Greyhawk - Realworld Regions

[Infernal Teddy]

About mid-90's there was a letter in the "Forum" section of Dragon Magazine (Sorry, I can't remembre which issue) that listed the regions of the Forgotten Realms, and explained which real-world regions they corresponded to.

What I'd like to know is: can any of the Greyhawk fans out here do something similar for the World of Greyhawk? I don't mind which version you come from (I have both the WoG Box from 1983 and the LGG), I'd just like to hear your ideas.

 

[MerricB]

If I try very hard.

The easy ones are
Perrenland = Switzerland
Ket, Zeif, etc = Arabia
Great Kingdom = Byzantium/Rome
Furyondy = France/England/European
Frost, Snow, Ice Barbarians = Vikings/Scandinavia
County of Ulek = Ireland/England (druidic tradition)

Cheers!

 

[Infernal Teddy]

I don't quite agree with you assesment of Ket, but apart from that it seens good...

 

[Infernal Teddy]

Would Hepmonaland be indian jungles, african or south american?

 

[radferth]

Going off of the Scarlet Brotherhood 2nd ed. supplement: You've got three basic groups living in the jungle areas: the Olman, the Touv, and Suel refugees. The Olman are pretty much Aztec (the even just used some of the Aztec gods for their Pantheon). They live mainly in the Amedo and on Islands, but I think their may be some left in Hepmonaland. The Touv live in central and southern Hepmonaland and are closest to West Africans, but also seem to have some South American traits. The Suel are just Suel, with low tech and bad tans.

 

[Krypter]

The Suel seem to be the Nazis/Imperial Japanese of the Flanaess. Strange how a lot of them have pseudo-Chinese names. The Land of Black Ice seems to have an Aleutian/Inuit feel to it, while the Pale has something of the feel of Puritan England without the Restoration.

So what are Ratik, Geoff, Sterich and the Yeomanry supposed to resemble?

 

[haakon1]

IMC,

Baklunish = Greek (Ekbir and Zeif) crossed with Mongol (Wolf and Tiger Nomads, Ull, Paynims) crossed with Islam (Ket and Tusmit)

Suel = Germanic, so strains of Scandinavian (the Ice, Snow, and Frost Barbarians), Nazi (Scarlet Brotherhood), and English (influence in Keoland)

Oeridian = southern European, so hints of Rome, Italian principalities, and France in the Great Kingdom and its former provinces

Flannae = aborigine American Indian types.

Olman = Aztec

Touv = African


By country:
Keoland = England (but officially adopted French, err, Common because the king thought it was more "modern")
Furyondy-Veluna = France
Ket v. Bissel = Balkans, especially Yugoslavia. Lots of ethnic cleansing going on.
Great Kingdom = Holy Roman Empire, including the northern Italian bits.
Blackmoor = coolness
Perrenland = Swiss crossed with American Indian
Rovers = American Indians
Pale = persecuted religions group living among "civilized" American Indians -- like if the Mormons and the Cherokees were allies against all outsiders
Onnwall = Cornwall
Yeomanry = USA
Hold of the Sea Princes = Confederate States of America
Olman Islands = Aztecs
Hepmonaland = Africa