Golarion cultures and real world counterparts


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I've been trying to search for a list of the Galorion cultures and the real world counterparts and haven't found anything comprehensive. I'm particularly looking for Germanic and/or the English. I want to make a character based on family ancestry, but I don't want to get the wrong one.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

First, that's Golarion, not Golarian. (/canonnazi)

I think that the best matches for your cultures would be Andoran, Isger, Nirmathas or Molthune.


I don't think there is a close equivalent to Germany in Golarion. Nirmathas and Molthune come pretty close to England (the latter) and a mix of the various real and imaginary rebel factions fighting the British Empire (the former).

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Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Molthune with it's rampant militarism and "might makes right" and "ordnung muss sein" attitude among upper echelons is pretty much XVII+ century Prussia.


Gorbacz wrote:
Molthune with it's rampant militarism and "might makes right" and "ordnung muss sein" attitude among upper echelons is pretty much XVII+ century Prussia.

Or Britain, or France in the same time period. There's not much difference, really.


I think of Nirmathas as Wales more than England.....


Fabius Maximus wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
Molthune with it's rampant militarism and "might makes right" and "ordnung muss sein" attitude among upper echelons is pretty much XVII+ century Prussia.
Or Britain, or France in the same time period. There's not much difference, really.

True, but Mirabeau's quip about Prussia (Other states possess armies; Prussia is an army which possesses a state) really fits Molthune to a "t."

Sovereign Court Contributor

The 8th Dwarf wrote:
I think of Nirmathas as Wales more than England.....

It sort of felt like Ivanhoe/Robin Hood to me. With Molthune as the Normans.


What type of the Germanic Cultures? The Kellid's have a rather Gaulish flavor to them.


So who best represents the Elves of Lothlorion?

Liberty's Edge

Enocelot wrote:
So who best represents the Elves of Lothlorion?

Well, Kyonin is the largest single nation of the elves in the Inner Sea setting but are not as quiet as isolationist as the elves of Lothlorien.


Nor as advanced.

I think, in general, Elves are pretty much under-represented in Golarion.


Enocelot wrote:

Nor as advanced.

I think, in general, Elves are pretty much under-represented in Golarion.

That's because Golarion is, unfortunately, far too humanocentric. All the demihumans feel like also-rans rather than full fledged contenders.

I always thought Forgotten Realms got this right, it spotlights most of the races rather nicely. Humans have their ancient empires, like Netheril and Imaskari, as well as well featured current human strongholds like Waterdeep, Cormyr, Amn, Baldurs Gate, and many others. The elves of FR have a long and storied past, ancient ruins, and island kingdom, and are relevant to the stories being told in the realms. The dwarves have very good representation too, the halfings actually have a real nation (what other setting has had that?), and the gnomes have their own island to tinker away to their hearts content.

If you want to go humanocentric, I always felt Dragonlance was the proper way to do it. The humans are usually the big movers and shakers in DL, but it doesn't do it in a way that puts the other races on the sidelines, rather instead everyone contributes their part, intricately weaved together in a way that just flows. Where DL is 60/40 in favor of humans, Golarion is 90/10.


Jeff Erwin wrote:
The 8th Dwarf wrote:
I think of Nirmathas as Wales more than England.....
It sort of felt like Ivanhoe/Robin Hood to me. With Molthune as the Normans.

It reminds me of Owain Glyndwr the last Prince of Wales vs the English Marcher Lords.

Sovereign Court Contributor

The 8th Dwarf wrote:
Jeff Erwin wrote:
The 8th Dwarf wrote:
I think of Nirmathas as Wales more than England.....
It sort of felt like Ivanhoe/Robin Hood to me. With Molthune as the Normans.
It reminds me of Owain Glyndwr the last Prince of Wales vs the English Marcher Lords.

Well that's very flattering, being a descendant of Glyndwr, but it more applies to the Nirmanthas side than Molthune. Part of his success was the disorganisation of the Marcher Lords.


Enocelot wrote:

Nor as advanced.

I think, in general, Elves are pretty much under-represented in Golarion.

I actually think the Dwarves are getting the short end of the stick (pun intended) when it comes to representation in Golarion. It can't be argued that we have "Dwarves of Golarion", the Elves (and the other player races, for that matter) have their own books too. The Elves also have their own AP and while it was Second Darkness, they get some AP love. It took years for the write up of the Dwarven patron Torag and I'm still waiting for some AP notice for Dwarves. I don't even need an AP dedicated to Dwarves, I'd be happy with just a bit more detail, i.e. I would have loved to seen a Janderhoff article in Curse of the Crimson Throne. With all the love shown to Varisia, I'm still confused as to why the major Dwarven settlement in that nation has still only been mentioned in passing.


Diamond B wrote:
Enocelot wrote:

Nor as advanced.

I think, in general, Elves are pretty much under-represented in Golarion.

