As always, still working on my modernish Pathfinder/D&D setting. I'm not so good at creating new cultures totally from scratch, so I take a similar approach to Dragon Age/Golarion, where the cultures present heavily resemble real life cultures. However, I still want things unique and interesting, so I like to change the geopolitical positions these cultures find themselves in and/or change something major about the culture, so that it resembles real life but is noticeably different. I haven’t thought up anywhere near enough names yet, so for now I have an unholy mix of invented and IRL names. This setting is focused on East Asia and the Americas, with large parts of the Americas having been aligned towards East Asia, especially the Japan analogue, rather than Europe for a good century and a half, and where European dominance ended in the mid-nineteenth century. The main focus for player characters is on hunting dangerous monsters and mages as part of specialized government units. The existence of magic is well known to the average civilian. Right now, I'm working on Ireland and Scotland.
The King made it to the Americas, and set up rule in the city of Glenmarric. This led to a Taiwan/China type situation, where both factions considered themselves to be the nation of Kaelmara and rightful rulers of all related lands. The European Kaelmara quickly established a reputation for being too damn stubborn and rebellious, and the English eventually decided the whole place had to be thoroughly Anglicized if it was to become friendly. This involved resettling English in the nation, constant education that Kaelish=bad, encouragement of pogroms, the occasional hanging, and, after colonialism was well established, deporting the particularly stubborn to Australia or the Caribbean.
The American Kaelmara fared better. It quickly established a good relationship with native tribes (in essence, they compromised when necessary and upheld their treaty agreements), and for the most part they avoided conflict with the natives. They adopted many elements of their cultures, in fact. They also established a good relationship with their Norse neighbors (who, incidentally, had basically the same relationship with their natives as Kaelmara). They also backed the Iroquois Confederacy against European encroachment along with the Norse, which provided an often crucial alliance. Soon, American Kaelmara proclaimed that the Cennic (Welsh) were brethren lacking a nation that didn’t oppress them, and extended an offer to take them in. This brought in quite a few immigrants, and that population growth was much needed. England eventually tried to invade, but was unsuccessful. In the mid-eighteenth century came the rapid rise and rapider collapse of a pan-European Empire, leaving Europe highly unstable and putting a gigantic dent in the continental economy. England’s colonies gained their independence in the mid eighteenth century after multiple rebellions, including a republican one at home, touched off simultaneously, proving far too much to handle. European Kaelmara was so thoroughly Anglicized by this point that it didn’t rebel at all, which is the point where American Kaelmara began to question it’s designs on the land. Kaelmara proclaimed the Right to Homeland, which stated that any who could prove Kaelish or Cennic descent had the right to settle in American Kaelmara. Most who wanted to immigrate already had, so this was more political than anything else, though remains law in the modern day. The European colonial empires fell apart to revolution (much of it backed by the Japanese), and American Kaelmara became a close trading partner of Japan (a lot of American nations did, leading to a large Japanese sphere of influence in the region).
Recently, American Kaelmara warmed relations with England (not that England is powerful enough to be a threat at the moment). England eventually formally apologized for it’s past behavior in European Kaelmara, and American Kaelmara dropped it’s claim to European Kaelmara, stating that things had changed so much that it wasn’t really Kaelish at all anymore. England had renamed the region a long while back, so this left American Kaelmara as the sole Kaelmara in existence.
Now that the necessary history is taken care of, it’s on to the nation itself. It is a wealthy country, though not particularly large. Principle allies are Norse Canada, the Iroquois Confederacy, Japan, and Mexico. Kaelmara has many other alliances, but these ones are politically sacrosanct. They are neutral towards England these days.
Here’s where I peter out on ideas. I know that this is a nation with a large native population (a great many died to disease, but the Kaelish did not directly attack them or attempt to remove them by force), but I’m at a loss as to what the relationship between natives and whites should be. They have an agreement to share the land, but what can that look like in an Industrial Age society? Modern society? I also mentioned that they adopted some cultural elements from the natives, but what might those be? The other issue is that inclusive polytheism (everyone’s gods exist, but only have jurisdiction over their own people) is the dominant religion worldwide, so polytheism was never abandoned in favor of monotheism. In the case of the Irish and Scots, no clue at all what that might look like for society. I do imagine that the Kaelish have a bit of a habit of lionizing their past, especially in believing that European Kaelmara was a strongly united country before the invasions (while united, it never came close to internal stability).
where exactly is the name Kaelmara from? if you want ancient early medieval Norse nation names I can bring a few up.
also Norse Canada would probably be named Vinnland, or the land of pastures.
where exactly and how much of america is under Japan?
the American Natives lost 9/10ths of their populations due to disease, this is why we basically walked all over them. The Iroquois used to have cities, until around the 16-17th century. The native population if not destroyed or run off would likely have fully integrated as a few Indians tried to do.
however, if the natives didn't die due to disease, then they would have been able to resist in norther american MUCH more. In which case, most colonization attempts would have failed with out the grace of a allied tribe.
Natives of northern america had shamanistic religions, which basically means, you'd get the idea of aspects or spirits of things existing. You would ask for a bears strength to overcome a task instead of just outright asking god. You might ask your iron to stay strong, instead of your god to make your steel strike true. little things really.
where exactly is the name Kaelmara from? if you want ancient early medieval Norse nation names I can bring a few up.
I got it by taking the region suffix -mara and bastardizing Gael.
also Norse Canada would probably be named Vinnland, or the land of pastures.
Sounds a bit too obvious, given that Vinland existed IRL.
where exactly and how much of america is under Japan?
