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Post by pepebe on Jul 15, 2007 22:20:03 GMT
Greetings to all Lone Wolf fans out there!
Every once in a while I begin to work on a detailed Magnamund Map. Usually it ends with a crashed hard disk and therefore I'm beginning to believe that Naar himself doesn't approve to this endeavour.
This time I got very far and I noticed how small the continent of Magnamund is in comparison to Earth. The whole map is slightly bigger than the whole of North America.
If we assume, that Magnamund is a somehow Earth like planet, than there would be either an awful lot of empty water around Northern and Southern Magnamund or a lot of unexplored area.
On Earth, around 70% of the total surface is covered by water. If you trust in th Magnamund Map, less the 10% would be dry land.
Messing around with the map's scale doesen't solve the problem because Durenor is already around the size of Germany and that's in a historical context pretty big for a medieval country.
Another explanation would be to assume, that the writer of the map was well delusioned about the importance of his home country and somehow well informed about it' neighbours but underestimated the size and distance for more foreign or exotic places... This happened a lot in former times. If you are familiar with historical maps, you will surely know the "world map" of "Herodot" or similar works...
You might also have noticed on the maps and within he Magnamund Companion clues to something described as "the Void" (this is for example where the Sommerlending people come from...) I believe, that those are references to unexplored areas. Before Marco Polo or Columbus most of the world was hidden within such a "Void".
Reading the country descriptions of the Magnamund Companion, especially the section about the "Races of Magnamund" and the "History of Magnamund" fortify my idea, that the whole Magnamund map isn't very accurate and mostly relies in hearsay picked up in shady harbour taverns.
Why I'm thinking about such things?
Well, that's easily explained. Being a great fan of the Lone Wolf world and a dedicated pen and paper role player, I would like to do some background research before I send my players there. While they are travelling on foot, it will take them only a couple of weeks to travel from Sommerlund to any place on the northern continent and as soon as they will get one of those fancy air ships, they will get anywhere within a few days. I don't like that idea...
Any recommendations?
Greetings,
pepebe
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Post by beowuuf on Jul 16, 2007 6:14:09 GMT
I think the map is probably accurate, on the MC map you clearly see the movement of the various races across the continent, and interestingly at least three races (the Durenese/Sommeldning and Drakkarim) came from the void.
So it could well be there is an entire world out there just as rich with a few more continents. But, for whatever reasons, those continents are not where Naar and Ka/Ishir are chosing to fight. For example, what's south? Is there another polar region?
It could also be that the world of magnamund simply is smaller compared to other worlds, and that it really doens't have that much land mass - I do beleive it was sea dragons who first fought o magnamund.
Anywya, interesting thoughts - I guess beyonf the gazetteer and the MC we don't have much to go on for anything beyond the mapped areas we know!
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Post by outspaced on Jul 16, 2007 7:46:53 GMT
The other side of the world of Magnamund is the Northern and Southern Voids, vast oceans. In this vast expanse of open sea are archipelagos called the Kayunis, a Vassagonian word meaning "the stars of the void". So it would appear there are no large land masses aside from Northern and Souther Magnamund (and Kalte). (Check the Appendix from the Project Aon edition of The Magnamund Companion for more details and little-known facts harvested from the Lone Wolf Club Newsletters.)
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Post by pepebe on Jul 16, 2007 9:47:41 GMT
There are some indicators, that there is "something" hidden beyond the edges of the Magnamund Map.
First of all the Illustrations on the "Races of Magmund" (p. 16,17) seem to indicate, that the human settlers arriving During the "Golden Age of the Shianti" (MS 0 - 3004) arrived from somewhere beyond continental Magnamund.
Why they all arrived there during this time and where did they come from is unknown. If they were some sort of colonists, than there is no hint that they ever thought about returning to their homelands. Also there is no indication that they retained any kind of contact to their former homelands. For those reasons it seems to me quite unlikely that the various groups of human settlers really come from other continents.
A completely different approach would be to question the idea of an earth like Magnamund. Perhaps there is really something like an empty void bordering on the known world. In former times it was quite accepted among most people, that there was something like the end of the world. They were wrong, but it might be true for Magnamund.
