This, as far as I can tell, will be my first post. I've owned the game for quite some time and only got to playing it recently. Which is good, I was wanting to play this and immerse myself in this world. I'm even more excited with Adventure Mode coming, which means I need to look into the factions.
That being said, I wanted to make an RP-able character with a heavy Spanish influence. Captain of the Galleon named La Magnífica (accented "í" not withstanding as current game does not allow accents at this time). Essentially, Sky Zorro to put it shortly but hoping to be not Zorro, if that makes sense. However, wanting to do a Spanish thing, I've learned that the six factions are kind of vague as to which cultures are grouped where. Originally I thought the best bet would be the Guild, which sounded like it would have been a Merchant Republic common in nation states of Italy, Southern Europe. Spain is often grouped with Southern Europe, being Mediterranean. However, I read in another thread that they are based off Russia, Romania, and Japan.
I was very surprised, but this is fine because from what I can tell this is like a century or so after the First World War. Tribes have risen to forge nations, cultures reinvent themselves and airships would make expansion happen far faster. I guess I'll just base him off my Fallout New Vegas character and have him live in the past, finding remnants and getting attached to what was so I can keep the name of the ship. Just got to figure out where Spain is.
Then I see the map.
It APPEARS to be in the Northern Hemisphere... however, even with global warming going berserk and entire ecosystem suffering. However, it still isn't that large of a map considering there is no southern hemisphere. Combined with the fact that the center body of water is referred to a gulf rather than a sea hints that the world is far larger and this is simply a regional conflict zone. The outer body of water isn't an ocean, either. It's a sea, which helps supports the idea that this is only a small segment of the map.
That being said, I'm starting to get the feeling that this isn't an alternate history of the First World War. Rather, this doesn't even take place on Earth but an Earth like planet. If the new nations were to feed off the scraps of the nations they once were, their inspiration and design wouldn't vary as much as it does. And, perhaps most importantly... The First World War didn't begin in 1917. It began in 1914. Yet the infamous Great War that reset all society and ended up killing like half the world's population, maybe more happens to have started in 1917.
If you were to take a map with estimates of what the world would look like with melted ice caps, nowhere would really fit for the map provided. Worse yet, the Yesha Empire which is based off far Eastern culture happens to be on the Western portion of the map. The Guild, being based off Russia and Romania is based in the North. If you recall earlier in this wall of text, I said it appears the map for Adventure Mode was for the Northern Hemisphere. However, the truth is, that may not be the case at all. Considering the world's turmoil and rediscovery, would it be wrong to imagine that the southern hemisphere is the host of all these air battles? That North is now South and vice versa? That's assuming the geomagnetic poles didn't shift, either. If so, the new axis could be offset due to the potential massive weaponry used in the Great War. For all we know, South America could be the new Antarctica.
But, this all just a theory conjured from about a few hours of research. What do I know? I only REALLY started getting into the game recently. What do you think?