Accurate(?) Cavern Map

DaVinci · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2015 9:47 pm

larryf58, I read in the Book of Atrus when he first saw the cavern he said it was 6mi. wide and 10mi broad with a huge island a mile or more wide with 2 columns more than a mile high( Myst Reader pg 87)
hope this helps with your mapping

KathAveara · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2015 10:03 pm

The Books are notoriously unreliable for canon information, sadly.

larryf58 · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2015 10:23 pm

DaVinci wrote:

larryf58, I read in the Book of Atrus when he first saw the cavern he said it was 6mi. wide and 10mi broad with a huge island a mile or more wide with 2 columns more than a mile high( Myst Reader pg 87)
hope this helps with your mapping

Thanks! Any input is helpful.

Those figures for the cavern dimensions were the basis of how I calculated the scale I use. I noticed that the rings on the Great Zero courtyard mosaic matched up with the 10 x 6 mile estimate, and then figured out that 350 shahfeetee was a figure that was close to a mile and made sense mathematically in base 25. The distance between the rings is 185 pixels in my image editing software, so in a table I posted earlier, you can see how the math was done to convert distances in KI coordinates into pixels on the map.

I take the books' claims about the size of Ae'gura with a grain of salt, because they don't match up with KI readings. So I grabbed the coordinates for two places on the Island and used those to rough out the right size for Ae'gura on the map. The Island probably isn't quite the right size and shape anyway because I don't have an official image of it -- there are none available. Instead, I took an overhead KI photo of the model used in the game. That's about 4/5ths of a mile from north to south, and it might be a mile if I had the real thing.

As for the height, the books seem to be way off. The Great Zero is on the highest part of the Island, and it's 93 shahfeetee above the Ferry Terminal esplanade. Since 350 shahfeetee equal 9/10s of a mile, you can see that it's nowhere near being a mile above the water line.

Still, the books are based on information given to the author by Cyan, so even if he got a lot of things wrong, there's still plenty of things in them that give important clues. So thanks again for chipping in. The figures for the rough dimensions of the cavern were confirmed by Tweek, who has information from Cyan that he can't share directly. My impression is that he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before they gave him the documents and information for his work on Intangibles.

korovev · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2015 10:01 am

Apparently Ae’gura was scaled from its actual size (in PotS you were supposed to see it only from the Ferry Terminal, and the Kadish Gallery occupies the space behind all the doors in the Canyon Alley), so while not ‘a mile high’, the central stalagmite could actually be taller than what it seems.

Tweek · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 12:11 am **Posts:** 2633

korovev wrote:

Apparently Ae’gura was scaled from its actual size (in PotS you were supposed to see it only from the Ferry Terminal, and the Kadish Gallery occupies the space behind all the doors in the Canyon Alley), so while not ‘a mile high’, the central stalagmite could actually be taller than what it seems.

Not quite, it does occupy more space than it should because it's at an angle. If they had put it in straight they'd have needed to change the rock mesh on the great stairs (which they should have IMO).

Oddly enough I tweeted about this a few days back as I was having trouble with fitting the D'ni Figurine shop in.

The above is an overlay from Blender. Center image is the Kadish Gallery with part of the Great Stairs to the left, concert all to the right, and the canyon at the top.

But yeah Ae'gura as it appears in game isn't scaled right. We'd need to scale the island up to get everything to fit right.

larryf58 · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2015 11:57 am

That's true if you try to put everything in on a horizontal plane. Staircases could be used to change the elevations of the spaces behind the doors, like the way they made the gallery taller by lowering the floor on the inside.

Since that stalagmite ridge is quite tall, there's a lot of space both above and below the gallery. If you get Cyan's approval, I see no reason why the shops can't be set up like a stack of books. It's not like the rest of us have the faintest idea what's behind those doors!

Something I've noticed and mention in the tours I conduct or help conduct, is that the D'ni built more underground and vertically than on the surface horizontally. The palace building extends all the way down to the waterline at least, and there may well be parts of it below the palace alcove and into the rock beyond it to the south and west. Tokotah 1 and Tokotah 2 also have a considerable amount of structure below the surface; you can see that from the ferry docks in the case of Tokotah 2. In the Kahlo Bar, there's a doorway facing south behind some rubble. It could either be into another room below Tokotah Alley, or it could be a tunnel corridor into Tokotah 1.

So think vertical. Cyan did.

crystal · **Posted:** Sat Sep 05, 2015 11:15 am

I've saved the latest version of your map onto my phone so that I can admire it whenever. You've done an amazing job so far!

larryf58 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 05, 2015 2:21 pm

Thanks!

It eventually hit a roadblock, though, since there's very little information about what there is and where it is. There's a good chance it won't get any farther than this, or at least not until some of the fan content projects are ready for inclusion into the game. Intangibles and DIRT are two ongoing projects that could affect my map, but Tweek and Chloe can't say anything until Cyan approves.

Now, if anyone at Cyan were to read this and wanted to send me information I could use to make the map better, that would be wonderful. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for it, though. :lol:

Accurate(?) Cavern Map

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