63 réponses à ce sujet

[Dominari]

fun. They didn't seem to wide their territories nor convert other people to vikings. Or have I completely mistaken vikings?

Vikings have two distinct periods called migration eras. The first was around year zero, the second migration was approx. 800 AD to 1066. These are the Vikings we think of when we hear the word. It is this period of expansion that saw the founding of Iceland, Greenland and even settlements in the new world.

I'll cut the history lesson there ... but yes, they were known for expanding their territory. Nothing else about the quinari fit the Vikings. Maybe movie Vikings with goat horns instead of horned helmets, but the only true Viking to ever wear horns in battle is Hagar.

I see Quinari being much more similar to ST:TNG era Klingons with a side of D&D Tiefling

[Chari]

The Dalish are based on jews and also have a lot of similiarities with native americans, celtic folk etc

Qunari are a mix of very different ideas and peoples

[Jayce]

It takes inspiration from both Scotland and British Isles proper, but no one ever flat out said, Ferelden is Scotland. Certain areas, like Highever, certainly are more Scottish than most, even sans accent. 

 

We know it's not expressly meant to be a perfect mirror of Scotland. The point were making is, despite the landscape and the Brythonic/Gaelic names, the culture of Ferelden is distinctly more Saxon than Alban.

[vertigomez]

Orzammar reminds me of Ancient Rome with Ethiopian architecture.

[EmperorSahlertz]

Qunari don't act like vikings though. I get that they are big "men" with horns (vikings had horns in helmets) and when they sailed around they brang terror with them.. but Qunari are quite strict military force when vikings were more scattered bands of bandits who mostly robbed and killed villages of people cause they wanted their stuff and it was fun. They didn't seem to wide their territories nor convert other people to vikings. Or have I completely mistaken vikings?

Vikings did not have horns in their helmets. Vikings were not mostly raiders, they were mostly settlers, who often established quite succesful kingdoms along their searoutes. They usually didn't care much about conversion of others, and they often did assimilate into local populace rather well. Then again, they also held absolutely no reverence for other people's holy areas and items, and often stole from churches and monasteries because they were easy targets. But vikings certainly did widen their territory a great deal, though they didn't do so by conversion, but rather just by military and economic might (they controlled the trade routes).

[ME_Fan]

By which I mean it's a perfect metaphor, not a perfect ideal. God no.

[Kantr]

Antiva is more Spain/Italy

 

Tevinter is more Greece/ Roman Italy

[Kantr]

We know it's not expressly meant to be a perfect mirror of Scotland. The point were making is, despite the landscape and the Brythonic/Gaelic names, the culture of Ferelden is distinctly more Saxon than Alban.

Ferelden is supposed to be England. hence the war with orlais/france

 

Also Scotland is not Saxon. It's Celtic/Gaelic. England is Anglo-Saxon

 

Alba is Scotland

[BioWareMod03]

For this thread to stay open it needs to steer clear of any real world political or historical debate.

[ME_Fan]

^but I actually quoted a BioWare staff member, in fact, David Gaider is the lead writer, I was only echoing his analogy.

[ME_Fan]

It's not a debate, and it's not against the terms afaik, but I digress, I will press the issue no more.

For anyone unknowing of what I posted, it was a direct David Gaider quote, but apparently it's inappropriate for the forum.

[Das Tentakel]

Ferelden is supposed to be England. hence the war with orlais/france

 

Also Scotland is not Saxon. It's Celtic/Gaelic. England is Anglo-Saxon

 

Alba is Scotland

 

Actually, Scotland is partly Anglo-Saxon in the south of the country (Edinburgh lies in the northern part of what used to be the old Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria) and is heavily Norse-influenced along the northern and western fringes (Caithness / Sutherland, Orkney, Shetland, Hebrides).

The 'Celtic' or formerly 'Celtic' regions of Scotland were themselves divided between Gaelic, Pictish and Cumbric (closely related to Old Welsh) regions.

As such, high and late medieval Scotland was a mixed Germanic / Celtic society par excellence. That makes it more like Ferelden with its mix of Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Gaelic-Scottish and Welsh influences - based on personal and placenames - than England. 

 

Moreover, the liberation struggle of Ferelden under Loghain and King Marric is far more reminiscent of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce's struggle against England under Edward I and II than any war France fought against England.

 

Not that there is any single influence here; there's a bit of Scotland here, Anglo-Saxon England there, perhaps a bit of medieval Germany in the corner, quite a bit of Iceland, etc.

