The Guild Wars World Map

[Avoc]

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/762/gwworldja4.jpg

This is how I think the world of guild wars currently looks like.

[eddie the reaper]

hmm yea i think thats actually pretty like how i imgined it to be... i wish they wud make it into a big map when u press m and zoom out

[Shorefire]

This is great, the maps fit really well together too, so this is definately a good match up.

[EternalSoul]

Middle piece to the right is Nightfall?

Not to scale though it seems, looks cool though, but Cantha isn't that big compared to Tyria.

[Arkhan The Black]

Yes that looks correct.

Hope they will one day make one huge world map when all chapters are out.

[critical vengeance]

cool :) intresting to see it together

[Shorefire]

Not to scale though it seems, looks cool though, but Cantha isn't that big compared to Tyria.

Well, Cantha still goes on at the bottom right corner, so for all we know, they may make an addition like Sorrow's Furnace to it, or have Chapter Four really down south.

[Triia]

Is the map of Elona one you created or something ANet released? I haven't seen it before and I'd love to have a closer look at it. Nice job.

[Ostriig]

Yeah, it looks pretty logical. Especially the new Elonian piece seems to fit in, like in a puzzle.

[Avoc]

Is the map of Elona one you created or something ANet released? I haven't seen it before and I'd love to have a closer look at it. Nice job.

The map of Elona is an offscreen picture taken by someone during a Anet hosted preview.

http://www.teeteehaa.de/~gc2006live/

[Haravin Anubis]

Where's the map of Elonia from?

Edit: never mind. ^_^

[Sectus]

That's a nice picture but I don't think the scale is correct. I imagine Cantha and Elona are smaller than Tyrian and those should have a smaller size relative to Tyria. With that picture it looks as if Elona is the same size as all of Tyria, and I doubt that it's supposed to be.

[Arkhan The Black]

Elona will have 20 missions so it will probably have more landmass then Cantha.

[EternalSoul]

But Elona should have much less landmass than Tyria and Cantha should also me much smaller than Tyria. I would think Cantha could probably fit East of the Shiverpeak mountains easily in Tyria.

[eddie the reaper]

why does elona have to be smaller then tyria? there is no set rule to how big each of the continents have to be, mayb anet just decieded that after all that *****ing about how crappy value for money factions is they actually deicided to give us a good-value-for-money game like the orignial.

now while admitedly i dont think cantha is to scale, (but how can u put it to scale considering there are no official maps with them both on the same page) i do think that elona looks about the right scale considering how smoothly it runs of the desert in tyria. And god i hope they add it on to the existing map of tyria that wud rock! instead of a another crappy seperate map, man i hate those. cant wait for a global map =D (lol not looking likely :P)

[Inner Salbat]

Little small, I'd say the content appears to be the same size as Cantha.

I guess the days of having a land mass the size of chapter 1 are gone :(

[Aerolor]

Neat! The map does fit together nicely,especially Elona and Tyria. I hadn't seen the map before, or the other pictures from the link for that matter. Looks great. I just hope that Elona is as big as Tyria, and that the two are connected. Only thing that seems a little odd to me is that all three continents have islands in the same place on their maps. :huh: (RoF for Tyria, Shing Jea for Cantha, I-forget-the-name for Elona.)
Edit: Shing Jea is positioned a little differently, now that I look back on it, but still. And also, altho the continent of Elona may look smaller, no GW chapter uses all the available landmass. If Elona uses more, it could conceivably turn out just as big as Tyria.

[Santax]

Cantha is about 100 miles to the south of Tyria, so further than that.

Other than that though, spot on, more or less.

[The Pointless]

why does elona have to be smaller then tyria? there is no set rule to how big each of the continents have to be, mayb anet just decieded that after all that *****ing about how crappy value for money factions is they actually deicided to give us a good-value-for-money game like the orignial.

Considering Factions was geared more towards PvP and Nightfall was the work of Prophecies Team (and ideally would be PvE-orientated), Elona should be closer to Tyria's size.

Speaking of size, look at Tyria (The world, not just the namesake continent) right now. Continents are bound to vary in size. Are Europe and Asia the same size? are the Americas and Africa the same size? No. 'nuff said. :afro:

[EDIT] I should also point out that they wouldn't be stupid enough to scrap half a year of work when they find out on release how bad people beleive their last game to be.

