A PoC Scion please? There is so much untapped potential here.

[Packetdancer]

I'd say that Europe is missing from the world map, as things stand.

Eorzeas shape and location is much reminiscent of Africa than Europe, it also happens to be a wild and untamed land full of "backwards" tribes that are being invaded by a much more technologically advanced Empire that sees them as inferior.

Yeah, this is a troll thread, but there's LORE being discussed and I'm demonstrably incapable of shutting up when that happens, so...

It's worth noting that map you embedded is literally just the northern part of the world... and not even the entire northern part. We have the New World to the west of Aldenard (much like you have the Americas west of Europe in our world), which seems to bear out some inspiration from the real world, yes. But there's also a whole giant continent to the south of Aldenard: Meracydia. And from what we know of Meracydia, I don't think Antarctica is a good analogy! (Though, to be fair, Allag did supposedly leave large swaths of it something of a wasteland...)

So while there's some obvious inspiration that's taken from the real-world map in laying out the map of Hydaelyn—and I admit, I've wondered before if there once was a landmass where Europe would be in what is now the Northern Empty, the expanse of ocean with only a few scattered islands, and it was destroyed in a previous Umbral Calamity—I don't think there is a 1:1 mapping... nor do I think there's really intended to be anything remotely like one.

Sure, you could argue that Thanalan and Ul'dah take some inspiration from Morocco, for instance—and maybe a little bit from Egypt?—as well as pulling from Middle Eastern folklore in general.

But Gridania seems much more the "mysterious woods" of European tales (even moreso back in 1.0 before the aetheric imbalance of the Calamity robbed the elementals of some of their powers, when they were still this ominous, ineffable force that could make you vanish with a thought if you provoked the greenwrath), drawing from the same sort of folklore that J.R.R. Tolkien took inspiration from in creating Lothlórien and Mirkwood.

And I'd argue that Limsa is almost like a Mediterranean island town (I wanna go back to Santorini...), while Vylbrand in general feels kind of like the Iberian region of Spain.

Dravania is downright Scandinavian, what with the names the various dragons have.

Coerthas used to strike me a bit like Crusader-era Europe in 1.0, specifically the Gothic period starting in the mid-12th-century. (Now it's like... Crusader-era Europe with a constant Russian winter. THANKS BAHAMUT.)

Gyr Abania/Ala Mhigo feel a little bit like parts of Turkey; the Peaks remind me somewhat of Cappadocia, while the Lochs strike me as a little bit like Pamukkale.

So I don't think Eorzea is meant to be Africa, much less all of Aldenard being Africa. In fact, I think the Eorzean cultures actually pull from a surprising variety of places; the classical China/Khanate Mongolia/isolationist Japan -> Doma/Steppe/Hingashi mapping was almost disappointing to me in comparison. Yes, they probably pulled from various real-world locations, but most writers/artists do that; pulling a little bit from a real-world location means you can make something feel a bit more grounded and cohesive, recognizable to readers in our world. (And makes it easier to find art references.)

And while you can maybe argue that Eorzea serves a similar storytelling purpose as a 'dark continent' or 'unknown land' from the point of view of the Imperials regarding Eorzeans as 'savages', I feel like trying to say it's intended that way is somewhat subverted by the fact that Ilsabard is covered up by clouds in all of the maps we've seen, making it a literal 'dark continent' within the narrative, as no one seems to really know what happens within the boundaries of the Empire, and only the bravest Eorzeans dare venture past those borders.

[Jandor]

So I don't think Eorzea is meant to be Africa, much less all of Aldenard being Africa. In fact, I think the Eorzean cultures actually pull from a surprising variety of places; the classical China/Khanate Mongolia/isolationist Japan -> Doma/Steppe/Hingashi mapping was almost disappointing to me in comparison. Yes, they probably pulled from various real-world locations, but most writers/artists do that; pulling a little bit from a real-world location means you can make something feel a bit more grounded and cohesive, recognizable to readers in our world. (And makes it easier to find art references.)

And while you can maybe argue that Eorzea serves a similar storytelling purpose as a 'dark continent' or 'unknown land' from the point of view of the Imperials regarding Eorzeans as 'savages', I feel like trying to say it's intended that way is somewhat subverted by the fact that Ilsabard is covered up by clouds in all of the maps we've seen, making it a literal 'dark continent' within the narrative, as no one seems to really know what happens within the boundaries of the Empire, and only the bravest Eorzeans dare venture past those borders.

I don't mean a dark continent, I mean the dark continent, what Africa was often referred to as during the colonial period. You wouldn't refer to it like that now, but when the Empires of our world were scrambling for territory in Africa it was often portrayed as a dangerous expanse of untamed wilderness, where one wrong turn can take you miles away from civilization and leave you stranded in the territory of savage tribes, or have you stumbling upon ancient lost ruins, or stuck dealing with some kind of strange occultism or mysticism.

I know the cultures in Eorzea aren't inspired by African ones, I've never said they were, but what Eorzea is and old ideas of what Africa was like as a continent track pretty damn closely IMHO. It's not the cultures of the individual city states (although 2 out of 5 are clearly not European) that make Eorzea a bit like Africa, it's how Eorzea as a whole fits into the greater world. I honestly find it kind of weird that no-one else seems to see the parallels.

