D&D General Fantasy Spain - what would it have?

[Shades of Eternity]

In sort of a followup of my Fantasy France thread, what would you expect from a Fantasy Spain?

Would you expect a history of horseman (that could very easily be translated into centaurs)?

Would the running of the bulls turn into raids of the minotaurs?

Would the many castles be fortresses where entire families feud.

How much a Roman/Phoenician influence would you add?

Is Don Quiote actually a demigod in the tradition of Fizban the fabulous?

 

[Dioltach]

Not Spain per se, but there's a river in northern Portugal (its spring is in Spain though) called the Lima, or Limia. The Romans believed that it was the River Lethe, the mythical river whose waters caused memory loss. The story goes that a Roman general wanted his army to cross, but his men refused. So he crossed the river by himself, then called them over by name, one by one.

The Lima valley is a gorgeous place. Across four days of hiking, you'll encounter scenery that's goes from Chinese rice fields, to the Scottish Highlands, to the Italian countryside, to Caribbean beaches. And halfway along the river is a place called Ponte de Lima, where a medieval bridge stands on the foundations of an old Roman bridge, with statues of Roman soldiers in the water.

 

[Quickleaf]

Meteorologically speaking, the rains would primarily fall in the plains...



But more seriously, you could take Moorish architecture like the Alhambra with its myriad of repeating columns flanking a central courtyard, and then imagine those columns as the D&D monster "caryatid columns" moving about in secret.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So many windmills.

And yes, I wouldn't leave the Moorish elements out. The long Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula has been weirdly erased from popular memory in the U.S., but even a fantasy medieval Iberian Peninsula should have their presence. If nothing else, it adds a bunch of tiny domains ruled by different warlords and noble families to the map, which is always good for D&D.

 

[Dioltach]

I'm listening to an audiobook about the fall of the Roman Republic, and it describes how in Spain the Romans built silver mines on a massive scale: 10 square miles, with the air so polluted from the smelting furnaces that birds flying across would drop from the sky. Not very glamourous, but a great idea for a megadungeon.

 

[Faolyn]

I'm listening to an audiobook about the fall of the Roman Republic, and it describes how in Spain the Romans built silver mines on a massive scale: 10 square miles, with the air so polluted from the smelting furnaces that birds flying across would drop from the sky. Not very glamourous, but a great idea for a megadungeon.

If not an actual mine, an area with a bunch of very toxic monsters would work as well.

 

[Zardnaar]

Depends on when you set it.

Multiple feuding Kingdoms with foreign invaders.

Roman or post Roman?

Pre Roman?

Unification via marriage, driving out the last invaders?

Colonies and expansion?

Superpower of it's time?

Lots of options basically. Probably post Roman/precursor, old mines left over with multiple kingdoms would probably make the most sense.

Depending on ones taste on religion two opposed pantheon's.

Or not Spain is the villain invading your stuff/superpower or last days of Granada type scenario PCs flee or organize evacuation.

 

[Yaarel]

There is an amazing 5e resource for Latin America:

Aegis of Empires: Adventure Path

The link is to an ENWorld thread about it.

 

[Lanefan]

So many windmills.

And yes, I wouldn't leave the Moorish elements out. The long Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula has been weirdly erased from popular memory in the U.S., but even a fantasy medieval Iberian Peninsula should have their presence. If nothing else, it adds a bunch of tiny domains ruled by different warlords and noble families to the map, which is always good for D&D.

Unfortunately, perhaps, the faux-Spain in my setting is more than far enough away from anything remotely faux-Moorish (i.e. there's either a small ocean in between or the entire faux-Roman empire which mostly controls said ocean) that having that influence in it just wouldn't make sense. It's a fading realm with mountains on one side and otherwise surrounded by wild lands (most of which weren't always wild; the country is slowly shrinking).

Culturally, there's a lot of pride (for good and bad), not as much separation between nobles and commoners as some cultures, a bespoke pantheon that pretty much no-one outside the country has ever heard of, and - just because I could - a strong focus on looks and appearance. If my game had a Comeliness stat, one's Comeliness would go a long way toward determining one's social status and-or chance for advancement.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Unfortunately, perhaps, the faux-Spain in my setting is more than far enough away from anything remotely faux-Moorish (i.e. there's either a small ocean in between or the entire faux-Roman empire which mostly controls said ocean) that having that influence in it just wouldn't make sense. It's a fading realm with mountains on one side and otherwise surrounded by wild lands (most of which weren't always wild; the country is slowly shrinking).

If it were me, I would still try to go for a situation where the central order is crumbling and there are a lot of tiny kingdoms of various sorts (a D&D staple since Greyhawk) and lots of lovely Moorish-style buildings, because fountains and plazas are awesome.