Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Stumbled across the full map of the Warhammer World on lexicanum (http://whfb.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/4/4f/WarhammerWorld.jpg) and...wow.
When did it start looking so much like earth? Back in the day it was "the old world", the northern wastes, the elven island, and the western continant with dark elves in the north and lizardmen in some vague place in the south. Now they have "kingdoms of Ind"(lol), Cathay, an old world for China, Nippon, the Japanese' own words for themselves...the Tomb Kings are in Egypt...China even has a Great Wall!
What gives, dude? It's supposed to be Fantasy, based loosely on the real world (Empire=medieval Germany, Bretonia = medieval France, etc), not an actual map of the real world.
What do you folk think? Do you prefer the more "realistic" map?

I think it's lazy. I never liked my high fantasy (or sci-fi) to be based on earth. It's limiting. Now you have like a mixed metaphor. It's like Wizard of Oz, don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain. Nevermind the world looks exactly like earth, it's totally totally different and not based upon it at all. It's just an unbelievable coincidence...

It is what it is. yeah, they could have done better, but they didn't so we kinda have to roll with it.

I don't care that much.

I don't think the continent lines have changed that much if at all since the first time I ever saw the map back in the 3rd edition book. The only difference now is they have penned in some names and some terrain markers.

I really like it as it makes campaigns easy

Always been like that as far as I remember.

aaa

This is how it's always been:

first off the pic is copywrited 2000-2006, this isn't exactly new

second these areas have always been in the fuff, just without models (with some exceptions hinting at them ie samurai orgre maneater)

and third: the warhammer world has always been a parable for our world:
like the elf island of ulthuan is atlantis (especially since a part of it sank during sundering),
lustria and naggaroth's contenent is called the new world like the americas,
and albion is actually the first name britain was given......
the list of examples goes on and on
I'll end the now.

I believe its in the Lizardman book they poke fun at this with a line about how the Old Ones made the warhammer world 'according to a template that had worked before'.

Also anchoring civilizations & races to real world counter parts does a lot of creative heavy lifting for you. When they mention Cathay (China) you already have a mental image helping you imagine what they are describing.

Joey wrote:What gives, dude? It's supposed to be Fantasy, based loosely on the real world (Empire=medieval Germany, Bretonia = medieval France, etc), not an actual map of the real world.
What do you folk think? Do you prefer the more "realistic" map?

Isn't the map really just "loosely" the real world too, not the actual real world? I think it's perfectly fine. (And Empire is Renaissance/Reformation Germany, to be technical, but anyway)

giant stegadon wrote:I believe its in the Lizardman book they poke fun at this with a line about how the Old Ones made the warhammer world 'according to a template that had worked before'.

Also anchoring civilizations & races to real world counter parts does a lot of creative heavy lifting for you. When they mention Cathay (China) you already have a mental image helping you imagine what they are describing.

qft

Lord of battles wrote:and third: the warhammer world has always been a parable for our world:

One of the Intellectual Property people for the Warhammer MMO actually laid-out what the races were. I mean, it was pretty Brit-centric to start.

O&G--soccer hooligans
High Elves--posh Brits
Dark Elves--drug abusers
Empire--normal working Brits

...and that's all I remember. But I think it was all entirely within the UK. Maybe with expanded armies and the success of the game making it more international, taking it beyond those borders.

DukeRustfield wrote:

Lord of battles wrote:and third: the warhammer world has always been a parable for our world:

One of the Intellectual Property people for the Warhammer MMO actually laid-out what the races were. I mean, it was pretty Brit-centric to start.

O&G--soccer hooligans
High Elves--posh Brits
Dark Elves--drug abusers
Empire--normal working Brits

...and that's all I remember. But I think it was all entirely within the UK. Maybe with expanded armies and the success of the game making it more international, taking it beyond those borders.

lol, that had to have been him just making an unofficial analogous comparison just for Brits to relate to. I always thought the WHFB races were more global and historical in their real world culture counterparts. Like:

O&G - Germanic barbarians
HE - Ancient Greeks
DE - Persian Empire
Empire - Renaissance Germany
Lizardmen - Atzecs
Ogres - Mongols
WE - Celtic druids
etc.

