Timeline and basic history of the Pillars of Eternity setting

[Lysen]

I haven't really seen or heard anything about the historical outline of the Pillars of Eternity setting. Admittedly, I haven't scoured the internet for it.

 

So, questions...

 

1) What's the planet called?

2) How many moons does it have?

3) Any nearby planets?

4) How many suns?

 

I am not sure if this is even a planet. Could be some weird fantasy world like Discworld. Or maybe I missed something.

 

 

Does anybody else think that the destruction of Saint Waidwen might be the event that sparks the game? Is Eothas dead, and if so what does that mean in terms of his divinity, how can one kill an aspect of faith? Very interesting questions.

 

I think that Saint Waidwen was destroyed in a war that happened some time before the events of the game. Yes, it seems that I am right https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/posts/326585 Two centuries had passed!

Edited January 27, 2014 by Lysen

[teknoman2]

Hot Ring instead of Fertile Crescent, that's just fabulous! Perhaps it's prone to earth quakes and volcanic eruptions, like the Mediterranean? I wonder how serious Josh & Co have been? Have they drawn a world map, complete with tectonic plates, climate zones, and tradewinds? 

As somewhat of an amateur astronomer occasionally (living in the great outdoors has it perks; great seeing and no light pollution, so I get to follow those Galilean moons around Jupiter with my trusty 6-inch Newtonian reflector on an EQ-3 mount; I can't help pondering about how many days it takes for the PE world to travel around its sun. And at what angle does it tilt? What are the resulting differences in night and day? Are there any other light-intensive phenomena on the PE night sky? Nebulae, recent supernovas or even a nearby asteroid belt, perhaps even some ice-particle ring? Ah, the possibilities are endless.

they even have launched satelites to monitor the weather

[Monte Carlo]

Sawyer-On says...

 

[Ieo]

I haven't really seen or heard anything about the historical outline of the Pillars of Eternity setting. Admittedly, I haven't scoured the internet for it.

 

So, questions...

 

1) What's the planet called?

2) How many moons does it have?

3) Any nearby planets?

4) How many suns?

 

 

This sounds like entering the scifi realm. Astral bodies in fantasy realms, to me, are more abstractions and with lore related to what's visible rather than the hard facts of solar system layout. Fantasy realms typically talk about the fuzzy edges of "worlds," not "planets."

[Wombat]

No matter how such settings will be depicted, personally, I'd like to see the approach of some olde RPG supplements, which provides only the interpretations of in-world people.  The designers intentionally avoided careless usage of scientific interpretation of our modern view since they seem to have thought they better serve that way for both role-playing and immersion.

If the theme were focused on scientific interests, imaging how things would be in different planetary systems could be interesting.  However, in roleplaying game, where the focus of the interests is more on exploring humanity and their ideas in different cultural settings, I'd like to see how things would look through different perspectives.  That said, somehow, the time of PoE which the protagonist was thrown in is similar to our time of the verge of modernization, where a certain cultures began to take more control on nature through systematic scientific knowledge (animancy in their world).  So, we may see perspective similar to our modern view although I don't think Obsidian would overdo to shift the focus to quasi-Sci-Fi from plausible human ideas and activities based on them.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Ieo: Yes, that's often the case, but...

 

That said, somehow, the time of PoE which the protagonist was thrown in is similar to our time of the verge of modernization, where a certain cultures began to take more control on nature through systematic scientific knowledge (animancy in their world).  So, we may see perspective similar to our modern view although I don't think Obsidian would overdo to shift the focus to quasi-Sci-Fi from plausible human ideas and activities based on them.

...I have a feeling this being the case one way or the other, some proto-scientific worldview emerging in this age of discovery we're entering.

Also, knowing Josh's attention to details, I would almost be surprised if he hasn't created got some basic geography and astronomy for Obsidian's baby. I mean, it makes sense. It would bizarre arguing for the inside-view case too far. Then we wouldn't see working maps either, but exaggerations of one's own lands and regions - very centric world views translated as maps and even areas in the world. That would make for an interesting playthrough:

"These plains are vast and older than the sun"

Reality check: "They are 45 miles by 35, and were formed a few thousand years ago."

[Failion]

Game could use time traveling be dope. Your party sleeping in a city inn and somehow wake up 2000 years in the past. Only the inn is still there but the outside city is a forest. The buildings you remember being there replaces with hills, trees,  and cobbled roads with dirt paths. There are ravenous bears and wolves all around the inn. Your party and the inn staff have to think of a course of action fast.

Edited January 27, 2014 by Failion

[Lephys]

I am not sure if this is even a planet. Could be some weird fantasy world like Discworld.

Or a 7-node spaceship like in Phantasy Star III. 8P

 

I now demand a companion who turns into a multi-person jet ski. u_u

[Gyges]

 

Which article was this? If they know something isnt working i do hope they actually try to remedy it.

 

 

I seem to be full of links today.

 

edit:

Things are, as a result, also much easier to learn. Strategic depth is still available in plentiful quantities (Sawyer offers that both Monks and Ciphers have their own unique combat resources, for instance), but the unification of systems allows for greater elegance and classes that can branch into a much greater variety of skills and tactical options.

Everybody wins, in theory. Unfortunately, the implementation of combat I’m actually shown is still very basic and quick. I like what Obsidian is going for on paper, but there’s still plenty of room for error. For now, my eyebrow is raised with tiny bristled blades of skepticism held aloft. That said, I’d very much like to see Obsidian succeed here.