[Iscah]

I don't mean a dark continent, I mean the dark continent, what Africa was often referred to as during the colonial period. Africa was often portrayed as a vast expanse of untamed wilderness teeming with great beasts, where one wrong turn can take you miles away from civilization and leave you stranded in the territory of dangerous tribes, or have you stumbling upon ancient lost ruins, or stuck dealing with some kind of strange occultism or mysticism.

That sounds like a great description of what little we know of Meracydia. Hostile, unexplored and home to strange and unfamiliar creatures from an Eorzean perspective.

I really do not see the parallels between that "idea of Africa" and Eorzea from an in-game perspective. Eorzea is set up as "home", the familiar place for the characters. There are cities and civilisations. Meracydia is the distant and unknown.

Also of note: the lorebook describes Meracydia's location as "far to the south of the Three Great Continents, beyond the equatorial line" - again establishing Eorzea as north of that line, like Europe, not straddling it like Africa.

[Jandor]

That sounds like a great description of what little we know of Meracydia. Hostile, unexplored and home to strange and unfamiliar creatures from an Eorzean perspective.

Your original comment was that looking at the map indicates that Eorzea is Europe, but the map we have shows an African shaped continent in the place where Africa would be.

We do actually see a bit more of the planet in one cutscene, where we see Hydaelyn from space. Assuming that island far to the south of Eorzea is Meracydia, then it seems more like a potential Australia proxy to me.

I really do not see the parallels between that "idea of Africa" and Eorzea from an in-game perspective. Eorzea is set up as "home", the familiar place for the characters. There are cities and civilisations. Meracydia is the distant and unknown.

Of course the Eorzeans don't view themselves as particularly savage or their home as particularly wild, I doubt the Africans did either when the Europeans came over to conquer their cities and topple their civilizations.

[Iscah]

Your original comment was that looking at the map indicates that Eorzea is Europe, but the map we have shows an African shaped continent in the place where Africa would be.

Except it is not where Africa would be. It is mostly where Europe would be - entirely north of the equator, with the northern parts a long way north and only the southern tip reaching the tropics.

If anything it is, as I said earlier, positioned like Europe with the northern part of Africa mashed into it, and the southern land mass (presumably Meracydia) might be the southern part of Africa.

And please check your atlas because Australia is neither south of Europe, south of Africa or shaped anything like that - so if that's meant to be Australia then the "Eorzea must be Africa because it's shaped like it" argument doesn't carry in the first place.

If there is an Australia and the world maps 1:1 with ours (which I would say it clearly doesn't) then it is somewhere south of Othard. There does in fact appear to be the edge of a land mass there where the map is fading out.

As for my take on the how the rest of the "Three Great Continents" map out if Eorzea is Europe, I suspect that Ilsabard may be Russia alone if you split it off from the rest of Asia and slid it sideways. The northern coast of Othard loosely resembles the southern border of Russia - if you assume that inland sea on the western edge is somewhere around the Caspian Sea, and at the other end the Bay of Yanxia is the Yellow Sea, with that odd hook being the Korean peninsula. Hingashi doesn't exactly match the shape or placement of Japan even though it's clearly in the spirit of it.

Meanwhile, it looks like Thavnair might be shaped like India. There's even a Sri Lanka.

[Jandor]

Except it is not where Africa would be.

Except it really is. The known world is roughly laid out as Africa & Asia with Europe missing.

And please check your atlas because Australia is neither south of Europe, south of Africa or shaped anything like that.

Check my atlas, lol, that's rich.



It's obviously turned on its side, thought you of all people would understand that

[Iscah]

Except it really is. The known world is roughly laid out as Africa & Asia with Europe missing.

It's a northern hemisphere map. As the globe makes clear.

It's obviously turned on its side, thought you of all people would understand that

I know what my home country looks like. That is not it, sideways, backwards or otherwise and it is definitely nowhere near there on the world map.

That other continent on the very edge of the map though? That's exactly where it should be, south of Othard.

[Iscah]

Except it really is. The known world is roughly laid out as Africa & Asia with Europe missing.

On further thought I realised that this map is very misleadingly proportioned and is not comparing like to like.

The Earth map shows both north and south hemispheres, but the Hydaelyn map is only the north hemisphere - and you've stretched the image out to double its original height so the shapes are warped. It's not an accurate comparison of the two world maps in the same configuration.

We have the globe and the full world map derived from it that you posted earlier. Based on that, you can see where the equator should be, and that should allow you to proportion the two maps more accurately. They should be keeping their original proportions - scale it up or down, but don't change one dimension without the other.

[WhiteArchmage]

Except it really is. The known world is roughly laid out as Africa & Asia with Europe missing.



Check my atlas, lol, that's rich.

Your map is ignoring one (two, really) glaring flaw: Meracydia (and the Southern Isles). You're comparing a map of "The Three Great Continents" which are mostly north of the (Hydaelin-equivalent) Ecuador line, to a World map which includes countries North and South of said line. A true comparison would probably include Africa, but only the northernmost part that stops with Egypt, which is WAY above the Ecuador line.

[Packetdancer]

I don't mean a dark continent, I mean the dark continent, what Africa was often referred to as during the colonial period.

Yes, I'm aware; that was the way I was using the term. Just as how within our individual storylines, our character may be the Warrior of Light, if you take the example of multiple players' characters we would be a Warrior of Light.