[Avoc]

Yeah it was kinda hard for me to scale the map since I wouldent want to make the elona map bigger/smaller. So I just placed it how I thought it looked good. To be honest, Cantha does look a tad too big ^^'

[Altheus]

to Avoc: great map, but Cantha a little larger than magumma jungle, and battle isles are large like the largest fire island....

EDIT:
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1144/islandzc0.jpg

there is zoomed map of island -forgot name- in elona, as you can see he is really great, +- 5x larger than fire island chain.
so i thing elona is 20-30% larger than tyria. Was that A-net who said CH3 will have strong PvE? Than it is possible the Elona will be greater

[ImSoToast]

that be nice if somehow a map got out from anet how they see it, even with future chapters that they have left room for. Wouldn't mind if the future stuff was blacked out, but just to see how they view their "world."

[moenbase]

I must admit... really nice job :]
Perhaps not fully on scale. But it looks great anyway.

[Quintus Antonius]

Based on information, both visual and conceptual, I believe that Avoc has the positioning and size of Elona and Tyria correct. If you will look at the area southeast of the Orrian peninsula, right where the two maps connect, you can clearly see mountainous ridges that line up almost exactly. There are color differentations between the two maps, but I attribute this to the fact that the map is most likely not finalized, and that we cannot see the area in the Crystal Desert to the north.

Based on Avoc's work, I have resized and enhanced his map to give us a plausible flat-picture of Tyria. The image credits go to Avoc, I simply resized and added details.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/7773/plausibleworldmapni1.jpg

Notice that I added the tropic lines and the equator. I used creative liscense in the naming of them, but positioned them based on climatological features of the land (desert, etc).

Furthermore, I have placed the Zaishen Battle Islands approximately equadistant from each continent as they are the only place accessible cross-chapter (and I assume shall continue to be so in Nightfall).

[Drec Sutal]

Hrm... in quintus's map, I think cantha may be a bit too small... I mean do you really think it is the same size as ascalon in tyria? While it is obviously smaller then tyria, I don't think it's quite that small.

As for elona, I'm not sure I see it being *that* close to the crystal desert, who is to say it isn't set further SE... the color change is too sudden for me. Though I agree with the size as much as I can without having mapped it myself. The size of the battle isles is hard to say but I think you got it pretty close, maybe a tiny bit big.

The other thing is the placement of cantha. I think it is too far from tyria... remember, we had strong trade ties with Cantha, but I don't remember really big trading with elona. Maybe further NW, enough that it is closer to the jungle. Also, closer to the battle isles (which are a canthan posession, not neutral... the training grounds of the zaishun that we have been invited to use following the corruption of the tombs) This would also put it further from elona, which would make the lack of a prior elonian presence on the isles more reasonable... why wern't they there before if they don't have an entrance to the halls in their country (we know they don't, as that is why they went to the crystal desert).

[The Pointless]

The darker colours of Elona are just a result of that image being a photo of the monitor that displayed it as opposed to a screenshot, Drec.

As for Cantha, maybe it should be about the size of Ascalon and the Shiverpeaks (North and South) combined

[Monk Solaris]

Depends if anet use large scale maps or add in under ground levels hidden areas. If Nightfall is going to be PVE there might be secret places to find. i hope anyway it be a challenge.

[CMEPTb]

That map looks really cool. Can't wait to plunge into the game. I would also like to see an "all-encompassing" map sometime down the road. Maybe after we get some continents completely outlined down the line, Anet can creat a revolving globe where we can see all places and click on each to travel.

[Gmr Leon]

The mountain range going down into Elona from the Orrian peninsula has a drastic color change from,most likely,the Cataclysm. Can you imagine all the ash fallout from the explosion? No doubt that would definitely make the mountains a bit grayer than the ones going into Elona.

Also,from the looks of things,it's a bit more rugged the farther north you go up the mountain range.

[EternalSoul]

I think Cantha is about the size of Ascalon. I was just thinking in terms of the amount of time it takes to travel to different places, and the time it takes to get to different places in Cantha compared to Ascalon make it appear the same size to me.

I can't see Elona being larger than Tyria though, I guess it's possible but that's a big desert :tongue: . Was trying to think of the Sahara compared to another area in the world that might look like Tyria in the sense of having mountains, jungles, desert, etc. Maybe Elona might equal the size of Tyria, I can't see it being bigger though, but I'm quite possibly wrong.

