So Valorius/Ben and I were talking the other day about how big Aleris is. If you haven't noticed, nowhere on the site does it say how big Aleris is. Whoops! This kind of creates conflicts/inconsistencies in our writing because one person can get to another place much faster than someone else.

We started looking at the parcel map and thought a decent base to start at would be 100 miles per square. While this may seem like a lot of land for a person to purchase, we thought it was a good number to go by because it still gives each continent quite a bit of distance to them. For example:

Heruin = 122 squares in width = 12,200 miles
Eiler = 87 squares in width = 8,700 miles
Arthuran = 92 squares in width = 9,200 miles
Elved = 70 squares in width = 7,000 miles

My goal was to make each continent big enough to make travel a bit more difficult and time consuming. After all, the point is to go on an adventure when travelling, right?!

However, I still would like everyone's opinion! Is 100 miles per square too big, too small or just right?

The most common millage on rpg maps I see is 250miles per square inch. I try to be unclear about distance since I was unsure of your map specs. However, when time is of the essence distance is needed. Once you establish actual millage I recommend explaining the varied times as something like dimensional instability. I Hope you figure everything out.

Hey Everyone.

As Memoria Said, Her And I Discussed The Size Of Aleris And The Best Distance Measurement We Could Come Up With Was 100 Miles Per Square. I'll Explain Why This Seemed Like The Best Way To Go.

Number One. And Probably The Easiest To Explain. 100 Miles Per Square Makes The Equation Easier To Do. Rather Than Having To Round Off Additional Feet Or Inches, 100 Is A Round Number That Is Easy To Translate Into Explanation Of Distance. If City A Is 20 Squares From City B That Means It's 2000 Miles Distance Between The Two.

Now, I Understand The Argument “2000 miles between cities?! That's insane!” Which Leads To The 2nd Reason.

These Are Continents. And Per My Understanding They Are The ONLY 4 Continents On The Entire Planet. Now, If We Are Going By The Typical, Orbital Spheroid Idea Of A Planet That Means That All 4 Continents Are In Very Close Proximity To One Another. So That Would Mean The Rest Of The World Is Entirely Made Up Of Ocean. Now That Sounds Like A Nifty Idea Except That With No Land To Break Up Tide Waters, With No Mass To Stop Or Re-Direct Wind, You're Going To Get Wind Gusts Several Hundreds Of Miles In Speed. And That Leads To Tsunami's Hundreds Of Feet Tall. The Continents Would Be Slammed By Massive Tidal Waves Almost ALL The Time. IF There Are Only 4 Continents, They Have To Be Large Continents Otherwise The Ocean Would Reclaim Them In A Matter Of Weeks.

After That The Argument I See Being Made Is “Well alright. We can make the continents smaller and just say the Gods prevent these massive waves from crashing into the continents, some kind of barrier is in place to protect them, etc.”

The Only Problem With That Idea Is – If The Gods Were So Willing And Able To Prevent Destruction To Their Lands, Why Then Would Realm Wide Calamity Be An Issue At All? Why Would The Gods Prevent One Kind Of Destruction And Not Another? Or If We Use The Thinking That The Gods Do What They Can With Outside Threats, But Have More Control Over Internal Threats – Than A Barrier Wouldn't Be Necessary Either. They Could Slow The Winds, Steady The Oceans, Take Every Action They Needed To To Prevent The World From Damaging -Itself-. Now That Isn't A Bad Idea In And Of Itself, But It Brings About Hundreds Of Natural Issues In Terms Of Weather Patterns, Eco-Systems And Other Things A World Needs In Order To Be..Well, A World.

Now I'm Not Saying 100 miles HAS To Be The Distance Used. If Someone Comes Up With A Better Measurement By All Means Go For It.

As For People Who Buy Land Now Owning 100 Miles Of Land Per Parcel, Well Yeah, You ARE Buying An Area Of Land On A Continent. And The Continents Despite The Cities On Them Are Not Overly Populated, Thus Land Wouldn't Be At A Premium. So 1000 Gold For 100 Miles Of Land Isn't Really That Curious.

Eh, There's Always Discussions To Have And Details To Iron Out. In The End I Just Think It's A Great Idea To Have An Actual Mileage On Everything. That Way People Know Distances Between 2 Places And Just How Much Land They Own.

I don't see a problem with placing a real number on mileage.

Storylines that assumed otherwise will have to adjust but overall it's a good idea. It will allow us all to be on the same page. It makes writing more realistic.

"How did an army go from here to there in ONE day!?"

"...Good point"

I have found that people generally notice one flaw of a writer and will continue to see it from then on out. So the point of writing isn't to be flawless. The point is to hide those flaws as long as you can! Hopefully by the time they notice your flaws, they're hooked in the actual meat of your plot.

Having mileage down will mean my characters don't do anything ridiculous (like travel 4000 miles on foot in two days)

*clicks Like* Oh whoops.....this isn't Facebook

So, what do you all think? Does 100 miles sound like a winner? Madrin suggested 250 based on what he saw on other RPG maps, but I think that might be a little too much for Aleris.

I personally like 100.

100 works for moi.

100 is good for me too!