I actually think the Dwarves are getting the short end of the stick (pun intended) when it comes to representation in Golarion. It can't be argued that we have "Dwarves of Golarion", the Elves (and the other player races, for that matter) have their own books too. The Elves also have their own AP and while it was Second Darkness, they get some AP love. It took years for the write up of the Dwarven patron Torag and I'm still waiting for some AP notice for Dwarves. I don't even need an AP dedicated to Dwarves, I'd be happy with just a bit more detail, i.e. I would have loved to seen a Janderhoff article in Curse of the Crimson Throne. With all the love shown to Varisia, I'm still confused as to why the major Dwarven settlement in that nation has still only been mentioned in passing.

No one at Paizo likes Dwarves, especially James Jacobs. It's a pity, really.


Fabius Maximus wrote:
Diamond B wrote:
Enocelot wrote:

Nor as advanced.

I think, in general, Elves are pretty much under-represented in Golarion.

I actually think the Dwarves are getting the short end of the stick (pun intended) when it comes to representation in Golarion. It can't be argued that we have "Dwarves of Golarion", the Elves (and the other player races, for that matter) have their own books too. The Elves also have their own AP and while it was Second Darkness, they get some AP love. It took years for the write up of the Dwarven patron Torag and I'm still waiting for some AP notice for Dwarves. I don't even need an AP dedicated to Dwarves, I'd be happy with just a bit more detail, i.e. I would have loved to seen a Janderhoff article in Curse of the Crimson Throne. With all the love shown to Varisia, I'm still confused as to why the major Dwarven settlement in that nation has still only been mentioned in passing.

No one at Paizo likes Dwarves, especially James Jacobs. It's a pity, really.

The lack of demihuman nations, and also interesting demihuman gods, is really Pathfinder's weakness. I really hope they fix this in the future.


Settings that are focused on humans, I find that an advantage over settings were elves are overexposed. And you have Kyonin, the Mordant Spire, Five Mountains, Worldwound, Belkzen, Nagajor, Kwanlai ... FR has Evermeet, the Great Rift, Luiren, Evereska, they're all isolated.


Gorbacz wrote:
Molthune with it's rampant militarism and "might makes right" and "ordnung muss sein" attitude among upper echelons is pretty much XVII+ century Prussia.

That was my impression as well, the militant Prussians.

Lastwall is also very Germanic and reminiscent of the Teutonic Knights.

The River Kingdoms remind me of the medieval robber-baronies of the middle Rhine with a mixture of fantasy-Germanic and French statelets (the ones connected with Galt).

Silver Crusade

I think Osirion is based at least partially on ancient Egypt.

Also, Nagajor has some Khmer Empire vibes, an example of real world cultures having a rough counterpart in a non-human race.

Hwanggot and Bachuan are closer matches for their analogues, Korea and modern North Korea respectively.

I've heard some folks connect Nex to a real world culture because of some of the clothing style, but I can't recall for certain. I believe Thuvia has been likened to Timbuktu split five ways as well.

Casmaron so far seems to be Ancient Persian Empire, with Qadira being a gender-flipped take on Fantasy Arabia.

Sovereign Court Contributor

Mikaze wrote:

I think Osirion is based at least partially on ancient Egypt.

Also, Nagajor has some Khmer Empire vibes, an example of real world cultures having a rough counterpart in a non-human race.

Hwanggot and Bachuan are closer matches for their analogues, Korea and modern North Korea respectively.

I've heard some folks connect Nex to a real world culture because of some of the clothing style, but I can't recall for certain. I believe Thuvia has been likened to Timbuktu split five ways as well.

Casmaron so far seems to be Ancient Persian Empire, with Qadira being a gender-flipped take on Fantasy Arabia.

Not entirely gender-flipped. Zenobia (Zaynab in Arabic) was from ancient Arabia.


Jalmeray reminds me of India


Enocelot wrote:

Nor as advanced.

I think, in general, Elves are pretty much under-represented in Golarion.

You say it like it's a bad thing

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

The River Kingdoms had a bit of a pre-Prussian Germany feel to it (with the kellids making a decent match of Germanic "barbarians" and the whole unstable "ruled by a vast number of people and constantly changing hands"). Irrisen is based on Russia (the stilagi part made me laugh. My grandpa was one when he was in his thirties). Molthune reminds me of Prussia, Taldor of imperial England OR alternatively Byzantium. Qadira seems to be Arabia (but what part I'm not certain), Osirion is ancient Egypt. Minkai was a parallel to Japan, Hongal was this to Mongolia. The Crown of the World reminds me heavily of the highest reaches of Canada. The Land of the Linnorm Kings reminds me of Scandenavia. Andoren is either the United States or to a lesser degree the Netherlands. Iblidos is implied to be Greece, but too little information exists to be certain. There are parts of Mwangi that resemble Old Zimbabwe. Cheliax reminds me of the original Rome, with a hint of Italy and Spain thrown in. Brevoy...it has Russian elements (in the sense that their noble families sound like the Russian-language equivalent to their house sigil, i.e.Medyved is literally bear, and their symbol is a bear...) but their entire feel seems less like our world and more like Westeros ("Ours is the Right" is only one word away from "Ours if the Fury"). As to the rest, I have no idea whatsoever, except that Imperial Lung Wa sounded like ancient China...


