Which cultures did you use as inspiration for your fantasy world?

In one con-nation alone I got:

• Mosuo people of China: Their (can't think of a name so I'll just call them Bobtopia for now) family structure is basically the same as the Mosuo "walking marriage": no one is officially married, and children often stay within the same household all their lives unless it gets too big or they have to move. Women have one or more paramours that father their children, and kids are typically raised by their mother, with their uncles acting as the primary male caretaker.
• Quite a few European nations: At the age of 16 (the age the government considers Bobtopians adults, rather than 18), everyone has to go for compulsory military service. If you're ill or otherwise unfit, you get a pass. You can also opt out and instead choose to do civil service instead.
• Japan: They have a huge priority on honor and doing what's best for your family rather than for love. Kind of justified here, since as marriage doesn't exist your "birth" family is the only one you have. Also, the cultural practice of removing your shoes when you're in a house, and using Inside Shoes in schools, cubbies and all.
  • Also, the rather unnerving pressure in their society to do what's expected of you with any deviations severely frowned upon, and the social expectations of men (it's a Lady Land) are a lot similar to Japan's of women.
• The Caucasus: Their language is based on Georgian. Also, a lot of the food seems like it can come from this region, unless it's:
• Persia/Iran: Wedding customs (among religious minorities who do practice traditional marriage), food, and dining customs.
  • As per the cultural notions of modesty, men typically wear a long coat similar to a kaftan.
• Ottoman Empire: The characters all live in a multinational Vestigial Empire similar to this.
  • They're also famous for their coffee, and rosewater is used as an ingredient in a lot of sweets.
• The Middle-East in General: The prohibitions on alcohol and intoxicating drugs. This had the unfortunate tendency to turn most of the mainland population into either sweet tooths, chain smokers or caffeine addicts.
  • On a more unsettling note, some rural areas cut off from the rest of society do practice Honor-Related Abuse on their young men.
  • Autonomous provinces and certain minorities get more lenient treatment until enough time passes by, as a means of making sure they stay loyal.
  • 1920s America: Speakeasies and black market booze exist, the quality of which varies. Also, young men screwing society and engaging in frivolous, shocking behavior.
  • Young men can also become pariahs if they're raped, but not get stoned to death in the village square in most cases.
• Victorian England: Highly intricate rules of behavior, courting, and social hierarchy. Also, their notions of modesty.
• South Asia: Typical dress for women was based on the shalwar◊ kameez.◊
• Ancient Greece: All Men Are Perverts is actually used as the justification for keeping them oppressed (along with a male version of Fragile Flower.) Their interaction with other human beings is monitored and they're not seen as capable of much. Women, on the other hand, are pretty much free agents and usually have tons of Heterosexual Life-Partners.

Anyone else borrow from a lot of sources?

edited 23rd Aug '10 6:58:24 PM by JuiceBoxHero

Mid-1800's America. Since this was the time when industry all but completely overtook the old way of life there isn't much fantasy in a similiar era.

But as a certain event could show there is a lot of variety of peoples and customs to choose from, merge, mix, ect.

You have the millionare tychoons from the new industrial advances, the busy and bustling city folk who form the cultural hubs, the organized and load laborers, the rural farmers in the west, the simple folks in small cities like Chicago, the loud Bible thumping abolitionists, the big and hardworking lumberjacks, the aristocratic plantation owners, the quiet but freedom-longing slaves, the French speaking bushwackers, the hillbilly Appalachian men, the cowboys and Indians - they all existed in the same land and according to foreign sources were "Born drunk... didn't need to drink to inpire them to do anything." and "Born with a giant ambition in their brains."

Plenty to mix and match when you want too.

For Island Song, I kept a list of things for this reason.

The Kharret Isles:

Japan: -The country is an archipelago.
-Their elite forces use the samurai daisho (katana and wakizashi).
-They bow as opposed to the handshake or other Western greetings.
-They are known for being very composed.
-They are slightly condescending to other countries.
-Noblewomen use war-fans.
-Rice is their staple crop.
-They have an insanely strong Honor Before Reason mentality.

South American civilizations:
-The climate is tropical.
-Aside from the main weapon change, the elite warriors are almost completely based off the Aztec jaguar warriors.
-Alcohol isn't a big thing for them, though they make sure kids don't try anything before they're mature enough.
-The pantheon is similar to the Mayan pantheon.
-They use blood magic.
-Ranking people wear Mayan-esque headdresses as opposed to the Western crowns.
-Everyone is taught basic self-defense and education.

