Taking Checkers's Suggestion
Jul. 22nd, 2010 11:05 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
drashizu.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
queensthiefPigrescuer posted about the map situation we have with Queen's Thief and it got me inspired! So I spent an hour flipping through The Thief and writing down all the geographical references I found. It's by no means exhaustive, but here it is.
I think this can also be a good time for everyone else to add what they know about the geography of the QT world, so we can start putting together all the data and collaborate on the perplexing issue of the map.
I tried to remember to cite where in the book I found each reference, but I didn't write down page numbers, only chapters, since I'm using an old version. And I included which day of the journey it is as they're traveling, to help with distances, hopefully.
The Thief
Chapter 2: The main characters leave the city of Sounis via the north gate; the road continues straight to the foothills of the Hephestial Mountains. On the right as they travel (meaning to the east) is the Seperchia. They reach Methana and then Matinaea. This took them one day of traveling.
Ch. 3: On the second day of traveling, they reach the foothills. Evisa, late afternoon. Another unnamed town that night. The next morning Gen describes how the wagon track they’d been following since Evisa divides, “turning west to head along the foothills, or east to intersect the main road that led to the pass through the Hephestial Mountains.” They continue straight on a track that shows little sign of travel and sleep outside.
Ch. 4: The next day, before noon, they reach the farmhouse that used to be the magus’s family’s. Next day they climb again and enter Eddis and sleep outside. The next day, they come to a road paved with giant stones passing through the forest and then spend another night outdoors.
Ch. 5: Next day they reach the temple where the magus intended to have lunch, now working their way downhill instead of up. They spend their last night in Eddis. They can see Attolia, and Gen says that the sea is to the right. (We aren’t specifically told which direction they’re facing, but if they’ve been traveling in more or less a straight line---which might not be true, considering paths in the mountains usually twist and turn a lot---they’re facing north. So the sea is in the east.)
The sea is dotted with islands that “continued the mountain range behind us.” On the far side of the Attolian valley is another mountain range, and out of that comes the Seperchia. It wanders nearer and closer to the Hephestial mountains as it heads seaward but is diverted right before reaching the coast by a rocky spur, and cuts through the limestone of the Hephestials instead, to flow through Eddis, into Sounis, past the king’s city and into the Middle Sea.
Also, Attolia supposedly gets the easterly winds which dump their rain when they reach the mountains, which means that she must have a more or less east-facing coast or that the mountains across from them at this point are low enough not to stop a raincloud.
Ch. 6: Goat path down into Eddis. Again, Gen describes how Attolia looks: to the left and right, cliffs; ahead, the olives, which fall away as they approach a river. The magus says that the Sea of Olives stretches from the coast to the dystopia, about 35 miles inland. There’s a town nearby. After resupplying, they set off again and reach Profactia at twilight. More traveling the next day, still in the Sea of Olives.
Ch. 7: Another new day; the magus says, “We’ll swing west then to the stream...” meaning they’re probably still going north until now. They reach the stream and go on. At the end of the day they reach the dystopia. The track they’re following turns south, but they continue on into the dystopia. They walk all the next day and the magus mentions that the Aracthus cuts across the dystopia in a canyon and dumps its minerals when it reaches the plains. Gen mentions that the mountains are a sheer line of cliffs on his left, meaning they probably turned north again at the stream. In the evening they reach the Aracthus and turn upriver, toward the mountains. That night they reach the temple.
Ch. 8: Gen tells a myth about the fire that created the dystopia, and mentions an unnamed small river that Hamiathes convinced to jump out of its course and flow across the dystopia to the Seperchia. Which I think explains why there’s an empty riverbed for the Aracthus that leads up to the capital from a different direction than the Aracthus we knew about previously, later in the book.
(I skipped ahead to Ch. 11, where they’re in the castle on the Seperchia)
They follow a road that runs alongside the Seperchia. They follow it upstream, headed back for the dystopia, all through the night. Gen says they’re on the far side of the dystopia from the Sea of Olives and upriver there’s no more arable land. The dystopia runs straight to the foot of the mountains; meanwhile, on the other side of the river, there’s a trade route and villages, but none of them would have a reason to build a bridge to the dystopia, so Magus and company keep on going upriver into Eddis. They're on the wrong side of the Aracthus from the path where they came down into Attolia, before. The river becomes a canyon and they cross at the makeshift bridge—so are they on the north side of the river now?—then get to the bridge in Eddis and cross back.
Ch. 12: The soldiers take them up a stone road in a chasm that was cut by the Aracthus before its course had changed. They reach the palace. So the Eddisian capital must be farther from the coast than the Sea of Olives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As you can see, the Seperchia defies the laws of physics, which has been pointed out before. It originates in the mountains across Attolia in the beginning of the Thief but transports its source to very near the Eddisian capital in the end of the book. UNLESS the Seperchia has multiple sources, which isn't odd, but it would be odd for all of them to be known as "the Seperchia." Oh well.
