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Hello, everyone!
I have seen that Golarion has a lot of our real human cultures tweaked to be slightly different. I could recognize Viking culture, and countries like China, Japan or Korea in the Jade Regent Adventure Path. I could see Romania like cities in Carrion Crown.
My question is: Is there any region of Golarion resembling in any manner to Spain? I would like to know if there is any eco of my country in Golarion.
Thanks for your answers.
Taldor, perhaps.
Cheliax of course !!
Hellknights make a perfet spanish inquisition.
Point for Taldor: Hostile "Arabs" at the doorstep.
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Point for Taldor: Hostile "Arabs" at the doorstep.
Taldor seems more Byzantine, as in old empire gradually being eroded, that used to have a western division.
Cheliax has that legalistic evil vibe that not only brought you the inquisition, but also brought about some warped legalistic orders. It looks like a society terrified of it's church and leaders....but also proud and for the moment, victorious.
They would also make good Nazis.
Taldor seems more Byzantine, as in old empire gradually being eroded, that used to have a western division.
I have to agree.
Cheliax has that legalistic evil vibe that not only brought you the inquisition, but also brought about some warped legalistic orders. It looks like a society terrified of it's church and leaders....but also proud and for the moment, victorious.They would also make good Nazis.
Oh yes. Just take a look at the flag... ;)
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Cheliax of course !!
Hellknights make a perfet spanish inquisition.
Cheliax also borders Rahadoum, and controls a small slice of territory in Rahadoum. The beliefs of Rahadoum and Cheliax are at great odds with each other. So, I see Cheliax as a close fit. (It is ironic that in a D&D campaign that I played in prior to Pathfinder, the Spain analog wwas dominated by wizards who were extreme nationalists, and quite a few were diabolists.)
I'd go with Taldor, especially when you look at the names. Cheliax always stuck me as the "not Italy" of Golarion, especially in the Council of Thieves AP.
I'd go with Taldor, especially when you look at the names. Cheliax always stuck me as the "not Italy" of Golarion, especially in the Council of Thieves AP.
Yes... but from the late middle ages on (1400s), Spain or its predecessors (Aragorn) held much of Italy as well. So I think it's a mash-up of Spain and Italy. Taldan names suggest the Byzantines more for me.
Taldor has the feeling of Spain, Chelix strikes me more as a generic totalitarian state mashed up from early central Europe experience with Stalinist rule or early nazi Germany. The power has been consoliated and the populace is diverted from the bloodier side of the regime by work and relative prosperity.
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Taldor has the feeling of Spain, Chelix strikes me more as a generic totalitarian state mashed up from early central Europe experience with Stalinist rule or early nazi Germany. The power has been consoliated and the populace is diverted from the bloodier side of the regime by work and relative prosperity.
The 'consolidation' of Cheliax reminds me of Ferdinand and Isabella's reign where war in Iberia ended, followed by an oppressive combination of church and state combining forces.
All the Best,
Kerney
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It depends on the Player and how he or she reads it.
Lots of folks seem to see Taldor as Byzantine.
I HATE that. It doesn't remotely feel Byzantine to me -- but of course for most it absolutely does. (To me Taldor is 16th century France.)
As far as Spain -- I've always seen northern Cheliax as "Italian-like" and southern, coastal Cheliax as "Spain-like." But those impressions are more urban and modern Italy-like and Spain-like.
For an "older" Spain, or a "poor Spanish" I'd go with the "Caribbean" Sargava.
Taldor has the feeling of Spain, Chelix strikes me more as a generic totalitarian state mashed up from early central Europe experience with Stalinist rule or early nazi Germany. The power has been consoliated and the populace is diverted from the bloodier side of the regime by work and relative prosperity.The 'consolidation' of Cheliax reminds me of Ferdinand and Isabella's reign where war in Iberia ended, followed by an oppressive combination of church and state combining forces.
All the Best,
Kerney
While what Taldor did with it's wealth and lands reminds me of the Spanish loss of Netherlands and how they failed to invest to their own lands, drowning the gold in wars instead.