[Seyfert]

pretty good it'll be interesting to see how this map changes and grows as future chapters are released

[Durza the Shadeking]

Excuse me, Drec Sutal, but you are wrong that The Zashien Battle Islands are possessions of Cantha. From in-game lore, it is said that it is a nation upon itself, thought to be formed by a shipwrecked crew of Canthans many years ago. Though of Cantha decent, they are tecnichaly neutral.

[O M E G A]

Im hoping for a globe like map when all the chapters are out.

[Zion Farbow]

Sweet..this is soo cool ^_^ i cnat wait to it be fianlly truely matched up xD

[EternalSoul]

I hope all the chapters are never out :tongue: and that a globe just develops over time, with adventures to other planets if said globe becomes fully developed, as for how that would happen I have no idea but it would keep the chapters coming out :wink: .

[Zion Farbow]

ohh!! one more hting, this remidns of the Factions Map..you know how someone put the ad (with a wierd map on it for the background of the Factions game) right underneath Tyria and see it fit? we might have been wrong or right..i cant remember how it looks like but it seems that it *MIGHT* have elona in there too..

iunno cause i cant remember but all i know is i saw it in a thread here (i think) once..can anyone dig it up? D:

[Quintus Antonius]

http://forums.gwonline.net/showthread.php?t=388324

This is the topic in question. And I think we should keep in mind what we learned from it: we might be wrong.

[Ranger Nietzsche]

also if there is an equator tyria and cantha are on the same side of it, they have the same seasonal patterns (ie when its winter in cantha its winter in tyria).

This is evidenced by Wintersday and the Dragon Festival (described as a summer festival) that each took place on a different continent and around half an earth year from each other.

[Laibeus Lord]

Based on information, both visual and conceptual, I believe that Avoc has the positioning and size of Elona and Tyria correct. If you will look at the area southeast of the Orrian peninsula, right where the two maps connect, you can clearly see mountainous ridges that line up almost exactly. There are color differentations between the two maps, but I attribute this to the fact that the map is most likely not finalized, and that we cannot see the area in the Crystal Desert to the north.

Based on Avoc's work, I have resized and enhanced his map to give us a plausible flat-picture of Tyria. The image credits go to Avoc, I simply resized and added details.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/7773/plausibleworldmapni1.jpg

Notice that I added the tropic lines and the equator. I used creative liscense in the naming of them, but positioned them based on climatological features of the land (desert, etc).

Furthermore, I have placed the Zaishen Battle Islands approximately equadistant from each continent as they are the only place accessible cross-chapter (and I assume shall continue to be so in Nightfall).

I think more that Elona is a little South-East more in relation to the Crystal Desert of Tyria. The mountains will fit nicely that way. The mountains can't just abruptly end at the point where Tyria and Elona joins in the current map above.

Also, the majority of the mountain ranges shouldn't be too close to the Crystal Desert, as per description, one of the nations of Elona do not borders the Crystal Desert and is the northern most part of the continent of Elona.

Then the two Tropics should be move further away from the equator. Deserts (sand desert, not snow desert) forms in the area of the Tropics, not on the equators. Another reason why I think Elona is a little South-East of the Crystal Desert, that will give a reason why some parts of Elona have a good plant life or vegetation (or move Tyria further North since there are part of Elona that is also a desert).

For Cantha, just make it a little bigger I think. But it shouldn't be close to the Southern Tropic because the Tropic will produce sand deserts and Cantha dont have those.


BUT!!!

also if there is an equator tyria and cantha are on the same side of it, they have the same seasonal patterns (ie when its winter in cantha its winter in tyria).

This is evidenced by Wintersday and the Dragon Festival (described as a summer festival) that each took place on a different continent and around half an earth year from each other.

With that, I like to add this:

The continents weren't planned that much or our world map rendering is too small.

If we are going to put the Northern Tropic at the middle of the Crystal Desert as currently is shown above, the rest of Tyria should be experiencing Snow in the past, but it seems that they have no records of any snow falling in Tyria except the shiverpeak mountains, at least there were no mentions of it.

