Talk: Elona/Archive2

Elona the continent?

From the PvP creation screen, the choices now are "Tyria", "Cantha", and "Elona". I think it is more than reasonable to conjecture that Elona is actually the name of the C3 continent, as opposed to just one of the three nations on the continent (I say "three" because that's how many nations there are on the other continents). Thoughts? -User:PanSola (talk to the ) 18:46, 27 July 2006 (CDT)

Also, do you guys think it is more likily that "the nation of Elonia" is a typo for "the nation of Elona" (in which case, like Cantha, we have one name for two entities), or is the name of the nation simply Elonia? In the Prophecies Campaign "Elona" is never referred to as a nation, only "Elonia" is. -User:PanSola (talk to the ) 18:48, 27 July 2006 (CDT)

Why ELONA Reach then? And they mentioned an outcast god on gw.com... Maybe Dhuum is coming back? - 88.156.37.157 09:20, 1 August 2006 (CDT)

Considering the name of the great river is "Elon", indeed WHY "Elona Reach"? Why Washington Road, at a place nowhere near Washington D.C. or Washington the state? -User:PanSola (talk to the ) 12:13, 1 August 2006 (CDT)

It's possible that Istan, Kourna and Vabbi were independant nations in Turai Ossa's time, and Vabbi may have been a series of allied but independant city-states, which would be consistent with "the nation of Elona was no more". It's also possible that the contenent didn't acquire its modern name until the rise of the empire. It's also possible that in Turai Ossa's time the continent was referred to exclusively as the Land of the Golden Sun, while the empire was probably being called the Empire of the Golden Sun or the Empire, with the name Elona not catching on until recently. -- Gordon Ecker 03:14, 2 August 2006 (CDT)

Folks, the explanation is simple, and obvious: At the time Prophecies was released ANet hadn't started working on Nightfall. At that time it was uncertain whether ANet's business model would be successful, and if there would ever be enough sales to support further expansions. Most likely at that time they didn't even have a clear picture how campaign two would look like, let alone three or four. Now they try to link C4 with the story of C1, which is nice, but they have to work around some minor inconsistencies that cannot be undone.

There are obviously two Elonas: 1) Elona, the continent and 2) Elona, the colony in Tryia. Elona the colony was obviously founded by Elonians from Elona the Continent. When Turai Ossa says that "the nation of Elona was no more", he speaks about the part of the nation that's living in the colony, not the continent. There are numerous towns in the USA called "London", and probably most of them were founded by settlers who came from London, UK, and named their new home after their old, left-behind hometown. Imagine one of these small settlements being wiped out (by a war attack, force of nature, disease or whatever). The only survivor who escaped might very well say: "The people of London are no more." Off course that doesn't mean that the whole city of London, UK, has been erased. -- 03:52, 2 August 2006 (CDT)

This isn't like the Draenei / Eredar / Garona situation where there's about a decade worth of backstory and mistakes are bound to slip through. Given the circumstances, it seems highly implausible that they made a glaring mistake and didn't notice it until it was too late to correct it because, instead of just requiring a quick search & replace, changing the name would, for some bizarre and obscure reason, require a complete rewrite of all the plot they've written for Nightfall. Everything we know about Elona from Prophecies can fit onto less than half a dozen pages, and I strongly suspect that this information was on hand for the early Nightfall brainstorming sessions. I'm also pretty sure that this came up several times when they were discussing name possibilities. I'm not saying they don't make mistakes or knowingly disregard established history, there's significant continuity hiccups regarding the early history of humanity, and, although the contradictory lore's status as an in-character scholarly work allows those errors to be written off as scholar error based on incomplete historical records, it's still pretty obvious that they changed their minds or just made mistakes during the numerous plot revisions during the long developement time of Prophecies. I just don't think this is the case with Elona. -- Gordon Ecker 20:52, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

Actually, Turai never said "the nation of Elona was no more". The exact text was "the nation of Elonia was no more", and it wasn't said by Turai. it was written on the bones of one of the ritualists. -User:PanSola (talk to the ) 05:00, 4 August 2006 (CDT)

