Quote:
Originally Posted by Polydamas
In fact, are you sure Sanderson does not give instructions for plotting them? Back before cable news or Internet taking a crazy book and a world map and following its instructions and seeing "wow, it has the Bermuda Triangle and Mohenjo-Daro" was a way to kill an afternoon.
|
I am not sure that he never did so, but
this link here is to Ivan T. Sanderson's original article and at least there, he gives no such instructions.
In fact, the accompanying map seems to be but one way to imagine these 'Vile Vortices' or 'Devil's Graveyards', so nearly any twisting, turning or re-jiggering of them would seem implicitly supported by the source material.
For example, I'm shamelessly supposing that the 'Bermuda Triangle' is more of a lozenge and consequently covers most of the Caribbean. For consistency, I suppose that I should consider having all the 'Vile Vortices' be lozenge-shaped, which, at least in terms of the two in Africa, only aids my cause by ensuring additional coverage.
In general, covering large amounts of land and sea is good,
unless this would include densely inhabited modern urban areas with largely secular, skeptical people, low crime rates and general lack of the kind of oddness that should characterize a settlement within a Vile Vortex. In other words, having Vile Vortices cover large parts of Africa or the Caribbean poses no problems of plausibility or having the world of the setting diverge too far from our world, because both places feature a population where belief in the supernatural is largely commonplace. Even sizable cities like Port-au-Prince or Maputo may safely be placed within Vile Vortices, as most of their inhabitants believe in supernatural forces as a matter of course.
I get the feeling that the Pakistan Vile Vortex, especially if it stretches into India, would cover much more in the way of densely populated areas than any of the other Vile Vortices. Areas, where, moreover, I have not done any research on prevailing attitudes toward the paranormal, general health and safety, oddness or any other factors. So, one hand, it would probably be best to minimize the extent of the Indian subcontinent Vile Vortex. On the other hand, if logical and justifiable in some way, having huge swathes of tribal territory in Pakistan or Afghanistan, as well as of the Hindu Kush, exist within a Vile Vortex was hardly going to cause any plausibility problem, considering the low population densities and unsafe conditions.