I love thinking about Eridians being very welcoming of Grace and wanting him to be apart of their culture. I keep thinking about what thatd look like- special clothing? Jewelry? I've seen people talking about Grace with tattoos that are scarred over so the Eridians can see them too-
It makes me so emotional to think about, because he is a literal alien to them. He's an alien who looks nothing like them, sounds nothing like them- he can't even survive in their atmosphere- and they still make sure he's as comfortable as he can be, they still make sure he's included and that he knows he's welcome to participate and take part in their culture- and when you think about how he was treated on Earth, his literal home planet-
Something about Grace calling Erid home, something about Grace feeling more included and less like an outsider with an alien race than his own people on his own planet...
some days you want a long, drawn out, carefully planned day full of flirting and tension while you gradually fill them up………..aaand some days you just wanna hit the drive thru and lift up their belly n give em head in the parking lot while they gorge
ever think about how the "i don't wanna be here" panic and terror of next semester and the "hoping they misplaced my reservation" quiet anxiety of center mass essentially conveys the same thing (a fear of being in the place you're currently in) but in two wildly different tones because the implication of next semester is that the speaker is young and not used to being in uncomfortable places while the implication in center mass is that the speaker is older and more used to uncomfortable situations and how that applies to tyler's anxiety about the music industry and how his emotions about it haven't changed over time but that he's simply gotten better at handling it?
So, Owen’s repeated statement of “The wolves are migrating East this time of year” both makes no sense (Owen has zero clue what he’s talking about, just using it as an excuse for why the woods are dangerous) and gives us an opportunity to explore the setting some more.
The statement is nonsense because wolves don’t migrate like birds, but in North America they do often shift their territory seasonally to follow the elk herds which do migrate to different elevations depending on the season. In the spring and summer, the elk herds move to higher elevations, and in the fall and winter lower elevations.
Now, is it a bit of an assumption to say there are elk here (obviously they aren’t in Minecraft, just bear with me) AND that this is taking place in North America? Yes. Extremely. I’m working with what I know about wolves and their behavior, and if we’re using the real world as a lens for setting analysis (like in this post where I’m basing my general timeline from) then the wolves need a large prey species to live. It doesn’t necessarily have to be elk, but it would be a large ungulate.
If this takes place in Europe (it would have to, if we take the Plague as a serious indicator; Plague wasn’t introduced into North America until 1900 according to the CDC, so unless they meant some other disease and not the literal plague, it has to be in Europe) in the 1400s then the wolves likely still had most of their historic range, supported by the fact that we see a lot of wilderness around Oakhurst.
By saying the wolves are moving east (irl Owen has no idea what he’s talking about but if we use a Watsonian perspective then v!owen would know the movements of the local wolf pack and their territory, given he was a lumberjack and lived in the woods) Owen is telling us Oakhurst is at a lower elevation (closer to sea level, that is) which is supported by the mountains seen to the northwest of Oakhurst, even if they’re kind of small. Wolf packs are found between sea level and 3,000 m (9,800 ft), which is quite the range, but it does tell us that they are probably above sea level. Thus, Oakhurst is possibly adjacent to a mountain range (as seen by the mountains) and is close to sea level, possibly even near the sea itself.
The players routinely hear the howling of wolves, so their territory definitely includes the town. Given that we know Vampires takes place in September/the fall (thank you @izelthewashbear for letting me know!) the wolves could either currently be moving their territory or have moved already and this is their eastern territory setup.
Using this, we can surmise that Oakhurst is to the east of any major settlements and maybe even the Capital.
Supporting evidence that didn’t fit into my explanations:
- Abolish leaves his manor and approaches Oakhurst from the West
- “The wolves are migrating East this time of year” being believed even by non-noble humans who would probably know about wolf movement from experience
Someone who knows geography better than me, is there any place in Europe that fits especially well with what I’ve described? (Close to sea level, has small mountains to its northeast, includes the historic range of the wolf)