According to The Scribe #9, Kourna borders the Crystal Desert, and Acolyte Norge considers the desert to be part of Elona. I suspect that the branch of the Shiverpeaks which borders the southern and eastern edges of Ascalon is the proper border, which would make Orr's status as part of Tyria rather than Elona a matter of convenience due to proximity, ease of travel and politics, much like the tomato's general classification as a vegetable rather than a berry due to flavour and common culinary uses. -- Gordon Ecker 03:15, 4 August 2006 (CDT)

I think, the "Crystal Desert" extends to the "Continent of Elona" and it ends somewhere there, hence the mention of "bordering the Crystal Desert". It's like Turkey, a part of Turkey is in Europe, the rest in Asia. --- Laibcoms (talk | Contribs) 17:29, 5 August 2006 (CDT)

I was looking for some mention of the continent in the pre-release documentation. It mentions three privonces in southern Elona, and references the Nation of Elona in several places; but I can't find a clear mention of the continents name. For now, the evidence still supports the theory that it is its own continent, but I would've like clarification in the documentation. Hopefully more will be in the game release. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 09:41, 29 September 2006 (CDT)

The character creation screenshot that PanSola posted at the very top of this thread is pretty clear about it. Please note the definition of continent. It's pretty clear that Tyria and Elona are on the same piece of landmass, but technically, for game mechanics, they are still separate continents. -- 09:50, 29 September 2006 (CDT)

As I said, the evidence still supports the theory that it is its own continent - which fits with the definition (which I believe we created ourselves based primarilly on the above screen shot). I wasn't arguing either of those points. Merely stating that I would've liked something more substantial on this from ArenaNet in the documentation. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 11:03, 29 September 2006 (CDT)

I'm afraight I still haven't understood what the question is. ;) -- 13:38, 29 September 2006 (CDT)

The character selection screenshot is out of date. I don't have a spare slot, but I'm pretty sure that during the Nightfall PvE Preview, it now says "Prophecies", "Factions", and "Nightfall", not "Tyria", "Cantha", and "Elona". Maybe they changed their minds and it is now just the "land of Elona", not continent.... - Lord Ehzed 15:29, 29 September 2006 (CDT)

Just checking, you know that PvP creation and PvE cration screens use different terms right? or at least used to... -User:PanSola (talk to the ) 18:31, 29 September 2006 (CDT)

Regions

It's interesting that neither the Churranu Island Arena and Sunspear Arena correspond (in name) with the three provinces of Istan, Kourna, and Vabbi. But then with the Factions campaign, the Brawler's Pit and Petrified Arena don't immediately provide a connection with Kaineng City and the Echovald Forest either (prior to us knowing the Echovald Forest is a petrified forest). I wonder if the tutorial area is considered a part of one of the three provinces (Shing Jea Island isn't part of Kaineng City, but is at least during direct rule of Cantha Empire), or if we are going to have a Prophecies-like tutorial, except instead of "Two years later..." we get "Two hundred years later..." (ie tutorial is before Turai Ossa took off for Ascension, maybe the tutorial will end with the Battle of Jahai! Then you get sealed in some kind of magical cryogenic mummy that preserves you for 200 years). -User:PanSola (talk to the ) 02:29, 2 August 2006 (CDT)

Istan may be an archipelago. As for Sunspear Arena, it's next to a port city, which I'm assuming is home to the headquarters of the Order of the Sunspears, although it may not be named after them. I think the most likely candidates for starting areas are Istan or one of its islands and the Order of the Sunspears' academy and the surrounding lands. -- Gordon Ecker 03:33, 2 August 2006 (CDT)

"maybe named after Elon"

I thought it would be so self-evident it wouldn't even need mentioning o_O" But I suppose since it's never directly confirmed, it's not "proven" per se... -User:PanSola (talk to the ) 19:42, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

Nothing is ever "self-evident". Anything that isn't quoted verbatim from ingame is just a biased assumption. /sarcasm -- 04:19, 4 August 2006 (CDT)