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It depends on the Player and how he or she reads it.
Lots of folks seem to see Taldor as Byzantine.
I HATE that. It doesn't remotely feel Byzantine to me -- but of course for most it absolutely does. (To me Taldor is 16th century France.)As far as Spain -- I've always seen northern Cheliax as "Italian-like" and southern, coastal Cheliax as "Spain-like." But those impressions are more urban and modern Italy-like and Spain-like.
For an "older" Spain, or a "poor Spanish" I'd go with the "Caribbean" Sargava.
It feels Byzantine because it's in decline, it's glory has faded, it's opportunities are gone and a religously-driven exotic superpower is knocking on the door even as decadent nobles ponder which color to wear today. All that screams XV century Constantinople, five to eleven just before the Ottomans land their final blow.
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Oh, I totally see how lots (most?) folks see Taldor as Byzantine -- it just doesn't feel that way to me.
I see a crumbling, decadent France -- perhaps mostly through Shakespeare's eyes in his second Tetrology. It's a cultural thing for me in this one, not a "what's happening politically / historically" thing.
But that's why I say it depends on how the person reads it.
Really, there's only 3 places in the Inner Sea that really stand out as specifically earth-history-related: Linnorm Kings, Mwangi & Ustalov. All the other places have just a taste of "real-earth" and we read the rest into it.
-- I've always seen northern Cheliax as "Italian-like"
Why is that?
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Yeah, that's gonna have to go down as one of those "can't explain" things. I really don't know -- I just do. (Maybe cuz my two Italian friends seem like they would fit into Cheliax, who knows?!)
Lemme reiturate, though, modern, urban Italian-like.
(and modern, urban Spanish-like for the southern coast)
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Oh, I totally see how lots (most?) folks see Taldor as Byzantine -- it just doesn't feel that way to me.
I see a crumbling, decadent France -- perhaps mostly through Shakespeare's eyes in his second Tetrology. It's a cultural thing for me in this one, not a "what's happening politically / historically" thing.
But that's why I say it depends on how the person reads it.
Really, there's only 3 places in the Inner Sea that really stand out as specifically earth-history-related: Linnorm Kings, Mwangi & Ustalov. All the other places have just a taste of "real-earth" and we read the rest into it.
You trust an Englishman's judgement of France? Back then? Geee, that's like asking us Poles for a balanced and fair opinion on Russia.
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Really, there's only 3 places in the Inner Sea that really stand out as specifically earth-history-related: Linnorm Kings, Mwangi & Ustalov. All the other places have just a taste of "real-earth" and we read the rest into it.
Honestly, I see a lot more places which are strongly real-world inspired, even if it is sometimes a mix of real-world places and events (such as Galt). Andoran, Galt, Arcadia, Molthune, Minkai, Vudra spring to mind.
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Well, my comment was specifically for Inner Sea -- Vudra, Tien-China and Arcadia don't really count.
But Molthune doesn't have to be Nazi Germany; Galt could be either French OR Russian Revolution; Andoran seems pretty exclusively American Revolution but I've seen people on the Boards that say they see it as more French Revolution.
That's what I LOVE about Paizo's world: There's enough of a taste of several "cultures" we know but not so much that it couldn't be read as a different yet similar "culture."
Really, only Mwangi, Linnorm Kings and Ustalov are so distinctive (in the Inner Sea) that they can only be read one way.
Well, my comment was specifically for Inner Sea -- Vudra, Tien-China and Arcadia don't really count.
But Molthune doesn't have to be Nazi Germany; Galt could be either French OR Russian Revolution; Andoran seems pretty exclusively American Revolution but I've seen people on the Boards that say they see it as more French Revolution.
That's what I LOVE about Paizo's world: There's enough of a taste of several "cultures" we know but not so much that it couldn't be read as a different yet similar "culture."
Really, only Mwangi, Linnorm Kings and Ustalov are so distinctive (in the Inner Sea) that they can only be read one way.
Osirion?
Qadira, to a lesser extent?|
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Oops, forgot Osirion -- my dummy.
