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

[QuentinGeorge]

Thanks for finding the typo

I’m aware of the Ket. I did graduate work in Native American Studies, and have read linguistics papers about the Yeniseian relationship with languages in the Americas. And, I do not think that, in this case, the designer (Gygax) was aware of or referencing the Ket. For three reasons:

1) The Arab (and Turkic) inspiration for the Baklunish peoples is clearly established.
2) There is no indication whatsoever of an Indigenous Siberian culture for Greyhawk’s Ket.
3) The wordshape /Ket/ is so short and simple it could’ve been inspired by any number of other sources, or coined as a fantastic name. For example “qat” or “khat”: qat - Wiktionary

You can also look at Kets most infamous son, Rary, who looks and dresses very Arabic.

 

[cbwjm]

For Krynn (but also for some of the other worlds) there’s always a caveat that motifs are especially blended. I’m not actually saying the Nordmen are outright Norsemen. They’re Norsemen in a jungle clime with Aztec names. Whose coastal folk are Black. And whose Horse Barbarian cousins are Turko-Mongolic khans. And whose culture is sifted through the Krynnish aesthetic and mythology (no Odin and Aesir!).

A cultural entry means different things depending on which world it’s from. For Mystara, it often means a close parallel. For Oerth, a more blended parallel. For Krynn, even more blended, to the extent that it’s only one of several “source motifs” for that culture, covering only a single aspect.

When I post the Norse-Germanic section, you’ll see that spectrum too:
-Mystara’s Northern Reaches. Very close parallel to earthly Norse.
-Oerth’s Snow & Ice Barbarians are more fantastic.
-As are Toril’s Uthgardt Barbarians.
-And even moreso, Krynn’s Nordmen.
-If there are any Norse/Viking motifs in Eberron, I imagine they are even more effervescent.

The listing of Krynnish Nordmen under ~Norse-Germanic doesn’t mean they are as parallel as the other worlds’ Norsemen analogues.

Same applies to all the sections on the chart.

Not sure of this has come up, but the 2e dragonlance book lists, I think, 4 barbarian cultures with the sea barbarians being black. Can't find out exactly where they call home, perhaps the coastal regions of Nordmaar are one of many regions where they berth their ships when not raiding.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Not sure of this has come up, but the 2e dragonlance book lists, I think, 4 barbarian cultures with the sea barbarians being black. Can't find out exactly where they call home, perhaps the coastal regions of Nordmaar are one of many regions where they berth their ships when not raiding.

Could you find a reference for the Sea Barbarians?

 

[cbwjm]

Could you find a reference for the Sea Barbarians?

Sure, in the 2e book Tales of the Lance: World Book of Ansalon, pg 55-56. I just had another read, the sea barbarians are listed as descendants of mariners from Istar. I've copied the relevant sections below for the sea barbarians. Lifestyle looks like it has some info on where they maintain some more permanent settlements. I always thought of them as the archetype for the mariner warrior class, probably helped along by the art used in the book.

Appearance
Sea barbarians have richer skin tones than other barbarians. Their skin ranges from light brown to glowing black. They wear their tightly curled black hair closely cropped to their heads. Their eyes flash with emotion—joy one moment and wrath the next—much like the volatile sea. Sea barbarians enjoy flamboyant and gaudy garb of sailcloth, homespun, or burlap. Life among the roaring billows and pitching waves makes these folk boisterous and courageous. Even so, they are the most civilized of the barbaric races.

Personality
Sea barbarians differ greatly from their barbarian brothers. On the outside, these loud, friendly people brim with good cheer. Underneath, though, sea barbarians harbor a haughty pride that keeps them distant from other races. Even so, sea barbarians deal fairly with those they meet and, given time, develop friendships that can weather any storm.

History
The sea barbarians have an entirely different history. They arose as mariners of once-mighty Istar. The Cataclysm destroyed the heart-city of their shipping business and dispersed the mariners throughout the world. Since the Zero Hour, mariners have led a somewhat nomadic existence. They never settle permanently: the urge to travel fills their blood.

Lifestyle
The sea barbarians live differently. Although they spend most of their time at sea, they do dock occasionally. Descendants of city dwellers, these barbarians maintain port cities where they can rest and sell their cargos. The city of Sea Reach on the island of Saifhum is one such bedroom town for sea barbarians. They forbid foreign traffic into Sea Reach, wishing to keep the foul folk of Ansalon at arm's reach.

 

[Yaarel]

Sure, in the 2e book Tales of the Lance: World Book of Ansalon, pg 55-56. I just had another read, the sea barbarians are listed as descendants of mariners from Istar. I've copied the relevant sections below for the sea barbarians. Lifestyle looks like it has some info on where they maintain some more permanent settlements. I always thought of them as the archetype for the mariner warrior class, probably helped along by the art used in the book.

Appearance
Sea barbarians have richer skin tones than other barbarians. Their skin ranges from light brown to glowing black. They wear their tightly curled black hair closely cropped to their heads. Their eyes flash with emotion—joy one moment and wrath the next—much like the volatile sea. Sea barbarians enjoy flamboyant and gaudy garb of sailcloth, homespun, or burlap. Life among the roaring billows and pitching waves makes these folk boisterous and courageous. Even so, they are the most civilized of the barbaric races.

Personality
Sea barbarians differ greatly from their barbarian brothers. On the outside, these loud, friendly people brim with good cheer. Underneath, though, sea barbarians harbor a haughty pride that keeps them distant from other races. Even so, sea barbarians deal fairly with those they meet and, given time, develop friendships that can weather any storm.

History
The sea barbarians have an entirely different history. They arose as mariners of once-mighty Istar. The Cataclysm destroyed the heart-city of their shipping business and dispersed the mariners throughout the world. Since the Zero Hour, mariners have led a somewhat nomadic existence. They never settle permanently: the urge to travel fills their blood.

