Distances and Travel Times

[Anonymoose]

I dunno how true the one year bubble statement is now, given that there's a NPC (Yomogi, under "what kind of place is this") in the Doman Enclave after you liberate Doma who specifically states that it's been a year or so since the failed Doman rebellion, which was around... 2.2-ish?

This line has been driving me up the wall since 4.00 dropped, because it doesn't mesh with anything. Doma? Still 25 years ago. Ala Mhigo? Still 20 years ago. Silvertear Skies? Still 15 years ago. Not one single mention of relative time in Stormblood accommodates this alleged year, and yet they say it over and over. I thought maybe I could skew it the other way - that maybe Solus died longer ago than we thought and Gaius, being rogue, just didn't get word. Except, no, the lore book pins Solus's death to the present year (5 7UE / 1 7AE). The discrepancy is driving me batty.

And Gerolt's disciple once said it's been two years since the master crafter received a commission

I believe we were able to encircle that one with logic and all-but-prove that it was a meta joke about the real world time that players had invested into Gerolt's quests, as it is just about exactly two Earth years from Jalzahn's first appearance to Gerolt referencing the start of the Zodiac Weapon arc. Gerolt and co. really like to make fun of your masochism.

[Mysterysword]

This line has been driving me up the wall since 4.00 dropped, because it doesn't mesh with anything. Doma? Still 25 years ago. Ala Mhigo? Still 20 years ago. Silvertear Skies? Still 15 years ago. Not one single mention of relative time in Stormblood accommodates this alleged year, and yet they say it over and over. I thought maybe I could skew it the other way - that maybe Solus died longer ago than we thought and Gaius, being rogue, just didn't get word. Except, no, the lore book pins Solus's death to the present year (5 7UE / 1 7AE). The discrepancy is driving me batty.

To be honest, I kind of disregarded that, or wrote it off as the Domans rounding up. They might even be using an entirely different calendar, since the Eorzean calendar is based on the Twelve, who are mostly unknown in Othard. I wouldn't be surprised if Domans and Hingans counted their years based on the reigns of their current rulers, just like how China and Japan did (and Japan still counts their years according to the reign of their Emperor).

As for distances, though, I wish I could estimate how far north of the equator each region is, based on climate, but then we have Coerthas, which is supposedly near the Hydaelyn equivalent of the Mediterranean, but is locked in an eternal winter thanks to Bahamut. The Twelveswood is also an evergreen forest, I'm assuming, but on Earth, it seems that it would be too far north.

[Mysterysword]

Climate implies that Thanalan is at roughly 30 degrees north latitude. [Checks view from space to see if anything is absurdly askew of this so far, it's not.]

It took me a while, but this sentence, along with my own comments on the constant winter in Ishgard and the Twelveswood seemingly being too far north, made me wonder if it's possible to gauge how far north a particular location is, going by what is possible to grow there. (Wanted to ask if Eorzea even actually experiences seasonal weather patterns, and the only in-lore reference to changing weather is in a levequest [I think it was a level 30-40 crafting levequest?] that mentions that "winter is coming" in Ishgard. And that could've just been a sarcastic quip, really. "Winter is coming? Of course winter is coming, it's always winter here!")

La Noscea, for instance, is on a higher latitude than Thanalan, but has an ecosystem that can support a huge variety of plants. We can harvest grapes, oranges, lemons, and kukuru (cacao) beans in Lower La Noscea alone, plums and strawberries rolanberries in different parts of Upper La Noscea, tomatoes, lettuce, and wheat in Middle La Noscea, artichoke and zucchini in Eastern La Noscea, and that's not even counting all the different herbs and spices we get from that region, some of which, if I'm not mistaken, would be growing in completely separate climates and seasons on Earth.

But then I recall certain trees in the North Shroud which can provide you with both latex and maple sap at the exact same time, and I suppose in-game gathering isn't all that reliable a measure, after all. Fine. So going by what I see in-game, the farmers of La Noscea definitely grow wheat (Red Rooster Stead), grapes (Wineport), some kind of fruit trees, which I'm going to go out on a limb and say are oranges (RRStead and Summerford), and... a field of lavender? Does anyone know which latitude that kind of crop implies?

[Heliantheae]

Time bubble chain is very likely. Because I leveled DRG during 3.2. I remember the patch number very well because what was going on in the MSQ at the time didn't match with what was happening in the DRG storyline. Ever since then I just pictured two(three now) time lines going at the same time. Everything 1-50 is happening during the Ultima arc. 51-60 is happening during the Dragon Song arc and etc.

[Anonymoose]

So going by what I see in-game, the farmers of La Noscea definitely grow wheat (Red Rooster Stead), grapes (Wineport), some kind of fruit trees, which I'm going to go out on a limb and say are oranges (RRStead and Summerford), and... a field of lavender? Does anyone know which latitude that kind of crop implies?

Now that you mention it, I think all of those are grown around 35~38 degrees north latitude in California. COINCIDENCE!?

[uvuvwevwevweonyetenyevweugwemu]

If I have to guess from the description

A sweet citrus fruit known to thrive in the temperate climate of lower La Noscea.

Temperate climate is between 45-60 latitude both north or south IF hydaelin rotates in a perfect right angle.
It's always between equator and polar regions, real earth axis is skewed so temperate climate is ~20-45 latitude.
It could be similar, but the climate isn't related to weather. Weather changes like clockwork, every 6 eorzean hours or 17.5 minutes.

There's no way to be certain because new expansions might reveal new continents or other parts of the world we haven't seen yet.

[Random0]

From the Encyclopedia Eorzea, First Book "Hydaelyn", section "Geography"

"So great is the distance, that even the fastest of trader vessels carried by favorable winds require at least a fortnight to make the journey from Old Sharlayan to Vylbrand, and another two moons to travel from there to Doma."

[Wyssahtyn]

Ah, it was from the lore book, not a loremonger. Interesting.

[Mysterysword]

From the Encyclopedia Eorzea, First Book "Hydaelyn", section "Geography"

Sweet, thanks. So we can safely double those travel times if we're assuming less-than-favourable conditions. Though "two moons" refers to a trip between Vylbrand and Doma, which may or may not have a port that's much further southwest than Kugane.

Is it actually possible for people who aren't Mary Sues to teleport between Eorzea and the Far East? At what point does distance become a major hindrance to aetherial travel?

I actually found it amusing how in the MSQ, Alphinaud explicitly mentioned how airships wouldn't be able to fly all the way there due to fuel constraints (while never bringing up the possibility of stopping and landing to refuel along the way), yet Kugane has an airship landing. Presumably meaning we'll be able to do the exact thing he said was impossible. I'd love to see what kind of tech they come up with to explain this one away.

[Wyssahtyn]

I don't see how being unable to fly from Eorzea to the Far East means Kugane can't have an airship landing. For one, the Hingans themselves harbor a great interest in airships (noted by some NPCs) and the Garleans make frequent use of airships as well.

Also Doma is northwest of Kugane.