Qadira, though: probably Arabia but also very Persian -- and then you have to wrestle with the differences between Qadira and Katapesh. And then Nex & Geb with Qadira and Katapesh. Saying one absolutely IS culture "A" and another culture "B" can be argued -- "Perfect" I say.
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Ultimately, the fact is that real world cultures and history are so dynamic and complicated that NONE of them can be stereotyped and shoehorned into a Campaign Setting.
So, since we have different views, based on propaganda and our own schema, we'll see the different flavors (Pathfinder nations) differently.
I just LOVE that Paizo puts a good taste of real world culture & historic stereotypes into several of their setting's nations / regions. It gives us a foundation we are familiar with on which to build our games that is unlike almost everything in GH and FR.
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Ultimately, the fact is that real world cultures and history are so dynamic and complicated that NONE of them can be stereotyped and shoehorned into a Campaign Setting.
So, since we have different views, based on propaganda and our own schema, we'll see the different flavors (Pathfinder nations) differently.
I just LOVE that Paizo puts a good taste of real world culture & historic stereotypes into several of their setting's nations / regions. It gives us a foundation we are familiar with on which to build our games that is unlike almost everything in GH and FR.
I agree wholeheartedly. Doubly so because they took RL stereotypes not usually seen in Med-Fan settings (French Revolution, American free-trade, abolition of slavery and pioneer spirit, Soviet Revolution and bureaucracy to name just a few).
Funny thing, I never saw Molthune as fascist, but as an image of the soviet bureaucracies. Quite interesting.
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You forced me to bone up on Molthune - my first thought reading about it was, of all things, Nemesis from the City of Heroes MMORPG - and from there, of course, to Otto Von Bismarck's Germany.
I must confess I had always thought of Taldor as 3 Musketeers-era France. Of course, I recognized that Galt was Revolutionary France, but I figured they just had 2 Frances, nothing wrong with that. That said, I have written up a "Don Quixote" Cavalier who happens to be Taldan. Blurring the line between France and Spain was never too hard to begin with. Just toss in some mountain-dwelling separatists (Regional/Racial Background Trait?), some wacky artists (Chaotic-aligned prestige class?), and a lot of nice food (4th-level potions?) and you're off to the races.
Andoran is so obviously the USA that I can only assume the whole place smells like popcorn and peanut butter (the "Eagle Knights" are what really give it away), but it's no accident that people would identify it as much with France - especially when the picture at the beginning of their entry in the Inner Sea World Guide is a direct homage to a French revolutionary painting. In both worlds, the two revolutions were joined at the hip from the beginning. Galt is pretty clearly France and not Russia, simply because of the guillotine motif - but again, the comparison's no accident, since the Russian revolutionaries consciously followed the French example.
Speaking of Galt, of course, Katapesh is pretty distinctly based on Ayn Rand's idea of utopia - and/or perhaps the modern United Arab Emirates. I actually had it and Qadira confused for a while, but Qadira's actually pretty different - especially with its academies of elemental magic, it actually reminds me of the old AL-QADIM setting.
My initial thought with Cheliax was actually the British Empire, simply because Andoran rebelled against it, but then I had a rather more interesting thought: just as Galt and Taldor could both be different faces of France, so could Andoran and Cheliax both be different faces of the United States - Andoran being its idealized self-image, Cheliax being the rapacious dystopia it fears it's become. One of the best parts of this is the bit about Cheliax "losing its soul" after its patron god died - shades of JFK/RFK/MLK, anyone?
I looked for Soviet-like stuff, but I, for one, don't see any. Irrisen is obviously based on fairy-tale Russia, but without too much historical Russia - you could also look at it as evil-mirror-universe Rashemen (from the Forgotten Realms). Granted, Rahadoum offers several nice parallels, but it seems just as much like some weird reinterpretation of biblical Palestine - "Thou Shalt Have No Gods. Period."
Varisia's a fun one. It's like a nation of Gypsies, especially with Desna being their local deity.
Of course, the Spain-analogue I'd enjoy seeing would be the one designed and ruled by Dali and Picasso!
