Medieval/ancient/fantasy setting in southern hemisphere?

I was unfortunate enough to imagine an ancient setting upside down. I started out with small features and, after connecting them, got the following:

           cold
            ^
            |
sunrise <---+---> sunset
            |
            v
           hot

Which basically means that we are located in the southern hemisphere.

How do I explain this to a reader/player/watcher with as little disruption as possible (aka principle of least astonishment)?

• Keep telling that south=cold, north=hot;
• Keep telling that south and north are swapped;
• Rename south/north directions to e.g. midday/midnight;
• Mirror-image the whole world to make it in line with Middle-Earth/Earthsea/Westeros/whatever fantasy setting humanity invented?

Also if I ever draw a map, should I swap East <-> West ("mirror image") or should I swap South<->North ("Argentina")?

The former makes more sense as the inhabitants tend to live on hills/mountains, so "cold=up" makes sense to them. However, a plausible post factum explanation may be found for any map orientation.

posted over 5 years ago

Dallaylaen‭

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