Real world analogs of Greyhawk races?

[Doug McCrae]

I'm having trouble working out what some of the human races in Greyhawk look like.

Suloise (very fair skin) are easy, they are Caucasians analogous to Scandinavians or Icelanders. Oeridians (tan to olive) are Mediterranean I would guess but I could easily be wrong. Baklunish (golden) seem to be oriental ie Chinese or Japanese with the Tiger and Wolf nomads resembling Mongols. The southern Baklunish have an Arabian culture however. The Flan (bronze) I have no idea. Do they resemble American Indians? Their culture seems analogous to earlier inhabitants of Western Europe such as the Celts.

 

[MerricB]

One important note is that each race tends to have more than one culture - this is especially true of the Flan. Although the southern Flan owe a lot to the Celts, the northern Flan owe a lot to American Indians.

IMC, I use the following comparisons:
* Suloise = Germanic/Aryan. (Scarlet Brotherhood are Nazi-ish). The Frost barbarians and similar are quite Nordic.

* Flan = Celtic (for the most part; I don't really play much in the other areas).

* Oeridians = Italians/Romans (especially the Aerdy; the Great Kingdom = Rome).

* Baklunish = Arabian.

Cheers!

 

[haakon1]

The Greyhawk races are complex, so I use a mix of cultural influences.

My Suel and Oeridians are similar to Merric's, but with some differences . . .

Suloise = Germanic. This includes English in Keoland and Scandinavian in Frost/Snow/Ice Barbarians. The Scarlet Brotherhood I think of more like Neo-Nazis than the real thing. I don't think of as being as organized as the WWII Nazis, but definitely as evil.

Oeridian = Non-Germanic Western Europeans (Romance language cultures and Celts). I model the Great Kingdom not on the REAL Roman Empire, but the Holy Roman Empire. Yes, I know it was mostly German (plus northern Italy), but the feudally confused nature of lots of independent territories "reporting" only theoretically to a ruler who doesn't really matter works for me. And I use the Thirty Years War as a template for the GK's self destruction, based on seeing drawings from then of demons stalking the land. This means Greyhawk, Dyvers, and the Wild Coast might have an Italian city state flair. My Furyondy-Veluna is medieval, disorganized France. Velondi is a Celtic language -- by analogy, it's Breton.

Flannae = American Indian crossed with some elements of Sumerian and Swiss cultures (crossbows, cheese, and cantons in Perrenland). Oh, and note that in Tenh, I have what amounts to Mormons, religious refuges from the GK.

Baklunish = "Eastern". Strong elements of Greek culture in the coast, Mongols in the north, some Turkish, and I play down the Arab aspect.

 

[Elfdart]

I always pictured the Flan as being like the Basques and other inhabitants of Western Europe before the Celts, Latins, Greeks and Germans pushed them aside.

The Suloise are obviously the Germanic types, with the Oeridians being the Latin and Celtic peoples. The Rhenee are Gypsies, and the Baklunish strike me as being essentially Central Asian -mainly Turkish. Of course Central Asia was pretty diverse in ancient times and it blends into other regions of Eurasia, so in my campaign "Baklunish" is a catchall for the Greyhawk equivalent of Mongols, Turks, Scythians, Parthians, Alans, Sarmatians, Huns, Avars, Magyars and any other peoples who lived as horse nomads of the steppes, as well as those they conquered like the Iranians and Semitic peoples of the Middle East.

 

[haakon1]

Very similar to me, except that I go with different "aboriginal" influences (American Indian instead of Basque) for the Flannae.

I forgot to mention I roll Magyar (Hungarian) into Baklunish too, especially in Ket. For names for the Baklunish, I usually use Magyar, Turkish, or Greek names -- all of which sound more "different" than Arabic names.

I think of the Bissel/Ket borderlands, when I run most of my campaign action, as being like the Balkans, where Western and Eastern come together and kill each other, early and often.

As for the minor races, yes, Rhennae are gypsies in my campaign (with some touches of the Irish Traveller subculture), Olman are Central Americans, and folks of Hepmonaland are African.

 

[Elfdart]

I always treated Ket as a kind of Medieval Spain (Lopolla just seems like a Spanish name): a mix of European and North African/Middle Eastern backgrounds.