The other alternative question will be that the planet of Tyria is really huge and our current world map is too small. ;)

Or last resort, the devs just did't bother typing dialogues that Snow falls in Tyria ;)

[Quintus Antonius]

also if there is an equator tyria and cantha are on the same side of it, they have the same seasonal patterns (ie when its winter in cantha its winter in tyria).

This is evidenced by Wintersday and the Dragon Festival (described as a summer festival) that each took place on a different continent and around half an earth year from each other.

Originally, I actually had a diagonal equator; but it looked weird, so I changed it.

I think we are trying to apply Earth seasonal logic to a planet that isn't Earth. We don't know how Tyria is tilted or how it is in relation to its sun. Also, if (like the game suggests) the timelines overlap, then the DF and WD could be happening at the same time in-game.

[Laibeus Lord]

OT: Yah, that timeline overlap really makes everything confusing... and with that, I still have to type and upload the new timeline update... argh.. just too busy.

back on topic:
I agree, and good point, we are applying a seasonal logic to a planet that isn't Earth. And also we don't know the age of the planet Tyria, maybe the planet is still hot below or something, or there are huge oceans everywhere, bigger than what Earth has, because we know for a fact that oceans affects climates and seasons, and the moons.... ;)

[Lothiron]

Just because Tyria and Cantha are in different hemispheres on Quintus' map, does NOT mean that they would be different seasonally. Remember: season differentials on Earth are caused by the planet's tilt on it's axis. If the world of Guild Wars is not tilted, both the northen and southern hemispheres would always experience the same seasons, since each hemisphere would be equidistant from the central star in it's system.

[Mindflash]

If Elona is connected to the Crystal Desert, then it should be still called Tyria.

In Earth we separate Europe from Asia even though they are connected, but in theory it's wrong.

[CrazyMrLeo]

If Elona is connected to the Crystal Desert, then it should be still called Tyria.

In Earth we separate Europe from Asia even though they are connected, but in theory it's wrong.

The reality of continents is that there's no actual geological way to describe them. Europe and Asia are two seperate continents because of historical reasons. Given that Tyria and Elona are seperated by a great big chunk of empty land, there's no reason that the two can't be considered two seperate continents.

That being said, this "every game in a new continent" idea gets a bit tricky if they ever intend to go North, West, or East of Tyria. How many continents ARE there on this single landmass?

Perhaps Tyria and and Elona are better described as subcontinents, like India.

[Xavatar]

Pretty sweet.
I think that the Elona map and Tyria map are of the same scale because when placed together, they fit quite well, notice the western coast of the crystal desert flows into the western coast of elona?
Additionally, i think they are placed correctly in the images. Remember the scribe saying something of some kingdom of elona bordering the crystal desert? That could be its location
my 2cents..

[CMEPTb]

The visual evidence is overwhelming I feel, but I can't get over the sudden change of color in landscape between the Crystal Desert and Elona. The Crystal Desert is tan while Elona is immediately a darker orange color. May be just me.

[Quintus Antonius]

The color can be dismissed to an extent because of three main points: It's a beta map, it's resolution is bad, and it's a picture taken on a camera of questionable megapixalage. I doubt the final map will look the same. Plus, the Elona map appears higher resolution than the Tyrian and Canthan maps. So, it may simply be a matter of time and technology rendering a map better.

[Zion Farbow]

Darn..tahts just between the shing jea island and kurzick forest..o well thanks QA :)

[Ranger Nietzsche]

also color changes are simply from that we will probably never see a unified map, so why would the artist bother to shade his drawing perfectly with another persons? That would be a lot of work to match every mountain range etc.

much easier to allow for a small strip of unmapped land in between the two to account for color issues etc.

[lavenbb]

I actually think it isn't so hard to grasp regarding the seasonal thing, let's see our options:

1) Planet not tilted. <-Impossible because they do have seasons.

2) Planet tilted like earth. <-Possible.

3) Planet tilted but not like earth. <-Depends, how the planet tilts determines the regions like the line of capricon/cancer). The intensity and length of each season might also vary (length of day, how cold/hot the places could get, etc) But no matter how the planet tilts, half of the planet will always be in an opposite season from the other. That is of course assuming that the planet does revolve around a star, which does seem to be the case.

[Quintus Antonius]

3) Planet tilted but not like earth. <-Depends, how the planet tilts determines the regions like the line of capricon/cancer). The intensity and length of each season might also vary (length of day, how cold/hot the places could get, etc) But no matter how the planet tilts, half of the planet will always be in an opposite season from the other. That is of course assuming that the planet does revolve around a star, which does seem to be the case.

