What Lies Ahead, and Where? - The Epic Conclusion

Disclaimer; The conclusions and views of this post are purely based around Game Knowledge and Educated Guesses, they do not reflect the views of Kingsisle Entertainment and are not definite.

This post contains what some people would regard to as “spoilers”; if you would prefer to not spoil yourself on the complete image of Marco’s Map, don’t read.

In the previous parts of this segment, we discussed techniques to predict where future worlds may be located as well as supporting evidence from the game. If you wish to familiarize yourself with them, you can find them [here] and [here].

Marco Pollo’s Map

The map that we and the Armada are hunting down in game is still in pieces; however, the completed map (with notable pieces) has appeared online thanks to the artist Bryan Lian.

As you can see, this is not entirely similar to the map Kingsisle sent out in 2012, as there are several notable difference. For example, the world index on the left does not appear on the mailed map, nor does the writing in the bottom and top right hand corners.

Marco’s Map seems to indicate which worlds are connected to each other. The map KingsIsle sent out has the world names listed; using this resource, we can match them to the worlds shown on the actual map. Nearly all of the Spiral Passages for the existing worlds are shown, along with some additional ones. Krokotopia, for example, is connected to Aquila - just as we predicted in the second part of this segment. Now that there is so much evidence proving this, an Aquila to Krokotopia Spiral Passage is practically confirmed.

When looking at what worlds are connected to what, the curved lines may be a bit misleading. The straight lines seem to represent a direct passage via Stormgate, as you can see in the case of MQ to DS, MS to VL, along with AQ to KT. Wizard City seems to be connected to Grizzleheim, too, as we predicted. The curved lines depict an “orbit” around a central world - this ends up playing a key role in deciphering the entire map, so we’ll discuss more on this later on.

However, the most important thing that Marco Pollo’s Map can tell you is how to get to El Dorado. Pollo was clever enough to not only make it hard to actually obtain the map but to also make it hard to decipher the map truly means. Figuring out where El Dorado’s stormgate will appear next can only be determined after understanding the rest of the clues the map provides us with.

Celestial Writing

These complex looking letters appear at the bottom of the map and are written in red - possibly to catch the gaze of the person holding the map. Could it be a clue?

It certainly appears that way. Swordroll has semi-deciphered this part using Legends of the Spiral’s Celestial Translator: “East to the Blue S--, when the Stars Align, the Moon is Key.”. We took a closer look at what letters could fit after the “S--”, and “un” fit perfectly well. Therefore, the clue at the bottom of the page, in full, is “East to the Blue Sun, when the Stars Align, the Moon is Key.”. What does this mean? Read on…

East to the Blue Sun

The Sun stands at the center of our solar system, just like Valencia does in many maps around the Spiral. The Bruno Chapel and the Marleybonean War Room, for instance, have examples of Sky Charts with Valencia in the center (further discussed in Part 2). On Marco Pollo’s map, Valencia is the biggest world (besides El Dorado) and is blue. Additionally, its symbol is an “S” rather than a “V” or a Unicorn, which is the first letter of “Sun”. Therefore, according to Marco Pollo, Valencia seems to represent the “Blue Sun”. Now, what is to the East of Valencia?

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As you can see, there are only two things to the east of Valencia: Aquila and Krokotopia. What does this mean? Well, it means that it is likely for us to access El Dorado from either Aquila or Krokotopia.

When the Stars Align

Just like there are many stars in our solar system, there are many worlds in the Spiral. In the clue, Marco Pollo is speaking metaphorically; he is not referring to “Stars”, exactly, but to the worlds of the Spiral. So, what worlds will align? As you can see, each major “hub” world (Marleybone and Valencia) has an orbit surrounding them with many different lines connecting to different worlds. So, what if these lines travelled around the orbits (like planet Earth and our Sun) and “aligned” with something?

So, taking the deciphered clue from the the first part, and we use the line that Valencia, Aquila, and Krokotopia are on and we move it around the orbit that it is on with Valencia. It aligns with the line connecting Valencia to Marleybone. Now, if you look closely, on that line there are two small circles that could possibly be where Aquila and Krokotopia will lie (we doubt that AQ will lie on top of SI and KT lie on top of MB). Now, thinking about it Stormgate-wise, we’d have to travel through Aquila to get to Krokotopia; therefore, the magical moving Stormgate of El Dorado would be next accessed through Krokotopia!

Yellow: Orbital Travel/Alignment

Blue: Path Aquila and Krokotopia will move

Orange: Where Aquila and Krokotopia will reside when aligned

Purple: Where El Dorado and Krokotopia “Align”

The Moon is Key

This part is a bit harder to figure out; in regards to the Sun and Stars, Marco Pollo was speaking metaphorically, so it would only make sense for him to not be referring to a literal Moon here. Next to the Celestial markings, towards the bottom, are eight phases of the Moon. Additionally, written in red to contrast with the rest of the map are eight different clues. Coincidence?

(1) “East to the Blue Sun, when the Stars Align, the Moon is Key

”

(2) The eight phases of the Moon

(3) Circles around Krokotopia and Darkmoor in the world index

(4) Three rectangles next to Monquista in the world index

(5) Writing next to Skull Island

(6) Writing next to MooShu

(7) Writing in upper right hand corner

(8) Writing in lower right hand corner

What do these symbols all mean? Most of them we’ve already figured out. The first clue is the basis of the entire map, and illustrates how to reach El Dorado. The second seems to state the relationship between the moon and the clues, as well as that all eight clues must be adhered to.

In the third clue, both Krokotopia and Darkmoor are circled. Krokotopia’s significance is rather clear, as that is likely where we will access El Dorado from when the worlds align. But Darkmoor? Something important is definitely there, but for Marco Pollo to value it as high as Krokotopia, we’re going to need something there. Perhaps a Windstone to El Dorado?

The three rectangles next to Monquista might indicate that it is the “starting point” to El Dorado. Assuming that El Dorado will, indeed, be located in Krokotopia, a path can be followed starting from Monquista: Monquista → Aquila → Krokotopia → El Dorado. Keep in mind that our desire to start with Skull Island is rather biased; Marco Pollo would have no need to consider it as that is not where he commonly resided, unlike us Pirates.

The markings next to Skull Island and MooShu are difficult to decipher. They don’t seem to be in Celestian, so we cannot translate them - perhaps they are written in Aquilan Linear A or B. While they definitely have some significance to them, the map can be understood relatively well, even when disregarded. The writing in the upper hand corner, too, is hard to understand, so we’ll leave that alone for now as well.

The last two seems to be coordinates, possibly to El Dorado. As it turns out, the red writing in that section corresponds to the coordinates of Krokotopia, providing further reinforcement that El Dorado would be there. These coordinates could be especially useful, considering that the Stormgate to El Dorado doesn’t stay open for long. We’d have to be in the right place at exactly the right time… knowing where in Krokotopia the Stormgate would open would therefore be crucial.

Now that we’ve analyzed Marco Pollo’s map, we can finally answer the question: What lies ahead? Our predictions to this question are as follows.

Book 15: Valencia to find ‘G’ and find Kane’s weakness

Book 16: Polaris to find Erika the Red and her map piece

Book 17: Darkmoor to find our parents’ map piece

Book 18: Krokotopia to find the Windstone to El Dorado

Book 19: Valencia to take back the remaining map pieces from Kane

Book 20: El Dorado!

Of course, as with our other posts in this segment, none of this is definite. We want to hear what you think lies ahead and how we’ll reach El Dorado! And, what do you think will be there when we finally reach it?

Thanks for reading!