Crusades scenario... the map makes me cry

[Javiar]

I cannot help but when I loaded the scenario, but otherwise it looks really fun.

Why is North and South instead East and West?

(Jerusalem to the "North" and Europe to the "South")

I have never ever ever played a map in this orientation, and it just makes it so disorienting for me I cannot even play it!

Is there any way to make it "normal"? Or why was this done anyway? Map does not fit if north/south?

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

The map represents a medieval Mappa Mundi. There are several surviving very detailed medieval maps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mappa_mundi), and this scenario is based on medieval perception of the world, rather than accurate geography - these maps were usually not intended for navigation, but rather for educating people about the world around them.

And "North=Up" convention that we're very used to wasn't really established yet in these times (notably, it was in Ancient Greece and Rome, but was lost with the fall of Roman Empire). In medieval maps, upwards direction was usually reserved for the East, most likely due to religious reasons. We know it looks confusing to the modern eye, but that is actually part of the plan - to instill the player with a bit of cognitive dissonance of seeing the geography he's pretty used to in a different angle.

 

[Javiar]

The map represents a medieval Mappa Mundi. There are several surviving very detailed medieval maps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mappa_mundi), and this scenario is based on medieval perception of the world, rather than accurate geography - these maps were usually not intended for navigation, but rather for educating people about the world around them.

And "North=Up" convention that we're very used to wasn't really established yet in these times (notably, it was in Ancient Greece and Rome, but was lost with the fall of Roman Empire). In medieval maps, upwards direction was usually reserved for the East, most likely due to religious reasons. We know it looks confusing to the modern eye, but that is actually part of the plan - to instill the player with a bit of cognitive dissonance of seeing the geography he's pretty used to in a different angle.

Hello! Playing it some more, I got more used to it It did remind me of some of those medieval maps, and I thought more about it. In Christianity, facing the East in prayer is a must in Church (The Altar always faces East) So thinking about it more, IT made sense (That and Jerusalem is in that direction)

 

[Shuikkanen]

I'd like to add here the piece of trivia that the very word "orientation" originally comes from aligning a map so that east (="oriens") is facing up.