The Balseraphs live in the northern hemisphere, which is a pretty boring place so far. That's just the way I like it. The barbarian influx seems to have dwindled and I've got nothing to do but grow without anyone to jostle on the way. Across some not-terribly-hospitable badlands to the east is an even less hospitable desert, where the Calabim vampires live. They have my condolences, and by "condolences", I mean, "Ha ha, you guys got stuck in a lousy opening location". Since the Calabim and I don't have borders jostling up against each other, we've been getting along just fine. If fences make good neighbors, wide swathes of land no one wants make even better neighbors.

But I've finally sailed across the ocean and found the rest of the world. It seems the southern hemisphere is where all the action is.

South land tales after the jump.

The first thing I see once I've researched Optics, which improves your line of sight out to sea, is a light blue border reaching out towards me from across the ocean. Hello, Elohim territory! I build a privateer, which can sail freely through rival territory, and set out to see the world.

It's pretty easy to map the coastline of the southern continent. The typical Fall from Heaven map is a square without any wraparound. This one is divided by an ocean that's more like a very wide river. The Balseraphs (me) and the Calabim started on the small land mass to the north. The other five races all started on the lower larger land mass. Each races starts in its own "biome", and there are mountain ranges conveniently situated like fences to divide the land into discrete segments.

My privateer sails freely through territory without me needing to set up open border agreements. I see a couple of galleys and triremes along the way, but there's nothing that can challenge the privateer. However, I get the best picture of the continent by looking at the scores and the diplomacy chart. The diplomacy chart in particular tells a whole story. You can select any civilization and then mouse over any other civilization to see a toolptip detailing the whys and wherefores of the relationship. Past wars, betrayals, and differences of opinion are all listed here.

What seems to have happened is that the Bannor (good guys) and the Elohim (good guys) started at either end of the southern continent, with plenty of room to grow. Somewhere early on the Khazad, the dwarven civilization, was wiped out of existence (which means I'll never be able to get dwarven slaves for my freak shows). The Svartalfar (evil elves) and the Sheaim (evil demon-lovers) started in the center of the continent and quickly butted heads, weakening each other considerably with open warfare. When I later get a broader world map, I can see the Svartalfar and Sheaim territories are a patchwork quilt of each other's cultures. They've been fighting hard enough to swap cities, resulting in some crazy patterns of evil elven and evil demon-lover culture crossoever. In the processing of spilling blood, sometimes you mix it as well.

This is one of the cool things not just about Fall from Heaven, but about Civilization IV in general. Part of discovering the world is discovering that it's been running its course even when you're not there. You don't simply find self-contained factions waiting for you to conquer or befriend them. You find stories that have happened, grudges, alliances, and advanced civilizations. Even the barbarians refuse to idly shuffle their warriors around among the bears and wolves. They stop being barbarians. They farm, hunt, fish, and build cities. The improve the land. They upgrade their units. Civilization IV will breathe even when you're not around to watch it.

So my work is cut out for me. The Bannor and Elohim are the most powerful factions in the world, and they each have room to grown. Meanwhile, they're sandwiching my only likely allies, who are at each other's throat. The entire continent has adopted the Runes of Kilmorph, an earth-god religion that has turned the previously evil Svartalfar and Sheaim into neutral civilizations.

And now that I've seen what's going on down south, it's time to introduce myself. I'll just park my privateer, who can do whatever he wants because he has the "hidden nationality" trait that means no one knows he's mine, parked outside an Elohim city. Oops, did I accidentally press the blockade button?

Tomorrow: Who would win in a fight between a clown and The Three Stooges?
(Click here for the previous Fall from Heaven II game diary.)