Beastmen are Germanic barbarians

Johnny-Crass wrote:Beastmen are Germanic barbarians

I thought Beastmen were Native Americans due to their Shamans and wild/beast practices? Their nomadic and violent culture is obviously not very Native American, sure. But no army is ever an exact match. I suppose them being driven by violence makes them Germanic barbs...? So what then are O&G?

Well the races also mimic Europe civilization throughout time, I've thought the Beastmen to be the evil version of the High Elves (Greeks/Romans-Polytheists).

Dr. Cheesesteak wrote:

lol, that had to have been him just making an unofficial analogous comparison just for Brits to relate to.

DukeRustfield wrote:

Dr. Cheesesteak wrote:
lol, that had to have been him just making an unofficial analogous comparison just for Brits to relate to.

It was for US. I think he even said "football hooligans" which like 99% of America have no clue what means. Or posh. Again, he was the GW liason to a US gaming company (as I understood it).

regardless who it was intended for, I highly doubt the GW people think "let's make all these races analogous of modern-day culture" when they write their material. Again, it was probably some PR guy just making it easy for anyone to identify the personalities of the races in the MMO, as not everyone is a history buff. He could've also said "O&G are like mosh pitters, HE are like Harvard graduates, DE are like sweatshop-owning mafia, and The Empire are like devout Catholics". It's roughly accurate and simple for people new to WHFB to understand. Doesn't mean those were the actual intended models.

How different would you like it to be?

I can't sum up in words how little I care about this.

As soon as I first laid eyes on a map of the Warhammer world as a 10 year old I saw the similarities to the real world and thought that it kinda made sense... Someone's already mentioned that it makes campaigns easier logistically and I tend to agree with them.

Suspension of disbelief.
"Hey that kind of looks like earth...so it's not some fantasy land...or it is and it's just a coincidence...what?"
It's bad fiction.

It's pretty much the real world.
Lizardmen are Inka/Maya-indian based, right? They're living in south america too, just as they did.
Kingdom of Ind lies were India lies.
Norsca is norse.
Nippon Japan's name for itself.
Araby = Arabia, though it's pretty dislocated.
There's a grand wall in "asia".
Albion is an old name for britain.
Neverming Sylvania lying were Transylvania should lie, and all the german names everywhere.
And that's probably just a few of the things.
So there's no doubt, the warhammer world is taken straight from our own...
However, as opposed to some others here, I find that fact quite charming... I like it.

I think it's a fun to see our Earth turned into a fantasy realm.

If that is true, then the people of Australia were Daemons back then.

rockerbikie wrote:If that is true, then the people of Australia were Daemons back then.

Now when you say it... Australia is the only thing I can't find a counterpart to on the map... It wouldn't be Daemonland, methings, coz Daemonland is the poles. Hinterlands of Kuresh or Lost Isles of Elithis, but that's still not right...

Penguins are Daemons.

I KNEW IT!

The Cornerfag~ wrote:

rockerbikie wrote:If that is true, then the people of Australia were Daemons back then.

Now when you say it... Australia is the only thing I can't find a counterpart to on the map... It wouldn't be Daemonland, methings, coz Daemonland is the poles. Hinterlands of Kuresh or Lost Isles of Elithis, but that's still not right...

What would the Chaos Dwarf represent?

rokerbikie wrote:What would the Chaos Dwarf represent?

Angry Midgets?

DeadlySquirrel wrote:

The Cornerfag~ wrote:What would the Chaos Dwarf represent?

Angry Midgets?

John Bercow?

rockerbikie wrote:If that is true, then the people of Australia were Daemons back then.

No, thats the penguins.

Joey wrote:

DeadlySquirrel wrote:

The Cornerfag~ wrote:What would the Chaos Dwarf represent?

Angry Midgets?

John Bercow?

Well played, good sir.