Bran-Muffin wrote:It's like someone is saying that north... isn't north. ( In the real world.)
Well, north is north. But whether it should be on the top of all maps is an entirely artificial concept.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversed_map
Humans does not possess the same ability as pigeon to detect the magnetic north. We can detect whether we are upside down or not, but not if we are near the north pole or not.
We have the knowledge to discover a determinate direction, but not a natural ability. We define our own directions. Setting north on the top of a map is solely a convention used by modern cartographers, influenced by Ptolemy. But before that, most european maps were drawn with the East on top. The word orientation in itself comes from latin
"oriens",
"east".
One might argue that cantrians possess the natural ability, since all of them "see" the north (something arguable). But even if they did, they are sentient. They can define another orientation if they desire to do so. Orientation is thus a subject matter. If you believe that the map should point to a holy city, or that the capital of your empire should be at the center-top to symbolize its superiority, why not to put the map that way then?
But I understand that the reason for putting the maps that way isn't mostly generated IC. Still, don't see a problem.
