Europe - Erel?e correspondences

[Piero]

Can it be that some states of Erel?e seems to have many similarities with european ones?

For example, the cadhinorian plane can be compared with our italy. first there was a big empire, like our Roman Empire, then there are very small states like the Italy in 800. The latitude is the same of the southern italy.

I think that also Axunai can be compared with an european state: the France, because it's at the same latitude and is a land of artists.

[Cypresstwo]

Cuezi: Greece/Judea (Ironic, I know...)
Jippiratsti Realms: Islamic Empires, especially once the Anjati starts.
Skouras: Also a Greek feel to it.
Gurdago: Carthage
Gelyet: Mongol Empires

I'm sure there are many more parellels, but these are the ones that I found the most striking.

[Delthayre]

They Skourenes usually suggest the Greeks to me.

[Piero]

What about Dekhnam?

[brandrinn]

They Skourenes usually suggest the Greeks to me.

Gurdago: Carthage

you're both missing something important. Gurdago and much of the Skourenes (if you flip the map to fit Europe) are farther "north" than Oslo! i think the Skourenes are more akin to the Norse kingdoms, and Gurdago is a run-away colony of those states, like Normandy, Iceland, or a beefed-up Vinland.

due to the extreme temperatures "Southern" Erelae cultures have more in common with Northern Europe. they would grow similar crops, build similar buildings, etc.

[-]

Very hard to map direct relationships; that's one of the things that I think really works about Almea.

The two most direct parallels to my eye are Cadhinas-Rome (minus the republican phase) and Jippirasti-Islam. I think Cypresstwo is right on the money that there are overtones of both Greece and ancient Judea in Cuzei.

The Plain in Verduria's day is harder to pin down; maybe there's a touch of Poland in Viminia, Ismahi has always struck me as something of an allusion to Spain, and Verduria itself sometimes seems to recall the Venetian republic (but only very slightly). The Verdurian-Kebreni rivalry might be said to have some parallels with the cross-Channel contests of Britain and France.

People have remarked before that Axunai and Xurno are reminiscent of China to a degree, but I could see some France in there as well -- there's perhaps a touch of Saint-Simonism in the Xurnese state in particular.

i think the Skourenes are more akin to the Norse kingdoms, and Gurdago is a run-away colony of those states, like Normandy, Iceland, or a beefed-up Vinland.

OTOH, I think Mark has alluded to the Carthage inspiration before, and the republican structure of the Skourene states (for much of their history) does strike a classical Mediterranean chord, despite the considerably colder setting.

What about Dekhnam?

No real European parallel that I'm aware of. I've always thought of Dhekhnam as Mark's stab at creating a believable "evil empire" along the lines of Mordor (in his "secret history" I believe he mentions that it started out as a more direct analogue to such empires, when Almea was more strictly a D&D creation).

[Shm Jay]

Nowadays many people (especially French) would say that Dhekhnam is a country beginning with U

(That was a facetious joke satirically commenting on international relations by the way)

[zompist]

Lots of good answers here... I'll just add, as I usually do when this topic comes up, that no one seems to find the Japanese elements.

[Xeon]

Lots of good answers here... I'll just add, as I usually do when this topic comes up, that no one seems to find the Japanese elements.

When I read the Me?aism article, the first thing I thought of was the Japanese.

[Neon Fox]

Lots of good answers here... I'll just add, as I usually do when this topic comes up, that no one seems to find the Japanese elements.

What, you mean besides the Barakhinei?

It's the line about "Our first texts (of more than a line or two) are letters from one noblewoman to another" that does it for me.

--Neon Fox

[Dewrad]

Lots of good answers here... I'll just add, as I usually do when this topic comes up, that no one seems to find the Japanese elements.

Kebri? Or is it the Flaids?

[-]

Lots of good answers here... I'll just add, as I usually do when this topic comes up, that no one seems to find the Japanese elements.

Kebri? Or is it the Flaids?

I've noticed that certain of Verdurian habits and custom have a Japanese flavour to them. (Check out the house in the Verdurian Drilldown, for instance.)

[brandrinn]

Lots of good answers here... I'll just add, as I usually do when this topic comes up, that no one seems to find the Japanese elements.

so... Ctesifon = kyoto, and Verduria = tokyo?

[Neon Fox]

Lots of good answers here... I'll just add, as I usually do when this topic comes up, that no one seems to find the Japanese elements.

so... Ctesifon = kyoto, and Verduria = tokyo?

Ctesifon=Heian-kyo, more like. :) Which, yeah, is Kyoto, but not quite the same.

--Neon Fox

[brandrinn]

Ctesifon=Heian-kyo, more like. Which, yeah, is Kyoto, but not quite the same.

