I'm Jefecra Harcrit, Lieutenant of the northern guards of the Hydlaa plaza area.
My name is Rabartus Livrandar, I am a guard assigned to the northern part of the Hydlaa plaza area. I am under the command of Jefecra, a great guy.
Or just use "north, east, south, and west" because that's what the players would remember...seems a lot simpler, doesn't it?
There is no understanding of electricity hence no understanding of magnetic fields among the citizens of Yliakum so forget about it.Where did you get this information from? I like the whole "science in Yliakum", and there must be other sources than Jayose and different NPCs.
… the Crystal emits a magnetic field that can make the use of compasses (and therefore minimaps) feasible within the game. Since it's a transparent biga$$ rock that glows because it's also radiactive, why not make it magnetic too? Until then, East Hydlaa is East Hydlaa, "North" Hydlaa is Upper Hydlaa, and no such thing like North, East, West or South for me. Sorry, but I can't cope with that.
... a scientific explanation...
Indeed...
As soon as I saw 'compasses,' 'electricity,' 'magnetism' etc. I knew I needed to respond- Primitive lodestones existed in Medieval Europe from about 1100 or possibly earlier. Essentially they were slivers of magnetite embedded in cork and floating in a water bath. Later, it was discovered that an iron needle could be magnetised to do the same thing, and eventually craftsmen were able to make a pivot for the needle to turn on, as opposed to floating in water. All that was required/known was that the needle always adjusted itself in a particular direction, which happened to be roughly the same as the north star. (I'm doing a PhD in medieval cartography).
Now, there have been hundreds of wishes for maps in-game, and I think it must be said once and for all that the Devs have NO intention of providing a top-down 'god' map that always shows your location. In-game maps have already been developed, and are great because they do not take away from the immersive atmosphere! However, there's no reason that compasses couldn't exist. Not sure why they're necessary.
To be honest, considering the shape of the great cave, different directions would have evolved into the language than east, west etc. They would probably be to describe the following: Towards the stone wall or towards the edge of that level, up or down to the next levels, or clockwise / counterclockwise on a level. There wouldn't be a conception of north/south/east/west...