Darkon is a bit like...

[eidolon]

Each and every country is inspired by real world countries in some way or another. Languages are very similar to some real languages and many darklords have their origin in our literature and lore.

I like to gather what country is based on what real world place. Obviously there ain't no right and no wrong. Just impressions.

[Joël of the FoS]

May I suggest you look at the FAQ part of this site, People and Places section, at "What real world land is ____ based on?" and "What real world language is ____ based on?"

Joël

[cure]

I believe that there has been some discussion to the effect the Darkon as it appears in the Gazetteer draws from the US.

[Ail]

I believe that there has been some discussion to the effect the Darkon as it appears in the Gazetteer draws from the US.

and there's been a whole lot of threads concerning this and a reminder by John Mangrum that we should not read too much in the RL countries. It's not like the domains are counterparts of real-life countries.

That said, apparently those theories change all the time. When DoD came out, I remember Darkon was likened to Russia, then I think it was the Roman Empire, now the US.

And it is definitely safer to admit there is no relation between Darkon and any of these whatsoever.

Ail

[Jester of the FoS]

I think the fashion and food is very Russian, but other than that it is a fantasy land with a large non-human population.

[Mangrum]

I think the fashion and food is very Russian, but other than that it is a fantasy land with a large non-human population.

In fact, the fashion is based on little more than a sketch I doodled, and the food was inspired by watching Titus Andronicus. There's no actual Russian inspiration to be had in either case.

[Brandi]

I'd figure all the Russian inspiration would be saved for the Frozen Lands (or at least Vorostokov)...

[eidolon]

I read through the FAQ. Nice work.
Just, the domain I was curious about, I didn't see.
What's Nova Vaasa inspired by?

[Nathan of the FoS]

Well, Vaasi is Norweigan/Danish. For Nova Vaasa, I'd say it reminds me of medieval Poland; a few very wealthy noble families with almost-absolute control over lots of dirt-poor peasants, a relatively weak central government, highly religious, and the terrain of Poland is about right.

Of course, I put this idea forward every time this subject comes up, and no one else seems to like it, so...*shrug* YMMV. It also doesn't account very well for Nova Vaasa's cities, but I suppose you could throw in the Prussian-German cities like Danzig to accomodate that part of it.