Arabic/Bedouin:
-They have a HUGE reverence for unicorns, and aside from cloven hooves, lion-tails, magic, and horns, unicorns are pretty much Arabians.
-Ties into the Japan thing; most people don't wear sandals indoors. It's considered a step below open insult if you don't take your sandals off before going inside someone's house.
-They are very hospitable and friendly.
-They don't eat/raise pigs, since they consider pigs useless.
-Aside from their own breeds, they dislike most dogs (a side-effect of the fact that most foreign dogs are unsuited for hot climates). It's also frowned upon to keep dogs as pets (as in, solely companion animals).

Pasarcha:
-A mix of Poland (language and geography) and the Celts.

Fenelle:
-France.

Orsua:
-England.

Unrachest Empire:
-India with Islamic influence.

I would do more of the countries, but that would make my post even longer.

edited 24th Aug '10 8:59:55 AM by Sharysa

Well...

For the world of Maikros..

Continent of Salenzis

• Xenas: France
• Propha: Greece
• Southern Salenzis in General: Southern Europe
• Northlands: Celts
• Zarcos Empire: Britain, some Celtic background
• Ticondera: has some Hebrew background

Southern Kingdoms

• Eastern Europe, slavic and finno-ugric

Talurmen Empire

• Konuru Province: Japan
• Jami Province: Arabia
• Zkolltheim Province/Nortilonder Province: Germanic peoples
• Talurmen: Various Asian influences such as China and Mongolia
• Samantean kingdom (defunct): Ancient Egypt

Ansu continent

• Shorrag: I really have no idea, with them I don't necessarily base them on anything.
• Jungle tribes: Pre-literate meso-/south americans

Medieval Europe and Asia (specially Japan and China), Acient Greece, Acient Rome, Aztec (bordering the Mayincatec but justified! And is a Fantasy Counterpart so...), Idian, Arabic, Egyptian, and those are all of them... for now.

Mix of Holy German Empire, Roman Empire and Imperial China. Three empires rolled into one! Plus some more, but I'm still in very early phase, so how much of it will emerge from the story's depths is yet to be seen.

My fantasy story is set in a vaguely Russian-flavoured alternate-European country during the late 1940s/early 1950s. There's a world war going on, but it's obviously not THE world war because it's not Earth. Most of the main characters come from a persecuted minority pretty heavily based on the Roma, because it seems that every second fantasy race is based on the Roma; the others (it's a small cast) are from a nomadic caribou-herding race based vaguely on the Nenets.

Some feudal Japan with a twist, some imperial China, a few Native American tribes, Khanate Mongols, and Minoan Crete. To name a few.

Lots of cultures, but I admit that I try and sprinkle a bit of China everywhere.

I draw most heavily from The Roman Republic and ancient Phoenicia. Other than that, influences become more subtle. I have smaller bits of Spanish, early American, Irish, Jewish and Renaissance Italian. That's for one country, beyond that I have most Western Cultures in one form or another, some Eastern and African cultures as well, though I don't know nearly as much as I should about them. I don't have any Native American influences, but I plan on creating a country for them.

In one of my worlds the Western Empire takes some traits from Vikings, Japan, a little bit of China (mostly in inventing stuff), and general Mesoamerica, while the Elemental (eastern) Empire is more Rome, America, and Aztec-like.

• The Moylnians
  • They're based heavily on Medieval Irish culture, the main differences being that despite numbering only 12 million or so, they're a major military power, and they're also a lot more barbaric than the Irish were. They still practice slavery, settle arguments with duels, and play blood sports. But they're also responsible for the modern education system, the idea of preserving legends by writing them down, and significant advances in medical science. I'm kind of trying to avoid the "Oppressed people are squeaky clean" stereotype, but I'm not painting them as assholes who don't deserve sympathy either.

• The Anglatian Empire
  • Anglo-Saxon England with a dash of the Roman and British Empires. They've conquered about half of the entire continent and assimilated hundreds of cultures. Pretty much the only distinct human cultures that remain are the Moylnians, the Baaxande and the Seafarers.

• The Baaxande Confederacy
  • A loose collection of part Sub-Saharan African, part Native American, part Fijian tribes that live in the Eastern part of the continent.