Unless the planet were on it's side like Uranus. Then the seasons could concievably be the same in two different hemispheres on different sides of the equator (or at least, the original equator). We also don't know how many stars are in the system, or how close it is to said star (although the margin for this has to be small). It's also important to remmeber that because time is static in-game, we can't get an accurate depiction of seasonal change.

[Ranger Nietzsche]

true but tyria does have a 4 season 360 day year.

the induction logic rule for argument from analogy states that the more things two situations attempting to be analogous have in common, the more likely the analogy is accurate.

we're getting more and more things lining up here.

and as for static time, the events seem to break this rule, as we've noticed before. it cant be wintersday everywhere in tyria at once and follow the static time, unless the entire prophecies campaign took place on one day

[lavenbb]

Unless the planet were on it's side like Uranus. Then the seasons could concievably be the same in two different hemispheres on different sides of the equator (or at least, the original equator). We also don't know how many stars are in the system, or how close it is to said star (although the margin for this has to be small). It's also important to remmeber that because time is static in-game, we can't get an accurate depiction of seasonal change.

I did take Uranus into account :P

Uranus is an example of an extremely seasonal planet. The axis is almost horizontal isn't it? When the planet revolves around the system, at some point it's axis will be pointing towards (well almost) to its star, and the hemisphere that is facing the star at that time will always be in daytime, thats the summer. The other side will always be in night time (winter).

[Kyshen]

hmm.. a globe map? nice revolving map of fun.. sounds like a perfect use for an airship to me :D the dwarves are usually quite good at that kinda thing.. maybe a technologically advanced (think industrial revolution kinda thing, for a fantasy setting it's pretty advanced and adds some nice twists like trains and engines) who've gotten the hang of aviary travel..

[The Pointless]

You mean a sort of steam-powered nation for one of the future chapters, Kyshen?

[Devilish Evangelist]

I think what we've experienced are all in the northern hemisphere of the guildwar world.

Cantha is only South of Tyria, but don't lie in the southern hemisphere of the "world" in general.

If it's the case, everything still make sense.

If you read the map carefully, it's quite reasonable to have snow mountain, desert and jungle in the same latitiude. Cantha, on the other hand, lies just a bit South of Ring of Fire. And obviously there is another part of the contintant lies East of Cantha.

LoL, lot of expore.

[Rae Fenrir]

Only way I can think of for both hemisphere's to have the same season would be a planet without a tilt, but with an orbit more like that of Pluto.

[Quintus Antonius]

The only problem is that there is a temperate climate (Ascalon pre-Searing) on the same parallel as a jungle climate (Maguuma). This happens on Earth, but I don't see how you could also fit Cantha, with the known distances, in the same hemisphere, unless it were one big planet.

[Laibeus Lord]

Just because Tyria and Cantha are in different hemispheres on Quintus' map, does NOT mean that they would be different seasonally. Remember: season differentials on Earth are caused by the planet's tilt on it's axis. If the world of Guild Wars is not tilted, both the northen and southern hemispheres would always experience the same seasons, since each hemisphere would be equidistant from the central star in it's system.

True, but there won't be any winter at all since the face of the planet is always directly hit by the star's heat. The only part where it will be cold are the parts beyond the Tropic lines.

If Elona is connected to the Crystal Desert, then it should be still called Tyria.

In Earth we separate Europe from Asia even though they are connected, but in theory it's wrong.

True, Historically, actually until today, historians still won't agree that Europe is a continent on its own. They always say that Europe is just considered to be an independent continent because of the historical impact of the Greek Empire and the Roman Empire, as well as the Dark Ages, Renaissance, Charlemagne Empire, and so on - everything was majorly concentrated on that part and thus people 'wrongly' (their term) calling Europe as a Continent when (again according to them) it should be part of Asia.

I think what we've experienced are all in the northern hemisphere of the guildwar world.

Cantha is only South of Tyria, but don't lie in the southern hemisphere of the "world" in general.

If it's the case, everything still make sense.

If you read the map carefully, it's quite reasonable to have snow mountain, desert and jungle in the same latitiude. Cantha, on the other hand, lies just a bit South of Ring of Fire. And obviously there is another part of the contintant lies East of Cantha.

