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Fantasy Counterpart Culture
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alt title(s): Call A German A Smeerp 
Inuit, but with mystical fighting skills.
What is this "Japan" you speak of? I have never heard of it before.
It is difficult to be truly original when creating fiction, and even if one manages to pull it off, one runs the risk of putting off the audience by having one's creation seem too strange. Much safer, then, to make your setting contain human cultures that are take-offs of real ones.
This is especially common in fantasy settings, but by no means exclusive to it. It's often found in satire, as a means of indirectly poking fun at the culture in question. In such cases the countries may have significant names.
There are also sound literary reasons for using this trope. Making the Shire an idealised England transplanted to Middle-Earth makes it easier for readers to identify with the point of view characters, since they probably have much more in common with Bilbo than with Thorin. Gavriel Kay's The Lions of Al-Rassan is a thinly disguised historical novel, but changing the names of the countries and religions means the readers don't know how the story will end, helping to maintain dramatic tension.
Most Fantasy Counterpart Cultures are based on the theme park version of a particular region of the world. (See Hollywood Atlas.)
Compare with Istanbul Not Constantinople, when a real place is referred to with a more archaic or obscure name (e.g. "Columbia" instead of "USA"). Compare also with Days Of Future Past, where a futuristic society duplicates (often explicitly and intentionally) the culture and styles of a historical period.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
- Code Geass has a subversion - their Britannia is what we in Real Life would call The United States, not Great Britain (any undertones of Eagleland is stated to be unintentional by Word Of God however).
- Sort of: the series has an Alternate History. The United States never achieved independence and stayed under the control of Britain; however, Britain itself was conquered by Napoleon (and later became part of the European Union), so the British government/monarchy relocated to North America, establishing Britannia, which eventually took control of both North and South America, as well as some other places.
- Roshtaria and the other human lands of El Hazard The Magnificent World are very clearly fantasy stand-ins for the Middle East of the Arabian Nights.
- The country of Amestris in Full Metal Alchemist is based on a combination of European countries. It's ruled by a military dictatorship similar to Nazi Germany, but they speak English, and the military ranks are also English based (with the rank of Field Marshall replaced with the rank of Fuhrer). Character names are based on names found in various European nations such as the U.K and France. Also the technology used is the same or are similar to the technology found around World War II.
- In the anime (only) we find out this is literal, as Amestris is an actual Alternate Universe version of central/eastern Europe in the 1920s.
- In the manga the nation of Xing plays an important role and several other countries with names based on Real Life are mentioned.
- Ishbal is based on the Ainu people of northern Japan, though most Westerners (as well as the people who wrote the anime) see it as a counterpart to the Middle East. Both views work.
- The Ishbal have more in common with the Roma rather than Arabs. In fact their counterparts in our own world are Roma, as evidenced in the end of the movie when we see a gypsy man driving a pick up truck that looks exactly like Scar.
- Further complicating matters, Amestris military uniforms look a lot like American Confederate soldier uniforms, at least as seen in the movies.
- Many of the nations in Kyou Kara Maou are vague approximations of Real Life nations, with Makoku being Medieval Europe and Konanshia-Subererea being the Middle East, among others. One of the most obvious is the Shildkraut nation. We are originally led to believe it's a parallel to Japanese hot spring towns, but then it's then used for a Viva Las Vegas episode, right down to the lights being recreated with magical stones.
- In Mai-Otome, set in the distant future on another planet, there are some more or less evident matches between fictional and real nations, at least judging by the names of known inhabitants. Artai seems to be an Eastern European/Slavic nation, Florince is France, the United Kingdom of Lutesia is a blend of ancient Rome and modern Italy, Aries is the United States, Annam is Vietnam, and Zipang is Japan (in fact, for the last two, those are real-world, if ancient, monikers for these countries).
- Strike Witches is very guilty of this, considering it's set in an alternate version of Earth during World War II. Based on the names of various characters, the Fuso Empire is Japan, Liberion is the United States, Karlsland is Germany (minus Those Wacky Nazis), Suomus is Finland, Orussia is Russia, Romagna is Italy, Gallia is France, and Britannia (no not that one) goes without saying. References are also made to Real Life locations, such as London, Yokosuka, and the Ural Mountains. Some of the Real Life currencies also carry over: While stationed in Britannia, the main character is paid in pounds, and Fuso's currency is the yen.
- Some of the countries in Utawarerumono apparently takes place in real places in Japan. The protagonist's country is based on feudal Ezo (that's Hokkaido) with the people emulating Ainu culture but the most blatant one would be Shikeripetim which looks like a carbon copy of feudal Kyoto!