• The Seafarers
  • I like these guys. 'Cause they're not based on Scottish sailors who got lost and somehow found themselves in a fantasy world. They are Scottish sailors who got lost and somehow found themselves in a fantasy world.

• The Dwarves
  • My Dwarves can best be described as Militant Islamic Tibetans who live inside a giant Mountain. I've actually put quite a bit of effort into learning about Tibetan languages and architecture (mostly via Uncharted 2 and late night energy drink-fueled internet binges).

I do have more, but that's really all that comes to mind right now.

I have this world populated by psionic, sapent cat-creatures. Their society is based primarily on ancient Rome, though with appropriate twists.

Japan, Victorian england, Colonial America, Pre-Civil War America, and Pre-Revolution Russia, mainly. I did get some inspiration from Modern America, Mexico, Canada, and France. I also got a little bit of inspiration for some groups of people in my world from the Native Americans and Africans. Then, there are some things that just popped randomly into my head and I have no clue what culture they are like. ^.^;

Everyone. Well as many as I can fit in without making every page exposition.

Mostly Napoleonic France as a country in revolution.

England as a conquered wasteland.

Italy/Germany as The Empire

In my humor-tragedy-fantasy-scifi-epic-novella, there's a bunch of ideas rolling around in my head. This is what I've got. Seraphia: Medieval France, with a similar geographic position, even. A culture based around the elite warriors who like to stick their noses in their neighbors business and manage to survive by having an amazingly good army. Arrogant elitists, too. Domesa: Russia under Peter The Great. Struggling to find a culture of it's own, but a quickly growing power that no one even noticed until now. The Central Kingdoms: Yugoslavia after its collapse. Numerous tiny nations that have intricate political ideologies and differences that I never bother to go into. An important piece in the conflict between two much larger powers. Hostera: Algeria. A classical culture with very heavy foreign influence. Mostly peaceful and quiet. I have some other ideas, for societies based on: -1917 Russia, if the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks used magic and warred for millenia - Pre-colonization Africa - The Iroquois Confederation, across an entire continent Anyone have any thoughts?

I worked entirely off other writers' fictional cultures.

My main group of pseudo-elves (I haven't given them a proper name) are an extrapolation from how humans are typically portrayed in fantasy stories, with a past and a set of traditions that explain why they act the way they do.

My pseudo-elf rebels are an unnerving combination of a New-Age Retro Hippie commune and the standard fictional technocracy.

My beastmen are an attempt to build a functional theocracy populated entirely by the sort of fundamentalists found in To Kill A Mockingbird and the works of Charles Dickens.

My Living Shadows are the dark elves of Dungeons And Dragons, with just enough tweaks to keep their society barely functional despite lacking a Lloth figure.

My orcs started out as Tolkien's orcs, but wound up with a bit of the orcs from The Elder Scrolls, a bit of the goblins from Avernum, and a bit of Magical Native American (emphatically not connected to any real Native American tribe.)

My dragons are another extrapolation from the cliche, this time patched with the decadence and arrogance found in fictional portrayals of ancient Rome.

In other words, at no point have I had to do any actual cultural research.

edited 26th Sep '10 2:34:49 PM by FeoTakahari

America mostly, with a dab or two of Australia and Germany. Japan would not like my works unfortunately, Need an opposing force to rugged individualism? China and Japan work beautifully.

Most of my inspiration has come in the form of styles of dress - I've done a lot of research into South Asian traditional clothing, and my mortal race (the Xarn) wears a variation on the sari, either using the Kodava◊ or Gujarati◊ fold. Their culture is inspired by the Kodava and Pashtun ethnic groups, leading to a society very focused on hospitality and honor. The lineage is patriarchal, but the balance of power is shared by both genders.

I got a nation that pulls...

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: The combination of two states, the use of hussars, the sejm and senate and a powerful church. They also have Hetmen who are largely independent, far away from the nation's core fighting in far off solar systems (they're also probably rather corrupt).

Byzantine Empire/Eastern Roman Empire: They're the last state before you see the big barbarian lands. They have a powerful orthodox church. They're in the midst of hypercorruption ruining their war effort.

Ottoman Empire: They're highly multicultural and depend on a wide variety of people in order to build up its power base.

I actual use a lot of modern cultures and subcultures.

But as my main one from other cultures are:

• Victorian England

• Meiji Era Japan

• American Wild West

• Tribal Africa and south America