Forgotten Realms: Inspiration for Thay?

[Satori]

Hey folks,

I'm reading "Unclean" by Richard Lee Byers, and it started some thinking on the inspiration for Thay within the Forgotten Realms.

Most areas (off the top of my head) have a definite "inspiration point" within the realms. i.e. The Dales feel very Tolkienesque, Chult is like the Amazon Jungle, the Shou are probably Qing era Chinese immigrants, the Tuigan are Mongolian, the Sword Coast has a Pirates of the Caribbean feel, etc...

Yet, I'm having a hard time placing Thay.

Their neighbors, the Rashemi, have an Eastern European/Slavic/Russian vibe...but I just can't place where a bunch of city states run by evil, red robed, bald/tattooed wizards came from.

 

[jdrakeh]

IMO, the original Dreams of the Red Wizards supplement recalls the Anglicized Middle and Far East of both Victorian literature and early pulp adventure stories.

 

[Phizel]

Hyborian Stygia (i.e. the legendary mystical near east Egypt as seen through the eyes of the Greeks and Romans and through the lens of the Victorians)

 

[Mighty Veil]

Glantri, had to be Glantri.

 

[Leontodon]

As a real world inspiration I would say the closest to Thay is an evil version of India. We have some kind of brahmin class-> the sorcerers, occupied people (India's Dravids and Scheduled Tribes)-> Thayan Rashemi and at least some evidence of a cast-like system.

Honestly I think that Thay is the most original part of the whole setting.

BTW I would not characterize Chult as Amazonian. I think Congo is a better resemblance.