Or a Poland-analogue based on Zdzislaw Beksinski and Jacek Yerka - how's that sound to you, Gorbacz? ;)
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This is how I always saw them:
Taldor - Byzantine
Andoran - Revolutionary France that succeeded
Galt - Revolutionary France that failed
Cheliax - Catholic Church empire (never existed in real life I don't think)
Osirion - Egypt
Qadira - mix of Persia, Arabia, and Babylon
Mwangi - African jungles
Ustalav - Romania
Varisia - Balkins
Land of Linnorm Kings - Scandinavia
Irrisen - fantasy German area (with all the witches, trolls, etc)
Realm of Mammoth Lords - completely fictional I think
Brevoy - Holy Roman Empire
River Kingdoms - Pre-Germany German states
Molthune - England
Nirmathas - Scotland and Ireland
Druma - Scientology
Azlant - Atlantis
Everything else I'm not sure or have no idea. Thuvia seems somewhat of a modern day African nation, with it's only export being blood diamonds.
Among my friends and fellow PF players, Cheliax is always the biggest debate. Nobody is sure what it is exactly...so maybe it's not based on anything real. It's size and power would say it's France or Rome, but neither one was able to hold onto about half of itself after a ruinous revolution that turned so bad. Italy has been mentioned, but other than the names and the culture, not so much. It could be fictionalize pre-WW2 Germany, but Germany's influence in that era was never this broad, and there's no genocide going on that we know of in Cheliax.
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This is how I always saw them:
Cheliax - Catholic Church empire (never existed in real life I don't think)
That's actually medieval Europe in a nutshell. The modern desire for seperation of church and state was prompted by centuries of what happens when the two are fused together.
Varisia - Balkins
Depending on what you're picturing - these days, when one thinks of the Balkans, one usually thinks of nothing good. Of course, Greece is part of the Balkans (at least kind of), which prompts a rather startling realization: Where's the Greece-analogue? Given what Golarion's got, it's a tad surprising something like that was left out.
Druma - Scientology
Uh, well that's a bit awkward. I think the Prophecies of Kalistrade was supposed to be a take on Islam, retailored for a world where there is most definitely more than one god, so Druma is rather like one of the Arabian Peninsula nations. Razmiran is your basic cult setup, though it has no clear historical analogue - a little bit of North Korea, a little bit of Constantine's Rome, and the whole "population controlled by drug addiction" that's more dystopian-future fiction and conspiracy theory fare than history. Britain did that to China, of course, but Razmiran is one country doing it to itself.
Thuvia seems somewhat of a modern day African nation, with it's only export being blood diamonds.
I didn't see anything about Thuvia committing atrocities against itself in the name of its trade. Two things that came to my mind were the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Symbiosis" and a snide fantasy interpretation of Saudi Arabia.
Among my friends and fellow PF players, Cheliax is always the biggest debate....It could be fictionalize pre-WW2 Germany, but Germany's influence in that era was never this broad, and there's no genocide going on that we know of in Cheliax.
Nazi Germany kept its genocide pretty well under wraps for quite some time - if Cheliax turned out to have a secret genocide, that'd be one hell (no pun intended) of a plot twist to whip out in a year or two.
One disturbing thought I had was about Lastwall and/or Mendev - that they could be Nazi Germany as it saw itself: the harsh but noble bulwark of civilization standing against the forces of chaos and destruction. Of course, I suppose then you could say that the Worldwound is the USSR as the Western alarmists saw it.
Greece is Iblydos, but it's off the coast of Casmaron.
Cheliax is in part, I think, similar to the English "black legend" of Hapsburg Spain - the Inquisition and the great enemy of Good Queen Bess.
There's a fair amount of Victorian England, strangely enough, in Ustalav. Ustalav seems to combine Transylvania with the main setting of Dracula (London).
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I am a big fan of linking fantasy nations to real-world nations. This allows the writers to make use of ready-made archetypes and the reader's expectations instead of having to spell everything out from scratch. Sure, it is a shortcut, but it is an effective one.