- Zero No Tsukaima takes place in a suspiciously medieval European setting. Based on the names (which are simply archaic names for the nations they represent), Tristain is Belgium or the Netherlands, Albion is Britain (complete with a rebel leader named Cromwell), Gallia is France, Romalia is Italy, and Germania is (obviously) Germany.
- The Land of Iron in Naruto, an alpine country that is steadily neutral in every conflict? Where have we heard that before?
Comics
- The Sonic The Hedgehog comic's planet Mobius has long had stand-in cultures for Asia and Australia... but this was finally justified by the revelation that Mobius is actually Earth of the far, far future.
Film
- The forest moon of Endor is, to some extent, an equivalent of Darkest Africa in a galaxy far, far away. And the Ewoks are very, very similar to African pygmy tribes.
- But originally, they were supposed to be Wookiees.
- Most of the design of the Telmarine on the Film Of The Book of Prince Caspian are admitted to be based on Medieval Spain. Bringing some criticism and implications...
- Which kinda makes sense, seeing as Prince Caspian was apparently an allegory for the Protestant Reformation and subsequent conflicts. One illustrator for the books gave Miraz a shield with the Holy Roman Empire's two-headed eagle.
- And the Telmarines are descended from old naval era brigands. But remember, the good Narnian humans of the subsequent books are Telmarines, not to mention Caspian himself. Only this one movie would feature Telmarine antagonists, and apparently the common people backed Caspian over Miraz given the parade at the end.
- In Peter Jackson's Film Of The Book The Lord Of The Rings, the clothes, architecture and cultures of Lord of the Rings were clearly inspired by Real Life historical cultures (Rohan = Saxons, Gondor = Byzantine Empire).
- In fact, Rohan was explicitly stated in the "Making Of" featurettes to be a What If of Saxons/Vikings with a culture centered on horses instead of longboats.
- The Haradrim were based partly on West Africans, and partly on the Papuan tribes of the Pacific.
Literature
- Joe Abercrombie's The First Law has a huge country called The Union, which rather resembles the Roman Empire. Much of the action takes place in the province of Angland, where the characters fight against the Celt-based Northmen.
- The Union is more late medieval Europe than Roman. The Old Empire however blatantly resembles the Roman Empire. Even down to names and architecture.
- Piers Anthony's Space Tyrant Trilogy: the Earth nations have colonized the Solar System - North and South Jupiter were colonised by N/S America respectively; Mars = Arabs; Saturn = Asia; Uranus = Europe etc. They develop Hyperspace travel and plan to colonize the Galaxy by constellations: USA get the Eagle, Russia gets the Bear, China gets the Dragon.
- Lois Mc Master Bujold's Chalion universe does this: Chalion, Ibra, and Brajar make up the analogue of the Iberian peninsula, Darthaca is France, the Weald is the Holy Roman Empire (and used to be Gaul, or at least somewhere with Celts), and Roknar plays the role of North Africa (despite being an archipelago). To conceal this slightly, everything is set in the Southern hemisphere, with all the geography flipped north-for-south. Bujold even manages to have the Roknari's religion differ from that of the Chalionese despite this being a world with Physical Gods.
- Well it's a heresy actually, although from the Roknari's point of view it's the other way around. The Roknari are actually more like traditional Christians in that the Bastard is their Satan while the other nations see him as performing a useful purpose.
- The Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey features Terre d'Ange, which is France down to the language, and various other parallels - in one particularly egregious example, the Venice-counterpart is named "La Serinissima", a nickname by which the real city is sometimes called.
- In David Eddings's Belgariad, the Sendars are rural Englishmen, the Arends are Norman French, the Tolnedrans are Imperial Romans, the Chereks are Vikings, the Algars are Cossacks, the tunnel-dwelling Ulgos are Ambiguously Jewish, maybe (though their god ULGO is apparently based on the pre-Muslim Turkish creator-god Ulgen, whose mythos is also where Eddings got the whole "saying 'be not' ends your own existence" schtick) , the Nyissans are vaguely Egyptian or perhaps Indian, and the Angaraks are the "Hunnish-Mongolian-Muslim-Visigoths Barbarian Tribes out to convert the world by sword". Since Eddings tends to recycle his cultures whenever he creates a new world, most of the countries in his universes likely have such parallels— the Elenium series has very familiar western kingdoms and eastern empire, if anything even more like The Theme Park Version of certain Earth cultures. The inhabitants of the main continent in the Dreamers series are obvious stand-ins for various Native American tribes.
- Considering that Word of God states that the Ulgos are based off the Jews in the Rivan Codex, I'd say that the Ulgos are Unambiguously Jewish.
