D&D 5E [Radiant Citadel] A chart of parallel Earth cultures and motifs across the D&D Multiverse

[Mind of tempest]

I for one would appreciate seeing the Slavic and Hyperborean inspired cultures included on your list. And Kudos for the great work

there is no culture of the land of the northwind as no such land exists.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

there is no culture of the land of the northwind as no such land exists.

Or does it?!?!?!?!

 

[Mercurius]

A question about Radiant Citadel: Are any of the worlds not clearly drawn from, or analogous to, a specific earth culture?

 

[Voadam]

Lankhmar from 1e and 2e had their Mingols of the Steppes as fantasy Mongols.

Not clear to me whether other non-Lankhmar parts of Nehwon (the Eight Cities, Eastern Lands) are non-European fantasy analogues.

 

[Stormonu]

I think you missed Mulhorand in Toril, for Egyptian.

There’s also a Babylonian nation near there too, but I have forgotten the name - Unther?.

<Edit> Speaking of Egyptian, there’s one from Ravenloft as well (Ha-Akir?), and two arabic from Greyhawk (Sultanate of Zeif & Caliphate of Ekbir) and Ket (Egyptian?).

 

[Voadam]

1e had Conan modules so Afghulistan, Black Kingdoms, Darfar, Hyrkanian Steppes, Iranistan, Khitai, Koth, Kush, Nemedia, Ophir, Shem, Turan, etc.

Wikipedia for Hyborean Age has a decent cross-listing of possible analogues.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I think you missed Mulhorand in Toril, for Egyptian.

There’s also a Babylonian nation near there too, but I have forgotten the name - Unther?.

<Edit> Speaking of Egyptian, there’s one from Ravenloft as well (Ha-Akir?), and two arabic from Greyhawk (Sultanate of Zeif & Caliphate of Ekbir) and Ket (Egyptian?).

Unther is general Mesopotamian.

Do Mulhorand and Unther count given they are functionally Akin to actual Egyptian & Mesopotamian colonies?

 

[Dungeonosophy]

some of these are very tenuous.

My article attempts to gather the full spectrum of inspirations. It's a spectrum:

CLOSEST TO EARTH CULTURES: D&D Earth (Historical Reference Guide, Gothic Earth of the Masque of the Red Death, Urban Arcana d20 Modern campaign model, etc.)
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NEXT CLOSEST: Mystara, Ravenloft, and Aebrynis (Birthright campaign setting). Mystara has an unusually large array of Earthly cultural analogues, though there are also several key cultures which are more fantastic (the Empire of Alphatia). Aebrynis has a tidy set of five human nations (Anuirean, Brecht, Khinasi, Rjurik and the Vos), each of which lines up with an earthly cultural source. Ravenloft has many earthly motifs, probably because it's trying to draw on existing genres of horror, or applying a "horrific" lens to a recognizable cultural milieu. Often the earthly cultures are blended but still discernable.
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MIDDLING: Oerth and Toril. Certain regions of Oerth and Toril are closer to Earthly cultures than others; for example, the cultural sources of Gygax's Flanaess nations are usually blended or invented; but Skip Williams' mapped nations of Western Oerik are more obvious. Similarly, much of Faerun has fantastic cultures; but other regions are closer parallels to Earthly cultures: Kara-Tur, Zakhara, Maztica. I'm not an expert on FR, but I suspect there may've also been earthly parallels which Greenwood tapped in his original version of the setting, but which came to be obscured or blended by later contributors.
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TENUOUS CONNECTION: Krynn. Overall, earthly cultural parallels are minor or blended, but there are some.
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MOST TENUOUS CONNECTION WITH EARTHLY CULTURES: Eberron and Athas. Earthly cultural parallels are very rare. But there still may be single motifs here and there.

***
I'm not only gathering nation-sized examples, but also monsters, characters, and motifs (e.g. names, words, and illustrations) which are inspired by real-world cultures.

Ergothians on Krynn, for instance, are only African in appearance, not culture (and that’s just the northern ergothians, as well). In every other aspect they actually have more in common with the post-Heraclius Roman Empire, or maybe the UK after American independence.

My understanding (from reading the Dragonlance wiki article) is that the term I used: "the Empire of Ergoth" includes only Northern Ergoth at the time of the War of the Lance.

Valid point that the Ergothian culture doesn't seem to be inspired by African culture; rather, the physical appearance of Ergothians is inspired by real-world Black humanity. I will add a note to that effect.

I haven't read the sourcebook where the Ackalites (the most ancient and traditional Ergothians) appear, but I wonder if they are depicted with more recognizably African motifs.

In any case, one of the purposes of my presentation is to highlight "heroes of color" (and "peoples of color") in the D&D Multiverse. So Maquesta Kar-Thon is included for that reason. And her Ergothian nation is "of interest" in that regard as well.

For that reason, I'll also add Molliver, the Black woman from "Valor's Call" in Wild Beyond the Witchlight.

I'm going out on a limb here, but I'd venture to say that that, in the absence of more specific cultural motifs (i.e. African, non-African, or non-Earthly fantastic motifs), a Black character in the D&D Multiverse who is represented as speaking American English (WotC's "common tongue"), resonates in some way with African American reality.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

A question about Radiant Citadel: Are any of the worlds not clearly drawn from, or analogous to, a specific earth culture?

Hi Mercurius, I haven't read the book, but from reading all of the Writer's Interviews (for the adventures and for the supplemental gazetteer entries), my understanding is that all of the Concord Worlds are drawn from, or analogous to, a specific earthly culture, or a specific mélange of earthly cultures.

 

[Laurefindel]

I had the impression that Amn/Tethyr in FR was a closer analogue to the reconquiesta-era continental (European) Spain rather than (American) New-Spain. I might be wrong though…