Benefactor Cloak Symbol

Discussion in 'Quests & Lore' started by smack, Jan 2, 2014.

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  1. smack

    smack Avatar

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    Ok, so this was just released in this week's Update:

    [​IMG]

    That landmass looks very much like Britannia from U9:

    [​IMG]
     
  2. High Baron O`Sullivan

    High Baron O`Sullivan Avatar

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    is everything.
    Absolutely, unequivocally, without a doubt, the map from U9.
     
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  3. Dermott

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    The central portion is Novia (the U3-esque map SotA is starting with), the rest is landmass spoilers/teasers... but as a whole... yeah I see the resemblance... interesting.
     
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  4. smack

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    Yeah, the center island definitely looks like Novia, which itself looks like Sosaria. What a mashup :) Or should I say, homage.

    Ok so if that center landmass is Novia, then I wonder:
    - Is that a globe or a projection of a map (try Lagrange or Van der Grinten)
    - If it's a globe, that means we don't see the other side and its landmasses
    - Also, Novia looks small on the globe / projection relative to the known size -- based on longitude/latitude of the current map of Novia
     
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  5. redfish

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    Yep, it looks like a broken-up Britannia, and of course, the map of the continent we're on looks like Sosaria from Ultima III.

    It idea that there are many Avatars (and possibly many Guardians) also echoes the backstory in the Bob White plot in Ultima IX, and makes it feel like part of the story here may be that time is cyclical, and what appears to be the future, relative to Ultima IX, is just as much the past.

    That's just a hunch.
     
  6. The Captain

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    Waiting for the cloth map to arrive in the add-on store. It will be good to have an extra one to frame so I don't stress about keeping a working map in mint condition. Even better: they ought to sell us addicts a matted and framed copy.
     
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  7. LoneStranger

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    Yep, it's most definitely Britannia from U9. I put this together for anyone who still doubts. To me, it looks like someone free-handed U9 Old Britannia over what is supposed to be a globe.

    [​IMG]

    My guess is that Episode 2 ends up being the continent and related islands to the west of Novia. Episode 3 is supposed to double that, which would make it the continent to the north. The other islands like Terfin, New Magincia, Isle of Verity (Moonglow/Lycaeum), Isle of the Avatar, and Minoc could perhaps make up another expansion, but the fact that some of them wrap around the globe makes me think that there is another set of continents on the other side. Dare we say it now.... Serpent Isle and Pagan? Something completely new? Another land not yet mentioned is Ambrosia, but that could also be retconned as the Underworld.

    The only parts of U9 Britannia that are a little ambiguous when superimposed are the two islands to the east of Novia. The upside down U could be New Magincia, but it could also be a rotated Buc's Den. Above that could be the island that had the entrance to Hythloth, or it could be the Hidden Vale. Or maybe that is one and the same?

    There are some issues with regards to the coordinates. The Novia map goes from 10 degrees North to 70 degrees north. This would put Novia here on the globe:

    [​IMG]

    On the U9 map, the coordinates go from 30 degrees North to 105 degrees South. That doesn't make sense (90 should be the max, at each pole), but that coordinate system is centered (0,0) on British's Castle. On a real globe, 0,0 would probably be where the Prime Meridian meets the Equator. Novia does not center the North/South over British's Castle, only the Prime Meridian, so I would be more inclined to think Novia's system is correct.

    So, looking at the Benefactor image again, and my "entire world" image, it would appear that the globe is not showing us a head-on view with the equator along the center. Rather, we're getting a view of the globe from some spot hovering over the north hemisphere. This would mean that the top continent from U9 Old Britannia has the North Pole running through it, probably about a quarter of the way down, around the inlet.

    [​IMG]

    My guess is that if the placement on the globe is correct, then the cataclysm didn't just push up this continent called Novia in the middle of Old Britannia, it shifted the plates and pushed the existing continents and islands a bit across the globe.

    The last thing to mention is that there is a peek of a land mass at the very bottom which probably has the South Pole. Seems redundant to me, if the north pole expansion makes use of a snow theme, but we'll have to see.
     
  8. tekkamansoul

    tekkamansoul Avatar

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    Obviously wrong.

