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View Full Version : Ideas for fantasy kingdoms based on fusions of these real world cultures?



gadren
2016-03-15, 11:50 PM
For a campaign I'm currently preparing for, I decided that most of the major cultures in the game would not be just reflections of the real world (ie. "It's fantasy England! It's fantasy Japan! It's fantasy Egypt!") because that is kind of boring, but I don't have time to completely invent new cultures from scratch. So I'm taking a page from the movie Big Hero Six and making different kingdoms based on a fusion of two or more real-life cultures.

I'd like to hear any ideas you have for any of the following, as detailed or brief as you feel like. People, places, history, etc. Keep in mind the setting is about 1000 AD tech-wise:

Kingdoms of Burya: Based on Celtic and Chinese. Burya was once an empire four times larger than it is now, much has been lost to the dragons in the North. Strong focus on classic elemental magic, which they originally stole from the dragons.

Kingdom of Ragdmos: Based on Chinese and Russian with minor Celtic influence. Used to be part of Burya, but is now ruled by dragons and half-dragons.

Holy Jesarian Empire: Based on NorthWestern European and Arabian. Hold divine magic in high regard, bigoted against arcane magic, psionics, foreign gods, and inherently magical races.

Kingdom of Ischyr: Based on Islamic and Egyptian with minor European influence. Used to be part of the Jesarian Empire. Holds divine magic in high regard but is open-minded to explorations of divine magic and psionics. Less bigoted against magical races but there is distrust. Does not like foreign gods, but is not actively hostile against them.

The Fey Tribes: There are a variety of these, based on various Native American tribes and Scandinavian culture. It should be that "fey" includes dwarves, elves, halflings, and gnomes in this campaign.

So far, this is all I've really written for the campaign history-wise, and is subject to change:
According to legends, wizards and enchanted treasures were once common place, but now magic is a rarer, stranger, undependable thing.

On the continent of Bardawil, humans are by far the most common of the sentient species. Most are incapable of working any sort of magic, and many are superstitious about it and its practitioners... sometimes dangerously so. There are other "races" than human out there, though. The "fey" - elves, dwarves, gnomes, and others - mostly stay to their own communities, as straying to far from their birthplace weakens their connection to the ley lines. The Cursed - made up of orcs, goblinoids, and reptilians - are most often spoken of in stories to scare human children into being good... but they are very real. Many travelers have fallen to their ambushes, and occasionally even the small human and Fey settlements are either destroyed or taken over by the brutes.

Most of the population of Bardawil is still recovering from the Winged Death, a disaster that only ended just a few decades past. The Dragons, hunted close to extinction by the Empire of Burya for their magic blood, banded together and tried to wipe mankind from the continent. The result was most of the Burya Empire being destroyed, over half the humans on Bardawil dying, the dwindling dragon population reduced to even smaller numbers, and much precious knowledge forever lost when three of the Seven Great Libraries were burned to the ground.

Disclaimer: I may or may not use any ideas given. I have no intention of making any money off of the campaign, and it will be free available on a free Google Site for any who are interested.

Piedmon_Sama
2016-03-16, 12:27 AM
Normally when we want to talk about things Arabian we use the adjective "Arab." As in "the Arab people," "Arab history," etc. Arabic is just the language. Sorry to be a nitpicker but I see that mistake all the time so I'm just doing my part trying to correct it.

Shiki-pon
2016-03-16, 01:30 AM
An idea for the Kingdom of Burya: Back in the good old days of the empire (and probably in present day, at least to some extent), its people were very legalistic (much like Imperial China apparently was, I'm no expert on the subject). Basically, they were big on order, and the entire country worked much like a well-oiled machine. At this point, the Buryans were happily hunting dragons, using their blood and whatever magical expertise they had for management of their rather vast empire.
Cue the dragons, who hit the empire badly enough to shrink it to roughly a quarter of its earlier size. The sudden loss of their stable community caused a cultural shift of sorts, and a growing contingent of people, especially from the younger generations, have become more or less the complete opposite of what Burya's people used to be like: rash, passionate and vengeful towards the dragons. This movement has yet to cause anything major within the country itself, but the younger generations' somewhat sudden efforts to turn their country's magical prowess into tools for hunting down the dragons and reclaiming their territory raises some worries among the ruling caste. Nothing much has come of it as of yet, but both Burya and the neighboring countries are watching the cultural movement with interest/dread, and preparing for possible countermeasures in case they gain too much power/start a revolution.

