How big is Terrestria?[G5]

[The Ratt]

A straight forward question. How big do you think Terrestria is? The Size of North America? The size of the Atlantic? The size of France? It really isn't made clear in the game.

[Sir Spiff]

Terrestria is the size of plot. It's as big as it needs to be for story and convenience purposes.

[Acky]

I always had the impression that it was about the size of Austrailia.

 

The Last Archon

[Spddin Ignis]

I was under the impression that it was huge...as in 2 times the size of austrailia

[Firecage]

Australia is a oversized island. Lol.

[Drayk Armitage]

I heard they call oversized islands "continents" these days.

[Darkdread]

It probably isn't very big as you can travel from one area to a distant one very quickly and do not need a lot of food or means of transport.

[*i]

Quote:

It probably isn't very big as you can travel from one area to a distant one very quickly and do not need a lot of food or means of transport.

This is a classic dilemma facing a lot of "epic" RPGs. I think the agreed upon solution is to suspend disbelief and treat everything as a rough approximation.

[Zummi]

Speaking of "epic" RPGs, do you think Jeff would make one of those 99-hours RPGs?

[Acky]

Can he?

 

Geneforge can be 99 hours, if you count playing multiple playthroughs. Each is about 25 hours for me.

 

The Last Archon

[Contra]

A similar question that has been annoying me; As recently as G3, it is mentioned that Terrestia is only one of two continents ruled by Shapers.

Well, what the hell is happening to the other continent during the war? They sending any help, or just ignoring it all? Do they have their own Shaper Council, and can they een communicate and trade due to the war?

Or has Jeff just ret-conned away an entire continent.

[Dikiyoba]

Originally Posted By: Contra

Or has Jeff just ret-conned away an entire continent.

That.

Dikiyoba.

[Alorael at Large]

It wasn't ret-conned. It was forgotten.

 

—Alorael, who is sure that some shaper will be going through the bureaucratic archives one day and find some surprising news for Shema and company. "Uh, guys? We misplaced a continent..."

[Drakefyre]

Originally Posted By: Azuma Velius

Speaking of "epic" RPGs, do you think Jeff would make one of those 99-hours RPGs?

Exile III on my first playthrough was pretty close.

[Desmarestia]

My first playthrough of Exile I took nine years.

[Milla]

Originally Posted By: Loneliest One

It wasn't ret-conned. It was forgotten.

—Alorael, who is sure that some shaper will be going through the bureaucratic archives one day and find some surprising news for Shema and company. "Uh, guys? We misplaced a continent..."

Hey it happens to the Imperium of Man all the time!

Anyway it could work as new plotline for a possible sequel to the Geneforge series (As a whole), set a hundred or so years after G5 with the diminishing political/military power of the Shapers and the Shaping Arts being forgotten.

One day, while going through old dusty archives a discovery is made! References to other Shaper Lands, in fact an entire continent that was forgotten.

Possibly there is a contingent of Terrestian Shapers upset at their loss of knowledge decide to find the long lost parts of their Empire and so on.

Most likely based on a Trakovite or similar ending. (At least one that has the formation of Sucia as a country)

[Student of Trinity]

The whole Shaper-Rebel war is nothing compared to the unthinkable catastrophe that destroyed the other Shaper continent shortly after G3. An apprentice necromancer stumbled on a scrap of old parchment, yada yada yada, continent sank beneath the waves with no survivors. Nobody ever speaks of it.

[Gondor2222]

If we say that Perikalia is about the size of Oakland,California, we end up with a continent about the size of Australia, and a total land area equal to about that of Mexico.

[The Ratt]

Please specify which Oakland you are referring to. I am sure that there are several in existence and I have, at most, heard of only one.

[Øther]

I never really thought about it, but I am guessing Terrestria would be quite a bit smaller then Europe, and a little bit bigger than Australia. Somewhere between those two, though a little closer to Australia.

[Sleeping Dragon]

If you go by the total number of cities in Terrestia, you end up with something rather small. Australia doesn't have so many cities, but Terrestia isn't 90% uninhabitable... yet. I'd say it's very small, like Britain, if not smaller. It's difficult to tell because you can't really get an idea of how big the cities are either. If we're talking Londons and Romes, then it could be bigger. But if they are modest sized cities and a huge capital we haven't seen on the west coast, Britain sounds about right.

 

Edit: It is actually much smaller than that (like Manhattan sized even) if we take into account the fact that we can see the cities and rivers clearly from the overhead map, assuming that picture is supposed to be photo quality.

