[Fun] Tyria = early Europe?

[Fun] Tyria = early Europe?

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Posted by: Thanathos.2063

Thanathos.2063

So, while reading a book about how Middle Earth is (or was at some point, as planned by Tolkien) an early, prehistoric version of the real world / earth, I decided to check the same for Tyria, just for the lulz.

Surprisingly, I found some similarities… check for yourself :P
(I’m 99% sure that these are just coincidences, but who knows?)

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Posted by: Mara.6782

Mara.6782

Im thinking Maguuma is north and south america. Kryta is west europe. Ascalon is east europe. Far shiverpeak is scandinavia. Elona is africa and Cantha is china. Orr could be atlantis for how it sink to the ocean.

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Posted by: Amaimon.7823

Amaimon.7823

And what about cantha? ain’t exactly south pole material

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Posted by: BuddhaKeks.4857

BuddhaKeks.4857

Well Anet uses real world cultures and geography as templates for their fantasy world, just as everyone else does. Though I think Anet is a bit smarter than most other creators, as they seem to blend more cultures from different parts of the planet. Not always, but often enough.

Anyway for a quick overview:

Ascalon: Medieval English, French, German, Polish and Russian (yes that one’s quite a mix)
Kryta: GW1: Polynesia mixed with mediterranean Europe. GW2: Renaissance mix of Italy, France and England, with a lot of other cultures too via the Elonians, Canthans, etc.
Orr: Arabic, Persian
Norn: Vikings + Native Americans + some slavic influence
Charr: Rome + Mongols + Sparta + Industrial Revolution Germany
Asura: A bit mesoamerican, but mostly they are Mad Scientist stereotypes
Sylvari: Irish, Welsh, English, French, Knights of the Round Table party mix

You don’t win friends with salad! Sorry I just got caught up in the rhythm.

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Posted by: Rognik.2579

Rognik.2579

There might be a vague similarity on the surface, but I think that’s as far as it goes. Elona definitely didn’t look anything like Africa when we were down there, and it’s a large lake north of Divinity’s Reach, not an ocean. Of course, I’m drawing straws rather than truly arguing your point. In any case, I’m not going to say it’s a coincidence, but I don’t think it’s a significant reveal, either.

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Posted by: Margorion.4962

Margorion.4962

Your geography “knowledge” disturbs me.
Doesnt fit one bit. Not from a geographical perspective or a culture one.

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Posted by: Raziel Shivla.7526

Raziel Shivla.7526

Dear Margorion. In fact your knowledge is lacking, maybe you’re an american. Thanathos’ comparison is quite accurate, but some things are most obviously changed. Central and eastern union are gone, swallowed by western countries, scandinavia seems to melt onto estonia russia and those areas. Arena net couldn’t use actual europe as a map of their game, they are too full of ideas to do so. But looking at this map, I’m highly certain that its shape was inspired by Europe

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Posted by: Margorion.4962

Margorion.4962

Dear Raziel, i quite enjoy your banter. Infact i am quite on the front of critizing the US American education system myself. But i have to disappoint you. I am, thank the gods, not a US citizen.
But i have a few questions myself. Where are the mountains that seperates the “germany/france” part from the “Mother Russia” part? Thanathos somehow excluded countries like poland and ukraine. So i guess they now look like swiss or austria. Its been a while since i visited poland, but i guess they changed a bit… But with spain now a jungle i can honestly say that the climate change is a lot faster than I thought.

Austria and swiss on the other hand are somewhere between “germany/france” and “italy/greece” (which by the way is an extremely good way to describe a point with accuracy of a few thousand kilometers) and are flatlands with a huge area of sea and islands. “italy/greece” are…well they have a coast, so the map gets this part right.
The part between “italy/greece” and “Turkey/Near East” can be descriped as the small carpathians?
Yes you have changed my mind. It totally looks like europe with just minor differences I guess..

More seriously: The only part that is right is North=cold=far Shiverpeaks and South=desert=crystal desert. but this is basically true for many fantasy worlds.

As for the culture part, you can look at BuddhaKeks post and see how it matches the real world.

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Posted by: Squee.7829

Squee.7829

This has turned into one of the most condescending arguments I’ve seen on these forums. I guess outspoken non US geography majors don’t understand the meaning of the “[Fun]” tag on the title.

Or they do. Because watching them type angrily at each other while trying to seem as smug and intolerant as possible was pretty fun.
OP never said it was an exact reprint of Europe. The last line made it seem like he understood that the similarities would be incredibly vague and more likely a coincidence. And I can see that. I think it’s a neat idea, even if it is a coincidence.

Leader and sole member of the “Bring Penguins to Tyria” movement.

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Posted by: Margorion.4962

Margorion.4962

Ahh come on, this thread could be promising. But with merely two posters it can’t be described as one of the most "condescending arguments " on these forum. We definitly need some more fuel for that. So drop your “they” and your high and mighty attitude.