LoL, lot of expore.

If Tyria and Cantha is on both on the northern hemisphere, then Planet Tyria is HUGE.

Though I am thinking, maybe Cantha is in the equator. Deserts dont form in the equator, so maybe we can place Cantha in the equator itself. Remove the Battle Isles, put it in some magical place - we have no way of knowing where exactly Battle Isles is located.

[The Pointless]

True, Historically, actually until today, historians still won't agree that Europe is a continent on its own. They always say that Europe is just considered to be an independent continent because of the historical impact of the Greek Empire and the Roman Empire, as well as the Dark Ages, Renaissance, Charlemagne Empire, and so on - everything was majorly concentrated on that part and thus people 'wrongly' (their term) calling Europe as a Continent when (again according to them) it should be part of Asia.

And what about Africa? It's connected (Just) by Egypt and Saudi.

[Ranger Nietzsche]

why exactly would the planet have to be that huge for them both to be in the northen hemisphere?

to parallel it to earth just think of tyria as southern europe, the mediterranean sea as the water and cantha as northern africa.

all the dimensions fit and thats all north of the equator.


esp. when you consider that I calculated the probable size of the entire zoomed out canthan world map (including oceans) to be 36 square miles. AT MOST given the most extreme error even concievable in the rigorous rules of statistics the entire continent of cantha is only 100 miles from North to South, or the length of Long Island in New York.

http://forums.gwonline.net/showthread.php?t=400768

My determinations for Tyria and the Battle Isles will be done soon as well.

now, unloreforumey....it makes sense as exaggeration is necessary for programming reality. But thats not how the lore forum likes to work.

Additionally, in other games there is a time differential to make up for the land differential. For example, in Baldur's Gate every 2 hours earth time was 1 day game time. So your characters are moving quite fast indeed.

This cannot be the case in Guild Wars, where, becuase of Timers in PVE and PVP maps, that 1 min. our time corresponds to 1 min. game time.

So, all three could easily fit onto the northern hemisphere.

[Quintus Antonius]

Cantha is temperate, at best, subtropical. Northern Africa is a barren desert. The correlation simply does not fit.

[Laibeus Lord]

And what about Africa? It's connected (Just) by Egypt and Saudi.

I know someone will ask that ;) But I can't remember much of my geography and history, but if I'm not mistaken, the reason the historians (and geographists for that matter) has given is that ever since, Africa has been accepted as a continent and has evolved independently from the rest of the landmass. Unlike Europe, it was only in the latter days that the name Europe and the sense of the region as being one or a continent has began. The Greek Empire conquered the soon-to-be Europe. The Roman Empire next, the Byzantium Empier (Eastern Roman Empire), Charlemagne Empire (aka the Holy Roman Empire), Arthur (they say its a legend, so it must be partly true - but legend aside, there really was a kingdom in Britain in the past but no one knows if it was Arthur's). All those reasons. Then the "European" sense of being "separate" evolved from it.

Of course today, we commonly accept Europe as a continent. And without an organization like the IAU to decide official meanings of terminologies, we will never have a final say or decision in the status of Europe as a continent. Like Pluto, people still accepts it as a Planet even though IAU said it isn't anymore.

^_^

why exactly would the planet have to be that huge for them both to be in the northen hemisphere?

to parallel it to earth just think of tyria as southern europe, the mediterranean sea as the water and cantha as northern africa.

all the dimensions fit and thats all north of the equator.


now, unloreforumey....it makes sense as exaggeration is necessary for programming reality. But thats not how the lore forum likes to work.

I don't know, for me, because of the way they inter-linked different Campaigns, the lore can not just ignore the technicalities or programming reality of it. Best example is:

Mhenlo is in two continents at the same time? From LA to the last Mission and from Kaineng City to the Last mission?? Add GWN, and Mhenlo will be in 3 continents at the same time.

If we ignore the programming/technicality side, then we have to accept that Mhenlo is omnipresent and to an extent - so do we, Ascalonians. But how can lore explain that? Unless of course we expound on the "temporal" science of Lord Odran, but we will be only making 'unofficial' or 'non-canon' stories. As far as lore is concerned, Lord Odran figured out the temporal theory and no one figured it out afterwards.