- Teresa Edgerton's Goblin Moon and The Gnome's Engine do this intentionally, being set in a 'Euterpe' that's a close fit to 18th century Europe, and incorporating such parallel nationalities as 'Spagnards', 'Imbrians', and 'Nordics'.
- Raymond E. Feist's The Riftwar Cycle is set in an almost-England kingdom that's conquered and brought civilization to the majority of almost-Europe, although they occasionally have trouble with their almost-African desert-people neighbors to the south, and the Greek/Roman hybrid nation of Queg. (The almost-Africans are ruled by a "master race" caste whose parallels to the Egyptian dynasties are too blatant to miss.) The titular Riftwar involves an invasion across space-time by a warrior race of almost-Oriental people who the author says are based on the Japanese and Korean cultures, called the Tsurani. Later books introduce analogues to Chinese and Native American cultures, among others...
- The Fremen from Dune are pretty obviously based on the Bedouins (and on a lesser extent, the Bushmen) while Caladan has a strong Greek/Spaniard flavor (the Atreides bloodline is supposedly descended from Agamemnon). The Fremen are descended from Arabs, but ironically their wanderings before arriving on Arrakis resemble the Jewish Diaspora. The political system of the Galactic Empire itself is pretty strongly modeled on that of the Holy Roman Empire.
- The bit about the Fremen resembling the Jews isn't too ironic: the actual Palestinians have had the same thing going for only sixty years, and (interestingly) already a large number of them are lawyers, doctors, and professors....
- The backstory for the novels makes it clear that many core elements of these cultures have been preserved across dozens of centuries, and even justifies this by attributing it to Genetic Memory.
- Not to mention that the religion is a cross between Islam and Buddhism. The name "Zensunni" is used a lot.
- While the pre-Paul Empire seems to be a cross between the Persian and Byzantine.
- Well, "Padishah" is Persian for "Great King," i.e. Emperor.
- The titular culture of P.C. Hodgell's Chronicles Of The Kencyrath has a LOT of Jewish parallels, being the Chosen People of a very strict God who have Temples and Books of Law; furthermore, they're exiles and nomads. Their religion emphasizes obedience to the Law over faith, and their God isn't all that nice. A number of Kencyr have Hebrew-influenced names, the protagonist among them (Jamethiel, with the Hebrew -el "of God" ending). Aspects of their culture, though, have other influences; their honor code and ritual suicide traditions, and martial arts have some Japanese parallels, while the segregation and hiding behind masks of Highborn women draws comparison to Islam.
- I don't know about the masks/veiling, but to this day Orthodox synagogues are segregated by sex. In fact, the segregation is generally stricter, with division being enforced by a barrier called a mechitza. Some Orthodox extend this to daily life, and there are even sex-segregated buses in Israel with mechitzot to cater to the Orthodox.
- Robert E. Howard's stories about Conan the Barbarian, where the countries of the Hyborian Age are transparent stand-ins for real-world nations or peoples. Examples include Stygia as a stand-in for Egypt, Shem as Israel, Aquilonia as Imperial Rome, and Iranistan as... well, guess. (Note, however, that these are supposedly nations that existed in the history of our own Earth, pre-continental drift theory and pre-mass migrational theory, so the similarities to the civilizations that they would eventually evolve into is doubtlessly intentional.) His favourite grey-eyed morose heroes are all supposed to be ancestors of modern Celts. A folk etymology for Cymru (Wales) is attributed to the Cimmerians (Conan's people) while the name Conan is Irish.
- If you look at the map of the Hyborian Age this becomes even more obvious. Aquilonia is about where France is, Cimmeria is where Scotland will someday be etc. Howard in fact wrote a history in which the beginning of modern European and Middle Eastern races are set out.
- Diana Wynne Jones's own compendium of fantasy tropes and skewering thereof, The Tough Guide To Fantasyland, makes this point.
- Robert Jordan's The Wheel Of Time does this a lot. Cairhien is a mix of France and Japan; Amadicia is modeled after Puritan America; the Seanchan have even more similarities to Japan than the Cairhienin do; Illian is a lot like Venice but its people have Greek-sounding names; Andor is similar to England and parts of the U.S.; the Aiel bear Indian and Native American similarities; Tairens have much in common with Spaniards... and the list goes on.
- Wheel Of Time is actually pretty good at this. While they have definite elements taken from different cultures they are very rarely actual Fantasy Counterpart Cultures. The Seanchan are as much Ottoman Empire as they are Japan, and with all sorts of other bits thrown in.