 

 

~~~

Anywayz, I love lore discussion... I just wish there were more of it.  Hmm, hopefully tho they'll save a lot for the Paths of Od Nua, it could really give it flavor.

 

 

That's very mild criticism. Hopefully he will also do the next preview so that we can see comparisons.

[charms]

I think that Saint Waidwen was destroyed in a war that happened some time before the events of the game. Yes, it seems that I am right https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/posts/326585 Two centuries had passed!

 

 

They changed it to be only ~15 years ago recently.

[Prometheus]

Btw, what does "AI" stand for in this case?

Anni Iroccio name of the vailian calender, most used calendar because the aedyran calendar is inaccurate.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Prometheus: Yeah, ZornWO made a post about it on page 1 and gave us a link that said that the earlier calendar was inaccurate. Hence, me speculating why it was inaccurate. Perhaps the AI version is better because it is scientifically better, which fits this new age of discovery?

[Messier-31]

Btw, what does "AI" stand for in this case?

 

Anni Iroccio - the Year of Iroccio

 

http://eternity.gamepedia.com/AI

[Wombat]

...I have a feeling this being the case one way or the other, some proto-scientific worldview emerging in this age of discovery we're entering.

Also, knowing Josh's attention to details, I would almost be surprised if he hasn't created got some basic geography and astronomy for Obsidian's baby. I mean, it makes sense. It would bizarre arguing for the inside-view case too far. Then we wouldn't see working maps either, but exaggerations of one's own lands and regions - very centric world views translated as maps and even areas in the world. That would make for an interesting playthrough:

"These plains are vast and older than the sun"

Reality check: "They are 45 miles by 35, and were formed a few thousand years ago."

Yeah, what I meant was mostly about presentation.  It's more like, how would be reality for people in the world of PoE.  The world map seems to be yet to be completed in PoE world and it might be interesting if maps are detailed near civilizations and the areas of interests for such civilizations while there may be even some blank places for dangerous/underpopulated areas.  These depends on how much of the world has been explored and how much these civilization has developed surveying, though.  If PoE world has the level of technology equivalent to our late Middle/early modern Ages, the most advanced civilizations should be able to make quite accurate maps (Additionally, they have animancy, technology alien to our world).  However, IIRC, in PoE setting, although technology is there, sea is quite dangerous to travel due to dangerous sea creatures.

 

As a side note for "reality", we don't know how long our concept of "reality" would last.  Surely, we have some "knowledge" which can be laughed at by people of the future.  Then again, as you pointed out, it's quite rational for Obsidian to build the basic setting based on our knowledge.  Speaking of which, in fact, you seem to have struck probably one of the most common/practical usage of astronomical knowledge through our history.

Prometheus: Yeah, ZornWO made a post about it on page 1 and gave us a link that said that the earlier calendar was inaccurate. Hence, me speculating why it was inaccurate. Perhaps the AI version is better because it is scientifically better, which fits this new age of discovery?

Maybe, it's something like lunar calendar in our world.  Without any adaptation to solar calendar, it begins to become "inaccurate" or inappropriate to reflect the seasons.  So, yes, if they use astronomy as a way to record time as we do, it would be quite vital for them to employ more accurate knowledge about astronomy.

 

[Karkarov]

 

I think that Saint Waidwen was destroyed in a war that happened some time before the events of the game. Yes, it seems that I am right https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/posts/326585 Two centuries had passed!

 

 

They changed it to be only ~15 years ago recently.

 

Yeah, I will not be surprised if this is not the event that basically "kick starts" (lol c wut I did thar) the game.

[Mor]

 

Circa 2670 AI

• The Iroccian calendar replaces earlier Vailian calendars.

Wonder what caused this shift in calendars. It doesn't have to be some power trip by some hegemony.

When Caesar established his Julian calendar in 45 BC he set 25 March as the spring equinox. Since a Julian year (365.25 days) is slightly longer than an actual year the calendar drifted with respect to the equinox, such that the equinox was occurring on about 21 March in AD 300 and by AD 1500 it had reached 11 March, and this drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to create a modern Gregorian calendar.

 

Cultural influence, like the Vailian names that sipped into Dyrwood culture from its neighbor Vailian colony?

[Mor]

It would be interesting to see a world map based on what we learned here.

[Mor]

Looks like the timeline has been updated since the first page.

 

Also on that Map bit and info provided on the first page.

 

 

World

 

 

 

Any speculations as to where the Penitential Regency of Readceras is located? It said it is to the north of The Free Palatinate of Dyrwood, which in turn occupy the north westren wooded area and they likely have a common border. I don't know if Readceras is located to the north of godhammer citadel or covering area south of it, but I would love to know if Echo bay is part of Readceras, Dyrwood or still Adyrian duchy? for that matter is new Homear is part of Dyrwood or ?

 

Also out of all the prominent cultures and location features in the updates, Ixamitl is the only (except Readceras) that we can't place. Personally, I imagine that it is located far far to the north, but is there any chance that I am wrong and its the unmarked expanse of water on the top right corner of the map?

Edited April 1, 2014 by Mor

[Messier-31]

MOAR LOAR

 

BTW, here's what I find unusual: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Faction#Known_Factions

 

Known factions have 10 organisations listed at the moment... 7 of them are paladin orders. Why so many?

[Barothmuk]

Known factions have 10 organisations listed at the moment... 7 of them are paladin orders. Why so many?

From what I gather 'paladins' in PoE are merely individuals who are especially devoted to some kind of course so it'd make sense for their to be hundreds of thousands of potential paladin organizations that different people could be dedicated to.

 

E.g. (In RL terms) Liberal paladins, Christian paladins, Communist paladins, etc.