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Other Jimness => Cinder Spires Spoilers => Topic started by: brighellac on February 16, 2015, 09:52:42 AM

Title: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: brighellac on February 16, 2015, 09:52:42 AM
Is cinder spires alera 100+ yrs down the line?
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Mr. Death on February 16, 2015, 05:39:04 PM
No, it's a new setting.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Sully on February 22, 2015, 02:16:37 AM
Sadly.

Though how talking cats showed up would be interesting.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Quantus on February 23, 2015, 04:17:59 PM
Yup, new setting with new "magic" that drives users insane irrc, rather than elementals.  Some crystal power too. And wildly different geography.

It likely evolved from the "fury-punk" future alera idea he once mentioned, but the end result is not the Alera setting. 
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Agravaine on October 02, 2015, 04:29:50 AM
Given the statements of Eferous, it would appear that the world of Cinder Spires is our world some distant time in the future.  If so, I would not expect the BAT of Dresden Files to be a resounding victory for the good guys...

Eferous refers to a joke where the Olympian Commodore was "Possessed of a Fury" being funny if you know your history, which it is.  That was just one example, I'll have to re-read to find others. 
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: TaurosElan on October 04, 2015, 09:57:27 PM
It may be its own world, but it makes me wonder if the Enemy is one similar to that in Codex Alera.  Spiders, the Enemy reference, sneaking behind the scenes in the shadows, and so forth.  Pretty sure the Marat said that they had originally come from another world.

On the other hand, there's been no mention of anything resembling the Croach so far.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Mith on October 05, 2015, 12:00:26 AM
True, but the Croach does slowly change the atmosphere when there is enough of it (since the Vord by WOJ are a sentient terraforming project for someone else), so perhaps the Mist is a part of that.

The biggest blow against the idea to me is the fact that they do get materials from the surface, such as wood, which would not be around after a long Vord settlement, since I believe they would consume the trees.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Agravaine on October 05, 2015, 01:19:13 AM
Alera didn't have mythologies of Angels or Archangels, that's a feature of the post-Christian Roman Empire, hence it could not have come from the Lost Legion that founded Alera. 
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Chelle on October 05, 2015, 04:06:17 AM
I'm thinking it's Earth.

Albion would be what was left of England - Olympia would be Greece - Aurora could be several different places, although I'm leaning towards Italy.

The 9th Legion is believed to have gone *poof* a bit before 200 AD(CE) but Christianity didn't become a dominant religion until 400 AD(CE) - it was only a minor religion in the region a century before that - so I'd think it would be unlikely that the 9th Legion would be Judeo-Christian.  The hints of religion and the funeral ceremony smacked of Judeo-Christian and it would seem that the different denominations melded into a single doctrine. Or perhaps each spire has a predominant flavor and Spire Albion would be what became of the Anglican church.

Or maybe not.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Quantus on October 05, 2015, 12:54:41 PM
Wild theory: 

Alera was more or less a Human settlement that got invaded by the Zerg, is perhaps The Cinder Spires what happened when Earth got taken over by a super-powerful psychic race (aka Protoss?)  Are the Spires actually Pylons? :o

After my coffee Im sure this will make less sense to me.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: raidem on October 05, 2015, 01:01:48 PM
Quote
Are the Spires actually Pylons?

Actually, that got me to thinking if the Power Cores, truly ancient ones, are Protoss pylons.  The pylons were where one could place Protoss buildings.  Hmm.  Probably not but that is what you got me to thinking.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Quantus on October 05, 2015, 01:06:12 PM
Actually, that got me to thinking if the Power Cores, truly ancient ones, are Protoss pylons.  The pylons were where one could place Protoss buildings.  Hmm.  Probably not but that is what you got me to thinking.
I thought there was a line about the predator having a longer range because of efficiency, and there was the passage describing the Etheric Sight and how the ether was all funneling in a massive current down the spire.  Those two made me wonder if it werent more fundamentally related to the presence of the Etheric forces.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: raidem on October 05, 2015, 02:16:06 PM
Ahh, that better explains what you meant.

