Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26210095-20160405171118

The current LOTR Mod Map we are using for our Roleplays, I fear, isnt entirely accurate. The LOTR Mod Map is based off the map in Karen Wyn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle Earth. Here, if you do not have it, is a copy of aforementioned map.



As you can see, the "Girdle of Arda", which I take to mean the equator, is roughly around the end of the Harad Mountains. Tolkien himself stated that Hobbiton was around the latitude of Oxford, England  and Minas Tirith was around the latittude of Florence, Italy. But for these statements to be accurate means that the Karen Wynn Fonstad map to not be, as the Girdle of Arda does certainly not correspond to the Real World's Equator. Tolkien stated that Middle-Earth was supposed to represent Modern Earth (I am not saying it is 100% acurate to our modern world, but certainly many parallels can be made). So, our beloved LOTR Mod map is innacurate. Just to get an idea of the scale of Middle-Earth in comparison to the real earth, take a look at this picture:

As you can see, the North-West lands of Middle Earth encompass only a small fraction of what else is in middle earth, as Europe, which represents north-west middle earth, is only a fraction of the size of Asia and Africa, which are taken to represent the lands of Rhun and Harad, respectivly. Although I do not really like this map, the proportions of the known lands of Middle-Earth vs Rhun and Harad seems quite right:



This has massive effects upon the RP universe which we inhabit. Rhun and Harad are really extremely large countries, compared to northwest middle earth. Also, this would vastly increase the amount of land we have to RP in, and allow space for new factions, (if we ever get new members). It would allow people to develop their creativity, and have new lands in which to explore. It would also allow us to become more seperate from the LOTR MC Mod Wiki, and would also just allow for more interesting scenarios, characters, peoples, and culture.

It would DEFINITELY not be based off the Iron Crown version of ME, but would be created by us as a Wiki community. It would give some factions breathing room, and enhance the realism of our world.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Post them here. Be warned, all arguments must be civil, and not grow out of context (ex: attacking someone's character.) I will be monitoring this.  