--Neon Fox

i know Heian is kyoto. perhaps kyoto = Zesifo would be more accurate.

[Yiuel Raumbesrairc]

Ctesifon = kyoto, and Verduria = tokyo?

INDEED...

What I also found was some sort of Switzerland : Belshai

It is in this unlikely place, landlocked high in the Ediri mountains, that northern ideas such as the zhuyse onteca have found the friendliest reception.

As for the Greek equivalent, Skourenes is to me them. I actually feel that Cuezi is something else, not greekish. Hmmm. Etruria maybe.

[brandrinn]

i think the Monkhayic peoples that were around before the Eastern Invasion are somewhat like the Celts.

and why aren't there any isolates in Erelae? where's Erelae Basque?

[FFF]

i think the Monkhayic peoples that were around before the Eastern Invasion are somewhat like the Celts.

and why aren't there any isolates in Erelae? where's Erelae Basque?

The Monkhayic peoples have always seemed to me to resemble the Basques.

Ismahi is reminiscent of Italy and France, and Viminia reminds me of Eastern Europe. As for the Jippirasti-Islam thing, I myself never made that connection. They've always reminded me of the Mongols for some reason.

[-]

As for the Jippirasti-Islam thing, I myself never made that connection. They've always reminded me of the Mongols for some reason.

Really? A monotheistic prophet appears among a nation of pagan nomads and ignites a major world religion that goes on to conquer major centres of civilization?

[Glenn]

As for the Jippirasti-Islam thing, I myself never made that connection. They've always reminded me of the Mongols for some reason.

Really? A monotheistic prophet appears among a nation of pagan nomads and ignites a major world religion that goes on to conquer major centres of civilization?

Well, I can see both parallels: Islam in the form of Jippurasti (and, of course, Babur as Muhammad), and the Mongol connection in the T?uro's status as mounted steppe nomads--although the Gelyet and their vast, but brief empire are an even closer parallel to the Mongols themselves. Both of these are among the most direct borrowings from Earthly history that I've seen in Mark's world.

Overall, though, I prefer not to play the game of trying to match up every country in Erelae with an Earthly one (Verduria as France, Kebri as England, or vice versa, etc.), which I rarely find satisfying (I do agree with those who say that the relationship of the Cuezi to the Cadhinorians is reminiscent in some ways (not all) of that of the Greeks to the Romans.) Instead, I tend to appreciate the borrowed elements that exist on a smaller scale, such as the echoes of Japanese in the Barakhinei language and the Kebreni religion, or Mark's note that the traditional gender roles in T?uro society (in which the women were the holders and managers of their lineage's property and wealth, with sisters, rather than wives, serving as the caretakers of their brothers' property) was inspired by the Native American Fox people.

Overall, though, I agree with ils that while there are some parallels (especially over the sweep of history), Almea is definitely not merely a clone of Earth, and to the extent that this is true, it's one of the setting's strengths.

p@,
Glenn

[Yiuel Raumbesrairc]

Indeed, even if we can feel close relations, not everything is entirely clear (in fact, I would always wonder what is Verduria) and I believe that Almea is indeed a world on its own. A marvellous one.

(Yet, base civilisations without influences from our Earth is quite a task. This is what I'm trying with my own conworld, and the task itself is very difficult.)

[Izambri]

If Eretald were Europe...

Zésifo = Papal States
Barakhún = Castille (XIV cent.)
Svetla = Occitania (high Middle Ages), north of Italy (XV cent.)
Kebri = Republic of Genoa (XIV cent.), also the Venetian Republic
Érenat, Ismahi, Kebri = Crown of Aragon (XIV cent.): Érenat / Princ. of Catalonia; Ismahi / Kg. of Valencia; Kebri / Kg. of Majorca; Lower Serea & Kara desert / Kg. of Aragon

[Mornche Geddick]

Lots of good answers here... I'll just add, as I usually do when this topic comes up, that no one seems to find the Japanese elements.

Which country is producing manga?

Xurno with its Way of the Warrior... is that a martial art?

[So Haleza Grise]

Lots of good answers here... I'll just add, as I usually do when this topic comes up, that no one seems to find the Japanese elements.

Hmm. . .

The Kebreni religion bears a resemblance to Shinto, and there are a smattering of Japanese words in Kebreni. The politeness inflections and pro-drop behaviour echo Japanese too. The Kebreni sit on cushions. And also, Kebri is an island, so . . . ummm, I don't know where I'm going with this.

The xaleza, it is true, is very close to the Samurai. In particularly, the relationship between xaleza and Endajue parallels that between Buddhism and samurai.

. . .I'm trying to think of other possible Japanese links, but nothing's springing to mind. . .

[vlaran of verduria]

I always thought of the Skouras - Gurdago relationship as a bit like Britain - USA