Skareen length

Well, it all makes sense now.

A skareen length or a skareen, is a unit of measurement in Shapeir. It is only known to be used in Shapeir. But other terms of distance including inches, feet, yards, meters, kilometers, and miles are used prevalently in other lands.

Cubits are another measurement of length in Shapeir.

Behind the Scenes

A skareen length is a gag and pun on the idea of "screen length", which is to say, the distance across the computer screen in which one scene of the game fits in. Travelling, for example, two skareen lengths east would be the equivalent of walking east two screens.

Many places in QFG2 within the cities, the concept of a "Skareen" is largely irrelevant, as most of the cities are made up of long scrolling hallways. It is also largely irrelevant in QFG 3 and QFG5 where most of those games make use of a huge overhead map, and in QFG5, full scrolling screens. Also where a screen length might be applicable in QFG3, it would be impracticable as the screens are not intended to be connected directly (such as in Tarna there is an unknown amount of space that the hero travels through to get to the market, or from the temple to the gate of the city).

Also note that the scale being used between games is not necessarily the same, to make the use of "skareen" as a generic QFG term problematic. I.E. the lengths of areas represented on screens in QFG1 or QFG4 for example may not be to the same scale as screens represented in QFG2. Also being culturally problematic as well, a Shapeirian pseudo-Arabic" language term does not fit into the European or Greco-Roman cultures of the other lands in the games. With only Tarna sharing a large population of Arabs, and their cultural influence on the area (Kattas and Liontaurs being related as well).

Outside of QFG2, in most of the games places are described as being feet or miles away from other places.

Some speculate that a skareen is approximately 50 feet (16.6667 yards in QFG2 scale): Lori Cole has noted that it might be 100 yards or so (300 feet in QFG4 scale).

Screens might not be accurate displays of distance in relation to geographical information as geography of one screen doesn't necesarily match up with the geography of the next, which might indicate there are miles of area we simply don't get to see as we pass through them to reach each screen...

Referenced In Other Media

In the 2018 fantasy adventure film “The Bastard Sword” Ulysses tells Tias to get some firewood “at least Ten Skareens Yonder”.