Following is a detailed account of the geography of Gloriana and the relative locations of the various lands visited by (or known to) the Hero during the course of the games. This is an independent, unverified effort based on information hypothesized from the games themselves, with no confirmation from the Coles themselves. If any of you does has more information, corrections or possibly a map of Gloriana, feel free to send it our way!
To begin with, the world of Quest for Glory is called the land of Gloriana. Notice the resemblance to the first names of Lori Ann Cole, of the husband and wife designer team (Lori & Corey) of the series?
This world consists of many continents, just like Earth. The continents where our Hero has been traveling on are similar to Africa, Europe and bits of Asia (Arabian and Russian settings). In Gloriana, the continent of Africa is called Fricana! (perhaps, by analogy, we could call Asia, Siana?). The continents similar to Europe and Northern Asia do not yet have a name in Gloriana.
This part of the world (where our Hero has traveled thus far) can be divided into many different regions.
Far to the North, in the Ice Lands, the city of Jotunheim is situated. This home of the Frost Giants, is reminiscent of Norse and Viking mythology.
A little less to the North, the world consists of medieval regions (similar to central Europe). There are many different feudal kingdoms here. One of them is Falworth (remember Issur's shield?), and lots others... though we do not know their names. Some of these kingdoms are divided into smaller parts... where Barons rule. Just like Baron von Spielburg, who is the ruler of Spielburg Valley. The barony of Spielburg should be located somewhere similar to Middle Europe (Germany) on Earth. Falworth is probably situated in Western Europe.
Somewhere to the East of Spielburg (not adjacent), you'll come across the town of Willowsby. Our Hero's hometown, this is where the epic adventure started. It is debatable whether this falls in central or eastern Europe or even in western Asia.
Also east of Spielburg, the Faery Folk make their home in the Eastern woods. Zara told us this in the QFG1 remake.
To the south of Spielburg (not necessarily adjacent) are a lot of mountain ranges (similar to the Alpes). There, deep in that region, Zurich is situated (the city of gnomes).
More to the South (bit still in the Northern lands) you'll come across the northern coastline of the mediterranean. Here are a lot of coastal barter towns (Sam the beggar said he was planning on going there. He probably took a ship there and arrived in Mariana), and possibly the Roman empire (see Mediterranean Lands below).
The valley of Mordavia is situated on the border between Europe and Northern Siana. Mordavia (similar to Transylvania/Moldavia) could actually be part of the bigger region called Surria (though I cannot fully prove this, it is very likely).
Surria (similar to Russia) is located in Northern Siana.
Far east in Siana, along its southern border is the land of Inja (similar to India). Wolfie the canine, hails from the region called the Punjabi in that land.
In the South, there is a BIG continent called Fricana. This continent can roughly be divided into four big regions: East, South, West and North Fricana. This landmass is probably joined to parts of the Northern lands as well as Siana, enclosing the Mediterranean lands in the middle.
The Eastern part includes Tarna (but is far wider than Tarna only), the Simbani villages (there are in fact many Simbani villages scattered throughout the Fricanan savanna), the Leopardmen Village, a Monkey village, and other unknown dwellers in this wild and jungle-infested part of Gloriana (as described in the QFG3 manual). The ruins of a Lost City, very similar to Tarna, also exists somewhere in the depths of the jungle.
The Northern part includes Egypt. Egypt is only a PART of Northern fricana. One of it's most important cities is called Gaza.
Then there are of course also South and West fricana, though not much is known about them (for SOME details check the QFG3 Manual).
Finally, there are the Desert Lands. These lands are also located in the South, although more to the East (similar to Arabia), probably bordering onto Siana itself. According to the liontaur Rakeesh, Tarna is located to the south west of Shapeir. In fact, the northern mountain ranges seen on the overhead map of the Lost City in QFG3, actually could be the mountain Southern ranges from Raseir!!
These desert lands include a few cities (Shapeir, Raseir and Petalumeir), some katta settlements and tent camps scattered throughout the desert. The desert is named The Great Shapeirian Desert after the principal city of Shapeir, which is also the seat of government in this region.
The sister cities of Shapeir and Raseir are the prinicipal fortress citadels, with impressive buildings, tall minarets, and winding alleyways. Shapeir is to the north and west of Raseir (QFG2 shipped with a map showing the relative location of the two cities and the desert and mountains between them).
The Forbidden City (the ruins) is situated very close to Raseir.
Not much is known about Petalumeir, but the fact that it end on an "-eir" makes me think it shouldn't be too far away from Raseir/Shapeir.
There is a big sea, known as the Med Sea, between the Barter Towns in the North, Siana on the north east, and Northern Fricana in the south. This sea probably contains a lot of large and small island groups.
One of the more important island groups, are the islands surrounding Marete. These island groups (Marete included) are collectively form the The Island Kingdom or Mariana. The capital of Mariana is called Silmaria, situated on the largest of these islands, Marete. Being a volcano, Marete is mostly uninhabitable, except for the fortress city of Silmaria, and some coastal fishing villages.
The underwater Kingdom of Atlantis is situated somewhere in the depths of the Med Sea, in Mariana.
There also is a Roman Empire in Gloriana. Its capital city is Nova Roma, where Magnum Opus hails from. This Roman Empire is probably situated in Southern Europe, near the Mediterranean.
NOTE: since the Mediterranean (including Mariana) is NOT situated
in the South, nor in the North, nor in the East, one can assume it is
situated in the West. With a little good will of course. Because it
is slightly more situated to the West than Spielburg or Tarna.
This way, it is a fact that each Quest for Glory is set in another
Culture, Season, direction (North, West, South, East) and element:
Quest for Glory 1 - So You Want To Be A Hero: Medieval/Traditional Fantasy (North) in the springtime with Earth as the central element
Quest for Glory 2 - Trial By Fire and Quest for Glory 3 - Wages of War with an
Arabian and African motif in the South during summer with Fire as the ruling element
Quest for Glory 4 - Shadows of Darkness: Transylvanian/Russian setting (East) in Fall. Air is
the major element.
Quest for Glory 5 - Dragon Fire: in the Western Greek/Roman locale during Winter
and with the Water element as the primary focus.
The mystical institue of magic lore, Wizard's Institute of Technocery is on a different plane of existence with one of its entrances in the city of Shapeir.
The Entrance to Hades (the Underworld) is located somewhere in Mariana.
Other dimensions, such as those of the Demons, Dark Ones etc.
Since Fresno is more of a joke/pun than a real reference to a place in Gloriana, let's just assume it doesn't exist (in Gloriana).
After you have captured Fire elemental AliChica's stand has
disappeared from Gate Plaza. If you ask that katta who sells flowers
about AliChica he tells you AliChica (Chico Marx) and his friends,
presumably Ali Fakir (Groucho Marx) and that silly clown (Harpo Marx)
left Shapeir and were muttering something about Fredonia. Fredonia is
the country in which Marx brothers are in the movie called Duck Soup.