I wouldnt say though that the Spires are actual Pylons, in Starcraft the pylons were relatively small.  But I do like that the Spires may have been partially inspired by Starcraft Pylons.

It is also important to note that the Pylons and other Protoss buildings were teleported into place with Protoss technology.

Like Jim, I really got into Starcraft around 1998-2000.  And like him, haven't really cared so much about Starcraft 2.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Quantus on October 05, 2015, 02:18:51 PM
Ahh, that better explains what you meant.

I wouldnt say though that the Spires are actual Pylons, in Starcraft the pylons were relatively small.  But I do like that the Spires may have been partially inspired by Starcraft Pylons.

It is also important to note that the Pylons and other Protoss buildings were teleported into place with Protoss technology.
Partially inspired is all Im going for here, in the same way that the Vord were partially inspired by the Zerg.  So size and crystalline structure aside it could still be a structure designed to harness and distribute an exotic energy.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: WonderandAwe on October 05, 2015, 09:28:28 PM
I'm thinking it's Earth.

Albion would be what was left of England - Olympia would be Greece - Aurora could be several different places, although I'm leaning towards Italy.


Aurora is a Far North or Far South phenomena.

I also found this, which may give some clues as the who the Aurorans descended from:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(heraldry)   
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Quantus on October 05, 2015, 09:36:10 PM
In the realm of "historic analog" Albion is Britain and Aurora is Spain during one of the various Anglo-Spanish Wars.  I'd have expected the thrid major player to be a French analog, but for the Olypians Im guessing Italy or the obvious Greece.
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: cass on October 06, 2015, 12:39:19 AM
It doesn't have to be *all* that far to the pole--it's just less common the farther away you go.  (Actually, I think it's less common close to the poles than it is in a band surrounding it. See, e.g., http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast) -- it's over the northern portions of the British isles.)

Assuming-- and it's a big assumption-- that the Spires were built on a version of Earth, then they are limited to current/near-future landmasses.  (Near future in geologic terms-- no new supercontinents, etc.)  If Albion is indeed built in somewhere in England, then Aurora could be as close as northern Scotland-- to get regular visitations from its namesake) or much, much farther away.

Since Spire Aurora doesn't seem to be visible from the top of Spire Albion (which is above the mists), we can find a minimum distance between the two-- The horizon is ~125 miles away from two miles up (which is, I believe the approximate height of Albion.  And we know that ships can go up to 7-8 miles, given a powerful enough lift crystal and breathing apparatus for the crew, which would broaden the range to ~250 miles. (Of course, that's to the base of Spire Aurora-- since it, too, probably protrudes from the mists, the minimum distance is actually farther, but not by much.)
Title: Re: Is cinder spires alera 100+ years down the line?
Post by: Quantus on October 07, 2015, 07:33:18 PM
It doesn't have to be *all* that far to the pole--it's just less common the farther away you go.  (Actually, I think it's less common close to the poles than it is in a band surrounding it. See, e.g., http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast) -- it's over the northern portions of the British isles.)

Assuming-- and it's a big assumption-- that the Spires were built on a version of Earth, then they are limited to current/near-future landmasses.  (Near future in geologic terms-- no new supercontinents, etc.)  If Albion is indeed built in somewhere in England, then Aurora could be as close as northern Scotland-- to get regular visitations from its namesake) or much, much farther away.

Since Spire Aurora doesn't seem to be visible from the top of Spire Albion (which is above the mists), we can find a minimum distance between the two-- The horizon is ~125 miles away from two miles up (which is, I believe the approximate height of Albion.  And we know that ships can go up to 7-8 miles, given a powerful enough lift crystal and breathing apparatus for the crew, which would broaden the range to ~250 miles. (Of course, that's to the base of Spire Aurora-- since it, too, probably protrudes from the mists, the minimum distance is actually farther, but not by much.)
Well, the Aurora is technically an interaction of Solar winds, the Atmosphere, and the earths magnetic field.  With the atmosphere of the Spires being so dramatically different I could easily see the aurora migrating some.