gadren
2016-03-16, 08:39 AM
An idea for the Kingdom of Burya: Back in the good old days of the empire (and probably in present day, at least to some extent), its people were very legalistic (much like Imperial China apparently was, I'm no expert on the subject). Basically, they were big on order, and the entire country worked much like a well-oiled machine. At this point, the Buryans were happily hunting dragons, using their blood and whatever magical expertise they had for management of their rather vast empire.
Cue the dragons, who hit the empire badly enough to shrink it to roughly a quarter of its earlier size. The sudden loss of their stable community caused a cultural shift of sorts, and a growing contingent of people, especially from the younger generations, have become more or less the complete opposite of what Burya's people used to be like: rash, passionate and vengeful towards the dragons. This movement has yet to cause anything major within the country itself, but the younger generations' somewhat sudden efforts to turn their country's magical prowess into tools for hunting down the dragons and reclaiming their territory raises some worries among the ruling caste. Nothing much has come of it as of yet, but both Burya and the neighboring countries are watching the cultural movement with interest/dread, and preparing for possible countermeasures in case they gain too much power/start a revolution.

Interesting. Thank you.

Eisenheim
2016-03-16, 10:47 AM
For Burya: Chariots, chariots, chariots, chariots. A strong focus on personally heroic leaders to guide both war and peace. 3 kingdoms Chinese plus Celtic myth is all about heroic warriors.

gadren
2016-03-16, 01:58 PM
For Burya: Chariots, chariots, chariots, chariots. A strong focus on personally heroic leaders to guide both war and peace. 3 kingdoms Chinese plus Celtic myth is all about heroic warriors.
Well, heroic from the Burya's point of view, anyway.

Segev
2016-03-16, 02:48 PM
Well, heroic from the Burya's point of view, anyway.

Quite. Classical definition of "hero."



Egypt/Maya seems a natural fit for merging two cultures, using the Mayan pyramids and Egyptian culture, for example.

Could do something interesting with the steppe horse nomads of central Asia and Rome, particularly their Legions. Have entire micro-cities that are built up overnight and abandoned with ease, leaving the foundations behind as the mobile portions are carried off. Emphasis on keeping weapons with oneself at all times (Legionnaires were executed for putting down their swords while digging the nightly trenches and fortifications), and use of gypsy-style wagons as fold-up palaces for the elite and elected officials.

NRSASD
2016-03-16, 03:03 PM
@Eisenheim: Many of these mythic heroes could be based on great commanders or dragonslayers from the war. General Shen who stopped the draconic advance cold at the walls of Dun Morag; Elcmar, who slew the Great Red in single combat during the battle of Xianjing Pass, etc.

Question about the Kingdom of Ischyr: You describe it as a fusion of Egyptian and Islamic culture, but what do you mean by Egyptian? Are we talking Pharonic Egypt, Ptolemaic, or Fatimid? The reason I ask is because they are three very, very different cultures that are all equally "Egyptian".

Pharonic Egypt is the stereotypical, pyramid-building, hebrew-enslaving, mummy-embalming culture that jumps to mind when people hear the word Egypt. This was a land steeped in tradition and civic duty, where the religion and government remained (mostly) constant for 3000 years straight and the public volunteered to take part in immense building projects to ensure their pharaoh's immortality.

Ptolemaic Egypt is the product of Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt around 340 B.C.E., where the legendary city of Alexandria was founded. It was a heady mix of Egyptian tradition and wealth meeting Greek innovation and ambition that produced both the Pharos Lighthouse and the Great Library of Alexandria. Thinkers and dreamers mingled with ruthless politicians and hardened veterans in this fantastically wealthy city, with exotic goods from India, Spain, Britain, and Nubia all converging in one place.

