Oh what a wonderful world!

[Oxyminus]

thats pretty badass looking. and you have to give SE kudos for even attempting to plan that far ahead. shame i deffinetly wont be around to see it, and everyone is still going to just camp kings anyway.

[Lordwafik]

Australia is big, it fits into america only once.

Huge is Canada, and monstrous is russia (or whatever they'll call it this decade).

[anoush]

I would start playing again if the world became so big that there would be many different HNMs to camp throughout the lands and maybe twice as many exp spots and something along the lines of a PvP improvement?



is that too much to ask lol?

[SeraphusRagnarok]

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's world is far huger than Vana'Diel and WoW's world. Its pretty much real time travel in Oblivion lol...

[Fayttt]

Morrowind with the 3 expansions equals up to Oblivion, too >_>

[Zalius]

no matter how big they are, i doubt they can compare to this delicious triple cheeseburger that i recieved at am pm for the mere fee of 1.29$

[Ohemgee]

Morrowind with the 3 expansions equals up to Oblivion, too >_>

new oblivion expansion is coming out with new terrain

[Imitarate]

It makes sense, though obviously the proportions aren't perfect... and the number of cities is a little large. The Gigas were brought to Quon during the big war "20" years ago (21 by CoP, maybe 22 by TAU, and about 400 by the in-game clock) by the Shadow Lord. They have since settled in places with generally cold climates -- Xarcabard, the Beaucedine Glacier, and Qufim. Delkfutt's Tower seems to be the focus of Quon's gigas population, and the homeland north of Qufim would make sense, especially since it would be a good port for an invading force. Especially since the coasts don't seem to have much habitable/protected terrain. Qufim Island is seperate and holdable with small numbers -- any force coming off the water is going to have a lot of difficulty with the cliffs, it's a natural fortress, and any force coming through the Qufim tunnel from Jeuno would be ineffectual to a laughable degree. A gigas with a pile of rocks and a goblin to keep him from forgetting where he is would be enough.

I've always found it odd when I hear mention of the mithra homeland. Both Kazham and the tribe in Windurst seem distinct entities, and the Windurstian mithra seem to have migrated from Kazham during a tribal dispute. Kazham seems fairly self-reliant, and they don't make many references to the homeland. It makes sense that there's a larger land with a more predominantly mithran populace, but it seems like the land would be a collection of fairly independant tribes. Unless the Elshimo mithras came to establish independance, all Pilgrim-like.

The far south and the far west seem very vaguely established; the Far East has a much greater presence; Tenzen, many materials imported from there, and the "eastern" jobs. Aht Urghan would serve as a natural portal to the Far East, but that raises a couple of other concerns. From a game standpoint, isn't the Far Eastern nation (nations?) fairly antagonistic towards the Empire? And from a development standpoint, they've said that no expansion will require a seperate expansion (though I have yet to meet anyone who, by this point, does not have all of them).

On another note, someone mentioned way back on page 2 or 3 that Square stated no new jobs will be created. Where and when did that say this? It seems fairly stupid, as new jobs were one of the things that made people interested in TAU, and probably had the biggest reception by far.

[Khamsin]

I wonder what the gigas in Korroloka Tunnel are doing there... afterall, it is adjacent to a desert. That's about as far from cold as you get.

Same with Gration, Misareaux Coast seems a fairly temperate clime to me.

[Sagacious Sundi]

I've always found it odd when I hear mention of the mithra homeland. Both Kazham and the tribe in Windurst seem distinct entities, and the Windurstian mithra seem to have migrated from Kazham during a tribal dispute. Kazham seems fairly self-reliant, and they don't make many references to the homeland. It makes sense that there's a larger land with a more predominantly mithran populace, but it seems like the land would be a collection of fairly independant tribes. Unless the Elshimo mithras came to establish independance, all Pilgrim-like.

A place to the south of Kazham housing a nation of Mithra is mentioned numerous times.

The Far East
Did you know that beyond the sea lies the Far East? Its unique culture is becoming popular among adventurers.

"The jobs 'samurai' and 'ninja' came from the Far East."
"'Bushido' and 'shinobi' and all that stuff are sooo cool! I want a boyfriend like that!"

"Maina, do you know anything else about the Far East?"
"Um, you mean like the Doll Festival and Feast of Swords?"
"Hm, you may be smarter than you look."
"Of course! I even know about Far Eastern food! Rice balls and sushi! Putting rice and other ingredients together was a great idea!"


"Well, you're just a wellspring of knowledge, aren't you?"

"Oh, and I bet you didn't know this! 'Far East' is actually a trendy word describing the direction they shave hair to make a topknot--It's totally 'Far East'!"

"What!?"

"People who live in the Far East all wear topknots! That's why everyone calls their country the "Far East." It's just the way their heads are shaved! Geesh, I thought everyone knew that."

It can't be real. Nobody can possibly be this stupid.

The Wide World of Vana'diel
So is it true that there are places other than the Far East that aren't on the map?