 

Same with the other nations, the Romano-Byzantine influence behind Tevinter is pretty superficial. It's anybody's guess where the Free Marches are based on, but one thing is certain, they don't resemble the autonomous cities of Germany and the Low Countries one bit. There is a very loose resemblance with the high and late medieval city-states of northern Italy, in the sense that they are all ex-bits of a much larger empire, were conquered by 'barbarians' and are now ruled by a variety of governmental systems and quarrel a lot among themselves, but occasionally unite against outside threats. That's more Florence, Venice, Verona, Milan and Genoa than it is Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen or Cologne.

That similarity, however, is also just merely superficial. The Free Marches actually seem to lack a character of their own and are basically just generic English-speaking (with various accents) fantasy city-states. 

[ME_Fan]

I recall Ferelden being described as the equivalent to England by one of the devs, particularly due to its rocky relationship with Orlais (France/Italy).

[Augustei]

How so? It doesn't consist of many small states that entirely govern themselves and elect an emperor.

 

The council of Heralds resemble the Polish-Lithuanian Sejm more than the HRE electors.

He means the HRE under the Karlings, Charlemagne and Emperor Drakon have alot in common as do Orlais and HRE early history. Culturally it is very renaissance french though.

 

For this thread to stay open it needs to steer clear of any real world political or historical debate.

Thats the second time ive seen a mod say this, but real world historical debate or religious discussion isn't in violation of the site rules as long as it isn't hate speech

[o Ventus]

The Dalish are based on jews and also have a lot of similiarities with native americans, celtic folk etc

Qunari are a mix of very different ideas and peoples

The city elves are inspired by medieval Jews, not the Dalish.

[Gill Kaiser]

Here is my view.

Tevinter: The Roman Empire during the Byzantine era
Orlais: France, specifically france during the 1500s and 1600s.
Ferelden: Anglo-saxon England if they kicked out Wiliam the conquerer(which they tried).
Antiva: Italian republics crossed with spain.
Nevarra: this is the hardest one. Their burial practices are a bit remensecent of Egypt. their kingdom is more traditional. I might go with the kingdom of Naples then.
Rivain: Medieval Ilberia; Rivain is split between the Qun and the kingdom of Rivain, just as medieval iberia was split between the christians and muslims.
Free Marches: Italian City States
Anderfels: The closest would probaly be the kingdom of Jerusalem. The kings of both countries often were week with a great deal influence and power going to an order of military knights.
Qunari: Confuctionist/Taosist Abbassids.
Orlesian Chantry: Catholic Church
Tevinter Chantry: Eastern Orthodox

I agree with all of this 100%.

[ME_Fan]

Why do they all need a real world counterpart though? It's fantasy, that's the whole point.

[Chari]

The city elves are inspired by medieval Jews, not the Dalish.

They both are. The dalish also are very similiar to native american and celtic people

[Cyberpunk]

I can see Nevarra being like Austria and the Free Marches the German states. But Neverra's burial practices are sort of Egyptian I know. It would be nice to know more about Nevarra and the Anderfels. I agree Qunari are most like the Turks, and I listed Vikings only b/c of Bioware. 

[Br3admax]

We know it's not expressly meant to be a perfect mirror of Scotland. The point were making is, despite the landscape and the Brythonic/Gaelic names, the culture of Ferelden is distinctly more Saxon than Alban.

And my point is it was never said so saying, "They said it's definitely inspired by Scotland solely," is wrong.  

[o Ventus]

They both are. The dalish also are very similiar to native american and celtic people

How are the Dalish reminiscent of Jews?

[Chari]

How are the Dalish reminiscent of Jews?

The same way the quarians are: lost homeland, oppression everywhere, attempts to preserve the culture, being seen as heathens by chri-I mean andrastians, very close family ties
They're also a bit like roma

[o Ventus]

The same way the quarians are: lost homeland, oppression everywhere, attempts to preserve the culture, being seen as heathens by chri-I mean andrastians, very close family ties
They're also a bit like roma

The Dalish aren't oppressed (they don't live near anyone to oppress them), and your average person (humans, at least, I can't say for the dwarves or Qunari) don't see them as heathens, just people who live in the woods and are kind of a**holes to everyone else. I wouldn't say that attempting to preserve their culture makes them like Jews, because just about every culture in the world has done that throughout history.

 

As for the quarians, they straight-up ARE Romani, from their nomadic society, to their accents, to their looks (the hoods, specifically).