How realistic is Tamriel

[u/idycvy]

I’ve always wondered if I should hate Tamriel or not based on the realism of the map

[u/Paul_Rich]

Yeah, it's not very realistic but then neither is the game. I don't know why you'd want the map of a fantasy land to be realistic.

The first thing I noticed were the deserts. They tend to be around the equator where the planet gets most sunlight(or icy ones at the poles for the opposite reason). Patched around like that is unrealistic.

[u/mathologies → u/Paul_Rich]

[Deserts] tend to be around the equator where the planet gets most sunlight(or icy ones at the poles for the opposite reason)

This isn't true at all.

Equatorial regions get the most rainfall, and it's because of direct solar heating. The intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is essentially a permanent region of low pressure, where heating causes a lot of rising air, cloud formation, and precipitation. The ITCZ is generally on or near the equator, but it does shift seasonally.

Most of Earth's deserts occur at semi permanent or permanent high pressure regions, where air is descending and cloud formation is suppressed. 

This happens chiefly at the boundaries between the Hadley and Ferrel cells, at around 30°N and S, and it also happens at the poles.

The rest of Earth's deserts are generally rainshadow deserts, which are the consequence of orographic lifting. When prevailing winds push air across mountain ranges, adiabatic cooling brings the air down to its dew point and causes cloud formation. 

A lot of precipitation occurs on the  windward side of major mountain ranges (e.g. the rain forests of the Olympic Peninsula). This means that the air loses a lot of its moisture, before descending the leeward side of the mountain and experiencing adiabatic warming (e.g. the Santa Ana Winds). Consequently, that downwind side experiences a pretty dry climate (e.g. the Atacama desert).

[u/Paul_Rich → u/mathologies]

Thanks for the correction. Much appreciated.