Fatimid Egypt occurred when the Islamic Arab forces spread outwards from the Arabian Peninsula and wrestled away many of the territories previously held by the Byzantines. This is the group that existed in Egypt around 1000 C.E. (A.D.). Like most of the region during the Crusades, they were a fascinating mix of high-minded religious idealism and scheming political backstabbing. Usama ibn Munqidh's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usama_ibn_Munqidh) Book of Contemplation is a great source for a feel of the period. Another interesting fact is that the Fatimid Dynasty introduced the concept of Mamelukes, professional and elite heavy cavalry drawn from the ranks of slaves. Very well treated, the Mamelukes played a major role in Fatimid politics and were frequently the "power behind the throne".

These are just rough outlines of each period. Any of them look relevant to what you were intending?

Xuc Xac
2016-03-16, 05:19 PM
Kingdoms of Burya: Based on Celtic and Chinese. Burya was once an empire four times larger than it is now, much has been lost to the dragons in the North. Strong focus on classic elemental magic, which they originally stole from the dragons.


The Buryans are several small kingdoms united under one Emperor. The kings are chosen by Heaven, but the Emperor is chosen by the Kings. Sometimes there is no Emperor and the Kingdoms work together as a loose confederation against outsiders but have no problem with the occasional border skirmishes with each other (e.g. privateers stealing each other's shipping, cattle rustlers, literally getting each other's goats, and so on). When they have a strong need to be united, they choose one person to lead them all as the Emperor. The Emperor is ritually empowered by the divine right of all the kings and is treated like a living god with supreme authority. After ruling for 7 years, the Emperor is sacrificed in a bloody ritual and joins the pantheon of the Imperial Gods. Because the Emperor cannot rule for long and cannot appoint a successor, there are no imperial dynasties and the only people who sit on the throne are both highly competent leaders and selflessly dedicated to the empire.

Buryan society is strictly regimented with a caste system of several layers and laws that limit what each caste can do, including the types of work they do and the colors of clothing that they can wear. On the other hand, they are also a strict meritocracy. Peasants who can only perform manual labor and only wear undyed fabric can be promoted to the warrior caste by saving up their pennies to buy a spear, shield, sword, and helmet and joining the army of the local lord where they will be allowed to wear a single color of dyed fabric in their clothing (usually the livery of the local army). A warrior who demonstrates competent leadership skills among the other soldiers can be promoted to a captaincy and wear a second color. A peasant who learns to read and studies (there's a surprising amount of free time between planting and harvesting rice) can take a civil service exam and become a low-level clerk in the local bureaucracy where he will be allowed to wear one color. After demonstrating continued proficiency in advanced subjects like accounting and logistics, they can be promoted to be a mandarin and they can wear two colors. There are many parallel tracks for advancement through the castes along military (soldiers to generals), administrative (clerks to mandarins, judges, and governors), intellectual (educators, engineers, and artists), and religious (temple guards to monks and priests to the high sages who adjudicate and enforce the caste system) lines.

Literature is highly prized and penmanship counts. Those who have the mental acuity for it will memorize traditional epics (and quote them in casual conversation to show off their knowledge). Paperwork is a vital part of maintaining the empire, so everyone who is not on the very bottom rung of the caste ladder is expected to be literate enough to read written orders and write basic reports. Every village will have at least one clerk who can record births, deaths, harvest tallies, and calculate taxes.

Militarily, their armies are a mixture of regular troops operating in disciplined blocks of archers, pikes, and cavalry. Supplementing these regular units are irregular skirmishing units of light infantry and cavalry and chariots that use stealth or speed to approach enemies from unexpected directions and make use of hit and run tactics to disrupt the enemy's formations. The irregulars are mostly ambitious soldiers trying to prove themselves to get a promotion to a higher caste. Chariot teams are made up of higher caste officers and function like a helicopter gunship. They zoom in, hit hard, and zoom out.



Kingdom of Ragdmos: Based on Chinese and Russian with minor Celtic influence. Used to be part of Burya, but is now ruled by dragons and half-dragons.


