The structure/shape/... of the Way

[Phile]

I wanted to do this since I have been joining this board.
I hope you are interested in this topic although it may seem a bit overdone. If you guys like it, we could make a poll or something about which model you prefer.



please overlook spelling errors etc.

yeah, I know for sure that the stretches are not consecutively in that order as I outlined it, I just used names like Marna and Laodicea to illustrate the idea of a world view.
the donut theorie may seem unlikely, but I guess it's funny ^^.
I suppose that virtually none of this structure models approach the actual form of the Way, because its true form could also be unimaginable to a mortal mind .
it could also have the form of a globe or a helix (like this one)
I am not too serious about determining the true appereance of the Way; but I just wondered what the settlers & wanderers living on the Way imagine their world to look like??
Imagine that scientists like Jopaga (ok, he seemed more interested in auras & formulas than in geography) have to devise a world picture/view and would try to develop models of their universe, just like our scientists do.
these are just rough thoughts, but it would be great fun to develop kind of a more precise world map of the Way =D
what do you think? maybe in episode 6 a few things are revealed about its true nature and form ...
I hope this topic wasn't already discussed in a similar way.

[Alundra]

though been discussed before I never saw somebody going into detail like this... I like it, and if it were me to pick... i'd say the helix could come close... (not that i do not like your drawing skills dude ) it's just that using the helix there's more of an interaction between the various layers... (nevermind it's all in my head )
nice one!

[Forerunner]

Those are pretty good drawings. But I don't have an answer. Ask a pro like Jera, Verb, Lun or if you're desperate, Impossible or even (argh kill me now) War.

[Telephalsion]

you forgot the most likely one: the way is a planet! and the pits are the underground, the the upper way is, well, the upper way.

[Phile]

yes, that is, of course, an option as well But I think that the name of the world, "The Way", somehow indicates the association with a world of an approximately line-like shape (doesn't it?). when we compare this game's world to a world which is presented in a similar way, like the world of Secret of Mana (both games, The Way and SoM don't show world maps where you can wander around as in most other RPGs) then I think there are differences: in SoM you can often go in every direction while in The Way, Rhue and his fellows are wandering along a straight path towards one direction without ever turning back ...

ok, you might say that the impossibility of turning back is plot-related, because on the one hand, Rhue is not interested in visiting a place twice because of his search for Serena and on the other hand, often there is simply no turning-back ( the Blood Lyn threat, the destruction of Estrana...). And apart from that, of course it isn't Lun's job to create a Morrowind-esque world where you can wander towards any direction you want to, so the world of the Way appears necessarily that way . But I think there are hints in the story that the Way rather expands across TWO directions which means it would be more similar to a line or a stripe than to an area that expands equably in any direction. the forerunners would have a much harder job to do if they had to spread across all four directions on the compass. And the mysterious End of The Way could not be ONE location, one spot on a (growing?) line, but would lie on the outline of a huge circle, surrounding the already explored & settled part of the Way. what do you think? of course, the shape of the Way is not decisive for the story, I suppose, but I think there has to be more behind the fact that the game is named after its world! I am sure that Lun didn't call it "Rhue's Quest" for a reason.

[Winnipeg]

Not to mention the "rolling mists" which supposedly destroy things if they don't continue moving along the way. I mean, if it were a planet, don't you think that might kind of paint them into a corner, so to speak?

Of course, the rolling mists could just be a deduction the people of the way made based on the idea of the horizon.

[Telephalsion]

here's my idea, the way must be taking place somewhere between the ecuator and one of the poles of a planet, cause the scenery suggest an environtment like the northern states of america, southern russia or middle, northers europe, it's just my opinion though.

(marna stretch has pines, there are no palm trees)
but I would still guess the way spans very wide, where else would those oriental guys come from? (not marco and jacues, they were fakes, but the wooly herder.)

The pits would look pretty much the same wherevery you are, it's underground afterall, the upper way then, I still haven't seen any direct proof of it, no path in the sky on which one could travel easily.

The middle way, remember what traziun said to rhue early on, atelast i tihnk it was him... "We're still in the backcountry of the way" and that was around lide, and then not much farther ahead, a month maybe, they reach the eleged end of the way. To me it wounds like apretty small way if all it takes is a month to get form the backcountry to the end...

The rolling mists then, they move, obviously, but how fast?