So, we really have to consider the technical side of things. In my view at least, 'lore' really has no choice but to either accept the paradox in Mhenlo's existence and we can accept that Cantha is also in the northern hemisphere, or we go beyond what the lore allows us to do.

North Africa is more like the Crystal Desert, Central Africa to Southern Africa is Elona (the way I'm imagining it right now).

^_^

Just my thoughts.

[lavenbb]

The proportions and regions on Tyria need not be exactly the same as Earth. The planet of Tyria may be tilted, but not at the same angle as Earth. If that is the case, the tropic of capricon/cancer and all the regions may be displaced from Earth. Compositions of the surface of the planet, like searing crystals and the jade sea also would have a drastic influence on climate, so really, you can't directly compare Tyria with the Earth.

[Quintus Antonius]

They have the same moon. lol

[The Pointless]

They have the same moon. lol

This reminds me of the questions asked when someone discovered the constellations in Zelda: The Wind Waker were exactly the same as the ones seen from Earth. You could just pass the moon off as an art thing, or you can think of something crazy but probable, like when I said in another thread that the intelligent races of Tyria may not have been simply created on Tyria. I also said it was a bit Stargate. Which probably killed the thread.

[CrazyMrLeo]

Climate depends on a whole lot more than latitude. Italy and the Gobi Desert are at the same latitude, just like Yemen and Thailand.

Cantha and Tyria are hardly huge. They could easily fit in the same hemisphere.

[Ranger Nietzsche]

well, a more accurate map can be made given the map-to-map scaling that I determined in my sizes of the various maps.

Tyria should be 1.35 times the size of cantha and a full 7.5 times the size of the battle isles.

So, Avoc, your map is actually quite accurate except that the battle isles need to be a lot smaller.

And QA your map is also accurate except you need to give the factions team a little more credit.

[Avoc]

hmm, If you want me to, I can make a bigger map now since the picture of the off-screen map is bigger at the site.

[Quintus Antonius]

Go ahead, Avoc. We are grateful to any contribution, just take into account the discussion here when you revise the map. It's a work in progress.

[Devilish Evangelist]

This discussion is interesting.

I just want to add a few points to try to make more sense that Cantha is now also in the "north hemisphere" (if there is any)

1. I suggested that Luxon's area used to be a sea, just like a bigger dead sea in the middle sea.
2. The Kurzick area used to be a forest, just like the jungle climate, with river and very complex biomass. I guess that's part of Maguuma.

Why do Maguuma and Cantha apart?
Plate tectonics theory has the answer.

Two plates, Kytra plate and Cantha plate, moves apart. It produces lines of weakness in the Ocean (what's the name of the ocean, btw...). After repeated vocanic eruptions, melting, cooling, and eruption. There is the ring of Fire in the middle between Tyria and Cantha.

The second wild guess is that Kytra plate and collide towards Ascalon plate. The mountain movement starts and there is the snow mountain area, so does the area east to the crystal desert.

You may also want to ask why the ruin of Ascalon looks like a desert with almost no biomass. The reason is simple: it's destroyed.

The puzzle almost solved.
I hope you may find my guess interesting.

[The Pointless]

The Ring of Fire used to be the kingdom of Orr. Before someone blew it up trying to save the capital city of Arah from the Charr...

[Devilish Evangelist]

The Ring of Fire used to be the kingdom of Orr. Before someone blew it up trying to save the capital city of Arah from the Charr...

Oh... That's a "what-a-poor-Japan" story then...
(But the theory still goes)
LOL

[funkylovemonkey]

The Ring of Fire used to be the kingdom of Orr. Before someone blew it up trying to save the capital city of Arah from the Charr...
Actually, the Kingdom of Orr was not the Ring of Fire, but the shattered islands to the East of there, from the best people have been able to guess. Our best sources say it was on a peninsula west of the Cyrstal Desert, too far for it to be the Fire Islands. Beyond that, the Fire Islands have been around for at least a thousand years as it was the place the gods placed the Bloodstones (inside the large volcano), while Orr surrounded the ancient city of the gods. They can't be the same place. Orr was destroyed during the Charr invasion not too long ago.

[Quintus Antonius]

Also, just because Ascalon and Echovald have forests, does not mean they are in anyway related.

[Tuor Son Of Huor]

I dont know if this goes here; but since its a finding on the GW map, i thought i'd put it here...

