I'd DEline-up those mountains a bit. mountain chains don't actually line up in single rows but form more like long thin areas of randomly joining and splitting loose waves that sort of look like a cross section of a flakie-puff pastry by Vachon.... if viewed from the side. I don't know how to better explain it.

This sounds like it could help a lot, and I get why you say that, but I’m still having a hard time imagining what you said. Do you have a link of an example?

[link](https://www.google.com/search?q=italy+topographic+map&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjgl8es9Pz7AhWAvXIEHYrMB0gQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=italy+topographic+map&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzIECAAQQzIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAIEB4yBggAEAgQHjIGCAAQCBAeOgcIABCABBANOgYIABAHEB46BQgAEKIEOgcIABCxAxBDOgUIABCABDoICAAQCBAHEB46CAgAEAUQBxAeUPkOWMgaYK0daABwAHgAgAFEiAGeA5IBATeYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=a7-bY6C2DYD7ytMPipmfwAQ&bih=658&biw=390&client=safari&hl=en-us#imgrc=WccZyUfCeZV_WM) Not sure if the link will work, but if it does this is the best example I could find quickly. keep in mind I'm no geologist, but A good way to think of it is by considering how mountains actually form- through either vulcanism or pieces of tectonic plate getting crumbed up to form big raised ranges, not sure if the style here would fit with it, but when your making mountain ranges it's good to consider that folding/crumpling pattern. Hope this helps.

Following on from this OP should look at topographical maps of the European Alps, Chile, or the Southern Alpes. They tend to be broken up into fragments running different directions - with lots of pockets for valleys and rivers. Mountains do form 'straight' lines if they're very new but older ones have been bent and broken up by plate movement which gives you a more 'natural' look.

I think there’s some scaling issues maybe? Try making the mountains bigger and it might look nicer. I like the shape but I’d leave a big ol mountain pass or something near the fork

It’s supposed to be like a third of a continent so it’s supposed to be bigger, but I do think you could be on to something with the scaling, I’ll have to play around with it though. Also the dot in the fork is gonna be a mountain stronghold built along a pass.

Ideally, I'd like to keep the mountains around Naris Sound and the fork in the mountains. I'm wondering if I should connect them and/or adjust the positioning of the aforementioned locations. I might puff out the land above the red line a bit but probably not much. Most, if not everything south of the redline is staying as is, but comments and critiques are welcome. FYI the redline is just a reference.

Whenever we see maps they are flat with rows of mountains. Look at the Nazca lines in Peru. There are mountains around but they are in the midst of a very high plateau. Around here we have the Cumberland Plateau. With most map software, it is difficult to show that kind of topography. Not helpful too much. Just an observation.

Just a beginner here . Please tell me the software names ( i would explore )

This is using Wonderdraft and I made the red line using a snip tool.

Ok thanks

Food for though is just as appreciated! Keeps the brain thinking.

Definitely worth keeping the mountains around the Sound if that's what you want for that area - geography or theme wise. If you're adding to the northern coast above the red line then maybe look at the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand or Chile for inspiration. Both places are real life examples of places with large mountain ranges running along their coasts.

More in parallel rows, have a look at the Himalayas or the Rockies on google earth for a good visualisation. Mountains tend to form in broader bands of several parallel rows and you’ll often have hills or plateaus on either side.

Since you said you want the range to be bigger, I'm going to suggest that you create a range with layers of mountains, with smaller ones being in front of larger ones to give the range a physically larger footprint and to give a sense of increasing size to the range's mountains. This is a map I made in wonderdraft that has the layers of mountains I'm trying to describe. https://i.imgur.com/mMee1Gp.jpeg

Dunno if this will help you, but when i made a map not too long ago i had a "red" area for high mountain peaks, then a larger "yellow" area after that for the rare mountain and single small peaks, and then "green" for hills and such. The 2 colours werent completely uniform to the whole red line, but just enough to make it feel real since it was practically gradiented out. This also helped me with rivers and trees

I won't common on the mountains, but that circlular coast line is really cool ! Please tell me more about it

Side note this is for a dnd world for my HB world and as such there is magic and whatnot in it. The source of all magic in my world is the void. The basic methodology behind magic casting: Via an egress—invisible-one-way-magical doors that connects everything to the void—raw magic is leaked into the border ethereal (the stronger an egress the more powerful spell slots available to a caster). Simultaneously, magical foci(or components) are used to channel the raw magic, while a shape is given to it. The now shaped magic is then released casting a spell. When the spell finishes, the magic dissipates into the ethereal realm where it either waits to “evaporate” back into the void, or is pulled back into the border ethereal by another egress. This “evaporation” is a slow going process, sometimes taking days to finish. If a large number of high level spells are used within a relatively short amount of time, magic starts to build up in the ethereal. This build up is called stagnation. Enough stagnation can lead to wild or dead-magic zones. If stagnation gets bad enough, however, it can potentially rupture the ethereal realm, opening a direct hole into the void, other wise known as a breach. This breach allows a large amount of raw magic to leak into the material realm. Raw magic is very volatile and very mutagenic and may just explode. The circular coastline is a result of the second great breach to have occurred in my world.

Sorry of the lengthy reply but I was kinda workshopping the magic lore as I went

I like it . And i relate to workshopping your way. I have done it many times lol

I like the thought put into the magic lore. It's a very interesting enhancement to how magic actually works in your world. For how the map area relates to this I would just add that if the 2nd great breach was an explosion, you should probably have a ring of hills around the "crater" (possible mountains if it was a big enough explosion), similar to a meteor impact crater. But if it was an implosion or just the land being phased/sucked into the void, then I'd say it's good as is.

I didn’t think about weather it was an implosion or and explosion. If is was an explosion the matter would have been moved like with the mountains and I like that idea, but I also do fancy the thought of whatever was there being moved somewhere else be it the void or some other outer plane. The concept of a super dense ball or matter at the bottom of the 2nd Breach could be interesting too but I’ll have to play around with it.

Might add a bit more land on the coastal side of the mountains near Naris Sound just for sediment runoff over time.

That would make sense

Hey, looks like home! The sierra madres mountains also go through a relatively narrow strip of N/S land, could take some notes on that. Any narrative reason for those mountains being especially hard to go through, or any relatively easy paths through them?

Well the fort (the dot) in the fork is a mountain pass specifically, but most of these mountains are probably going to be home to an ancient red dragon. So the shortest path through might also be the most difficult path.

If the red line is a plate boundary or a fault it should follow the mountain chain or the mountains should bend with the fault line. If the north/south mountains are not along an active fault they should be lower in elevation. The fault below Naris Sound could be a series of smaller faults.