People in the Koana Islands love baseball. The first league play started in 1882, barely six years after the MLB. Between the top-tier, Triple- and Double-A leagues, there are over 180 teams spanning the island nation. Fans are so rabid that there's even talk of expanding to a Single-A league, adding even more teams. If you're a baseball fan, you might be surprised you've never heard of this. You'll be even more surprised when you try to find the Koana Islands. That's because the 32-island chain, with its nine major cities, 11 national parks, 93 million residents and a landmass that is equal to Spain and Sweden combined does not really exist. This bustling nation was thought up – and mapped – by a guy from Australia named Ian Silva. By day, he's a train driver for Sydney Rail, the city's commuter train. But when he comes home he gets to work on his imaginary country (a portion of which is shown above). Silva's creation, which he's been working on for several years, took Reddit by storm over the weekend when he leaked a bit about his obsession in a thread asking how users spend their time alone. Amid posts about hobbies like knitting, geocaching, and gaming, Silva, who posts under the name ParisHL, told the community about his nation-building pastime and posted links to a few maps. Fellow obsessives swooned over the level of detail, and in a flurry of upvotes, Silva's revelation was accepted into the site's BestOf, widening Silva's exposure. In response, he gave the community a half dozen more maps and posted a brief overview of the islands. The Koana Islands, he explains, are located south of the equator roughly between Madagascar, Indonesia and Australia. It has thirteen states, and sprawls three climate zones. The population is mostly white, and speaks a language that is derived from mixing English and Swedish settlers. The country industrialized relatively late, but did so quickly, becoming the world's best place to earn a living by the 1970s. It is routinely ranked among the world's best countries to live. Civic engagement is high, and the country has an extensive public welfare system, including the famous public transit system. Crime is low, but if you find yourself trouble, you can dial 777 for assistance. Silva says he's always been interested in maps. “I used to flick through my parents' street directory of Sydney when I was a kid.” Tracing his eyes along roads, his imagination would run wild; suburbs only a few kilometers away felt like foreign countries. When he got older, he drew maps of his bicycle rides, even adding in fictional station stops, portending his future job as a train operator. Sim City was an obvious draw. “I remember attempting to draw a street directory for one of my favorite cities,” he said, “but gave up as it became too time-consuming for someone who was discovering girls for the first time!” Surprisingly, Silva has never had any formal cartographic training. For research, he toured around Google Maps. He modeled most of the city grids after European layouts, and used Japan as inspiration for the train system. To connect each city, he drew highways following the most rational route according to the topography, adding random deviations to make it seem more realistic. He spent several years coming up with the basic idea for the maps, but when he finally drafted them in Adobe Illustrator, it only took about three weeks. He says the work relaxes him, especially after a stressful day at work, and he spends roughly seven to eight hours a week on the project. The Koana Islands live on two hard drives, where they take up about 250 gigabytes of memory. Most of that, though, is devoted to keeping baseball records. Silva started playing with imaginary baseball teams with his friends in school. As years went on, he expanded the teams and moved the leagues over to Out of the Park Baseball (OOTB), a website and software package for baseball simulations. When he started dreaming up his map, he used the team's names and their rivalries to drive some of the geography. “For instance, the Black Island Mercenaries and the Megopolis Titans had an extremely large rivalry so I kept the cities close together to make it that much more important.” Using the team names as a guide, he placed other cities near water, mountains, or other features. For the rest, Silva just "freely placed them around the map one afternoon out of boredom.” Reddit isn't the first place Silva's ideas have gotten attention. His league is popular on the OOTB forums, and he's collaborated with several graphic designers to create team logos. Several months earlier, he also did a Ask Me Anything (AMA) in Reddit's worldbuilding forum for a much smaller audience. “Basically, all of it is me,” he said. He sees the maps as a medium for creativity, saying that they are just a more literal way of expressing himself. Maps, he says, are something people can get lost in exploring, like books or paintings. Though their messages aren't as ambiguous as other forms, he says maps have a lot of value for making people consider different ideas. Like many artists, he uses his craft as an extension of his own feelings about things happening in the news, like the debates raging in Australia about refugee asylum seekers, or the uproar over the Trayvon Martin shooting. He imagines how people in his country would react, and sees his own reactions relative to that. “I'm a very quiet person with strong opinions and the beauty of building a fictional nation is it gives you an outlet to express those things.” The islands reflect his personality in other ways, too. For example, Koanans are “famously taciturn,” have little patience for pointless small talk, and consider occasional silence a normal part of conversation. “I also have a serious dislike for people who are constantly late,” he said, “which also just so happens to be a major concern among Koanans.” Honesty is important, compliments are earned, and idle criticism is not tolerated. Talking about baseball is a good way to start a conversation. Silva hopes someday to make a travel guide, though he says he needs to work on the nation's history and complete its language before he's ready to talk to any publishers. In the meantime, he says he hopes interest is high enough that other people will start contributing. As a result of his popularity, Silva has launched a subreddit devoted to the Republic of the Koana Islands, which has all his maps and a wiki with the islands' backstory so far. As you click through the rest of the slideshow, enjoy the guided tour from Ian Sliva of each city's landmarks and features. Click on the map below for a high-res version of the entire republic. All images copyright Ian Silva. [caption id="attachment_204301" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] The entire Republic of Koana Islands. Click the image for a high-res version. (Copyright: Ian Silva)[/caption]