- Word Of God decided to muddle it even more, when Robert Jordan said that the Seanchan have a Texan accent, the Illianers a dutch accent, the Aiel a Slavic accent, among others
 .
- Furthermore, since the world of the Wheel Of Time is meant, in-universe, to be the distant future of our own world, it makes perfect sense that the cultures therein would retain traits recognizable to the reader.
- Most of Guy Gavriel Kay's books make heavy use of this trope, and are centered in a counterpart to a specific region of Europe:
- Tigana: Italy
- A Song for Arbonne: medieval France, especially Provence
- The Lions of Al-Rassan: Spain during the reconquista
- The Sarantine Mosaic: the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Justinian
- The Last Light of the Sun: Denmark and Britain, around the reign of Canute
- Justified (or perhaps averted) in the Deverry novels by Katherine Kerr, where the main society isn't a counterpart to Gaul; they are Gauls, transported to a fantasy world to escape the "Rhwmanes".
- Same thing with the Scottish society in Kate Forsyth's Witches of Eileanan series.
- Some of Mercedes Lackey's fantasy cultures, particularly the Hawkbrothers, are just Native Americans with funny names.
- Lampshaded in her SERRAted Edge series; most culture in the fairy world of Underhill was either transported there by visitors from our world, or copied by the fantastically imitative (but woefully uncreative) elves. In fact, to point out precisely which human-world culture (real or fictional) an elf ripped off is considered a huge insult by many of them.
- Calormen, in CS Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, is Middle Eastern, with a specific takeoff on the ancient Carthaginian religion as a plot point. (This is particularly strange, considering the Ret Con in The Magician's Nephew that revealed all the humans in the world of Narnia are descended from an English couple, whose descendants married nymphs and various other human-looking things).
- Also interesting is that the Calormenes worship Tash, a god they depict as having four arms and the head of a vulture, and for whom they practice human sacrifice. Which has very little in common with the Muslim conception of God, but is in line with Medieval Christian perceptions of the Muslims, whom they thought worshiped an idol called "Termagant." See The Song of Roland.
- The Calormene culture is arguably more "Ottoman" (or Turkish) than Arabic.
- Actually, the Telmarines were descended from pirates who fell into the world of Narnia through a cave in our world, and therefore weren't related to the first King and Queen of Narnia at all (the Film Of The Book of Prince Caspian plays this up by making Telmarine culture clearly influenced by that of medieval Spain, apparently supposing the original pirates to have been Spanish). It's entirely possible something similar happened to make Calormene culture this way.
- George R.R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire contains a few:
- Westeros has obvious similarities to Great Britain. It's an island nation off the coast of a larger continent. It has a large wall along the northern border, and has been settled by a series of invading cultures. The First Men are vaguely Celtic, especially with their influence from the children of the forest and their concentration in the north after the Andal invasion. The Andals are stand-ins for the Normans, with their new language, church, and tradition of chivalry.
- The Iron Islands are stand-ins for Vikings, with their longboats. They also have several Irish influences, especially their generational hatred against the mainland oppressors.
- The Free Cities are similar to the city-states of medieval Italy. Braavos is even a City Of Canals like Venice.
- The Dothraki are clearly a stand-in for the Mongols. They are a horse-centered, nomadic people who rule a vast grassland and can push around fortified nations with the threat of their mounted archers.
- Mijak in Karen Miller's Godspeaker Trilogy is based on the Hittites and Summerians. Etherea has elements of Medieval England.
- Garth Nix's Old Kingdom books have the pseudo-medieval Old Kingdom, where magic works but most modern technology fails as you approach the border, where Necromancy is a day-to-day hazard sharing a border with Ancelstierre, which is remarkably like World War I England (or possibly World War I Australia/New Zealand given the author's antipodean roots) to the extent that the Ancelstierre army are armed with .303 bolt action rifles, .455 revolvers, white phosphorous grenades and Lewis guns and on the Border use both this and their khaki uniform AND sword bayonets, Mail hauberk with khaki surcoats and enchanted spears because when the wind blows from the south (Ancelstierre proper) magic stops working, but when it blows from the North (Old Kingdom) technology fails.
- Continuing south from Ancelstierre we come across some other vaguely-European nations, a vaguely-Mediterranean sea and then a vaguely-Middle-Eastern region, refugees from which play a role in the third book.
- John Norman's Gor series actually explains this in the backstory: the humans are literally descended from ancient people from various Earth cultures brought to the titular planet by aliens. Specifically the main human culture is based on Greco-Roman and there are knockoffs of Vikings, Inuit, Sub-Saharan Africans, Arabs, and others around the fringes.
- Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness and Protector of the Small books contain the fantasy-Japan Yamani Islands.
- Tyra is analogous to Renaissance Italy (republic, Mediterranean-like climate, trade economy). Arabia is the Great Southern Desert with its Bazhier tribes. Carthak is Africa, conquered by an empire originally located only at the north end of the continent. Scanra is Scandanavia, while Galla is probably something like Germany, Tusaine is France, and Maren is Spain. The Copper Islands are Southeast Asia (specifically Malaysia, but broadly many of the different island cultures). Jindazhen to the west of Yaman is the Tortallverse's version of China. Sarain is probably Mongolia.
- It's also fun to go through The Circle Of Magic series trying to determine what each culture is based on. For example; Imagine Tris as an English girl. Good luck imagining her habitual snark in anything other than an upper-class British accent.
- Much of Discworld is like this, generally using it to satirize the original culture. Uberwald is Transylvania (and Eastern Europe in general), Genua is New Orleans (with a bit of Disneyworld), Brindisi seems to be a mix of Spain and Italy, Klatch is the Middle East and North Africa (while also being a stand-in for any "generically foreign" place or concept), Howondaland is a mix of sub-Saharan Africa and Central/South America, and the Counterweight Continent is part China, part Japan (especially the late Edo period). Llamedos is Wales, Djelibeybi is Ancient Egypt, and Ephebe is Greece. Pseudopolis and Tsort are Athens and Troy. Lancre is rural England with a dash of the Appalachians and a HEAVY Scottish lean, Quirm seems to borrow a lot from France and Italy, and Ankh-Morpork has been described as a cross between eighteenth-century London, nineteenth-century Seattle, and modern New York. The dust jacket for The Last Continent hung a lampshade on this; after mentioning the continent of Fourecks, it had a footnote saying "Which has nothing to do with Australia. At all."
- Judging from the descriptions of Twoflower the annoying tourist and how the Counterweight Continent deals with foreign policy (by crushing enemies economically or simply paying someone else to attack them), I would say that it's a pretty obvious stand-in for either Japan or (more likely) the US. Until relatively recently, China was not known for producing large quantities of annoying tourists or for having much foreign policy that extended beyond its contiguous neighbors or the US (which is usually occupying those neighbors at one point or another).
- That's how Ankh-Morpork deals with invaders. The Empire keeps them out by building a huge wall across the border. (It doesn't work, but then it's really there to keep the people in, so they don't notice outsiders aren't invisible vampire ghosts [i.e. Gwai Lo].) By and large, the Agatean Empire's approach to foreign policy was to pretend the rest of the Disc didn't exist. This is pretty close to Imperial China (as well as pre-modern Japan; the Empire is both).
- The paperback edition of The Last Continent has it as a foreword, adding that it " just happens to be, here and there, a bit...australian" [sic]
- And the Nac Mac Feegle are cartoon Celts with permanent woad.
- And the Tezumen in Eric are clearly the Aztecs/Mexica.
- Tales Of MU is set in the Imperial Republic of Magisteria, which is America mixed with the Roman Empire in a Dungeon Punk world. The island of Yokan is a version of Japan populated by Petting Zoo People. Members of a totally original race of little people who live in cozy holes in shires have a rural English-type culture. The forest-dwelling elves have Ancient Greek names and culture. The dwarves are basically German.
- Early discussions of the ideas outsiders have of subterranean elves mirror American ideas of the Muslim world. When we see the culture up close, though, there's no resemblance whatever.
- In Stravaganza, 'stravaganti' are humans with the ability to teleport between Earth and a Fantasy Counterpart Culture version of Italy while asleep. The twenty cities of Talia are stand-ins for the most important Italian cities. When it's night in Talia, it's day on Earth and vice versa.
- The Isavalta series is a rare use of a Russian fantasy counterpart.
- RA Salvatore's The Crimson Shadow trilogy follows a young man of Eriador (read Ireland) and his companion from Gascony (France) and a bunch of guys from some equivalent of Scotland against the wizard Greensparrow, who rules the invading nation of Avon (England). Don't work hard to hide the parallels here, or anything.
- Brandon Sanderson's Elantris features several Fantasy Counterpart Cultures, though there's a bit of mix-and-matching going on. The Fjordell Empire occupies a political position similar to Rome, but is culturally and linguistically more Nordic, with a religion that seems equal parts Islamic and Catholic. The nation of Teod (of which one main protagonist is princess) is very obviously England- a small island that is nonetheless regarded as a great power due to its very impressive navy and canny leadership. The nation of Jindo, mentioned often but never seen, seems to be a stand in for medieval China. The nations of Duladel and Arelon, on the other hand, don't really seem to have any real-life counterparts.
