Where did the Zephyr fly from?

Out of curiosity, does the player ever learn the city from which the Zephyr departed? Or its destination (which I presume is Tarant)?

I could guess at its destination for two reasons. One, a letter on some crash victim's body was meant for a guard at the Vermillion Station in Tarant. Two, I can't think of any other city capable of handling the maintenance of a luxury zeppelin. However, now that I think of it, I can't specifically cite any moment where we know specifically where the Zephyr was bound for.

As for the departure point, I have no idea. Given that the player character starts with an absolutely shoddy knowledge of the continent's geography (I mean, his/her topographical knowledge is pretty amazing, knowing where the mountains and rivers and forests are, but his/her knowledge of the political geography is horrible--he can't even name the capital cities and the major ports), I'd say the PC hails from a land VERY, VERY far from the continent, and VERY far removed from world politics (I can say this because, given the tumultuous events that have previously taken place on the continent, anyone even decently versed in world affairs would know of them, and would know of the cities in which they took place).

 

I'm pretty sure the game quite clearly informs us that the IFS Zephir departed from Caladon and was supposed to land in Tarant. It may be even said numerous times, but at the moment I can't really say I remember where do you get that information from.

 

Huh, that's odd, considering that the PC isn't aware of Caladon's existence from the get go. You'd think that s/he'd know where it is, considering s/he just came from there.

 

That is true, but if the Living One knew Caladon's location from the very beginning, that would be quite a game breaker for mages, seeing how quickly they would be able to teleport there before they are supposed to to do so. Because of game logic, we must assume that even though the Living One was in Caladon, he simply doesn't know where exactly is it located on the map until later in the game.

 

Yeah its Caladon, as for the lack of knowledge of the location for the PC, perhaps he/she isn't from Caladon and probably never looked at a map.

 

Well, fair enough. Knowing Caladon's location would indeed screw up the order of events dramatically. For the same reason bullets don't kill in one hit, the PC cannot know of Caladon's location.

But, boy is the PC ignorant. He's never heard of Arronax, Vendigroth, Gilbert Bates, the King of his own city, nor even of the Whytechurch murders.

 

I thought the Zephyr took off from Roseborough, since "Preston Radcliffe" has a matchbook from the inn there. I know the ship was manufactured in Caladon, but was it from there that it departed?

 

Preston likely has a Roseborough passport and matchbox simply because that's the location of the gate he came through. I also have this nagging feeling about Caladon being mentioned as well, but also can't actually cite anything. Well, I'll probably play the game now just to find out. Its destination was Tarant, as mentioned in several Backgrounds.

 

Aha, so that's where we got the destination from--the backgrounds. I'm still searching for the departure site, though (where it's explicitly stated).

 

If it didn't fly from Roseborough, it flew from Caladon. Hieronymus Maxime built it, and I bet he wasn't too keen on transporting it very far by means of land travel (the trip to Tarant was its maiden flight, after all).

 

I've heard that if you're playing an elf, someone somewhere may suggest that you come from another continent when you're searching for Qintarra. Not that I recall such a line in my own games, though, but it would be a reasonable explanation.

 

Imagine what another continent would be like in the world of Arcanum. Would they have the same struggle between magic and technology? We can only wonder.

 

Actually he built the flying machine that took down the zepplin. Hence the quest for the camera. It was bound for Tarant, that is certain and included in the beginning game video. The departure point I am pretty sure was said to be Roseborough. However, my question is where are the docking stations. There is no docking station in either city.

 

Only real logical situations I could gather would be it was from Caladon and it sat in the ocean like a ship till it flew off. However if it was Roseborough then I suppose we have to assume they fine people at the inn dismantled the station after the tragedy. Remember months pass in the game before you get anywhere and do stuff.

 

But where would it dock at in Tarant. The zepplin was huge. I think this would be something to include in anyones attempt for an Arcanum sequel, to place zepplin platforms and make them work like trains. Definitely something interesting to add to the world.

 

Since Arcanum is supposedly fiction (even though there are people who claim having scientifically proven that Arcanum is reality instead of the world we perceive as such) we might take another piece of fiction in order to give us an idea how the Zephyr could be boarded and places that could be suitable for her landing process. Please visit the link beneath and fast-forward the motion picture till about 26:35.

link for reel

 

POSTED: Fri Jul 23, 2010:

I would like to meet those people.

EDIT: Wed Aug 11, 2010:



See? I told you.

 

Don't remember that dialogue in Roseborough.