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Portal map info decal

"Hell's Gate" and "Hell Hath No Fury", by David, Linda Evans, and Joelle Presby, take the clash of science and magic to a whole new dimension...join us in a friendly discussion of this engrossing series!
Portal map info decal
Post by showtime555   » Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:42 pm

showtime555
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Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:13 pm

The books should have a portal map info decal. This would give a at a glance vital information for someone going to use the map/portal. It would help the author to describe each new world the characters are going to in a clearer simpler way.
Each Portal would have the name over it and would be a circle representing the world(s), with a horizontal line in the middle representing the portal. Other portals would be indicated by arrows out side the circle with degrees and distance from said portal.
Inside each half circle would be: the geographic location of the portal as it would be if on the home world. Which way is North would also be indicated. The elevation above or below sea level. The season/month would be indicated as +5 if it is Jan in the home world but May in the portal world.
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Re: Portal map info decal
Post by Astelon   » Mon Mar 28, 2016 7:02 pm

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I suspect that the authors don't do this to maintain flexibility in telling the story. If they put information into the books it becomes very difficult to change it later. If they never put it in in the first place then it can become what ever they need it to be for the purposes of the story.
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Re: Portal map info decal
Post by Howard T. Map-addict   » Tue Mar 29, 2016 2:29 pm

Howard T. Map-addict
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Posts: 1392
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Location: Philadelphia, PA

In addition to Astelon's point above,
that the authors are telling stories first,
and only inventing worlds because the stories need them,
(however much some of us might wish those priorities reversed),

parts of your original post seem to show misunderstandings.
I have numbered them for reference.

1) Dates and times do not differ from world to world.
If it is Noon GMT on January 1st in any world,
then it is that same date and time in all of them,
even including the ones that don't have Portals yet.

2) The authors often tell us geographic locations,
whenever they find them needed, useful, or convenient.
In many cases they have not bothered,
but they can always do so later.

3) The authors have not yet needed such precise data.

4) The Portals might have more than one name.
Different people might give them different names.
Of course, each Portal links two different places,
opening onto both of them. That means that
each Portal can have two names automatically,
such as Larakesh Portal and Union City Portal,
or Sharona Portal and New Sharona Inbound Portal.
All are names of the same Portal, in pairs.

5) Each world is a copy of Terra,
almost exact except that hardly any have Humans or other Apes.

If you mean that the *part* of the world where the Portal
opens should be described better, well, the authors seem to
expect Multiverse readers to be familiar with parts of Terra.

6) Why "decals" instead of simple charts?

For my own compilation of Portal & Outworlds Data,
all from the three books, look here at Thread 1673:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1673

Howard True Map-addict

showtime555 wrote:6) The books should have a portal map info decal.
This would give a at a glance vital information for
someone going to use the map/portal.

5) It would help the author to describe each new world
the characters are going to in a clearer simpler way.

4) Each Portal would have the name over it and would be a
circle representing the world(s), with a horizontal line
in the middle representing the portal.

3) Other portals would be indicated by arrows outside
the circle with degrees
and distance from said portal.

2) Inside each half circle would be: the geographic location
of the portal as it would be if on the home world.
Which way is North would also be indicated.
The elevation above or below sea level.

1) The season/month would be indicated as +5 if it is January
in the home world but May in the portal world.
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Re: Portal map info decal
Post by showtime555   » Tue Apr 05, 2016 9:23 pm

showtime555
Midshipman

Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:13 pm

1) Dates and times do not differ from world to world.
If it is Noon GMT on January 1st in any world,
then it is that same date and time in all of them,
even including the ones that don't have Portals yet.

1a) I did a combination Homer Simpson Doogh and Biff Tannen Head knock "Anyone home?" It is pretty obvious that time would have to be linked or the worlds and maps wouldn't match due to erosion if nothing else.

2) The authors often tell us geographic locations,
whenever they find them needed, useful, or convenient.
In many cases they have not bothered,
but they can always do so later.

2a) True, But with all the worlds the same, the geography is set regardless. So, not listing/describing it doesn't give the writer any flexibility except picking where they want the story told and what effect the portals have on each planet it would seem?

3) The authors have not yet needed such precise data.

3a) I wanted this(data) for me to help me visualize and anchor the descriptions the author is using. Sometimes it's just too much information for me

4) The Portals might have more than one name.
Different people might give them different names.
Of course, each Portal links two different places,
opening onto both of them. That means that
each Portal can have two names automatically,
such as Larakesh Portal and Union City Portal,
or Sharona Portal and New Sharona Inbound Portal.
All are names of the same Portal, in pairs.

4) Doesn't that lead to confusion? I would think the portal would have one name and the different aspects have different names for the place they came from and where it comes out?

5) Each world is a copy of Terra,
almost exact except that hardly any have Humans or other Apes.

If you mean that the *part* of the world where the Portal
opens should be described better, well, the authors seem to
expect Multiverse readers to be familiar with parts of Terra.

6) Why "decals" instead of simple charts?

6) Charts work to. I just figured a chart would have detailed information on the actual geography of each side of the world. I just wanted something simple to represent the portal(s) and how the geography and climate in each world meets and orientated to the other world. I get lost with just a verbal description unfortunately. Maybe others don't have this problem?
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