What does it look like from the edge of a plane? (and other questions)

[Mykentros]

I don't know if that's the right word, but as Yliakum is divided up into several levels, which APPEAR to have cliff-like edges, what would you see if you went to the edge of the current level.  From the guide, it sounds like it would be a steep drop off, almost vertical.  If you stood on the edge, would it be as if you were standing on the edge of a canyon?  Would you be able to see all the way down to the lowest level?  Would you be able to see the other side of the same level?

These questions can only be answered if we know the dimentions of each level.  How wide is each level?  How much is each level lower than the last?  If we know these numbers (or even just the proportion of the measurements) we can determine sight lines.  On the lower levels, you probably could see to the other side.  On the higher levels, that's a question of air quality.  Since PS is based in mideival times, I'd say there's very little pollution (except in big cities, where a bunch of fireplaces could cause smog.  Of course there are volcanoes, but they don't erupt constantly (How are there volcanoes in a stalactite??) )  On a clear day, you should be able to see about 200 miles (this is through air.  In water it would be much less)

Ok, so Yliakum is a self contained biome with its own ecosystem.  The crystal is the source of energy for all the living things.  Yliakum also must not have been naturally formed.  A stalactite is formed naturallly through soft limestone, etc being dissolved in water and being left behind.  It usually takes about 100 years per cubic centimeter  Gold, silver, iron do not dissolve in water.  The formation of the stalactite is truly a mystery.  Maybe it was formed through tectonic activity?

Sorry if I cause any heads to explode with all the science, but this is cool to talk about!

[steuben]

it was formed by magic... or atleast the gods, if i remember my sunday school right.

but the sizes are mentioned somewhere in the player's guide.

[Mykentros]

Well I guess that takes care of the issue of geology.  What about the sightlines.  There should be nothing preventing people from seeing to the other side of the same level that they are on other than air quality.  If the angle of depression between the edges of two levels is greater than 45 degrees, theoretically, you should be able to not only see every level below you, but also the cliff faces of every level above you.  This whole concept of living on the inside of something (as opposed to the outside, like we do) reminds me of the theory that arose during the mid 20th century that suggested that we lived on the INSIDE of the earth.  Of course it didn't last long, but it was interesting nonetheless.

[Pestilence]

Yliakum is located thousands of meters under the surface inside a huge excavated stalactite

The planes are just huge caves above eachother. There is no edge as far as I know. Just like with the Bronze Doors map you would simply have something that looks like a mountainrange reach to the cieling.

anyhow as to how it was formed I think is a bit hard to compare it with RL. As I haven't seen a stalactite thats citysize yet. Just the thought of how long that would take naturally to develop is mindboggling really.

As to the gold and such if one asumes it's still formed with water gold might not desolve in water but it can often been found in riverbanks and such. Depending how the water got there it might have been carrying some gold aswell. Otherwise it might have naturally formed there seeing how much time it must have taken to develop a stalactite of that size.

[Mykentros]

So the inside was excavated?  Then a possibility is that Yliakum was a deposit of bedrock surrounded by limestone and the limestone dissolved away leaving the granite or whatever (althought that sounds dangeroulsy unstable)

So, there is no sheer drop?     Sigh, I was thinking of the exiting possibilites.

[Pestilence]

Well I read about an elevator between planes so there might be holes in the ground the go down all the way, but no, no skydiving from the edge of the toplevel I'm afraid

[Baldur]

Pretty interesting, which brings us to ideas living inside something, some people have stated that we actually live in a virtual universe, that we are puppets in a big scheme, roughly spoken. Just speculating, today we can simulate all that does happen irl, what if everything that was real was in fact not reality but a piece of someone's imagining. Mind blowing. These natural laws we sspeak of can be scribbled down pretty easily according to others. It sounds ridiculous, but yet it's fascinating.

If you want to know more of this "Truman Show" is a movie that attempts to illustrate how easily a human ca be fooled when he is grown up in a familiar environment.

It sure is interesting, in enormous turn we are actually inside something, universe ends 13 billion years away, what will we find there, is there anything past the entirety? I have heard  of a theory about a bent universe where we only live on the surface of the universe, like an inflated baloon. It grows but the baloon's surface only stretches. In this theory the universe is the baloon and the surface is  mass, govened by space time, the air inflating the universe is dark energy. What we see as 3D is, according to the theory is an illusion created by the space time.