Yesterday night, it dawned on me that the various worlds of Aon could be connected between each other by an enormous ocean. After one world after the other fell to one of the gods, they were sealed off from the others, so they could neither be entered nor left without the winning gods permission. Thus was the Void created.
It seems to be imaginable, that from time to time, just before a world was finally conquered, individuals or groups of people escaped from one of those worlds looking for a new home or an opportunity to fight another day. I'm sure that quite often the loosing gods inspired some of their followers to "buzz off"...
In the end only Magnamund was the only world left and so became a melting pot for beings from all over the universe of aon.
Those worlds could also be the pool for the gods to send in new forces for their final battle. Naar did this with the Drakkarim, Ishir and Kai with the Sommerlendings...
Well, that's enough pondering for today. What do you think about this?
Greetings,
pepebe
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Post by pepebe on Jul 16, 2007 10:08:04 GMT
Thanks outspaced! I haven't noticed the appendix before. I really should have given the MC more attention. Well, "The stars of the void"? This sounds familiar... The MC describes the nature of Aon in these words: "Their creation became Aon, the "Great Balance", and from this seed grew a universe filled with light and dark, life and death, hope and despair. The Lords of Good and Evil looked down upon Aon in wonder, and so greatly did they desire to enter and control their creation that the Peace of Ishir was ended and their struggle was born anew. The many jewels of Aon shone brightly in the darkness and swiftly were they claimed by the gods. As one world fell to Evil, another was saved by Good, until just one, the brightest jewel of all, remained unclaimed and unconquered." MC, p.10 What if those "stars of the Void" are in fact the aforementioned "jewels of Aon"? I can imagine an endless sea spotted with countless islands, archipelagos or even whole continents were all kinds of civilizations and cultures evolved before they one by one were claimed by the gods. Intriguing concept, isn't it? Greetings, pepebe P.S. I just found the following entry in MC's appendix: Question: If Magnamund is the last free planet of Aon, what are the names of the others? Within its own solar system, there are eight planets apart from Magnamund. They are TORM, BAZITTO, CANNADOM, PLUTARNIS, GORDONIA, HERMIDOS, SHUNA and ITHIS. (Lone Wolf Club Newsletter 6). This seems to be in contradiction to my ideas, yet they might be wrong...
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Post by beowuuf on Jul 16, 2007 22:40:29 GMT
Well, those are just panets, not habitable worlds of the great balance of Aon I really liek your theory, as you say the sailors of the Duranese/Sommlemnding and Drakkarim don't seem to have wanted to retrun, nor more come - it does sound like bringing the defeated from a world to the new one to fight again. Very good idea!
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Post by Wolfus on Jul 19, 2007 13:22:47 GMT
I think I mentioned here before, but what about distance between north pole (Kalte) and equatorial areas (Vassagonia)? Aren't they too close to each other? Isn't south hemisphere far bigger than norh one?
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Post by outspaced on Jul 19, 2007 14:10:48 GMT
Actually, I always assumed the equator was just to the south of Dessi, dissecting the Gulf of Tentarium. Though that still seems to make the southern hemisphere bigger than the northern one. (Though not nearly as much as if the equator dissects Vassagonia!)
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Post by Wolfus on Jul 19, 2007 16:18:37 GMT
Hmmm... Yes, of course, equator can be wherever the weather is hot...
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Post by Black Cat on Jul 19, 2007 18:04:42 GMT
You forget one thing: the axial tilt of the planet. Earth has a tilt of 23.4°. During the summer in the Northern hemisphere, we get more sunlight than in the south because the sun is directly above the 23th parallel of the Northern hemisphere at noon. However, it will be the opposite in winter since the sun will be over the 23th parallel of the Southern hemisphere.
Magnamund could have a bigger axial tilt. In summer, the sun could be right over a parallel that passes by Vassagonia, while in winter, it could be over a parallel that passes by the city of Shadaki. The equator should then be at an equal distance of those two parallels.