Lifestyle
The sea barbarians live differently. Although they spend most of their time at sea, they do dock occasionally. Descendants of city dwellers, these barbarians maintain port cities where they can rest and sell their cargos. The city of Sea Reach on the island of Saifhum is one such bedroom town for sea barbarians. They forbid foreign traffic into Sea Reach, wishing to keep the foul folk of Ansalon at arm's reach.

Istar (≈ Babylonian goddess Ishtar) is mainly Iraq Mesopotamia. However, Istar (≈ related Canaanite goddess Ashtarte) is Lebanon fertile crescent.

In this sense, the Istar "mariners" are prominently the coastal Phoenicians, today Lebanon. The Phoenicians have sailor port towns all around the Mediterranean, even as far as Spain, and Carthage in Africa is a famous example, today Tunisia.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Sure, in the 2e book Tales of the Lance: World Book of Ansalon, pg 55-56. I just had another read, the sea barbarians are listed as descendants of mariners from Istar. I've copied the relevant sections below for the sea barbarians. Lifestyle looks like it has some info on where they maintain some more permanent settlements. I always thought of them as the archetype for the mariner warrior class, probably helped along by the art used in the book.

Appearance
Sea barbarians have richer skin tones than other barbarians. Their skin ranges from light brown to glowing black. They wear their tightly curled black hair closely cropped to their heads. Their eyes flash with emotion—joy one moment and wrath the next—much like the volatile sea. Sea barbarians enjoy flamboyant and gaudy garb of sailcloth, homespun, or burlap. Life among the roaring billows and pitching waves makes these folk boisterous and courageous. Even so, they are the most civilized of the barbaric races.

Personality
Sea barbarians differ greatly from their barbarian brothers. On the outside, these loud, friendly people brim with good cheer. Underneath, though, sea barbarians harbor a haughty pride that keeps them distant from other races. Even so, sea barbarians deal fairly with those they meet and, given time, develop friendships that can weather any storm.

History
The sea barbarians have an entirely different history. They arose as mariners of once-mighty Istar. The Cataclysm destroyed the heart-city of their shipping business and dispersed the mariners throughout the world. Since the Zero Hour, mariners have led a somewhat nomadic existence. They never settle permanently: the urge to travel fills their blood.

Lifestyle
The sea barbarians live differently. Although they spend most of their time at sea, they do dock occasionally. Descendants of city dwellers, these barbarians maintain port cities where they can rest and sell their cargos. The city of Sea Reach on the island of Saifhum is one such bedroom town for sea barbarians. They forbid foreign traffic into Sea Reach, wishing to keep the foul folk of Ansalon at arm's reach.

This is great! I'll add the Sea Barbarians to my chart.

As far as I can tell, the Sea Barbarians are distinct from the Black Nordmen fisherfolk (home of Theros Ironfeld) and the Black Ergothians (home of Maquesta Kar-Thon). A distinct nation of Krynn.

It's a bit confusing at first, since the iconic pirate Maquesta Kar-Thon was apparenty not a "Sea Barbarian", but an Ergothian. I don't know if Maquesta was intended by some of the designers to be a "Sea Barbarian", but from the info I've seen so far, she's an independent pirate of Ergothian origin. Whereas the Sea Barbarians are a particular marine-based culture which has existed since the Cataclysm; which of course means that most Sea Barbarians are born into that culture.

Being geographically dispersed, the city of Sea Reach may be the closest thing we know of a "capital" for the Sea Barbarians.

 

[cbwjm]

Istar (≈ Babylonian goddess Ishtar) is mainly Iraq Mesopotamia. However, Istar (≈ related Canaanite goddess Ashtarte) is Lebanon fertile crescent.

In this sense, the Istar "mariners" are prominently the coastal Phoenicians, today Lebanon. The Phoenicians have sailor port towns all around the Mediterranean, even as far as Spain, and Carthage in Africa is a famous example, today Tunisia.

I'm not sure it's best to use the name of the city in the game as a basis to link it to a culture in the real world. More than likely it was just a cool sounding name than any relation to the ancient goddess.

 

[Yaarel]

I'm not sure it's best to use the name of the city in the game as a basis to link it to a culture in the real world. More than likely it was just a cool sounding name than any relation to the ancient goddess.

The physical characteristics match SE Asia. Both linguistically and phenotypically, and with a famous maritime culture (!), at least the sailors appear to be Phoenician-esque.

That said, the inland area of Istar proper, far from the coast, is nonmaritime, and apparently Babylon-esque.

The Dragon Magazine Annual, where the full map of the planet Oerth, features a Greek style warship in the sea decorations. So the Phoenician counterpart to the Greek sailors are there in the setting too.

Meanwhile Tharquish = Rome, relating to both Greek versus Phoenicians, and Rome versus Carthage.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

The physical characteristics match SE Asia. Both linguistically and phenotypically, and with a famous maritime culture (!), at least the sailors appear to be Phoenician-esque.

That said, the inland area of Istar proper, far from the coast, is nonmaritime, and apparently Babylon-esque.

Yeah it’s really not. Istar is the Papal States, complete with faux Latin tongue. Any Babylonian elements are put in because of the whole Great Apostasy angle (see my earlier post)

Any maritime angle fits Italy - the masters of the Mediterranean during the medieval era.

 

[Yaarel]

Yeah it’s really not. Istar is the Papal States, complete with faux Latin tongue. Any Babylonian elements are put in because of the whole Great Apostasy angle (see my earlier post)

Any maritime angle fits Italy - the masters of the Mediterranean during the medieval era.

Tharquish is Rome.

The link between Babylon = "beast" = Pope is a different (unfortunate) archetype.