A Wanderer's Work

The Horizon Zero Dawn & Forbidden West real-world travel blog you didn't know you needed 🏹 The Best Adventure Guide Since the Well-Traveled Aram

[gentlyrowan]

Have you spotted this stray Nora wandering the wilds, and wondered what she's doing all the way out here?

A Wanderer's Work

That's just me, a harmless eccentric

adventurer, photographer, lore-gatherer, tale-crafter, and your travel guide to the lands from the Frozen Wilds to the Burning Shores!

As your volunteer Horizon tour guide, I've been pondering some possibilities for the future.

Should I keep working by theme, or post more surprises?

themes

surprises

Voting ended onAug 30, 2024

Some Theme Ideas

Sacred Land Summer (already underway)

Sundom September

Oseram October

Nora November

Daunt December

Jewel January

Frozen Wilds February

March of the Ten

Armor April

Machine May

Dune June (deserts)

Sky July (mountains)

Forest August (woods)

... Utaru Who? Quen When? (I'll figure it out!)

Not a finalized schedule: Life will inevitably happen, and other ideas may overtake these. Maybe better ones!

When I'm not exploring the landscapes of the Horizon games with my husband (credit: all the photos I'm in), you can find me on BlueSky @rowanauthor.bsky.social and peddling Horizon fanfic on AO3 as GentlyRowan.

ALT TEXT BELOW COLLAGE & CUT · ALL PHOTOS BY US

TOP ROW

A green slope rising up to a rounded, bare rock mountaintop; a clear, round pool of clear, vibrant, cyan blue water in a landscape of pines; a human hand stretched out for comparison with a fossil replica of a dinosaur claw

MIDDLE ROW

A wandering Nora (me) treading a snowy path in a canyon of orange hoodoos; a long view down a deep, wide canyon from above through a barren branch bent downward

BOTTOM ROW

The base of a massive sequoia, with more sequoias behind it; the aforementioned Nora passing through a doorway in a gray stone ruin; a white archery bow (decorated in brown, red, and blue with wire, beads, and feathers) hanging from a gnarled tree high above an orange stone canyon

[thisismylaststraw]

Horizon world carries the quality of a dream.

[photomodes]

do not be sorry. this will be ended. my spear, my word.

[estray-aloy]

[spacedlexi]

my girl who loves climbing rocks

[icrowler]

taking a picture for the holo wall <3

[kelsochronicles]

Potential Horizon 3 Map

I’m throwing this up as a reference. It’s just fun speculation and I know a lot can happen during development. Horizon is known for leaving little bread crumbs leading into the next game. So, in going off this, and a statement from writing director Ben McCaw, I believe these are mainline quest points for the next game…

Before you speak with Sylens at the end of BS, he’s looking over specific spots on a map of North America. I’ve done my best to surmise what those specific locations are.

Location 1: The northern most point in Canada I could not find any significant settlement names (Canadians help me out here if you know). It all looked like a huge wildlife park preserve. Potential Ban-Ur location?

Location 2: The spot below to the left is very close to Edmonton or Calgary. Maybe Banff? Most likely candidate for Ban-Ur.

Locations 3&4: The two close together is Salt Lake and I think Boise, Idaho. Or some other location in eastern Oregon. Salt Lake is the FAS facility mentioned in the data point collected from Londra (Dagger in my Boot). Most likely Boise is The Claim homeland of the Oseram, and potentially, Elysium. As Elysium was stated to only be “miles” from GAIA Prime.

Location 5: And at the very bottom we have Houston. Hard to pinpoint that because of how much the coastline has changed. However, that’s a very important NASA base so I’m very curious to see what that could entail.

Anyway! If we do get a map this size, WOW. I’m deeply excited at the prospect of finally visiting the homeland of the Oseram and Banuk. Banuk especially.

[balthazar3827]

Not sure about the rest, but I'm somewhat familiar with western canada and spot 1 is basically bang on Cree Lake. There's a few interesting things in the area: just south of the big lake to the north (Athabasca Lake) is the Athabasca Sand Dunes. Standing in it, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in the middle of a desert, so it could be a good candidate for a desert level.

The next big thing in the area is the Key Lake Uranium Mine, basically smack dab under the pin. I think this speaks for itself as to a potential level site so I won't say more.

Without nearby geographic features to triangulate, it's hard to say for sure, but the second spot is in the right neighborhood for Calgary/Canmore/Banff, and there are a few things that might lend themselves to a game level there. Calgary is the largest city in Alberta, and geographically at least, one of the largest in North America as well. To the east is the drumheller badlands and dinosaur fossil fields. Not too much north or south, but west is the Kananaskis foothills and the town of Canmore, and the Rockies with Banff.

Banff is well known as a national park and wildlife preserve, and home to Alberta's best known hot springs. Lots of good picturesque hiking, and to the northwest are the Columbia Ice Fields and other glaciers. Further west is Lake Louise and the town of Field and just about the prettiest lakes you could care to see.

Further east back towards Calgary is the town of Canmore, located at the north of Kananaskis Country, an area known for its picturesque views, majestic wildlife, ample skiing and hiking, and a few lesser known secrets as well. First, to the north, far east and especially south, are several hydroelectric dams and geothermal generation sites, luxury spas, and at the time of writing, one abandoned ski resort. This area is also home to a rumored lost gold claim known as the Lost Lemon Mine, which might make for a fun side quest. To the east at Dead Man's Flats and Lac Des Arc is the big Exshaw cement plant. Very industrial, the lake is also home to several ice boat speed record attempts thanks to the strong winds here. On the south shores of the lake is what I think is the real draw for this area, at least as far as gaming goes: the Heart Creek Bunker. Originally designed to be an archive, construction started in 1969, but was soon abandoned, today leaving a pretty darned cool man-made cave behind, but in the future, who's to say what might have become of it?

Have fun!

[oni-queen]

Sometimes I think about how Erend had to learn both Oseram and Carja Glyphs, and then he gets a focus that automatically translates it into the English. Now he has to learn a new alphabet and writing system.

The Guy's not dumb. He's just tired of having to learn English over and over again.

[gentlyrowan]

I wouldn't be surprised if the focus can translate the data of the Old Ones into Carja glyphs at this point. Aloy's scanned a lot of Carja scrolls by HFW, and that information could all be in the network.

Meanwhile, Erend did learn at least two writing systems, know just the right thing to say to get the Nora to listen to a letter from the Sun-king, figure out how to find the Sons of Prometheus, and impress Kotallo with his skill at Strike...

Not dumb at all.

[sweet-christabel]

They have a nice floor at the Temple of the Sun.

[apricity-writes]

The Spirit of the Grove

[statio224]

[artificialangel22]

Tenakth Skirmisher Aloy

[pavora-art]

Not enough time 💔

[quiet-archivist]

Outcast 🏹

Aloy - Shienra (IG)

Volta, 2024.

[graceisajinx]

It's been far too long since I last drew something simply for myself.

What better way to beat the artblock than a tone study of my girl, Aloy.

[paintedlight1]

Bored

[thisismylaststraw]