New Auckland Mellosa, the historic riverside suburb of Mellosa has a jetty, the Grand hotel and many restaurants and cafes.

Elz, in North New Auckland provides a spectacular view of the city, especially at night.

Aalen, German settlement, a short drive up the freeway, attractions include a small chocolate factory, the Smaalbrug Strawberry Farm (where you can pick your own strawberries for very reasonable prices) parks with barbeque facilities and a playground plus many small stores selling all manner of products.

Milton Lane, will take you past the Casino, Congress Hall, Government House, the State Library, Migration Museum (free entry), Art Gallery (free entry), New Auckland University, University of Flo, and NewAuc Hospital. It is an attractive tree lined boulevard that can't be missed.

Sadaki Stadium is home to the hugely successful New Auckland Warlocks who won the 2012 Super League title.

Sadaki 500 KISCAR, During mid-March, the Sadaki 500 KISCAR racing event is very popular, sporting massive street parties, huge concert line-ups and many fanatic New Aucklanders.

Art Festival. During late Feb-March, the Art Festival (third largest of its type in the world) and Festival of Music bring the city alive with music, arts, dance and culture from all over the world. Both are large and very popular events visited by people from all over the world.

Koana Islands Train Museum explains the details of how the railways first started on the Koana Islands to how Koana Tag runs

the system today. Image copyright Ian Silva. High-res version.

Conneaut South Conneaut University is where most Conneaut locals go to University. It is among the oldest in the Islands as has tours of the buildings on the hour every hour on weekends.

Town Hall is located next to the Town Hall subway stop and has recently been renovated back to its former glory following years of bad upkeep.

Legends Field is the home of the Conneaut Spartans baseball team. They do tours every day even on gamedays; you do have to book in advance however. You can also catch a game at the stadium.

There are over 20 Museums located throughout Conneaut, with the Military Museum and Powyahus Museum considered must-sees.

City Tours operates a bus tour of the city that departs every half hour near Conneaut-CEN station. You can buy tickets at most tourist information shops. Costs can vary depending on time of year but on average you are looking at KK1000.

Talk of the town offers self-guided walking tours in six languages all year round. Download your own audioguide to your mobile phone or mp3-player and walk the city. Not recommended during the hottest parts of the day!

KISCAR has two races at the Conneaut Raceway each year. The speedway seats 65,000 and races run all through winter.

Conneaut Tower located near Rocheor City subway station is the tallest building in Conneaut at over 95 stories tall. Provides excellent views of the city.

Surmacz Avenue contains high end shops such as Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Take the subway to Waxholm station.

Two Cathedrals named North and South are located either side of the Haga River, near Oakhill and Nynshamn subway stations respectively. The locals play each other in a friendly game of soccer on New Year's Eve, with a team representing each church.

Koana TV studios North branch, located near Atlis subway station, has tours leaving hourly.

Sikaf Building is the second tallest building in Conneaut after Conneaut Tower.

Conneaut Aquarium is open 365 days of the year and on weekends is open 24 hours. Take the subway to Ugana.

Conneaut Zoo is home to the largest penguin habitat in the world. The 12 line subway to Panilova Creek is quite a trip, so don't plan anything else for the day.

Viking Art Gallery has over 500 pieces of artwork that date back to Viking times and is not to be missed. High Road station is your best bet.