That said, I have thought on this and compared notes with my friends quite a bit. Here are my opinions on the analogues, keeping in mind that I am looking at language (people and place names) and culture first, "historical equivalency" second:
Absalom - Athens in its glory days. Center of culture, learning, and trade, and Kortos even sounds vaguely Greek to me.
Andoran - Idealized early America. In total agreement with Mr. In Your Closet about the similarities to France being due to the intentional parallels between the real-world American and French revolutions.
Belkzen - Fantasy orc kingdom, no real-world analogue apparent.
Brevoy - Mash-up of medieval German states, Austria, Poland, Hungary, maybe even Lithuania. Many different factors led to this assessment; not a strong analogue, but I think it works.
Cheliax - Rome, with echoes of other powerful imperial powers such as colonial England. Names are the biggest signifier for me, and the mix of Italian/Latin-esque names and titles with the occasional Greek-style name thrown in there just cinches it for me.
Druma - The best I could come up with is a medieval version of the United Arab Emirates.
Five Kings - Standard Tolkien-based fantasy dwarves, complete with Nordic flavor sprinkled with Hebrew.
Galt - Demonized French revolutionary era. The guillotine theme really sums it up pretty well, though the names aren't overtly French-sounding like in some other fantasy world analogues (Orlais from Dragon Age anyone?).
Geb - I am not as familiar with African nations and history as I probably should be, but I see no direct analogue of Geb (or Nex). As far as I can tell it is the place for the fantasy trope of the wizards' war that ruins the land.
Irrisen - Baba Yaga is all you have to say. A land based of of Slavic folklore for sure.
Isger - Doesn't really seem to have an identity separate from Cheliax as far as I can tell.
Jalmeray - A colony of Vudra, the very obvious India analogue.
Katapesh - The idea of the stereotypical Arabian bazaar taken to the next level. Not sure what else to say on this one, seems pretty obvious.
Kyonin - Fantasy elves. Nuff said.
Lastwall - Dunno on this one. I would say Crusader States, but that fits Mendev much better.
Linnorm Kings - Oh so Scandinavian! I doubt there will be any argument on that one.
Mammoth Lords - A place to lump all the pre-historic elements they might want in their fantasy. Stone age cultures and mammoths.
Mana Wastes - For those who like some steampunk in their fantasy; no analogue that I know of.
Mendev - The Crusader States, naturally.
Molthune - This one is a toughy. If I had to pin it down I would hazard some northern Italian medieval state with Germanic influence.
Mwangi Expanse - Sub-Saharan African jungle. Yep.
Nex - See Geb.
Nidal - Seems pure fantasy to me.
Nirmathas - Again, nothing obvious, probably pure fantasy. Maybe a tad bit of Scotland, but that is probably just projecting.
Numeria - No real-world analogue that I can see, just a place to put Cimmerian-style barbarians and sci-fi elements. Perhaps the most outright pulp of all the nations in my view.
Osirion - If you have to ask you probably don't get the rest of what I am saying anyway.
Qadira - Medieval Arabian nations I would say, portrayed as part of a still extant Persian empire in the form of Kelesh.
Rahadoum - No analogue that I can see. Maybe a what-if version of the middle east if someone had risen up and thrown out both the Crusaders and the Muslims.
Razmiran - Fantasy cult. Move along, nothing to see...
River Kingdoms - Again, no cultural analogue. A group of petty kingdoms founded by disenfranchised expatriots of various countries, it is almost a little "New World" within the old.
Sargava - Generic colony too far from anything to do much.
Taldan - I have heard many arguments, but I always come back to the Byzantine Empire. The culture of luxury, decadence, and decay, the Roman-esque names, and most especially the composition of the army, including elephant-riding irregulars and, most tellingly, the Ulfen Guard!
Thuvia - I am going to say western Africa, specifically something of a Songhai/Malinese vibe. Again, I do not know terribly much about African culture though, so feel free to prove me wrong!
