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[Rutugag]

So after completing my first playthrough of DA:O (and eagerly starting my second!) I got to thinking about the various nations mentioned throughout the game and how many of them really reminded me of what I learned on Medival nations from my European history class. Here's how I've broken it down:

Tevinter Imperium: Roman Empire. Andraste is pretty clearly a jesuslike figure, claiming to have been spoken to by the Maker and being his "Bride" is very reminiscent of Jesus being the Son of God (at least in christianity). factor in a trusted confidant turning her in to an occupying empire (The Imperium) and being executed, the Teveninter Imperium seems pretty clearly to be the Rome of Thedas. as an interesting aside, the Tevinter Imperium evidently still alive as of DA:O's events, so that would probably also make them the Byzantines.

Orlais: France. this one is pretty obvious, their knights are called Chevaliers, just like medival french knights, the accent is almost spot on for french.also, according to Leliana and one of the women in the market district of denerim, Orlais is the home of fashion in thedas, much like the french court was right up until the revolution.

if we take Orlais as france, then it seems that feralden is England. the rivalery certainly indicates it, but also the fact that Orlais occupied Feralden for at least a hundred years before being thrown out is almost exactly what happend to england after William the Conquror (I think it was him, but I might have my medival royalty mixed up, feel free to correct me). finally, their is the fact that their nobles are called arls and teyrns in a strange pseudo two tiered nobility system is just like englands system of Earls and Dukes.

Antiva is harder to be sure of, but judging by the accents of the two antivans I have met in came (the merchant and Zevran), it seems very likely to be Feraldens version of Spain, not to mention that zeverans style is a rather classic "Spanish Heartthrob" sterotype.

what do you guys think? thoughts? comments?

[David Gaider]

Yes, you can find analogies from history for most of Thedas -- that's intentional, as the world was built with these sorts of commonalities in mind. "What if Europe had magic?" None of the comparisons are perfect, of course. The fact that real countries or cultural groups were used as inspirations does not mean we were trying to copy them outright.



But if you want to know where the inspirations came from for some of these things, sure.



The Qunari have a role in Thedas very similar to that of the Mongol horde. As you all have already pointed out, of course, the details of their culture are pretty radically different. Something more akin to Vikings or Muslims (and by that I mean that Muslims in the medieval period were much more philosophically and technologically advanced than contemporary Europeans, not to any particular tenet of their beliefs). Someone at work once said they were like Vulcans mixed with the Borg, and that comparison works, too.



As for the elves, there are some comparisons to be found in the minorities present in medieval Europe. A friend of mine pointed me to a discussion online where someone was utterly convinced that the elves in Thedas were copied from the Witcher, which I found amusing since right there in history we have the Jewish and the Rom. There were "Jewish Quarters" in many major cities, places where the Jewish were confined to -- similar to the Alienages in Thedas. The Dalish started off as the wandering Rom (or gypsies, if you prefer) but evolved into something more akin to North American Natives (and, really, the Native situation is also a good analogy for elves as a whole).



The dwarves are probably the only culture that doesn't have a good comparison to medieval Europe (for obvious reasons, primarily history lacking a good underground empire). The other countries mentioned in the thread are mostly correct -- with perhaps the exception of Rivain, which has a place more similar to Spain (a nation half-occupied by the a foreign culture and at least partially absorbed into it), though culturally it's not alike at all.

[David Gaider]

Rutugag wrote...
since rivain is modeled loosely after medievel spain, why do all of the antivans we meet in game have spanish accents?

Rivain is loosely based off of Spain only in that Spain was the point of entry for the Moors to enter Europe, and its culture was changed a great deal by the Moorish presence. Beyond that, Rivain doesn't resemble Spain at all and its people are not Spanish-sounding.

Antiva is based loosely on the Italian city-states, such as Venice, and has a very Mediterranean flavor. I wasn't keen on giving them all Italian accents, however, mostly because I feared the possibility of ending up with "mamma mia! pizza pie-a!" kind of silliness. That and I like the Spanish accent (which is also conveniently Mediterranean).