- This was famously used in The Lord Of The Rings, where the Shire is obviously based on the English countryside. This was fairly rare in Tolkien's works, though; most of his cultures were built by creating a language, and then a culture that used it. As he specifically notes in the case of Rohan, that their language was 'translated' as an old form of English did not imply they were Anglo-Saxon in culture. Instead it was meant simply to maintain its position in the language family tree as regards to the Hobbits' tongue, which was translated as modern English.
- The Southrons, like C. S. Lewis' Calormenes, are described in the manner of medieval Middle Eastern cultures seen through Crusader eyes. Coming from desert regions in the south, they are variously swarthy or black-skinned (the infamous "troll-men of Khand").
- Some Tolkien-inspired fantasies portray dwarves as Scotsmen, though Tolkien himself did not. The closest Tolkien came to this was noting the dwarves tended to have harsh, guttural accents when speaking the common tongue. Dwarves were actually closer to being Jewish, to the point that Tolkien's dwarvish language uses triconsonantal roots just like Semitic languages such as Hebrew or Arabic. However, all Dwarvish names are Old Norse. (Though those are not the "real" names in Dwarvish, which are never revealed to non-Dwarves.) Those in The Hobbit are taken from the names of the first dwarves ever created, in The Elder Edda.
- Harry Turtledove's Darkness saga has an interesting take on this trope. The series is essentially a fantasy version of World War II. So, every nation taking part in the series fills the role of a power from the war. However, physically, culturally, and linguistically, these nations are also something of a mix-and-match of various world cultures. Algarve plays the role of Nazi Germany, but its people are Scots-Irish in appearance, and their language is based on Italian. Another good example is Kuusamo, which fills the role of the United States, but is populated by Finnish-speaking East Asians.
- In Harry Turtledove's Videssos Cycle, Videssos is closely modelled on the Byzantine Empire, and neighbouring states are likewise based on the Byzantine Empire's neighbours.
- Jo Walton's world first introduced in The King's Peace features fantasy parallels of a whole bunch of Arthurian legend, with the island of Tir Tanager standing in for England and going on from there, down to Saint Patrick, Jesus and Arthur himself. Figuring out what the real world equivalents are is a great deal of the fun.
- David Weber's Honor Harrington series is based on this trope, since its pretty much the Napoleonic Wars in space. Some are blatantly obvious, such as the Star Kingdom of Manticore being Great Britain and Grayson being fairly open about the fact that its Meiji Era Japan, and the Andermani Empire is modeled in universe after the Kingdom of Prussia. Others are little vague, as the Solarian League is either the United States or the European Union with a lot of firepower; it depends on who you ask. Others are mix and match; the People's Republic of Haven is Revolutionary France with fairly large chunks of Stalinist Soviet Union and Nazi Germany thrown in for good measure.
- Although they do have some Anvilicious fun with the concept. Specifically Haven is technically a democratic republic and Manticore is a Kingdom. Although Haven through most of the series is led by dictators and Manitcore is pre-reform of 1832 where the power of the Government is split between the House of Lords and Commons. Although in this case the House of Lords is mostly descended from the original board members of the company (plus random heroes who got promoted) that settled the planet with the CEO as King/Queen and the original system intended for all the power to be to the House of Lords. The Author makes it clear via Wordof God that the days of power of the lords are all but gone in the next few years.
- It is also made clear that the Solarian Union breaks down all the previous parallels. The major players of the novel are considered Neo-Barbarian Kingdoms on the edge of civilization by the rest of the Galaxy. Albeit Neo-Barbs that are years in advance of warfare of the main human civilization, and happen to all exist in just 1/4 of the main human society..
- So, they're the Byzantines then?
- If Byzantine Rome had united with Sassanid Persia and Tang China to forge a single massive power bloc, perhaps. Even the Great City had to suffer its peers.
- Several of the religions of the series play the same role. The main religion of the Star Kingdom of Manticore cannot be easily distinguished from Anglicanism.
- If the HH-series is the Napoleonic Wars in space, the Solarian League must be the Holy Roman Empire (of the German Nation)-analogue (large, centrist, unique, non-integrated protectorates, on the brink of civil war etc.) with some EU-elements.
- That's Silesia - disunited, squabbling statelets that are united in name only and coveted both by the Andermani/Prussians and Havenites/French, with Manticore playing keep-away to prevent a powerful polity from forming on their flank.
- Within the Kingdom of Manticore the three planets are roughly equivalent of parts of the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars.