Ustulav - Germano-Czech-Romanian horror setting for the win! Where else would you put Dracula, Frankenstein, the Golem of Prague, and Sauron? Ravenloft? :P
Varisia - Again, mostly fantasy. Seems to be just a generic "European" nation to serve as a homeland for the "gypsy" analogue, as well as the less-Cimmerian-more-almost-Native-American barbarians, the Shoanti.
Outside Inner Sea - Azlant=Atlantis, Kelesh=Persia, Vudra=India, all the various Tian nations = various east Asian countries I cannot recall at the moment but including China, Japan, and Korea, Arcadia=the Americas, Sarusan=Australia/Polynesia
Oh, and does anyone else want to see more about Droon in southern Garund? Dinosaur-riding lizardfolk sound awesome to me!
You forced me to bone up on Molthune - my first thought reading about it was, of all things, Nemesis from the City of Heroes MMORPG - and from there, of course, to Otto Von Bismarck's Germany.
I do not see this connection.
Bismarck was not an expansionist. He wanted a strong and united Germany, sure (and he got it). He waged war for that, against Denmark, France and even against the german state of Austria (that opposed Prussion domination of the german states).
After he ha created this united Germany in 1871, he carefully crafted a system of alliances and diplomatic relations, where a two-front war against Germany was impossible - he knew that a combined russian and french invasion, perhaps with british allies could not be repelled.
The crazy expansionist and colonial ambitions, that was Wilhelm II.
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I do not see this connection.Bismarck was not an expansionist. He wanted a strong and united Germany, sure (and he got it). He waged war for that, against Denmark, France and even against the german state of Austria (that opposed Prussion domination of the german states).
After he ha created this united Germany in 1871, he carefully crafted a system of alliances and diplomatic relations, where a two-front war against Germany was impossible - he knew that a combined russian and french invasion, perhaps with british allies could not be repelled.
The crazy expansionist and colonial ambitions, that was Wilhelm II.
Fair enough. I know a few things about 19th-Century Germany, but you know more. What I was really thinking of in specifying Bismarck was the impression I got of Molthune's domestic atmosphere - military oligarchy, gruff but clever leader, etc., but I guess if I'm not thinking about Molthune's foreign policy, I'm missing its point. Maybe I should have just said "Prussia."
Don't ask how, but Nidal reminds me of Finland.
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I think it's more due to how the people are here. Everything's quiet, dark and gloomy. Outsiders are regarded with suspicion and nothing's really 100% sure when it comes to people in power. And now I can't help but imagine my female Cleric of Zon-Kuthon sitting in a sauna.
Thank you for the mental image :D
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Actually -- it should be pretty easy to replace the multitude horses of Nidal with reindeer. (Are moose & elk also common in Finland?)
And you could create an evil-Santa that lives somewhere deep in the Uskwood that has a thin boundary to a dark or "unseelie" First World.
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For me -- when I think of Finland I think of our young Right Back, Carl Jenkinson, and how, if he keeps developing he could be our replacement for Mr. Reliable, AKA Bacary Sagna, when Sagna retires in another 3 or 4 years.
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Among my friends and fellow PF players, Cheliax is always the biggest debate. Nobody is sure what it is exactly...so maybe it's not based on anything real. It's size and power would say it's France or Rome, but neither one was able to hold onto about half of itself after a ruinous revolution that turned so bad. Italy has been mentioned, but other than the names and the culture, not so much. It could be fictionalize pre-WW2 Germany, but Germany's influence in that era was never this broad, and there's no genocide going on that we know of in Cheliax.
Here's the thing on Cheliax. They WOULD have collapsed after the revolution, except the help of outsiders. Think about it, had Rome or France made nice with a devil of massive power they could have saved their empire, for the worse. This is how I see them, a vision of what could have been for ill and good had they been able to pick up the pieces via powerful magic or backing.
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+5 points for the Nidal=Finland comparison. Believe me, sometimes it feels like a mix of Galt and Nidal here. Funnily enough, Flight of the Red Raven placed Finns in Northern Galt, but the Sami of the setting, the Varki aren't anywhere near there. Somewhere next to the Linnorm Kings and Irrisen is where I'd place Finns.
