Creation: Celestia what's in a world?!

   Today reader's we are gonna look into Celestia's creation as a world not EXACTLY from a lore aspect but physically and what actual places it ties into of course I will also mention mythological ties as we all love us some Lore don't we? Let's look at the Map below of Celestia.

   Let's begin at Base Camp which is obviously below water now although the Celestians put up the barriers it seems when the Marleybonians came they took over and either reinforced or recreated the barriers. MB technology is prevalent here as Thurston and his team excavated. Submarines provide transport to various areas through the tubes we see.

   Now most of you are enchanted by one area and I admit it's quite breathtaking it's the Floating Land however is it truly floating or is it the only surviving part of Celestia after the Storm Titan's wake? I am certain it's the latter as you can see both in the map and in this picture. Now this is speculation but I believe Celestia was completely surrounded by tropical forests like the Floating Land prior to it being sunk and the Celestian's had their civilization in the middle.

   However when it was sunk after the ensuing decades of fighting with Morganthe and her armies most of the tropical land area was destroyed and what's left was the Floating Land. This sort of makes me think of the other Water-Mole tribes if Celestia had any others they were caught in a fight they didn't want and subsequently destroyed. This also brings me to the Crustacean Empire were the Crabs really later invaders? Or were they below Celestia all along and after it sunk down adapted to the new abundance of habit in which they found themselves in.

  If you look to the map again areas like The Grotto and The Crustacean Empire itself  are carved into the seafloor. This leads me to believe they were there all along in their own underwater kingdom. Again this is only speculation but what if  there was relationships between Celestians and the Water-Mole tribes and both had with their underwater inhabitants. Imagine how they would have fared in the battle against Morganthe if they knew of their undersea brethren and called for aid. The united cultures rallying together? we would have seen a different Celestia then the one we play in today Celestia probably still be a thriving civilization.

   One thing got me however it was Stormriven Hall It's deeper than any of the areas in Celestia and seems to be a truly natural trench or abyss. Did it belong to the Crustacean Empire? Did it predate them? We can truly never know as after all this is only a game. However it's fun to imagine there was a more ancient civilization that existed or that it was the ancient home to the Crab Empire and was taken over by the tentacled monster we see in the hall which totally reminds me of Scylla from the Odyssey or Leviathan from Biblical histories.

   That's my take on the various areas of Celestia but what actual place can Celestia be associated with? It's a simple answer to a simple question Santorini, Greece! No no not Atlantis although many have speculated that's how the legend came to be. It's what remains of an ancient island that was torn apart by Volcanic eruptions. What we see today is the Cyclades(Which Santorini is a part of) which are the remnants of the eruptions during presumably the Minoan Civilization period that form the Island groups or Archipelago.

  That's the reality of it but according to legend most of Santorini was sunk by Zeus to punish it's people for their rebellious ways. After time stories change and become diluted so it's no out of the question to say as time passed Santorini disappeared and up came Atlantis a ancient paradise and civilization lost to the world in one day by angry gods. Another interesting note is a theory that the Minoan Eruption in Santorini indirectly caused the decline of the Civilization on the island of Crete which was devastated by a Tsunami however many disbelieve this as the dates of the eruption and decline of Crete don't coincide although it's said that it had a domino effect and slowly snuffed out the people there causing them to abandon it or die.

   It's interesting to think what exactly goes into making a world and the countless accounts of lore and cultures game developers draw from. It's literally endless as people continue to live they continue to make history and who knows? You might inspire someone to create an alternate universe and that's just plain freakin' awesome!


Until next time your friend,
Alric Ravensinger