Real life cultures and Domains

[Dominique]

Pile on top of that the fact that the Mulan culture is about as far as you can get from Afrikaaner culture and you can see that South Africa is not the best description.

i dont think the comparison was meant literally, but conceptually (small ethnic minority dominating a larger majority).

Pretty much, yeah. I'm not saying that the Afrikaaner comparison is on par with, say, Sri Raji and India, just that I thought someone may have taken the very basic idea and ran with it to create something completely different.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

After reading Clan Cappadocian, I guess Hazlan=Cappadocian Region

[Gemathustra]

After reading Clan Cappadocian, I guess Hazlan=Cappadocian Region

Cappadocia, as in, the region in Turkey?

[Manofevil]

I wonder if it's fair to include Sithicus, Darkon, and Hazlan in this discussion as they are all based on other gaming worlds. Strip away the Ravenloft influences and you're still left with DragonLance, Greyhawk, and Forgotten Realms influences respectively. Any real world influences may have been added since the mists rose.

[Jester of the FoS]

Yeah, it's all retroactive and ret-conning but since you can't reference the other worlds they might as well be from there for all the difference it makes.

[Ryan Naylor]

If anyone is interested, Valachani culture was originally based on the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, then I added in generalised colonial behaviour (informed especially by Australia and Peru) and then cobbled on whatever canon stuff I could find. The language is Norwegian based, but the culture has nothing to do with that.

I generally work 'informed by' a particular culture, but not slavishly devoted to portraying it, and I think most of the other (recent) authors do the same. Which is why trying to pin down exactly which culture created which domains is doomed to failure - often 3 or 4 cultures and a dose of imagination and error go into each one.

Just on the point of view of languages:

The word 'Blaustein' is German (as is a ridiculous number of words in RL), but Bluebeard as already stated is based on a French legend. And, there are more unrelated languages in RL based off mostly European legends than there are unrelated European languages, so eventually to preserve the illusion you're going to see domains with German placenames and made up or Navajo or whatever language primers.

[The Nightmare Man]

I wonder if it's fair to include Sithicus, Darkon, and Hazlan in this discussion as they are all based on other gaming worlds. Strip away the Ravenloft influences and you're still left with DragonLance, Greyhawk, and Forgotten Realms influences respectively. Any real world influences may have been added since the mists rose.

Indeed.

Reading through the relevant sections of the FR tome Unapproachable East is enough to ensure such thinking.

[Gemathustra]

If anyone is interested, Valachani culture was originally based on the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, then I added in generalised colonial behaviour (informed especially by Australia and Peru) and then cobbled on whatever canon stuff I could find. The language is Norwegian based, but the culture has nothing to do with that.

Haida or Tlinglit?

[Ryan Naylor]

I have no idea - it wasn't my idea, and I just built on what was established.

[Shoon VII]

Reading through the relevant sections of the FR tome Unapproachable East is enough to ensure such thinking.

does this make this book worth getting for ways in which to use Hazlan?

[Ryan Naylor]

I have no idea - it wasn't my idea, and I just built on what was established.

Um, in my own defense, I did do a little research in the North Western cultures. I don't mean to sound as unprofessional as I do.

[Reginald de Curry]

Don't worry, the lynch mob forgives you.