Japan's power is via influencing countries, not directly controlling them. They don't out and out own any part of America. They got their power through fomenting anti-European colonial revolutions, then setting up stable governments in post-European North America so as to have strong, prosperous allies that liked Japan quite a lot and had lots of money with which to buy fine Japanese goods, and were amenable to Japanese interests. Aside from a debacle in the Midwest, Japan actually did quite well with this, and was the superpower until Mexico grew to equal them, which many Japanese are actually proud of since they enabled that and Mexico remains very friendly. There is an EU style union between Japan, her friends in the Americas (with Mexico being as prominent as Japan these days), and some East Asian countries friendly to Japan but not part of her historical sphere of influence who decided it was to their benefit to join. An example is Vietnam, a major power in her own right that desired the economic benefit of being in Japan's free trade and free travel union and the security of having a common defense treaty with two friendly superpowers (though not a juggernaut like Japan or Mexico, Vietnam is a very powerful nation, and holds a lot of sway in the region). Kaelmara is a member of this union, having relying on Japanese support to industrialize. Norse Canada and the Iroquois are the same in this regard.
This union is basically the region where the whole of my campaign setting takes place.
the American Natives lost 9/10ths of their populations due to disease, this is why we basically walked all over them. The Iroquois used to have cities, until around the 16-17th century. The native population if not destroyed or run off would likely have fully integrated as a few Indians tried to do.
What if that civilization wanted to maintain the Iroquois civilization, so as to have a strong ally in a strategically desirable geographic position?
however, if the natives didn't die due to disease, then they would have been able to resist in norther american MUCH more. In which case, most colonization attempts would have failed with out the grace of a allied tribe.
They didn't die of disease on quite the level of IRL, but it was still over 50% losses, and the Kaels and Norse were basically the only Europeans not killing them, enslaving them, breaking treaties with them, or running them off.
Natives of northern america had shamanistic religions, which basically means, you'd get the idea of aspects or spirits of things existing. You would ask for a bears strength to overcome a task instead of just outright asking god. You might ask your iron to stay strong, instead of your god to make your steel strike true. little things really.
I could see people of mixed race doing this, while simultaneously praying to Lugh or Odin.
I got it by taking the region suffix -mara and bastardizing Gael.
Sounds a bit too obvious, given that Vinland existed IRL.
Actually, they might call the Americas Vinnland after more thought, but Norse Canada is definitely a culture mixed with a national title, you don't get names like that til full blow nationalism springs forth in the 19th century. a Good way to deal with this is to get Canada in Norweigain or Swedish pronunciation.
PS. Gael = north west Scotland, which was overtaken by Christian Scots well before this time setting. Norse was much different culturally.
New England should be renamed Nyr-Sœnskr (nir sOnscr)
Canada maybe, Nyr-austmaðr (nir austmathr)
Japan's power is via influencing countries, not directly controlling them. They don't out and out own any part of America. They got their power through fomenting anti-European colonial revolutions, then setting up stable governments in post-European North America so as to have strong, prosperous allies that liked Japan quite a lot and had lots of money with which to buy fine Japanese goods, and were amenable to Japanese interests. Aside from a debacle in the Midwest, Japan actually did quite well with this, and was the superpower until Mexico grew to equal them, which many Japanese are actually proud of since they enabled that and Mexico remains very friendly. There is an EU style union between Japan, her friends in the Americas (with Mexico being as prominent as Japan these days), and some East Asian countries friendly to Japan but not part of her historical sphere of influence who decided it was to their benefit to join. An example is Vietnam, a major power in her own right that desired the economic benefit of being in Japan's free trade and free travel union and the security of having a common defense treaty with two friendly superpowers (though not a juggernaut like Japan or Mexico, Vietnam is a very powerful nation, and holds a lot of sway in the region). Kaelmara is a member of this union, having relying on Japanese support to industrialize. Norse Canada and the Iroquois are the same in this regard.
This union is basically the region where the whole of my campaign setting takes place.
this is all assuming the world map looks mostly the same.
If Japan had the ability to travel to the western coast of the America's there is little reason that they would not have colonized Alaska and California. as during this time, the midwest and middle-canada would have hardly any settlements.
Basically, if no one had California, Japan would likely have taken it. The natives there would not have been as aggressive against colonizers as others, as they had relations with Polynesians(probably) and were smaller in number and organization than their eastern "brothers".
also, for some not so well known locations of native Americans. Navajo would have had the area around new mexico and Nevada. East of them would have been the Comanche, and north of the Comanche would have been the Cheyenne.
North of Florida would have been the Creek, north of them the Comanche, and north of them the Shawnee.
What if that civilization wanted to maintain the Iroquois civilization, so as to have a strong ally in a strategically desirable geographic position?
they wouldn't have been a strong ally, they would out number them 50 to 1. however, during early colonization (100 or so years passed between first contact and settlement) if they didn't die the colonies of 100 or so settlers would have been out numbered in the same way. Thus an alliance would have been created THEN, with probably some organization being created that either became part of the Iroquois nations, or dealt with land sharing and organization with the tribes among other relations.
They didn't die of disease on quite the level of IRL, but it was still over 50% losses, and the Kaels and Norse were basically the only Europeans not killing them, enslaving them, breaking treaties with them, or running them off.
Then they would have likely asked for their protection and for them to guarantee the rights to their land, in exchange for knowledge of the environment, and other tribes, etc.
I could see people of mixed race doing this, while simultaneously praying to Lugh or Odin
Well, they still had gods, in their religions, however the gods tended to still be under the effects of the aspects or spirits. This actually matches very well with Norse mythology who were often beat by the dwarves, goblins and giants, who were representative of the forces of nature.
I did a search on Iroquois cities, and I only found some cities with Iroquois names. I'm aware of native American cities built into cliffs and the Mayan cities. Maybe in your world, these persisted and the concepts spread.