"In the south lies the Mithran homeland."
"I've been to Kazham before!"
"No, I am talking about a different place. There is a great nation even further south that the founders of Kazham came from."
"Reeeally!?"

"What's up north?"
"The Orcish Empire and the islands where the Gigas live."
"Orcs and Gigas seem sooo clueless! How can anyone be so dumb?"

"Also, there is the Gugru Blue that lies east of Mindartia, and beyond that lies a place called the 'Near East.' My special mirror is originally from there..."

"Hey, hey! I think I got it!"
"Got what?"
"This 'Far East' place! It's in the west, right!?"

(To Be Continued)

Either native Kazhamites are Mithra/descendants of Mithra who have migrated from the Far South (Is it ever referred to as such? It could be the Near South for all we know, and the Far South could be antarctic, or that could be featured with the Mithran homeland.) and Kazham either acts as an outpost for the Mithran nation or it is a place of Mithra who have decided to explore the rest of the world and are then regarded as outcasts, much like Kazham Mithra:Windurst Mithra.

I wonder what the gigas in Korroloka Tunnel are doing there... afterall, it is adjacent to a desert. That's about as far from cold as you get.

Same with Gration, Misareaux Coast seems a fairly temperate clime to me.

The reason for Tavnazian Gigas is easy: The Gigas were used by the Shadow Lord in the Great War and got abondaned in various places. Gigas in Tavnazia were stranded in Tavnazia along with the Orcs and tauri. One can imagine that Gigas stranded on the Mainlands were either killed off by other races or fled to Qufim or the Northlands.

Korroloka is a bit tricky... While Gigas do have naval abilities apparently (although it seems the Gigas trapped in the Middle Lands do not), not much activity occured south of Bastok in the war supposedly. They could have migrated there at one point. There could also be some tall mountains somewhere nearby that could be cold enough for an average Gigas.

[Turaeg]

The Misareaux Coast gigas are most likely remnants of the attack army on Tavnazia.

Not sure about the Korroloka ones.

was beaten

[Sagacious Sundi]

was beaten

Sorry.

[Damane]

Wasnt it mentioned somewhere in ToAU that the Near East (Empire of Aht Urgan) and the Far East have an open conflict? I might be mistaken, but I thought some NPC would have said something like this.

[Khamsin]

Wasnt it mentioned somewhere in ToAU that the Near East (Empire of Aht Urgan) and the Far East have an open conflict? I might be mistaken, but I thought some NPC would have said something like this.

Yeah, some NPC in Bastok mentions it when you are wrapping up your CoP CSs.

[Sagacious Sundi]

It's also mentioned several times in ToAU. Here are a few times it is mentioned/referred to:

The Empire is currently at war with her Far Eastern neighbors.

Among their number are seasoned veterans who have been brought in from the front lines of the conflict with the Far East.

The Imperial Army on the eastern front is being hit by a peculiar cold wave, and warm uniforms are in short supply.

[Damane]

[quote=Sagacious Sundi]It's also mentioned several times in ToAU. Here are a few times it is mentioned/referred to:

The Empire is currently at war with her Far Eastern neighbors.

Among their number are seasoned veterans who have been brought in from the front lines of the conflict with the Far East.

The Imperial Army on the eastern front is being hit by a peculiar cold wave, and warm uniforms are in short supply.

[/quote:869ce]

I just wondered why the tenshodo is nowhere to be found in Al'Zahbi. They usually have in every big main city some little keep, where tenshodo people are in (If there is one in Alzahbi I missed it ).
Now if we think further, its stated that NIN SAM MNK are jobs from the Far east. Considering NIN and SAM are learned at Norg, the basic tenshodo maincity, the Tenshodo must be thus linked to the Far East. And since the Far East and the Near East (Al zahbi) are in War, there is no tenshodo in Alzahbi? I would think the Ship that is in Norg is a passage way to the Far East then. I wouldnt be surprised if the Far East (in this the Tenshodo) would come up in the ToAU storyline maybe? This is starting to get very confuseing.
Expect in the next expansion 2 Fractions fighting each other, in WoW style? aka Far East vs Near East and every NPC that sees a MNK SAM NIN PC near Alzahbi will go kill them and Every BLU COR PUP that is seen in the Far east will be killed by their respectiv NPCs?

[Alathar]

The closest thing to Tenshodo would be the Qiqirn. They sell a lot of similar stuff and are mercenaries. However, as far as the storyline goes, it's kinda a weak link. You'd think the Tenshodo would be dipping their fingers into the pot somewhere ... maybe Naja scared them off.

[Jeryhn]

The Tenshodo operate the Auction Houses in Al Zahbi. Speak to the NPCs nearby.

Otherwise, they probably have no vested interest in the Empire.

[Septimus]

The Tenshodo does have a foothold in Nashmau though. Also, a guy near the Auction House says something along the lines of Aldo being responsible for connecting the Jeuno AH to Al Zahbi.

[Sagacious Sundi]

Without the Tenshodo we wouldn't even have our Aht Urhgan passes. (But Windurst opened Mhaura's port to Al Zahbi.)