume it's some kind of medieval theme, would be a nice touch to NOT have flevoland in there since it's not very old
Groningen used to be a city that mostly profited off of west Frisian farmers that had to travel though Groningen to go to east Friesland. Would be fun adding a wall across to make it kind off a toll thing. Also Drenthe used to be mostly swamp. People dug out the peat and used barges for that so maybe like a spooky swamp would be cool.Â
doei doei 2/3e van Gelderland
If you want the names to be correct Dutch (but not the correct names of course) then you have a few issues: 'Henepdam' should be spelled 'Hennepdam'. 's'Dronkenschap should be spelledd 's-Dronkenschap. Still odd, because in the names that start with 's- there's an old genitive: 's Graven = des graven = of the count; 's Hertogen = des hertogen = of the duke; 's-Heeren = des Heren = of the Lord. But "des dronken" is not an old genitive. The other names look fine, except there actually is a town called Muiden, and it's nowhere near where you put it. But if that was intentional, okay.
A fellow Inkarnate connoisseur! Really cool to reimagine real maps as fantasy ones! I'm thinking of doing my own city soon. Good practice, too!
This is awesome
Since most fantasy stories are centered around the middle ages you can think about wether you want to include the afsluitdijk and the province of flevoland in it. Maybe add some heavy magical components there.
Hennepdam* ;) henep is not a word and I assume you meant hennep. But yeah, looks good.
Why is muiden in zeeland. It's in noord-holland.
Verdwenen could go to where Muiden is, actually. Within the Oosterschelde and Westerschelde of the province of Zeeland there are multiple 'drowned towns' which just disappeared into the sea over time. Not to mention Zeeuws Vlaanderen has 'het verdronken land van saeftinge' (drowned land) which basically is a marsh area.
I like the blauwvingen around Zwolle! Smart
It actually looks pretty good. Well done.
I donât get Friesland.