Chinese and Russian influences together are basically Mongolia. Most of this will depend on what the dragons and half-dragons are like. Are they enlightened and peaceful beings who just want to take back what the Buryans stole from them? Are they ultra-violent bloodthirsty scaly warlords who treat their human subjects like cattle to be slaughtered for fun and food?



Holy Jesarian Empire: Based on NorthWestern European and Arabian. Hold divine magic in high regard, bigoted against arcane magic, psionics, foreign gods, and inherently magical races.


They hold divine magic in high regard but they don't like foreign gods. That sounds more like they hold their own priests in high regard. How many local gods do they have? I would give them one deity that they see as above all others, but give them different sects and factions that disagree about the details. One faction believes that the deity is too far above mortals to be comprehended, so worshipers should focus on the words of the Prophets who broke the message down into simpler terms. They follow all the little laws and traditions and rules and spend a lot of time arguing about what to do when one rule overlaps another in a mutually exclusive way. They also try to rules-lawyer around restrictions by finding ways to be "technically correct" without worrying about what the actual intent of the rule was. Another faction sees the deity in more personal humanized terms, such as a stern but loving parent or a powerful but distant king. The deity watches out for you and must be respected and obeyed, but don't expect to meet face-to-face before you die. Another faction sees the deity as an inhuman abstract ideal. They spend a lot of time doing math and science trying to find the find the deity's "fingerprints" on the universe. They are a bit looser at following the laws of the Prophets and instead treat them as guidelines for behavior. When the Third Prophet said "It is forbidden for the one man to eat beef alone", the first faction would say women can eat beef alone but it's ok for two men to kill a cow to have a couple steaks together. The last faction would say that the important idea is that you shouldn't take more food than you can eat because that's wasteful. One person shouldn't kill a cow unless they can share the meat with others or preserve the meat for later use (because canning and jerking were invented after the time of the Third Prophet). It's not about eating beef; it's about wasting food. But at the end of the day, everybody can agree that those other nations are all heathens who need to be educated/converted/put to the sword/etc.



Kingdom of Ischyr: Based on Islamic and Egyptian with minor European influence. Used to be part of the Jesarian Empire. Holds divine magic in high regard but is open-minded to explorations of divine magic and psionics. Less bigoted against magical races but there is distrust. Does not like foreign gods, but is not actively hostile against them.


The "Egyptian" influence was a holdover from their previous pagan religion before the Faith of the One came. The old gods survived as "saints" and "monsters" in non-scriptural parables that explain facets of the Faith of the One. Before it broke away from Jesary, Ischyr was the center of a new heretical sect that split off from the "Deity as Abstract" sect that I described above. The Ischyrian Dualist heretics believed that, not only could they understand the mind of the One Deity by discovering the underlying principles of the universe, but that everything in the universe was One Material created by the One Ideal. Arcane magic is not inherently corrupt or evil any more than a hammer is. You can use a hammer to build or destroy but the hammer doesn't get any of the credit or blame. People, magic, psionics, even demons, are not inherently evil. Evil is simply a matter of the choices one makes and is not inherent to one's being. Everything that is not the One Ideal is a part of the One Material and thus merely neutral matter. Arcane magic can be used for good. Any sin can be forgiven. Even demons can theoretically be shown the error of their ways and turned to the path of goodness. Under the Dualist heresy, the old gods enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. Where they were once considered demons in disguise, they were once again worshiped as beings worthy of respect for their power. The people still look to the One for their moral guidance, but they see nothing wrong with praying to the Moon to watch over them as they travel at night or praying to the Scholar when they are struggling to research a new spell. The Jesarians think the Ischyrians are heretics, worse than heathens because the Ischyrians should really know better. The Ischyrians think the Jesarians are backward and unenlightened for not seeing the obvious truth of Dualism.



The Fey Tribes: There are a variety of these, based on various Native American tribes and Scandinavian culture. It should be that "fey" includes dwarves, elves, halflings, and gnomes in this campaign.