[Dikiyoba]

Originally Posted By: Student of Trinity

The whole Shaper-Rebel war is nothing compared to the unthinkable catastrophe that destroyed the other Shaper continent shortly after G3. An apprentice necromancer stumbled on a scrap of old parchment, yada yada yada, continent sank beneath the waves with no survivors. Nobody ever speaks of it.

Is there really no mention of the second continent in G4? If there isn't, then maybe we should be asking that Monarch character some serious questions about that lost empire of his.

Up until G5, Dikiyoba pictured Terrestria as very large, because the Shapers ruling totally over a very large continent is much more imposing than the Shapers ruling a small continent. Now, however, Dikiyoba isn't sure what size it is.

[Randomizer]

They are Shapers. They just don't talk about mistakes. A missing continent must be covered up.

[Gondor2222]

Originally Posted By: Randomizer

They are Shapers. They just don't talk about mistakes. A missing continent must be covered up.

Or forgotten

And by Oakland in my previous post, I meant Oakland, California.

[The Ratt]

I would like to interject that there is at least minor, though some seem major, climate shifts within the game.

 

Since most of the South of Terrestria (Zephyr Oasis and the Forsaken Lands) is desert that suggests that the South is near the equator. Though, admittedly, Illya is rather green and verdant, but is at a similar latitude. Because the northern parts of Terrestria are lush and verdant, and the only snowy parts that we ever see are mountains, this suggests a temperate climate. Which is not unreasonable.

[Randomizer]

It could just be the mountains west of Dera Reaches block the rainfall into the region causing a desert climate. It really depends upon prevailing winds on whether enough moisture makes it through.

[Milla]

Originally Posted By: The Ratt

I would like to interject that there is at least minor, though some seem major, climate shifts within the game.

Since most of the South of Terrestria (Zephyr Oasis and the Forsaken Lands) is desert that suggests that the South is near the equator. Though, admittedly, Illya is rather green and verdant, but is at a similar latitude. Because the northern parts of Terrestria are lush and verdant, and the only snowy parts that we ever see are mountains, this suggests a temperate climate. Which is not unreasonable.

Alot the verdant growth could be attributed to the Shapers influence in some areas.

[pndrev]

Originally Posted By: Sleeping Dragon

I'd say it's very small, like Britain, if not smaller.

Edit: It is actually much smaller than that (like Manhattan sized even) if we take into account the fact that we can see the cities and rivers clearly from the overhead map, assuming that picture is supposed to be photo quality.

I'd say Britain sounds about right, from the feeling of it.
Let's take the map not as photo quality, but as a semi-realistic 'painted' map. Cities would then be a bit exaggerated and distances slightly skewed.

[Alorael at Large]

Not even England at the height of its imperialistic hubris referred to Britain as a continent. That would be too much of a stretch.

 

—Alorael, who will go with "the size of plot." And keep in mind that the G2 map fits in a tiny piece of the G5 map. Drawings are very clearly not to scale. Neither are distances between zones.

[feline monstrosity]

Originally Posted By: Desmarestia

My first playthrough of Exile I took nine years.

I think they were referring to play-time. If that too was what you were referring to then... Dear God.

[Sleeping Dragon]

Originally Posted By: Alorael

Not even England at the height of its imperialistic hubris referred to Britain as a continent. That would be too much of a stretch.

Only because there were so many things that were bigger than it was. Perhaps land-masses don't get bigger than Terrestia, perhaps the Geneforge planet is as big as our moon.

*Gets a particularly annoying Disney World song stuck in her head.*

[Vempele]

The other continent suffered a Class 0 Shaping accident.

 

The first rule about Class 0 Shaping accidents is that you don't talk about them.

[Drakon Sssharxx]

I would guess that for the plot to work without your person walking for endless days, that jeff and co. cut down on the transition times between zones.

 

And about the size of the citys... we are talking shaper citys, built to express the wealth and power of the shapers, they aren't going to be small are they?

 

I would go with the size of australia like most others as there are occasional refrences to people takeing weeks to get from one place to the next.

 

and for those that talk bad about the UKs size... we overcompensate in many other areas. In fact we proved that by owning half the world, and very gentlemanlike returned it afterwards, just coz we can.

 

Hmm funny thing i just noticed by looking at australia, if you turn it upsidedown and add a small amount of land to the bottom right while digging out a lake in the middle, it looks like terrestia.

[Velzan]

Lol

[Shaper Tristan]

austrailia sounds about right but keep in mind(i am really dissapointed in you all) that in G1 the sholai tell you that they have there own continent across a sea that the shapers have never crossed. also (although it never says it outright) the sholai are great explorers therefore there must be other civillisations also.