Also, I havent tried pressing "M" while in the underworld, so i donot know if it has the same effect; however this effect is NOT seen when in sorrow's furnace.

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1473/untitledzm2.jpg

[Durza the Shadeking]

It make sence as that area is a gateway to hell (The Mists.)

There is also a problem with the Maguuma-Echovald theroy. The structure of plants is completely different. They have totally diferent species of life.

[Avoc]

I'll take Tuor son of Huor's theory in account on the next version of the map.
I like this map much better... I tried playing around with the colors to make it somewhat match the Crystal Dessert ones.

It is too big for to show on the forums, but here is the link.
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/2346/gwmapbigzf7.jpg

Quintus, if you could edit my original post, I would be glad.
Also you could add this link:

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=GWMAp.psd

or simply click here (http://38.101.8.67/effe1ec25f1713d89c3f39655c5b5e88/other/GWMAp.psd)

This is for anyone who has photoshop. If you want to play around and maybe add some of your own ideas then here is the .psd file.
Next version we could maybe add ship routes, timezones, streams etc.

Talking about streams, I was wondering if it was possible that there was a stream leading from elona up to tyria?

[Santax]

I dont know if this goes here; but since its a finding on the GW map, i thought i'd put it here...

Also, I havent tried pressing "M" while in the underworld, so i donot know if it has the same effect; however this effect is NOT seen when in sorrow's furnace.

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1473/untitledzm2.jpg
The Abaddon's Mouth description comes to mind...

"The largest volcano in the Ring of Fire Island Chain, Abaddon's Mouth is rumored to be the gateway into the Underworld. But only demons and devils would dare enter the fiery chasm. All other risk being burned to cinders before even getting to magma's edge."

On another note, the route that goes behind it is called Hell's Precipice for a reason...

[Gmr Leon]

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a338/GmrLeon00/GWWorldmap-1.jpg

While a bit crude at best it's what I think may be the Canthan and Tyrian ship routes. If it's hard to read I'll tell you what it says,"Green Elonian trade routes,Red Canthan trade routes,and Black Tyrian trade routes.".

There would probably be more green lines if I knew where some more port cities of Elona were,but for the time being I think this will have to do.

[Avoc]

Hmm, I dont see a reason why Elona would trade with the battle islands. But yeah that gives a good picture of it... I'll incorporate it in the unofficial official map later :D

[Gmr Leon]

I didn't really mean the Battle Isles as an area of trade,more of a restocking,repairs,and resupplying rest point. You know you would have to stop somewhere after sailing that long. Which honestly we haven't a clue how long it may take sailing back and forth.

Simply put I consider the Battle Isles as a sort of nexus of the trade routes.

[Avoc]

Yeah you may have a point... maybe with the introduction of Nightfall we'll see some new elonian boats right outside the great temple of balthazar.

[Laibeus Lord]

In my opinion, the Battle Isles should be left out of the picture since it was added way after the release only "as a solution" to the PvP Arena problem they will face once C2 and the future Campaigns are released.

If you haven't noticed, the islands used for the Battle Isles are recycled islands from Tyria.

In other words, the Battle Isles are simply "technical" in its existence and could be anywhere in the world. Putting it in the middle will only make things more confusing.

For all we know, the Battle Isles is located in the far West!!!

[Quintus Antonius]

I disagree. The Zaishen are players in the storyline, and they come from the Battle Islands. You can't leave them out.

As for the location, it says that they lay between Cantha and Tyria and are "far flung" from Cantha, which I interpert as meaning equidistant from both, but not very close to either.

[Laibeus Lord]

Ah so it was mentioned. Then Battle Isles are indeed in-between Tyria and Cantha. Interesting..

[Tuor Son Of Huor]

I'll take Tuor son of Huor's theory in account on the next version of the map.

Here's another bit of information i gathered to bolster the credibility of the theory:

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/238/untitlednk8.jpg

This was taken during a [FX] (www.fxguild.net) guild run into the FoW where we cleared the entire realm of balthazar :D <---shameless self promotion.

Santax's citing of the description of Abbadon's mouth further makes the connection between the Realms of the Gods and the Ring of Fire more and more real.

[TimOfDoom]

whats east of cantha!!
:wink:
~Doom

[Quintus Antonius]

This topic is out of date. If you are going to post, I'd suggest posting on the updated second edition.