Dwarves don't live deep under mountains. They live in cliff dwellings carved into the faces of the mountains. They may be short and stocky, but their thick forearms give them a powerful grip and they make excellent climbers. Their dwellings feature many ladders for convenience, but most healthy mature dwarves can scale the cliffs freehand. They grow crops in the river valleys below their dwellings and store grain and water for emergencies in tunnels carved into the rock so they can resist sieges. They use barley and corn to produce ale and whiskey for trade with outsiders. Outsiders almost always see them with large barrels of alcohol and they always have a drink in hand at every meal and meeting, so they have a reputation for being heavy drinkers with a high tolerance for alcohol, but they actually drink in moderation (i.e. frequently, but slowly).

Halflings are whalers and reindeer herders who live in the far north. Being a little shorter isn't much of a disadvantage for them. Polar bears and whales don't care how tall you are.

gadren
2016-03-16, 11:50 PM
Fatimid Egypt occurred when the Islamic Arab forces spread outwards from the Arabian Peninsula and wrestled away many of the territories previously held by the Byzantines. This is the group that existed in Egypt around 1000 C.E. (A.D.). Like most of the region during the Crusades, they were a fascinating mix of high-minded religious idealism and scheming political backstabbing. Usama ibn Munqidh's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usama_ibn_Munqidh) Book of Contemplation is a great source for a feel of the period. Another interesting fact is that the Fatimid Dynasty introduced the concept of Mamelukes, professional and elite heavy cavalry drawn from the ranks of slaves. Very well treated, the Mamelukes played a major role in Fatimid politics and were frequently the "power behind the throne".

These are just rough outlines of each period. Any of them look relevant to what you were intending? You know, I hadn't considered Fatimid Egypt (didn't even know about it) but it basically already sounds like the fusion I was going for anyway. I'll do some more research into it!

Xuc Xac, you had a lot of really good input and I unfortunately can't get to all of it before bed, so for now I'm just addressing this one:

They hold divine magic in high regard but they don't like foreign gods. That sounds more like they hold their own priests in high regard. How many local gods do they have? I would give them one deity that they see as above all others, but give them different sects and factions that disagree about the details. One faction believes that the deity is too far above mortals to be comprehended, so worshipers should focus on the words of the Prophets who broke the message down into simpler terms. They follow all the little laws and traditions and rules and spend a lot of time arguing about what to do when one rule overlaps another in a mutually exclusive way. They also try to rules-lawyer around restrictions by finding ways to be "technically correct" without worrying about what the actual intent of the rule was. Another faction sees the deity in more personal humanized terms, such as a stern but loving parent or a powerful but distant king. The deity watches out for you and must be respected and obeyed, but don't expect to meet face-to-face before you die. Another faction sees the deity as an inhuman abstract ideal. They spend a lot of time doing math and science trying to find the find the deity's "fingerprints" on the universe. They are a bit looser at following the laws of the Prophets and instead treat them as guidelines for behavior. When the Third Prophet said "It is forbidden for the one man to eat beef alone", the first faction would say women can eat beef alone but it's ok for two men to kill a cow to have a couple steaks together. The last faction would say that the important idea is that you shouldn't take more food than you can eat because that's wasteful. One person shouldn't kill a cow unless they can share the meat with others or preserve the meat for later use (because canning and jerking were invented after the time of the Third Prophet). It's not about eating beef; it's about wasting food. But at the end of the day, everybody can agree that those other nations are all heathens who need to be educated/converted/put to the sword/etc.
Your ideas here were interspersed with a lot of questions. This is what I had in my head before, though it is not set in stone:
The Jesarian religion is traced all the way back to the goddess Jesaria. According to The Faith, Jesaria was the one that first taught magic to man, in a very promethean kind of way, and was killed by the other Divine Powers for doing so. Her power re-appeared in many of the Jesarian "prophets" throughout the centuries, whom the Jesarians pray to but don't worship. There is quite a bit of "debate" on how to interpret the teachings of Jesaria, and this is compounded by the fact that her different prophets' teachings have sometimes contradicted each other and lead to disagreement over who are "true" and "false" prophets. In fact it was this "debate" that lead to a civil war that eventually separated the kingdoms of Ischyr from the Holy Jesarian Empire, and lead the HJE to become much more firm in punishing the worship of prophets they have not explicitly approved (as strongly as they punish those who worship the other Gods who once betrayed their founding deity).