[Banestorm] How little can a resident of Yrth know about the setting?

[Lord Carnifex]

One of the issues of the calender is that much of it will be calculated astronomically. The Muslim (and Jewish) calender in particular is sensitive to the moon and the precession of the seasons; by the 14th century or so Christian astronomy had caught up (Dante mentions the use of the Zodiac to calculate Easter). So unless Yrth conveniently has a zodiac similar to Earth, somebody will notice.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Lord Carnifex

One of the issues of the calender is that much of it will be calculated astronomically. The Muslim (and Jewish) calender in particular is sensitive to the moon and the precession of the seasons; by the 14th century or so Christian astronomy had caught up (Dante mentions the use of the Zodiac to calculate Easter). So unless Yrth conveniently has a zodiac similar to Earth, somebody will notice.

Its' not "will somebody notice?" but rather "will the PCs know about them noticing or notice it themselves?"

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

Its' not "will somebody notice?" but rather "will the PCs know about them noticing or notice it themselves?"

Are we talking about player knowledge or character knowledge here? I'm still really confused about that.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Are we talking about player knowledge or character knowledge here? I'm still really confused about that.

I have no idea. I suppose both, but you'd need to ask the original poster rather than me. :)

[Lord Carnifex]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

Its' not "will somebody notice?" but rather "will the PCs know about them noticing or notice it themselves?"

True. And the question then is, who are the PC's and who do they know?

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Lord Carnifex

So unless Yrth conveniently has a zodiac similar to Earth, somebody will notice.

It has: see the box on p.6 of GURPS Banestorm.

[Apache]

One thing I always wondered; does Yrth have different constellations in its sky than Earth?

And is the Moon different? Earth's Moon is unusually large; does Yrth have a smaller one? Or several ones?

If the skies are different, sailors (and many other people) are going to know instantly that something is amiss. It's also going to screw up the calendar systems something awful.

Yes, I'm too lazy to go dig up Banestorm and see if this is addressed.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Lord Carnifex

One of the issues of the calender is that much of it will be calculated astronomically. The Muslim (and Jewish) calender in particular is sensitive to the moon and the precession of the seasons; by the 14th century or so Christian astronomy had caught up (Dante mentions the use of the Zodiac to calculate Easter). So unless Yrth conveniently has a zodiac similar to Earth, somebody will notice.

That is a very good point: the sine qua non of a calendar is that it fits the local astronomy (seasons are part of astronomy) and a calendar that does this badly will eventually be reformed to match. In a "rational fantasy" Yrth game, the 14th year of his imperial highness Kabori I, also known as the year of the Lord 1963, also known as the 1323rd year since the Hejira, etc. isn't likely to match any earth calendar, although there may be some theologians who could convert from the local calendar to the old Earth ones. Running Yrth as rational fantasy seems to be contraindicated though ...

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Apache

Yes, I'm too lazy to go dig up Banestorm and see if this is addressed.

Its' an Earth clone with mana-bearing asteroid impacts in its' history that Earth never had and so its' continents have a different shape. Oh, and it had Elves instead of Humans. Anything that isn't called out as being different should be assumed to be identical. Myth Parallels are like that.

[Miles]

Yup, the astronomy is almost the same. Besides the mana-asteroids, the moon looks different, with a brighter, more silvery glow to it, and an entirely different pattern of craters is totally different. But it's the same size and in the same place, just like the sun, stars, and planets.