    There's a continent on the southern pole so it can't be U9. Brand new game, mystery solved ;)
     
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  9. Nikko

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    Has this been discussed in other threads? This is very surprising to me and seems like big news. If this is correct, we can assume that the world, when complete, will look pretty similar to U9 era Britannia. The reason I am surprised is because of the legal rights that EA owns vs. Garriott. I would be a little surprised if SotA can call it "New Britannia" and have the land masses be so similar to the U9 Britannia.

    I'd definitely be thrilled if this ends up being the case... just a bit *surprised* and thrilled. Perhaps Garriott knew coming back to an Ultima-type game was a possibility down the road, so he kept certain aspects of Ultima his own property during the contract negotiation process. I guess I am just wondering if this was already picked apart in a much longer thread, because it seems very very significant to me, being a huge fan of the old Ultimas (especially U4 and later).
     
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  10. LoneStranger

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    Unless he's been lying to us, the only things he kept after splitting from EA is the name "Lord British" and the snake symbol he wears around his neck. All other things are either in the public domain (i.e. the word Avatar and the names Britannia and Skara Brae) or are intellectual property of EA.

    Since we've only seen the gray blobs that look like those continents from U9, there may be more to the story. As I noted above, the longitude and latitude lines don't really line up well with known climates over the globe, so perhaps some continent displacement will create new environs in old locations and be enough differentiation to be safe.

    Or, when Richard was openly visiting EA offices to visit, he was making a deal that he wouldn't bad-mouth Ultima Forever if they would give him more legal wiggle room. :)
     
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  11. smack

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    I don't think EA cares that much given that he's not using trademarked names and he's not making a derivative work of any Ultima game. I think as long as he avoids that, he shouldn't be too worried.
     
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  12. Nikko

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    But what IS trademarked? How far can they go here?
    Is the name "Trinsic" or "Minoc" out of bounds? What about the shapes of the land masses? What about the moons' names "Trammel" and "Feluccia?" Trammel is an actual word in the dictionary, but Feluccia apparently is not. Perhaps the shapes of the landmasses are alright to use, but not the town names. That would be my guess. We shall see. Am I correct in that the game world is ultimately a 3 X 3 grid and Ep 1's "Novia" is the center tile?
     
  13. monkeysmack

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    EA won't care unless SotA is a huge success in which case they could start looking for a way to get a piece of the pie.
     
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  14. smack

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    Even if names aren't trademarked, they are part of the copyright work that EA owns (all things Ultima -- except Lord British). This is where it gets into the "derivative" work part. If he abuses that and there's so much of it in SotA, then yeah he'd be crossing some line they wouldn't like. But to make similar maps but change all names and places, not really.
     
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  15. smack

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    Nah, EA shuts down fan projects too where there is no risk of monetary gain. It all comes down to how blatant you are with copying.
     
  16. Floors

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    Necroing this because it's awesome and more people need to see it.

    At least they let Lazarus and U6P go forward. And Richard let that happen to, and it was a good thing ™
     
  17. enderandrew

    enderandrew Legend of the Hearth

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    EA didn't shut down Ultima V: Lazarus or Ultima VI Project. The only fan project EA shut down was Era, because that team talked about possibly selling their fan project for a profit.

    Companies are required to defend their trademarks or they can be invalidated. The best method to handle fan projects is to get official permission to use the trademark name while appropriately accrediting it.
     
  18. selbie

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    I'd be curious to see if the globe idea is something Portalarium will end up with given LB's background in space. If that's the case then we could end up with a Globe Map instead of a Cloth Map later down the track :D
    They would have to adjust the map grid for the right type of projection, then we could make our own "tennis ball" globes like we used to make in school!

    [​IMG]
     
  19. Robby

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    HAHAHA I was really really confused at first because I looked at the black areas as if they were land.
    But yea... SHHH!!! We dont want anyone to know that its U9 britannia!
    If the wrong people find out it might have to be changed... That would be saddening
     
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  20. smack

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    Yeah, the square map of Novia definitely would not work if simply applied to a globe. I posted this in another thread but this is where Novia would sit if we use the exact same coordinates and applied that to Earth.
    [​IMG]

    The top end of Novia would have needed to be represented as stretched on the map just as we see Canada, Greenland, and Russia all abnormally large on Earth maps:
    [​IMG]

    Then again, the coordinates of Novia are changing and it appears to sit closer to the equatorial region so distortion is somewhat limited.
     
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