What I did was sketch out the whole map/continents on pager and then scanned it onto Corel Paint Shop Pro X and went from there. So yeah I had (and still have) no clue what fancy photoshop tricks there are. To blend the colors, I used the "smudge" tool. (I did, lots, and lots of smuding O.O )
For the mountains, I used a 3D option thingie.

Anyways, this is the world map of Archsphere. The climate on Archsphere is just as diverse as planet Earth, but there are numerous locations much more extreme, geologically, meteorlogically, and biologically.

For instance in the volcan region, there is an abundance of a specific mineral with the extreme property of retaining and insulating heat, as well as converts higher energy wavelengths into heat. It is the abundance of this mineral that helps sustain vast exposed lava lakes and canals on the surface.

The Greymere Peninsula is abundant with a strange metallic that mysteriously permenently holds a weak but significant positive electrical charge. It's with the abundance of this ore, with the combination of the warm air masses consistedly supplied by the center ocean, that Greymere experiences a 9 month lightning storm.

Now as for the fuana, life on Archsphere is extremely diverse. What is especially diverse are the sentient (intelligent) beings which can perfectly coexist among civilization.

The two species most common species found in cities are Sapiens and Deinonychus (raptors). The two other sentient groups are more readily found outside civilizations simply because of their shear sizes and physical limitations. The two other groups are dragons and cetaceans(dolphins and whales).

The most concrete factor that seperates sentient beings from other species is the existance of elemental races in the species. Sapiens are the only species to have all eight elemental races.

Races, are not distunguished by ethnicity, skin color, etc, but by their elemental trait. An individual with an elemental trait has not only limited telekinetic abilites over their particular element but also have physical characteristic that benefits the individual to better adapt and handle their element. But not everyone in the population has elemental traits.

Throughout the world there are large captial cities each representing an element and are located where that particular element is most naturally dominant in that environment.

Though the capital cities are usually dominate of the element's race, globally, elemental races are hardly considered segregated.

Technology ranges high and low throughout the world. Advanced technology can only be found in selected regions. The most technologically advanced city is the capital Rylex, in Greymere. The city is made up and enclosed within six connected megatowers, powered by generators that harness electricity from the abundant lightning in the region.

But most civilizations live more naturally than artifical, such as the many canopy tribes within the great rainforest of Sylvania-Ecui or the cave city of Grondon, which is completely lit up by the vast mycelium system of bioluminesent fungi.

EDIT
Here are four characters I had focused their stories on

Bivrily Ismon - 24 years old. She is the eldest daughter in the family living a modest life in the outskirts of the Kingdom of Cesreel. Her father works “covertly” as a mercenary. When Bivirly was young, times were rough for her and her family. Her father needed an assistant to work with him in his travels, but he never trusted anyone outside his family. Biv’s mother had to stay home and care for the home and kids while his only son, Martin, was too young to wield a sword at the time. So he decided to train his daughter Bivrily and has been a trusted companion ever since. Bivrily is a bit of a tomboy since she has spent much of her teen hood with her father and has superb skill with her double-edged sword. She’s a very down to earth individual, though her brother, Martin, is the only one capable of breaking her last nerve.

Martin Ismon - 18 years old. He’s Biv’s younger brother. Because his parents and older sister had managed most of the family responsibilities so well, responsibility is something that Martin faintly lacks. He’s easy going and a lady’s man. His only benefiting talent is his decent skill in archery as he was the one in the family to hunt small game for meals. Staying home with his mother often, he also obtained a knack for cooking.

Ian Pedford - 19 years old. Born and raised most of his life in the capital city of Rylex. Ian himself, is a Rylen, a lightning elemental. He lives with his younger sister, Alicia, and his older brother Charlie, who’s there guardian. He’s in his first year of college. He spends most of his time street dueling and to make enough money for college. He doesn’t get along with his brother well; he finds Charlie selfish and a hypocrite for many reasons (one including the fact that Charlie doesn’t get a better job just because it would mean getting health scan which would mean he would get have to quit smoking - and smoking’s illegal in Rylex). When street dueling, he uses a Rylen sword, which is designed to conduct the electricity from the Rylen wielder. Ian is never seen outside his home without his roller blades (roller blades are actually a common public mode of transportation in Rylex)

Nyall Arin - 31 years old. He is the son of the infamous leader an organization “Soul Gate.” About Soul Gate - the organization is publicly known but the whereabouts of its headquarters or plans unknown even to the Nations’ government intelligence and they know is that Soul Gate is bent on destroying octothesim, the very religion that shames Soul Gate’s dominant form of magic, shifting. Nyall Arin is a Soulsmith, which is the most powerful and most forbidden form of shifting. Nyall is cunning and has holds absolute loyalty to his father’s goals.