Magna Verita

[GreenDragon]

I was running Torg tonight, my players visited Magna Verita. I've made a few assumptions, but made an interesting discovery.
Firstly, I'm guessing New Clairvaux, New Avignon and Port Inocent to be New York City, Rio de Janeiro, and Sydney respectively. Though the New York one I'm not totally certain of. New Avignon has to be one of the first major Latin ports - which means either Rio or one of the Caribbean islands (assuming the Magna Veritan Europeans landed in more or less the same places as their Earth counterparts). Australia's first major port would likewise be the counterpart to Botany Bay - which is Sydney. New Clairvaux, however, could be New Orleans, Boston, or any other major port city - particularly the French had a hand in on Earth.
Next, I described the difficulty of the AntiCyberpapal forces in North America in trying to make contact with people in Australia or Asia - having to sail all the way across the world, past Africa. Which, of course was because of the world being flat. Now this brought up a question: if the body of water west of the Americas is the Pacific Ocean, what is the body of water East of Asia called? Popular decision was "East China Sea."
Anyone have any thoughts on my/my players' reasonings?

[skeloric]

That does work.
Also as an interesting side piece, New York (city) was originally called New Amsterdam. :P

Realize also that as you point out, there were many other choices for cities in the East coast of what would otherwise be the United States.
Having names for some of them for the future might prove efficacious.

One thing additional, Magna Verita has only one true religion, all others are demonic/evil in origin.
Whether such was always true or if certain events transpired in which a new World Law was formed to make it true after the fact, the result would have been a somewhat more dark experience in the "new world" as the native peoples would in fact be worshiping Dark Powers in truth rather than it being it merely being fear-based hate-mongering.
Quite a few areas of the world would have become a much more simplistic "good Christians vs evil Heathens" paradigm with the "One True God" World Law in action.
But since the "Witch" template is available in the sourcebook, opposition to Malraux could lead to strange alliances with such forces -- especially in Magna Verita.

[Kansas Jim]

Now this brought up a question: if the body of water west of the Americas is the Pacific Ocean, what is the body of water East of Asia called? Popular decision was "East China Sea."
Anyone have any thoughts on my/my players' reasonings?
You could actually have the Pacific be the same body of water between the Americas and Asia on a flat Earth, as this projection shows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flat_earth.png

[skeloric]

Hm, was there ever any sort of actual explanation/description as to the way that the "flat Earth" appeared?

[GreenDragon]

Not to my knowledge. I was re-reading CP chapter 1 last week in preparation, and it doesn't really specify. Prior to Kansas Jim's post, it never occurred to me that it would be anything other than the classic map design.

New Amsterdam was actually the source of my hypothesis on New Clairvaux. (Though in fairness, the California town of that name could be the North American capital - but an East Coast, or at least Gulf Coast, city seems more likely).

[skeloric]

I had actually assumed the classic "flat Earth" map.
But I can't exactly say why.
I had thought it had been stated in the actual books, but it seems that is not the case.

[GreenDragon]

Given the nature of the cosm, if it were to be built along the lines of the North Polar Flat Earth, it would seem to make sense that Jerusalem was the center of the world - and thus the universe. Unless, revisions of the Avignon/Malraux Bible have made Avignon the center of the universe.

[PrinceEarwig]

Apologies for the necromancy of the thread but just to add..
Its a medieval world view driven by a dogmatic adherence to the rule of church law.
So it stands to reason (oxymoron as i is when talking about the cyber church) that the mao would be a classic flat earth presentation of the period, just extrapolated out to include the land masses that may not have been known of int eh medieval age of our own history.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/images/2009/07/01/mappa_mundi_470h_372x470.jpg

These maps look VERY unlike anything we would recognise because they simply do not contain the geographical understanding of the world that we have. Soem sort of compromise is obviosuly required to make it "somewhat" recognisable to a modern viewer though :D