The Baklunish were broken up as follows:

Sultanate of Zeif: Turkish
Caliphate of Ekbir: Persian
Tusmit: Turkish/Arab
Ull: Mongol
Wolf Nomads: Avars
Tiger Nomads: Magyars
Paynims: All of the above and more

 

[NiTessine]

Over here, we've generally gone with the following:

Oeridians: Mediterranean people, perhaps Roman and Greek.

Suel: Scandinavian and Germanic people. Suloise villains (read: Scarlet Brotherhood) are generally referred to as looking like the SS officer in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Also, everyone mentioned to be Suel is immediately suspected of belonging to the Brotherhood, even if we're out of their area of influence or 50% of the local population is Suel and loyal to the crown.

Baklunish: Arabs. Not that we ever meet them.

Flan: The generic all-purpose native race, filling in for Celts, hill people, horse nomads, Native Americans or whoever needs to be primitive in the continental Flanaess this time.

Olman: Aztecs. They even have the same pantheon.

Touv: Black, with blue eyes. Go figure.

Rhennee: Gypsies, as are the Attloi.

 

[Ron]

From the pages of the Greyhawk Player's Guide I have to assume the Rhennee are actually European gypsies who went to Oerth through some kind of portal. At least I think that Rhop sounds to much a like to Europe.

Though they rarely speak of this to outsiders, their legend claims that the race came to Oerth accidentally from their home world of Rhop.​

GPP: 35

 

[Ripzerai]

Suloise (very fair skin) are easy, they are Caucasians analogous to Scandinavians or Icelanders.

No, they're not. They're a fantasy race with no real-world parallel. They're described as having kinky hair and they originated from the southernmost extremes of the Flanaess map (and, in many cases, stayed there, moving only slightly west into the Amedio Jungle when the Sea of Dust drank their empire).

They could as easily be described as pale or albino Africans as Scandinavians, but they're neither.

The Suel of the Thillronian Penninsula are very much like Scandinavians, but they're an exception, being isolated from the other Suel peoples for a thousand years in the subarctic extremes of the continent.

Oeridians (tan to olive) are Mediterranean

No, their ancestors were horse-riding barbarians superficially similar to the Visigoths, native to the far western plains. They seldom even saw a large body of water until they entered the Flanaess, and even then they remained indifferent seamen at best for centuries before they conquered the isles of the Sea Barons. The race that's most associated with the "Mediterranean" climate zone is actually the Suel.

Trying to make analogies with real-world peoples based on skin tone alone is going to give you wildly misleading results. The Suel can be pale without being Norwegians, and the Oeridians can have olive skin without being Italians or Greeks.

I would guess but I could easily be wrong. Baklunish (golden) seem to be oriental ie Chinese or Japanese with the Tiger and Wolf nomads resembling Mongols.

The Wolf and Tiger nomads do resemble Mongols, as do some of the Paynim tribes. The Baklunish have some kung fu elements to their culture, and in skin tone they resemble east Asians.

Again, though, relying on skin tone alone results in a misleading result, as the Baklunish (other than the northern nomads) are otherwise very Arabic in culture. You could think of them as Arabs with Chinese elements grafted on, if you wanted, but as with most of the races of the Flanaess, real-world analogs are misleading. They're a fantasy race.

The Flan (bronze) I have no idea. Do they resemble American Indians? Their culture seems analogous to earlier inhabitants of Western Europe such as the Celts.

The Rovers of the Barrens are inspired by the Plains Indians of North America, and Flan in general have many Celtic elements (druids and bards). Gary Gygax said that their appearance was based on the Hamitic peoples of west Africa. Again, they're a fantasy race. They don't have a real-world analog.

The Touv have dark skin, blue eyes, and straight black hair. They belong to whatever race James Earl Jones' character was supposed to be in the first Conan movie.

The only Greyhawk races that have easy real-life analogs are the Olman (Aztecs/Mayans) and the Rhennee (Gypsies/Rom), and even then they're fantasy creations only loosely inspired by the real world.

 

[haakon1]

I always treated Ket as a kind of Medieval Spain (Lopolla just seems like a Spanish name): a mix of European and North African/Middle Eastern backgrounds.

Hmmm, I guess Ket and Bissel are like Granada v. Castille in the reconquista, and yes, Ket is definitely a mix of Baklunish and Oeridian/Suel influences, so that makes good sense to me.

I gravitated to use the Balkans for the Ket/Bissel conflict (without bothering to get into who is who), but the basic idea of a nasty long war that's a clash of civilizations between east and west works either way.

That kind of conflict leads to a lot of good castles being left behind.