[ForbiddenShadow]

i like the strip form; it seems more litteral and straight to the point

[Sage Of The Wise]

EP5 almost proves the ring or donut form. We really just need to see what happens when someone takes a wrong turn and goes sideways.

Of course, ep6 may or may not make things clearer...
[/mysterious fwacho-like statement]

[Wellsy]

I've always envisioned the way as a kind of ringworld. In any case it's pretty much a somewhat narrow strip, as people don't refer to areas, but stretches arranged in a linear fashion. Definitely don't buy the Way as a regular planet. . . . but who knows? Maybe we only view the Way as linear because no traveller ever deviates from the path that the Forerunners blaze. Maybe the Forerunners actually created the Way themselves. In any case, the final scene of Ep5 strongly suggests a closed loop.

(P.S. Happy 100 posts to me! But who's counting anyways?)

[Alundra]

If you intend on playing the game "Perimeter".
Be wary of many many spoilers here...













Okay here goes...
Mind you I don't give a crap if you like the game or don't...
I only heard the story from a friend of mine and saw the CGI movies.

The game takes place in a detailed science fiction universe and embraces an epic plot centered on the fate of Exodus civilization that once abandoned the dying Earth in search for a new world.
Together with the Exodus the gamer will discover dangerous and mysterious Psychosphere worlds and link them to make the Great Chain. The split inside the Exodus will cause a clash inside the Exodus civilization and insanity will gradually reach the Exodus from inside.

In addition to battling rival factions trying to get to the end destination first, humanity also encounters the scourge, a strange, hostile life-form that inhabits the dimensional worlds and one whose shape is determined by human thought; it can be a dragon, a swarm of ants or other insects, and more. When humanity arrives in a new dimension in its "frame," which is like a huge floating city, it has to establish a base to charge up the dimensional gate and to power all of the defenses needed to protect the frame from attack.

In the end it boils down to this. Once the team splits, one group goes left (aka back) and the others go right (forward) trough the chain ... they who go back claim it's useless to keep on going, while the others want to get to their ultimate goal, find a world without scourge.
And here's the spoiler: at the end when you complete your way forwards trough the chain...
You arrive in an unpoluted uncorrupted unspoiled virgin Earth, and at the same time the portal of the other team (who went back) opens simultanously, bringing with them none other then the Scourge!
They will ultimately ruin the earth leading to the Exodus, which means the whole chain thing is an unbreakable loop of events....

This does remind me of the way in many ways...

[Impossible]

you forgot the most likely one: the way is a planet! and the pits are the underground, the the upper way is, well, the upper way.

Isn't that actually very similar to the "Donut Theory"? I think it could be a planet, too... But that does leave the question of the Rolling Mists. That, and if it is a planet, why is it referred it in stretches? That leads us to believe that the Way is fairly narrow, like in those four... But then, why the hell does nobody know what is on the edges?

[Telephalsion]

you forgot the most likely one: the way is a planet! and the pits are the underground, the the upper way is, well, the upper way.

Isn't that actually very similar to the "Donut Theory"? I think it could be a planet, too... But that does leave the question of the Rolling Mists. That, and if it is a planet, why is it referred it in stretches? That leads us to believe that the Way is fairly narrow, like in those four... But then, why the hell does nobody know what is on the edges?

Well if they have lived for so long that they've been wandering, without a thought on why they are wandering, and only a few people settle, and the settlments go boom boom after a while, then who would have the crazy thoughts and time to make ships to sail? Has anyone ever mentioned boats, the sea or even fish during the game? In my opinion, either the way is like a strip traversing a planet with shores, or with huge-ass mountains blocking view to the ocean.

Still though, the fact that it's refered to as streches, think like a tigers fur, only more cramped, you can pass through different fields of black and take a different road from tail to head.

[GaMa]

Then what about the "End of the Way".... the Donut Theory (or any of them except the strip theory or cylindrical theory) all end up where you started. The one that makes the MOST sence is the strip theory and the cylindrical theory, which portrays the end of the way.

[Telephalsion]

you know, remember that rhue had a flashback, in which that ledge rhue and gaius confront eachother on appears, it was landoring, and in ep 5 gaiuus says "you're standing on what used to be the end of the way", remember that?

teachnically doughnut/planet theory seems the most logical since it appears rhue has passed one lap around the hwole thing, from landorin to estrana and back again.

if you have a strip, you'll fall of the edge, and that's no fun
a cylinder is just silly, and how would the end of the way move if there was just a cylinder/string or way to walk on?