Proposed setting tweaks

Discussion of the various things regarding the setting itself, such as large changes to culture, politics or geography.
Pigasus
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Proposed setting tweaks

Post by Pigasus »

Hi folks,

Margo and I were talking about tweaks to the setting as it is currently written on the wiki. In my opinion, parts need to be streamlined and condensed; other parts need to be supplemented with more recent information; still others need light editing for style. I volunteer to do all these changes since I know the setting well and I type fast.

1. Arangothian history articles are fairly up to date, excluding the dragon attacks and the civil war but are organized in a confusing way. The history is split into seven articles, each dealing with a different period, plus one unfinished master article that doesn't include the most recent events.

Suggest:

- Add a few grafs to the master article about the events of the past 6-7 years.
- Remove "the fall of house silad" from list of period articles, it doesn't belong there
- Make a new period article on dragon attacks and the civil war
- Number the period articles from 1 to 7, from least to most recent

2. Some countries are redundant or no longer exist. Also some countries/cities can stand to be renamed - we have Taranor, Tyranor, Teldanar, Thontaran and Tollor. It's absurd.

Suggest:

- Remove Tyranor, it has been conquered and absorbed by Teldanar long ago. Add note to Teldanar article that this was so.
- Fold Tollor into Elluria article. The cultures are basically the same and they are only separate nationstates because of artificial division imposed by Alesians.
- Combine El Ekki and Sevule articles. They are both small islands off the coast of Elluria with similar pasts.
- Combine information for Caern and Caern Rhia, which were separate on the old site for some reason.
- Remove Sresar Vale from country list. It's a province in Arangoth, not a country.
- Remove redundant country list links for Pentland and Greater Pentland, as well as Nipangu and Panguro. Both sets link to the same articles.

3. Some country descriptions have badly written blurbs that provide no information to the reader on what to expect, forcing them to dig through tl;dr information and rapidly lose interest. Each country article should have 2-3 sentences right up top that explain what this country's deal is and why it's unique.

Suggest:

- For each country article, write concise 2-3 sentence blurbs that explains and distinguishes them from each other. Easily done in one afternoon.

4. The 2013 map I drew needs to be updated to add new countries and move the continents slightly closer together, while leaving a big stretch of UNCHARTED OCEAN stretching in one direction only. It looks weird right now. Also, needs less jpeg.

Suggest:

- Move The Orient (Xiunhai-la, Panguro, Taopai) to the other side of the map, to the right of Mwayambi, leaving a big stretch of uncharted ocean west of Veth.
- Move Mwayambi slightly closer to Veth
- Add Varstad, Marilsan and Gulanadur to the map. Rename Tszamoor to Tyhinn.
- Marilsan's description says it's warm, while Orjana is cold. Nonetheless, Marilsan is northeast of Orjana despite being in the northern hemisphere. Find creator, ask him what's the deal. Possibly shift it or Orjana north or south as needed. Consolidate uncharted areas on Veth.
- Possibly widen the northernmost part of Veth to accomodate slightly more landmass

5. Making very short articles for regions and grouping countries under them can give players another way to sort realms by location/geography. They can still pull up the main country page for the full A-Z list. Still not sure if this is that useful but it's an idea.

Suggest:

- Veth can be several regions: central, southlands, great mountains, etc.
- Mwayambi is currently listed as a country even though it's a continent with three distinct realms
- South pole continent, spanned by Alesia
- The Orient
- Southsea Islanders (Pentland, Azaan, Bahija, etc)
- Otherworld (Tor Anan, Reshalia)
- Underdark?
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Re: Proposed setting tweaks

Post by Alex »

I've read this over. I don't see any issues with the list. It's been submitted to the other ops for their consideration.
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Re: Proposed setting tweaks

Post by Nymphetamine »

Regarding Marislan -- This was something that Ian added, and I'm not really sure what the deal with it is. I don't even remember it being submitted, and I'll have to go through the forms to see if someone sent in something about. I would not object to its removal since we don't seem to know much about the creation of it.

As for the rest of the stuff, we can sit down and talk about the reordering of the history stuff. I'd be happy to help. Adding additional categories for stuff like the otherworld or underdark will be fairly easy as well. These sorts of changes are fairly easy.
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Re: Proposed setting tweaks

Post by Pigasus »

I've spoken to Ian about Marilsan. He has consented to have it moved over next to Nahuatl, because it makes the most sense there. Also, literally no one's ever played anyone from Nahuatl.
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Re: Proposed setting tweaks

Post by Ayanula »

If we're talking about reworking the global map, how badly would it upset things to edge Veth a little further south so that the northern boundaries sit at the equator? It's been hard to explain why a country at 30° (which is also at sea-level, by the way) sustains a quasi-continental climate.

Just saying...
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Re: Proposed setting tweaks

Post by Pigasus »

Updates:

Text stuff

- Arangoth history update - still haven't started.

- Updated summary blurbs for each country page done. Consolidations done.

- Wrote a full list of even smaller blurbs linking to each civilization, excluding city-states on http://www.arangoth.org/wiki/index.php/Countries

- Regions articles - still haven't started

Map image stuff

- Here is my first pass for the new map so far: http://i.imgur.com/eV8OTCW.jpg

Please let me know what needs to be moved, made bigger, made smaller, etc. Amy if you want Veth nudged down, can you edit my image to show me how far south you want it moved?
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Re: Proposed setting tweaks

Post by Ayanula »

Now that I'm looking at it, moving the continent any further south would just overcrowd everything in the southern hemisphere. Looks good as-is.
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Re: Proposed setting tweaks

Post by Pigasus »

I'm doing my best with this map but there is no good way to reconcile the northwestern part of Arangoth with the climate that the countries on it are supposed to have. In other words, it's too close to the equator to justify cool climate. To make it justified, I have to radically reshape the north bit, which makes the unexplored part of Veth way too big and ungainly. Given that the only country that far north is Orjana, one option is to strip it from the map entirely and leave it referenced as "a country to the far north, across the uncharted sea." As literally no one ever made an Orjani character, this might be the best option.

I am having a hard time making the decision on my own so I'd like the ops' input on this. Please let me know which of the following choices you would prefer.

1. Taking Orjana out from the map and leaving it as an unknown location relative to the other locations on the wiki. Updating it to take out references to the attempted Lilist Apartheid.

2. Greatly expanding the northwestern Veth's projection into the northern hemisphere and increasing its total land mass. Possibly putting a large mountain range all along its westerly coastline.

3. Disconnecting northwestern hook-shaped part from the rest of Veth. It would become its own separate little continent with a narrow sea between it and Veth. Then we can project it further north.
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Re: Proposed setting tweaks

Post by Nymphetamine »

An additional land mass would not go amiss. The only things that are up on that peninsula are Orjana, and I believe Varstad. (You would have to ask Alex for the specific location.) Honestly, the hook's always felt a little weird. So I wouldn't cry if it was moved into its own continent.
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Re: Proposed setting tweaks

Post by Pigasus »

Or I can redraw the northwestern hook-shaped part to have a different shape.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, we need to decide whether the continent goes as far north-south as the Americas of Earth, bisecting the oceans into two hemispheres or if we want a middle passage for oceans to flow freely through.
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