[…]
OP never said it was an exact reprint of Europe. […]

looking at threadtitle
Sure.

[…]
And I can see that. […]

You can see what? Do i miss something? What can you see in these maps, that perhaps US geography majors can or cannot see in it? Is it hidden behind this mysterious [Fun] tag? Perhaps i will find out on a island in austria. Perhaps this thread will be closed by then (no fun allowed )

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Posted by: Squee.7829

Squee.7829

Well, I’m no US geography major, but I’m glad you asked! With a little imagination, (admittedly, a lot of imagination) you can start to see some similarities in certain areas.
Move Spain north a bit to merge with France, and I can see where it can form the west end of the maguuma. Making Janthir the British Isles, you may even merge Greece and surrounding areas into Turkey and it will create a reasonable enough South Shiverpeaks/Orr region.

All of these with rough or redrawn areas, obviously, but sure. It’s there. No need to get into more precise details like “where are the mountains”. It’s a fictional map. The mountains are where the creators put them. But that doesn’t change the outlines (or coasts) of the maps from looking vaguely like something else.

Now as for the fuel for your condescension.
It was me.
It was me all along!

Leader and sole member of the “Bring Penguins to Tyria” movement.

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Posted by: Margorion.4962

Margorion.4962

Now we are getting somewhere. The Peninsula which points to west and a island to the north of it, is the big similarity you are all seeing.
And with dislocating just a few big countries and one of Thanathos recognized similarity (turkey moves from the crystal desert to orr? perhaps i misunderstand you there), it begins too look like…
http://imgur.com/HVSu17X
(the red hue is to make turkey visible)
Now, ignoring this little mountainchain called shiverpeaks, the jungle, the islands, the missing islands, the missing africa part below the not-so-south-anymore Iberian peninsule, everything east of italy/turkey/orr it comes down to this level of abstraction.
http://imgur.com/GqaeC5k
And on this level, yes you are right! I agreee with you! it looks like europe. So no more condescension for you

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Posted by: Rognik.2579

Rognik.2579

As much as I enjoy people bicker and quarrel on this forum, I’d like to redirect this a bit more closely to the original topic and the flaws made in his comparison. I didn’t notice it at first, but this image here

redirected my attention to it. The OP is claiming that Vabbi is adjacent to the Crystal Desert, which is categorically untrue. The adjoining points between Prophecies and Nightfall was the southeastern tip of the Crystal Desert, and the northwestern point of the Desolation. Vabbi is significantly further to the east, not even remotely visible on the current map of Tyria we have. In fact, we’d have to detour south through Kourna to get to Vabbi (at least we did back then. No idea what the Desolation looks like today).

Also, if we want to say that the Shiverpeaks are like the Ural mountains, that would make Ascalon Asia, or at least mostly Russia. The charr are far too militaristic to be Russians. No, the dredge have that honour, comrade.

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Posted by: Bazompora.2635

Bazompora.2635

Nope;
Tyria = the Western World.

Ebonhawke = Europe,
hystorically reduced as it is, with Ascalon being analogous to it’s lost Eurasian homeland which has gradually been lost to Mongolian peoples, for which the Charr from GW1 were an allegory. Just like how Europe is now a satellite to the USA, Ebonhawke now is a vassal state to …

Kryta = America,
its once melanin-dominated first nation having become replaced and dominated by colonizers, migrants and refugees, from Ebonhawke and predominantly former Ascalon. Like the US, Kryta has a bipolar political class, spans temperate and subtropical regions and the south of both has been devastated by flood.

This thread is fun though,
enough to have committed necro.

I also challenge more specifically:

Kryta: GW1: Polynesia mixed with mediterranean Europe. GW2: Renaissance mix of Italy, France and England, with a lot of other cultures too via the Elonians, Canthans, etc.

It’s Kryta from GW1 that had Renaissance time architecture, derived from Spanish colonial missions and fortresses, as found in Mexico and other Mesoamerican countries, complete with mestizo & mulatto human inhabitants, clothed in fantastic trappings with European, Amerindian and Afro-Brazilian touches.

Kryta from GW2 still follows a Spanish colonial style, but of the Modern Age, contemporary with Victorian Era.
However, whatever Canthan culture there be, it has collapsed into Ascalonian culture, only here and there resurfacing through odd idiosyncracies.
Elonian culture on the other hand is virtually non-existent in Kryta, for the Ossan Quarter, with its hybrid but uniform Elonian influences, stands out as the exceptional reminder of what the rest of Kryta is not.

It is only on the decidedly not-Elonian territory of Lion’s Arch from GW2, the literal multicultural haven that where humans became a minority, that you will find an a still-Istani-Elonian-looking statue of Kormir, can buy Elonian Wine and employ an Elonian Djinn. It must be noted that the latest incarnation of Lion’s Arch does bear resemblance to Portuguese colonial coastal fortresses, at least there where it’s architecture doesn’t veer off into theme park fantasy.

Elonians who know her history are often proud to have one of their own in the pantheon.