[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Hmm... Cradle sounds a little large to me, for eight players, but I haven't been in too many games, so I'm not really basing that on anything in particular.

If no-one objects to 25-28 provinces per player, I'll go ahead with Cradle, though I don't know about it being wraparound. It'll be especially large if a player doesn't show up for the start.

That little warning aside, I have no problem letting Cradle be the map. I will make other suggestions just because I can.

The Desert Eye (Wraparound) was fun in Veturi.
A Poke in the Eye V3 (user created) is based on The Desert Eye with some insane independents. Probably not a wise idea.
A Pangaean Earth is (user created) is the right size, but the lack of chokepoints probably doesn't make for a good first map.
Parganos is a bit unbalanced, thanks to fairly uniform swathes of territory, but a map I like quite a bit, perhaps for that very same reason.

Anyways, the new default map, barring any objections, is Cradle. I'm curious, Jazzepi. What's your objection to Aran? Something particular to you, or something I should keep in mind while organizing future games?