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Jeven wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
Molthune with it's rampant militarism and "might makes right" and "ordnung muss sein" attitude among upper echelons is pretty much XVII+ century Prussia.

That was my impression as well, the militant Prussians.

Lastwall is also very Germanic and reminiscent of the Teutonic Knights.

The River Kingdoms remind me of the medieval robber-baronies of the middle Rhine with a mixture of fantasy-Germanic and French statelets (the ones connected with Galt).

I'm surprised that no one in this thread has drawn any parallels between the Holy Roman Empire and Taldor. A factionalized remnant of a once much larger empire, headed by a powerless inbred King and a bunch of feuding nobles? A continued reliance on knights well into the age of more effective tactics? A sense of national entitlement to lands that once belonged to it, now owned by other nations? Even with the Byzantine-themed names and appearances, it always came off to me more as 75% Holy Roman Empire, 25% Byzantine.

Sczarni

Nirmathas is very Robin Hood England / William Wallace Scotland, to Molthune's Prussian-style militaristic ideology. I'm interested in the Owain Glyndwr Welsh connection; I'm afraid I'm quite unfamiliar with Welsh history.

The River Kingdoms do have a strong Medieval Germanic micro-states feel to them.

There's not really much of a straight England; that may be a consequence of the game being developed by Americans, who can have a tough time thinking of what makes England distinct from other Medieval and early modern cultures (we tend to think that Medieval England was "normal", and only other places had distinctive styles).

I would say that there are echoes of England in Ustalav's political structure and history -- Varisians pushed out Kellids, the same way Anglo-Saxons pushed out Celts -- though that's also mixed with Eastern European influences. There's also some in Brevoy (that's kind of third-hand; it's borrowed from A Song of Ice and Fire, which is based on the English Wars of the Roses).

So you won't have as straight an example as Osirion=Egypt or Andoran=USA, but hopefully you can find plenty of options to work with.

Good Luck!


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Alkenstar would allow me to run a combination of Veldt (see the movies Zulu & Breaker Morant), Australian Bushranger (medieval Mad Max, Ned Kelly) and Palestine in World War One (The Light Horsemen, Lawrence of Arabia) style campaign.

My campaign would go something like this.

Players start out as highwaymen/bushrangers/outlaws raiding into Nex and Geb.
The Gorrilla King invades Alkenstar and the Mana Wates lays siege to the towns and cites.
Party is inspired or hired to lead the resistance.


Trinite wrote:
I would say that there are echoes of England in Ustalav's political structure and history -- Varisians pushed out Kellids, the same way Anglo-Saxons pushed out Celts -- though that's also mixed with Eastern European influences. There's also some in Brevoy (that's kind of third-hand; it's borrowed from A Song of Ice and Fire, which is based on the English Wars of the Roses).

Ustalav's Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye also derives its themes heavily from the Masonic Order and turn-of-the-century British egyptologists like Flinders Petrie and Howard Carter.


I also think you can draw some cultural parallels between Britain and Taldor...

Really Taldor is all over the map, as besides the Byzantine influences I can also see a bit of Spain there too...


CWheezy wrote:
Jalmeray reminds me of India

I've actually had my Sri Lankan friend tell me it reminds him of a high fantasy Sri Lanka.


Same here, Odraude. I've always looked at it as Vudra being India and Jalmeray being Sri Lanka.

Liberty's Edge

Taldor has a British Empire/Byzantine Empire feel to it.

Cheliax has the romantic language nations covered (Italy, France, Spain and Portugal). Check out Cheliax's colonies in Arcadia, they sound alot like Spanish America.

Irresin and Brevory both have Russian/Slavic influences, with Iobara being Siberia.

Mawangi Expanse takes a lot of Sub-Sahara African myths and lore.

Senghor has a New Orleans feel to it. The Caldaru back story fits a carib-african back story (The Caldaru say they hail from a far off land across the ocean (Arcadia anyone?).

Jalmeray definatly has a Sri Lanka feel.

Minata is an amalgamation of Indonesia, The Philippines and Papa New Guinea.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Trinite wrote:
I would say that there are echoes of England in Ustalav's political structure and history -- Varisians pushed out Kellids, the same way Anglo-Saxons pushed out Celts -- though that's also mixed with Eastern European influences.

This is actually a very good point. The Kellids are sort of the Celtic analogue in Golarion, if Sarkoris (the largest and most powerful Kellid land before the Worldwound opened on its doorstep) was anything to go on, and while, yes, there's Eastern European naming conventions and perhaps styles, Dracula only started in Eastern Europe. Most of the action was set in England. Same with Frankenstein. Ustalav's got the same kind of dreary weather and eerie moors and hills that England's gothic literature made famous...

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