Something that outspaced said: if the equator was under Dessi, in the Gulf of Tantarium, would it really make the northern hemisphere bigger that the south one? Of course not! You are mixing two things: the continents and the hemispheres.
On Earth, only 30% of the surface is over the waters. Most of it is in the northern hemisphere. 90% of the human population live in the north. It could be the same thing in Magnamund: the majority of the landmass is in the north, while only a part of Southern Magnamund is south of the equator. That doesn't make the northern and southern hemispheres different in size, but in the landmass they contain.
I'm pretty sure that, on all the maps that we have of Magnamund, the equator doesn't pass by the middle of them like we could think.
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Post by outspaced on Jul 19, 2007 21:13:08 GMT
Something that outspaced said: if the equator was under Dessi, in the Gulf of Tantarium, would it really make the northern hemisphere bigger that the south one? Of course not! You are mixing two things: the continents and the hemispheres. Not exactly: the Azanam, the very southern tip of Southern Magnamund, is described in terms of verdant jungle. If it is still possible for sub-tropical climes so far south, while Sommerlund has snow in the winter, the southern hemisphere does indeed appear to be bigger than the northern, irrespective of the size of the land masses. Either that, or the planet of Magnamund is shaped like a suppository . . .
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Post by section350 on Jul 19, 2007 23:10:10 GMT
On Earth, only 30% of the surface is over the waters. Most of it is in the northern hemisphere. 90% of the human population live in the north. It could be the same thing in Magnamund: the majority of the landmass is in the north, while only a part of Southern Magnamund is south of the equator. That doesn't make the northern and southern hemispheres different in size, but in the landmass they contain. I'm pretty sure that, on all the maps that we have of Magnamund, the equator doesn't pass by the middle of them like we could think. This is, I think, a very important point to keep in mind when trying to figure out how the globe of Magnamund would look. Magnamund seems to be a pangaea type world, with virtually all land mass [save for a few island chains] concentrated and lumped together in one super continent. To further play with the metaphor we could look at that cataclysmic split of magnamund at the tentarias as the very beginning of continental drift on Magnamund. Much like when the Earth was in its pangaea state, on Magnamund all land is concentrated in this super continent on one part of the globe; if Magnamund has an earth-like land/water ratio, then this means we are dealing with an other side of the world that is entirely water. Very likely we are since Magnamund seems to have an even more exaggerated land/water imbalance than earth. Point being land is not distributed equally amongst the surface of Magnamund; Black Cat earlier reminded us that this is still the case on earth, although not nearly as exaggerated an imbalance as it used to be. Now we take Outspaced's point: The Azanam, the very southermost tip of Southern Magnamund, the end of all land. Has a verdant jungle like climate. Tropical, we'll call it? Okay. So check the tropic lines on your nearest globe. 23.5 north (cancer) and 23.5 south (capricorn). With the equator equidistant between the two. Azanam could be anywhere within that latitudinal range, correspondant to the Magnamund globe. Also keep in mind when trying to place Magnamund latitude wise, don't be thrown by the Dry Main being desert. Our own planet has significant desert area far north of the tropical band [The Gobi]. It need not be positioned as though it were like our Sahara. {In fact, I think Southern Magnamund has its own much worthier "Sahara" contender, the Sadi Desert [Check the map in your Grey Star books!] So there's my attempt at trying to make sense of things. This was quite a bit of fun to think about though, so thanks all of you for bringing this discussion up.
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Post by pepebe on Jul 30, 2007 15:46:02 GMT
Well, I would also like to thank all who participated in this discussion. The scholarly twist the whole discussion took was unexpected but nevertheless very appreciated... A like-minded discussion took place at the lone wolf forum at moogoose: www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14868&sid=611a49a09ec01b6283862daee22c76a4Although the size of Magnamund was not the main topic, climate zones and other things were also pondered upon. Thanks again, pepebe
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Post by Zipp on Aug 4, 2007 20:55:48 GMT
I always assumed the rest of the world was made up of small islands and maybe, on the other side of the world, an unexplored continent.
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