Which means Sarkorian barbarians and that's alright with me. Some of the snippets from different game books postulated that the people of Sarkoris were directly related to the Slavs of the setting - Kellids - and had a wierd, almost alien relationship with witchcraft and animism. That's actually how many Viking era explorers saw the forest-dwelling Finns. We just weren't hit by the apocalypse during the 14th century, that's all. :P
I'm less than keen on drawing a direct analogue with Irrisen and Russia however, since the land of Baba yaga is nowadays so maliciously bent. Sure, it might satisfy some more Western-minded enthusiasts, but for me that just doesn't cut it. Instead, I'd call the stretch of Brevoy-River Kingdoms-Aldor medieval Russia. Why? New Stetven and Brevoy in general feels like an analogue of Novgorod to me. Settled by the Ulfen, like the Rus settled the actual area, and sporting an expansionist, but small kingdom that relies on both fur trade and lumber among other things. Should the River Kingdoms be conquered and Aldor crushed under an iron heel, they'd have a strong contact into the Siberia-like hinterlands at the edge of the map. And like Siberia, those lands eventually reach the Asia analogue of the setting. Perfect!
Naturally this analogue doesn't consider the Celtic influences of the area at all, but, as with all countries and nations and stretches of land in Golarion, things tend to mix around these parts! That said, I'm actually happy that Golarion doesn't have a direct analogue with the British Isles, since those often become a sort of dumbing ground for all the druidic rejects and fantastic fey and aren't worth for much else(see Warhammer Fantasy for more info).
It's also nice that they are willing to mix the map and not have all the analogues in the same place as their actual counterparts. Iblydos is far enough that it feels fantastic and Jalmeray is great way to juxtapose the Inner Sea feeling with something else.
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Kvenland (a Norse concept of the Finns) does somewhat resemble Irrisen. Plus, the whole Baba Yaga's hut being related to the tree houses of Finnic shamans is kind of suggestive as well. And Louhi may be - at least a related concept.
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+5 points for the Nidal=Finland comparison. Believe me, sometimes it feels like a mix of Galt and Nidal here.
Gee, and a while ago, NEWSWEEK magazine officially declared Finland to be the Best Country in the World. It is one hell of a country that makes a fast Internet connection a constitutional right. Also, gloomy is great as far as I'm concerned.
I actually had to read up on Nidal - it kind of sounds like something that American plutotheofascist Pat Robertson said about Haiti. Zon-Kuthon is one of the more eye-catching deities to me: Yes, he's an awful lot like the Forgotten Realms' Loviatar melded with Shar, but he's actually even closer to something much more obscure: Gamal the Dark One and Tu the Outcast, orisha from Atlas Games' NYAMBE: African Advemtures setting. I'd recommend it, if only for inspiration and insight - it's 3.0, so it might be dirt-cheap if you hunt for it. But I digress.
I'm less than keen on drawing a direct analogue with Irrisen and Russia however, since the land of Baba yaga is nowadays so maliciously bent. Sure, it might satisfy some more Western-minded enthusiasts, but for me that just doesn't cut it.
I did say it was a very selective picture of Russia, and one of the places in Golarion that relied far less on history than on fairy tales. That one dude's hat in the picture with the rampaging hut also looked very Russian.
You know what concept crept into my head that I want to see? A RUSSO-MAYAN meld.
Kremlin + Chichen Itza = Awesome
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I've always seen Brevoy, Restov, Issia and the other far northeastern (and just off the Inner Sea map) cultures as Russian-like. First, they have "Russian" names (big for me). There's also a variety of subcultures there to tinker with just like there's a variety of not-Russian-but-near-to-Russia-and-formerly-Soviet-so-my-US-education-lumpe d-them-all-as-Russian cultures and subcultures in real life. And finally, geographically it fits as Russia.
This is also why I don't see Galt as Russian Revolution. I don't see Galt as part of Brevoy / Restov / Issia, etc. So it can't be "Russian."
And, despite Baba yaga, Irrisen just doesn't seem "Russian" at all to me, personally. I see it as completely high-fantasy fiction.