Good point. Take this for example:
There has been word that
the major power of the East,
Porre
That doesn't give you any details about El Nido's location. It just says Porre is the power OF the east. El Nido off that quote alone could be ANYWHERE on the map. When you refer to a country as being "one of the western powers", that doesn't tell you anything about where you are, it jsut tells you that that country is a power of the west.
And likewise...
Its existence has been rumored
in the northern countries
Unlike the first quote, they probably are talking in reference to their current location. But, it only implies "more north". The location of El Nido could be on the northern hemisphere itself, and the countries they're refering to just happen to be MORE north.