Seriously now, maybe it isn't Elona named after Elon, but the other way round. Or both names derive from the same origin word "Elono", which we just don't know yet. -- 04:45, 4 August 2006 (CDT)

I swear, I had this conversation in mind when I put that "maybe" there. Although I expected PanSola to be the one demanding that we not be so bold as to speculate that Elona IS named after Elon. This is why I put the maybe. Tetris is right, it could be the other way, or maybe Elona means mother and Elon means father in "Elonian" :) Kinda like "Anatolia" means "mother land" and the Turkik lands in central Asia are called "atatolia" (father land). Anyways, let's keep it "maybe" till we know more. --Karlos 04:49, 4 August 2006 (CDT)

Well, if you explicitly state it's named after Elon, then I would object. But if the GuildWiki doesn't write it, I'll just let everyone think it's self-evident. d-: -User:PanSola (talk to the ) 04:56, 4 August 2006 (CDT)

Map revealed

A map of Elona can be found here (offscreen photo from Games Convention). Obviously Istan is the island in the southwest, Kourna in the center, stretching from the northwest to southeast, and Vabbi in the northeast. I was hoping that you could make out the adjacent Crystal Desert, but that isn't the case. :/ -- 09:52, 24 August 2006 (CDT)

I believe that link doesn't work, that or I can't read german.-Onlyashadow 09:57, 24 August 2006 (CDT)

Hmmm .... it works for me. Try this one instead to browse the complete photo report. The map is somewhere down near the middle. You'll easily recognize it. -- 10:01, 24 August 2006 (CDT)

I'm the guy who took all that photos :) I gave TetrisL the original sized photos of the two maps and I assume he'll post them here. Here at GWGuru some guy called "WhiteZombie" puzzled the world map of Tyria and my offscreen-photo of the worldmap of Elona together, looks convincing. -- T.T.H. 12:15, 27. August 2006 (CEST)

In the forum of German website www.guild-wars.info there appeared a new map (links removed — Skuld) of Elona, with the mission areas uncovered! (just that the Tyria+Elona puzzle image is a little small). Anybody knows where that Elona map came from? -- T.T.H. 18:00, 12. September 2006 (CEST)

This is an alpha leak and a violation of NDA. Delete it from the page history please. 65.111.168.40 11:14, 12 September 2006 (CDT)

It is indeed leaked info from alpha tester and they broke the NDA. -- Cwingnam2000 11:16, 12 September 2006 (CDT)

Omgosh it's a map, time to save to desktop and stare.-Onlyashadow 11:29, 12 September 2006 (CDT)

Please do NOT post that map again — Skuld 11:30, 12 September 2006 (CDT)

What's "NDA"?-Onlyashadow 11:36, 12 September 2006 (CDT)

"Non-Disclosure Agreement", a contract you sign with a company when previewing or testing their product. These are very common in the computer industry. I've done quite a bit of beta-testing and game development (not for ANet), and have always had an NDA; in general, an NDA prevents you from talking about a product or game -- to the point of banning you from saying "I'm beta-testing XXX". -- ChaoticCoyote 11:44, 12 September 2006 (CDT)

Oh ok, I have the map now, wewt.-Onlyashadow 11:48, 12 September 2006 (CDT)

I bet Anet will change the map just to spite the leak. -User:PanSola (talk to the ) 15:17, 12 September 2006 (CDT)

Sorry. I posted the map here because I was sure you guys would know where it is from. Well, obviously you did. I'll try to raise my "radar level for possibly leaked stuff". -- T.T.H. 15:22, 12 September 2006 (CDT)

A 100% revealed map of Elona has been released...ish.. Its on the Japanese GW official site, but its been shrinked down to about 250x150. Take a look here

Someone on GWOnline scanned the map that came with the Taiwanese CE, so we now have a full-sized, almost complete map of Elona (I suspect the two unmapped explorables and the one unmapped town are underground). Unfortunately we'll have to wait a while for a complete map of the Realm of Torment. -- Gordon Ecker 19:51, 23 October 2006 (CDT)