Lore Post - Space and Time (Patreon)

Calling this a lore post isn’t 100% accurate, but it’s lore-adjacent, at least, so I thought it was close enough. I want to talk a little about issues in Noblesse Oblige relating to space and time. You’ve probably noticed that the game generally tracks the passage of time a bit more closely than a lot of media, and this is something I personally consider important in creating believability. I don’t really like abstracting out the passage of time for a lot of reasons, but I think the most important one is “contingent factors.”

Contingent factors are things like weather, the time of day, travel time, terrain, and other things that can reasonably be expected to affect the way events unfold. I think contingent factors are essential for a story like Noblesse Oblige because you can trace the effects of these types of factors in a lot of significant happenings historically. Even today, you can’t ignore weather and the seasons when fighting a war, and that is far more true in a world like Vestheraia, where you have to march soldiers long distances along imperfect roads. Things like the sudden snowstorm in Chapter 6 significantly impact the flow of events and can have substantial repercussions. Similarly, time of day matters a lot for whether stealth is a viable tactic, and weather can affect a lot as well.

Seasons and weather also play a fairly significant role in why we’ve yet to start the war(s). Spring in Versalia is obviously very wet, as we’ve seen, so it’s a poor time for marching armies for multiple reasons (sickness, mud, rust, etc.). The campaign season is mainly summer and autumn, when things are dryer and the weather tends to be better, plus the armies are well supplied. The element of supply and logistics may happen mostly offscreen in Noblesse Oblige (we appreciate you deeply, Despoina! XD) but it still plays an important role in the considerations of how and when battles are fought. Logistic concerns are one reason it’s not easy to just cross the mountains by airship; even if you survive the journey, keeping the soldiers supplied on the other side is a challenge, and also, a big enough fleet to move an army is going to likely draw a response that might well catch you still in the air and vulnerable.

The passage of time obviously affects all of these factors. In particular, I think I have a certain sense for the importance of being in a given place at a given time, which is something I’ve always admired in other writers’ works (such as Tolkien). A history blogger whose work I read a lot complains that certain other authors tend not to keep track of who is where at what time, which results in essentially teleporting armies and stuff like that (ironically, for all that Game of Thrones sells itself as realistic or grounded, it’s not great about this in the books and truly bad at it in the show). While you can still write a good story without paying a lot of attention to these things, I personally think that being aware of them makes for a better story. It also makes things feel a little more organic and reasonable. Luck of Daphne aside, if we were traveling from Castle Kharos to Castle Salericos and a group was traveling from Arkos to Castle Kharos in the same time frame, then of course we were going to encounter each other at some point.

The role of geography is also important. Versalia’s position as essentially walled by mountains has been critical to its history, and also serves to shape certain aspects of the narrative here. Ekestria can only really attack through the Kallasti Valley, for example, which narrows the fronts on which a full war can be fought. Conversely, the geographic settings of Castle Kharos and Albion contribute to both castles being extremely hard to capture, which is part of why the armistice made so much sense. The use of horses is also constrained to major roads because of the kingdom’s overall mountainous nature. In addition, this shapes the choice of weapons. Though you see a mix of weapons, swords are fairly prominent in Versalia because a loose, adaptable formation using swords like that of the Roman legion functions well in rough terrain, while a tight spear formation like the Greek phalanx struggles when it’s deployed on something other than a flat plain. The pike is still a superb weapon, and some highlanders (like the Scottish) have made good use of it, but there are reasons why it’s significantly less common for Versalian soldiers than for Ekestrian soldiers.

Of course, as much as I’d like to keep things accurate as discussed here, though, I won’t do it where it would hurt the story or gameplay. I think the biggest example of this is the Castle Town expansions, which should probably realistically take quite a bit longer than they will in game. In this case, I’m willing to fudge the numbers a bit because that’s a narrative/gameplay element I want to include. If nothing else, though, I think having the royal will behind it and a large supply of workers keeps that from feeling too unbelievable.

Other places are a bit more nebulous, but I think defensible. Alexander and Ariadne rode across Calistrae in a single day, which is a very significant feat. However, in addition to being legendary heroes (who even the history blogger I mentioned gives exceptions for XD), both are established as excellent riders. They’re also riding in ideal conditions along a well-maintained royal highway, and likely stopping to swap out for new horses at waystations meant for royal couriers regularly. Even just bringing a group of 3-4 extra horses along for each rider to swap between allowed the Mongols to achieve unprecedent mobility historically. Also, it’s hard to overstate how much faster you can travel in a small group; a marching army has far, far more things to slow it down than a small group like the hetairoi and honor guard, much less just the two of them. So, some feats stretch believability a little, but I think these are in a good way. The protagonists are exceptional people, and manage to pull off exceptional things.

Overall, though, where possible I try to take a realistic approach to time and space. I think it grounds the narrative in important ways, and just adds a layer of quality to the story. I can’t claim I’m always perfect about it, but I try, and I like to think that shows in the story. I thought it was worth talking about just since I think it’s a relatively unusual approach to take for games, especially RPGs, and it seemed worth a discussion about why I chose it and why I think it’s valuable.