Geeze, we keep blowing heads do we, ok i'll stop
I don't have words for discussing these, i'm know i'm very pleased.

Hmm, is this the wrong thread to speak of Space time-perhaps...

---
To get back on topic
Quoted form the main page

For this reason it is structured in grades - like Dante's Inferno - and each grade is smaller than the former

http://www.tabula-rasa.info/HorrorImages/Inferno.gif
http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:ZL7sKA4JwlVHyM:www.oxfordtutorials.com/DanteInferno.jpg
Something similar to this i'd guess, now, issue taken care of? Also, for the Azure sun to shine through the entire Stalactite it will have to be hollow. It will become darker and darker the farther you venture. you wont see everything but most. This is a big arse stalactite so you will probably only see two ways if you're in the middle.

[Mykentros]

You stole my idea!  I was planning on making an alt that would be the town crazy.  Run around drunk, begging for money and babbling things that don't make sense.  One of the things I planned on saying was "Fools!  We're inside a simulation!  We don't exist!  Don't you see!"  and at times talk about anachronism like lasers and stuff 

[Siteri Kidachi]

We need someone like that. Every time a new area is added he'd be like "No! It wasn't there before! You've never been there!" And everyone would dismiss him.

[Baldur]

There is a saying that goes something like this: only children and loonies will tell the truth
No idea what it means but it fits fairly well. Maybe between these illaterate ramblings we will hear the truth, as with children.

Blablabla, now I totally hijacked this thread.

[The Wandering Djinn]

Hello,

here\'s something that got created while reading through the setting section of PlaneShift homepage.



A page from Cherppow\'s log book.

The picture was quite large and had to be shrunk generously. Hopefully you can still make something out of it. Note that this is only artists impression of PlaneShift world, based on the story found at http://www.planeshift.it/setting.html . ( It may or may not hold any resemblance with the actual PS world. ) Still, if you find clear conflicts with the PS setting, please inform me.

That, IMHO, is a rather good illustration of the concepts behind the Settings of Yliakum in the PlaneShift universe... made, IMHO, by a rather good illustrator: Cherppow -who is on the PS Development Team.

Try running Search on Cherppow to see more of his wonderful work - well only that which he has released on the forums that is! 

[Mykentros]

Ah, yes!  That's the image that made me think that the edge of a plane was a sheer cliff.  So, looking at the drawing, I guess you COULD see all the way down to the lower levels.  I'm getting no sense of scale though.  How wide is each level and what is the radius at the very top of Yliakum?  Whats the height of the entire stalactite itself?

[Baldur]

Oh I've seen him, and he is an excellent artist, I envy him far and beyond, he's damn good That's what I could say
So, the stalactite is in the shape of a giant amphitheater. I believe there will be effects like clouds that will hinder the sight but on sunny days you'll see pretty much of the higher levels. 

[The Wandering Djinn]

If the illustration was more finished and accentuated in colour, then it may be easier to see that the Stalactite with it's 8 levels is actually shown here in Cherppow's pencil sketch, as a cross-section

The other half of the Stalactite has been removed. The area that we can now explore in-game, from Ojaveda to the end of the Bronze Doors Road, where the ramparts climbs into the cliff face and on through to the waterwheel and the Fortress, constitutes half of the whole area that makes up just the 8th and upper level of the Stalactite known as Yliakum. The known explorable area of the 8th level could be only one third of the actual level, but I tend to consider that it's one-half that has so far been revealed to us.


EDIT: Actually, looking closely at what is now an "old" illustration of things, I think that when version 0.3.015 of the PS Client was released and Ojaveda was leap-frogged over to the other side of Hydlaa, the tunnel entrance marked Bronze Doors and the other tunnel entrance marked in Cherppow's Sketch above, should probably swap places too, if this drawing were ever to be revised.

[Mykentros]

I knew it was a cross section (my question was is it a sheer drop when you go from level to level).  I didn't know thought that we were seeing only 1/16th of the entire game world (even less if you count the stuff outside of the stalactite)  Very exciting.  I still want to know what inter level terrain will look like.