Modern Art Gallery with its beautiful architecture is located near Saevonaview Subway station on the waterfront.

Elverum Shopping Center located right next to Elverum station is the largest Shopping Center in the state of Northern. Images copyright Ian Silva. High-res version of the subway map (above). High-res version of the metro area map (below).

Bayside Bayside Symphony Orchestra. During the fall, winter and spring, the world-renowned Bayside Symphony Orchestra performs classical music. Tickets are available online or in the box office; they can be pricey though. For a cheaper alternative, Tuesday and Thursday concerts have rush tickets (last-minute availability, no seat choice) which are sold starting at 5PM on the day of the concert; Friday concerts start rush ticket availability at 10AM. Be sure to line up in advance for rush tickets. Weekend concerts do not sell rush tickets.

Bayside Pops Orchestra. During the summer, the Pops perform programs of both classical and popular music, consistently pleasing audiences. Tickets can be had inexpensively and can be purchased either online or in the box office. Accessible on the Green Line at Symphony station.

Western Conservatory. This world-famous top-notch music school and also right around the corner from the Bayside Symphony, is often overlooked by tourists in Bayside but well-known amongst local musicians. Their performances, recitals, and chamber group concerts are usually free and unticketed. See the calendar at out the front for more information.

Bayside Bombers is the local baseball team that plays at The Wind Tunnel. Despite plying their trade in Division 2, the support for the this team is near feverish in Bayside.

Theater District is the undisputed center of the theater world, but Bayside's Theater District is where most Broadway shows will preview and is usually the first stop on a show's touring run. Resident shows also run.

Bicycling. The Bayside Bikeway (TBB) is one of the most heavily used bike trails in the world. This eleven mile paved path is popular with walkers, cyclists, and in-line skaters. The route closely follows the river.

Skywalk Observatory. Look around Bayside from the second tallest skyscraper. Open daily. Winter 10AM-8PM; Summer 10AM-10PM.

Andy Polack Brewery Tour. Take a tour of the Andy Polack brewery. Free samples of beer at the end.

Baseball Academy. This privately run school is located a bit of a trip away from the city, but is a must-do for any baseball fans. Image copyright Ian Silva. High-res version.

Humoor Located in the naval base, the Historic Humoor Dockyard has a number of historic ships and also the Naval Museum and Action Stations - an interactive look at the navy of today. There is a great old pub outside of Dockyard called the Port Pub, worth a try. Humoor Visitor Information Centre can be found adjacent to the visitor entrance of the Dockyard.

Southsea Seafront - 4 kilometres of seafront promenade backed by gorgeous green spaces and gardens.

Humoor's Cathedrals Humoor is home to two cathedrals, South Church in Old Humoor and St John's in the City Centre.

Follow the Millennium Promenade - a self guided walk with information along the way, just look out for the chain in the pavement.

Listen to live music at The Bandstand every Sunday in the summer. Alight at The Show tram stop.

Watch Humoor Hawks play, they play in the Koanian Third Division, the fourth tier of professional baseball in the Koana Islands. Image copyright Ian Silva. High-res version of the metro map (below).

Megopolis Megopolis, the nation's capital, is also its cultural, financial, and commercial center.

The City Library near Auklanda was the first public library opened in the Koana Islands.

Newtown is where all the "hip" twenty-somethings like to hang out and is a great place to spend a day shopping in the boutique stores and sipping lattes. Many boat cruises leave from here too.

Rylett is best known for it's fish market overlooked by skyscrapers.

Aquul City contains one of the largest shopping centres in the Koana Islands and the southern hemisphere.

Gothica Stadium is home to the Megopolis Titans baseball team, the most successful team in Koana Baseball history. Tour's of the stadium operate on non-game days only.

MegoRena is home to the Downtown Metros baseball team, tours operate every day, except public holidays.

Ubique Centre is the home ground of the Black Island Eagles football team, located barely a kilometre from Eastfield Arena where the Megopolis Thunder football team play.

Stonham has the citibank Tower that is over 110 stories tall and gives superb views of the city and it's surroundings. Inlet & View is the closest subway station. Full map of Megopolis in high-res. (Copyright Ivan Silva)

KoanaTag System The Republic of Koana Islands' national rail system has 326 local routes, and nine high speed connections. Image copyright Ian Silva. Click map below for high-res version