All you smart people, what do you make of it?
I think this can also be a good time for everyone else to add what they know about the geography of the QT world, so we can start putting together all the data and collaborate on the perplexing issue of the map.
I tried to remember to cite where in the book I found each reference, but I didn't write down page numbers, only chapters, since I'm using an old version. And I included which day of the journey it is as they're traveling, to help with distances, hopefully.
The Thief
Chapter 2: The main characters leave the city of Sounis via the north gate; the road continues straight to the foothills of the Hephestial Mountains. On the right as they travel (meaning to the east) is the Seperchia. They reach Methana and then Matinaea. This took them one day of traveling.
Ch. 3: On the second day of traveling, they reach the foothills. Evisa, late afternoon. Another unnamed town that night. The next morning Gen describes how the wagon track they’d been following since Evisa divides, “turning west to head along the foothills, or east to intersect the main road that led to the pass through the Hephestial Mountains.” They continue straight on a track that shows little sign of travel and sleep outside.
Ch. 4: The next day, before noon, they reach the farmhouse that used to be the magus’s family’s. Next day they climb again and enter Eddis and sleep outside. The next day, they come to a road paved with giant stones passing through the forest and then spend another night outdoors.
Ch. 5: Next day they reach the temple where the magus intended to have lunch, now working their way downhill instead of up. They spend their last night in Eddis. They can see Attolia, and Gen says that the sea is to the right. (We aren’t specifically told which direction they’re facing, but if they’ve been traveling in more or less a straight line---which might not be true, considering paths in the mountains usually twist and turn a lot---they’re facing north. So the sea is in the east.)
The sea is dotted with islands that “continued the mountain range behind us.” On the far side of the Attolian valley is another mountain range, and out of that comes the Seperchia. It wanders nearer and closer to the Hephestial mountains as it heads seaward but is diverted right before reaching the coast by a rocky spur, and cuts through the limestone of the Hephestials instead, to flow through Eddis, into Sounis, past the king’s city and into the Middle Sea.
Also, Attolia supposedly gets the easterly winds which dump their rain when they reach the mountains, which means that she must have a more or less east-facing coast or that the mountains across from them at this point are low enough not to stop a raincloud.
Ch. 6: Goat path down into Eddis. Again, Gen describes how Attolia looks: to the left and right, cliffs; ahead, the olives, which fall away as they approach a river. The magus says that the Sea of Olives stretches from the coast to the dystopia, about 35 miles inland. There’s a town nearby. After resupplying, they set off again and reach Profactia at twilight. More traveling the next day, still in the Sea of Olives.
Ch. 7: Another new day; the magus says, “We’ll swing west then to the stream...” meaning they’re probably still going north until now. They reach the stream and go on. At the end of the day they reach the dystopia. The track they’re following turns south, but they continue on into the dystopia. They walk all the next day and the magus mentions that the Aracthus cuts across the dystopia in a canyon and dumps its minerals when it reaches the plains. Gen mentions that the mountains are a sheer line of cliffs on his left, meaning they probably turned north again at the stream. In the evening they reach the Aracthus and turn upriver, toward the mountains. That night they reach the temple.
Ch. 8: Gen tells a myth about the fire that created the dystopia, and mentions an unnamed small river that Hamiathes convinced to jump out of its course and flow across the dystopia to the Seperchia. Which I think explains why there’s an empty riverbed for the Aracthus that leads up to the capital from a different direction than the Aracthus we knew about previously, later in the book.
(I skipped ahead to Ch. 11, where they’re in the castle on the Seperchia)
They follow a road that runs alongside the Seperchia. They follow it upstream, headed back for the dystopia, all through the night. Gen says they’re on the far side of the dystopia from the Sea of Olives and upriver there’s no more arable land. The dystopia runs straight to the foot of the mountains; meanwhile, on the other side of the river, there’s a trade route and villages, but none of them would have a reason to build a bridge to the dystopia, so Magus and company keep on going upriver into Eddis. They're on the wrong side of the Aracthus from the path where they came down into Attolia, before. The river becomes a canyon and they cross at the makeshift bridge—so are they on the north side of the river now?—then get to the bridge in Eddis and cross back.
Ch. 12: The soldiers take them up a stone road in a chasm that was cut by the Aracthus before its course had changed. They reach the palace. So the Eddisian capital must be farther from the coast than the Sea of Olives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As you can see, the Seperchia defies the laws of physics, which has been pointed out before. It originates in the mountains across Attolia in the beginning of the Thief but transports its source to very near the Eddisian capital in the end of the book. UNLESS the Seperchia has multiple sources, which isn't odd, but it would be odd for all of them to be known as "the Seperchia." Oh well.
All you smart people, what do you make of it?