- Manticore as the most wealthy and populated planet is equivalent to England with Landing being equivalent to London.
- Having a lower population and being the coldest place in the the Star Kingdom Sphinx is equivalent to Scotland.
- Gryphon has extreme (but generally warmer) weather than Sphinx and has suffered the most political unrest of any of the planets. It orbits a different star to Manticore and Sphinx and was the last world to be colonized. Adding the high percentage of it's inhabitants in the military, and it's equivalent to 19th century Ireland.
- San Martin is equivalent to Gibraltar given both locations importance to their respective Royal Navies. Plus, San Martian is very mountainous (or at leas the habitable parts are) and the inhabitants speak Spanish.
- Medusa resembles North America with it's legally protected natives and limited settlement.
- The Talbott Quadrant shares some similarity with India, in that before Manticore arrived it was not united, and it made the Star Kingdom an Empire.
- David Weber's later work the Safehold series is set nearly 1000 years after humanity started a Lost Colony and had the project heads disagree about how deep the Space Amish needed to go. The winners implemented a religion designed to prevent technology that would attract the Scary Dogmatic Aliens that destroyed the rest of humanity. The conflict over this results in a religion very similar to Medieval Catholic Christianity. In addition, the main setting is The Kingdom of Charis, a (relatively) progressive and free-thinking island nation, with a powerful navy; it is visited by the protagonist, a cyborg copy of the executive officer of the colonists' escort fleet, who disguises herself as a man named Merlin, and greatly strengthens and enriches it, including establishing something very similar to Anglicanism. There is also the Republic of Siddarmark, comparable to the Austrian Empire in function and culture, Charis is England, Emerald is Ireland, Chisholm is Sweden, Corisande is France, and Harchong is comparable to China. (It is a large feudal empire, famous for fine silk, and gunpowder was (re)-invented there.)
- The continent of Osten Ard, in Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is closely based on Medieval Europe, even down to the languages and their names for the days of the week. Unlike most fantasy Europes, this one actually has a Christianity parallel (and not a Crystal Dragon Jesus one, either), although the many of the Rimmersmen (Scandinavians) and Hernystiri (Celts) still worship (or at least believe in) the "old gods" in secret.
- And don't forget that the Qanuc or Trolls as the Rimmersmen call them are based on Inuit.
- And the Sitha/Norns with their obvious parallels to Japan
- Nabban is definitely Italy (ancient empire reduced to a small duchy, containing the central authority of the Church and figuring as the evil empire in the stories of Usires (Jesus))
- The Wrannamen are probably Southeast Asians
- The Commonwealth in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun is modeled on the Byzantine empire, but very obviously set in South America, with references to mate and pampas, as well as a stand-in for Lake Titicaca.
- Viron, in The Book of the Long Sun, is also vaguely "Latin," with the city's ruler being called "Calde" and the state religion being a parody of Catholicism (with some minor details changed: it's a polytheist Catholicism that practices animal and occasionally human sacrifice.) The rival city of Trivigaunt is a gender-swapped fundamentalist Arabia. Both of these are justified in the story the builders of the Generation Ship wanted to send a range of human cultures into the universe, all of which would worship the Monarch and his family as gods
- Jane Yolen's The Pit Dragon Trilogy really goes for the gold on this. The entire series takes place on a planet that was once used as a penal colony. Almost all the main characters are descended from the original criminals, and generally have an inherent distrust of anyone who wasn't (all the criminals' descendants have a double K in their name — Jakkin, Sarkkhan, Akki, etc., so it's no secret who is who). The world is mostly great big deserts, great big mountains, and slightly uncivilized cities. Other planets keep trying to rule it and use its natural resources. The fact that the planet is named Austar IV is really just the icing on the cake.
- Roger Zelazny's Chronicles Of Amber claim that every world in existence exists in Shadow, as a reflection of the True World, Amber. Hence, several cultures of Earth are pointed out to be reflections of some part of Amber (and several famous historical figures are said to have been trained by the long-lived Amberites).
- Much of the work of C.J.Cherryh is powered by this trope.
- The nation of Jackals in Stephen Hunt's The Court of the Air and The Kingdom Beyond the Waves is a Steam Punk version of Victorian England. It's hostile neighbor, Quatershift is a take on Revolutionary France with a bit of Soviet Russia thrown in. Cassarabia, is an Arabian caliphate, with the worship of an immortal god-king replacing Islam. There's also an extinct Mayincatec civilzation that's dominated by a Religion Of Evil worshipping Cosmic Horrors that turns out not to be so extinct after all
- When Fritz Leiber's heroes Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser get lost in Ningauble's caves and emerge on Earth, their personal histories and memories are altered appropriately. Fafhrd is, not surprisingly, now Scandinavian, and Lankhmar is replaced by Alexandria. The real reason for this is that "Adept's Gambit" was an early story Leiber had written prior to creating the his world of Nehwon, and he later used the "Ningauble's interdimensional caverns" gimmick to shoehorn it into canon.
- Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett's Havemercy is set in the nation of Volstov which is very similar to late 18th-early 19th cent. Russia minus guns and plus Magitek but with the geography reversed so that it's capital is close to the border of the rival Ke-Han Empire which itself seems to be an amalgam of Manchurian China and Samurai Japan although we don't actually go there or meet any of it's citizens.
- While The Hundred, the central culture in Kate Eliot's Crossroads trilogy doesn't seem to be based on any particular culture the Sirniakan Empire is very similar to the Ottoman Empire, and the Qin are very Mongolish with some Japanese samurai added in while the towns of the Golden Road they conquered seems very Chinese and th4e Silvers are remniscent of Jews.
Live Action TV
- The races in Star Trek frequently have elements of this, though the pairings shift from portrayal to portrayal.
- The Klingons started out as a sort of Mongol/Soviet hybrid, and were later given Japanese-ish ideas about honor (rarely put into practice, but given a lot of lip service) and a fair amount of superficial Norse trappings.
- The Romulans started out as obviously based on the Romans (even to the name of the race, which plays on Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome), but later took the role of Soviet analogs.
- They've also been considered Chinese analogues, considering in particular their role as the Third Power and their periods of isolationism.
- In TOS it was obvious that politically the Klingons were the stand-ins for the Soviets and the Romulans were for the Communist Chinese. Of course they did throw in various different cultural things.
- The TOS episode "Plato's Stepchildren" has an entire alien culture modeled on Ancient Greece, which ironically, was said in a different episode of the same series to have been based on Ancient Astronauts. There were, of course, also the Space Nazis and Space Gangsters, and one time trip into a planet's ancient past had awfully Napoleonic trappings.
- Upon their first appearance, one character notes that the Ferengi behave like "Yankee traders."
- Bajorans are explicitly a stand-in for any opressed peoples in history, including, ironically, both Jews (the 1940s in Europe and the Israeli Wars of Independance) and Palestinians, along with "Kurds and Haitian boat people... terrorism and homelessness are universal problems".
- The Cardassians are Nazis early in Deep Space Nine, though once they ally with the Dominion they become more like a Nazi client state: Italy or Vichy France. They also have some aspects of Commie Land, with a figurehead "legitimate" government, show trials, and occasionally Russian names that don't match the sound of other names in their language.
- On the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series the colonists from socially and religiously deeply conservative Gemenon and politically impotent, terrorist ridden, superstitious Sagittaron resemble the Deep South and Oireland respectively. If Gaius Baltar is typical of his countrymen, Aerilonians speak a thick Yorkshire accent.
- Firefly's planets appear to have numerous cultires that preserve old national traditions from Earth-That-Was. The whole show is colored by Chinese culture, including the dialogue. The Rim world settings where most of the series takes place are mainly, of course, modeled on the Wild West, right down to accents and about half the slang.
- Odd, though, that there don't seem to be any Chinese - or Asian - people around. Although I haven't watched it for a while...
- And the Civil War in the backstory is a deliberate parallel to the American Civil War.
- Kings is set in the kingdom of Gilboa, which is pretty much modern America run by an absolute monarchy.
- Well, more modern America fused with Biblical Israel/Judea with the capital, Shiloh, explicitly modeled on New York City. Gath seems to something of a cross of the Philistines with the Soviet Union.
- Used, especially in the earlier episodes, of Stargate SG-1. This is justified as they mostly encounter humans who were "transplanted" from Earth, and un-justified in that few of them have seemed to culturally or scientifically evolved since then, and almost all of them randomly speak English.
- Justified in at least some cases because they were deliberately kept down by the Goa'uld.
- There is a cross-species example in Babylon 5, in which the intergalactic Blood Sport called "moo-tai" is essentially a karate kumite, complete with gi, bowing, and an ancient master who speaks with a raspy Asian accent. Ironically, humans seem to be the only species who have never taken part in the sport until the episode "TKO."
Roleplaying Games
- Most Dungeons And Dragons campaign settings.
- The World of Greyhawk references a number of cultures with resonance to Gary Gygax's Swiss family, Wisconsin home, and medieval wargames hobby, including "The Concatenated Cantons of Perrenland" (Switzerland), Thillonrian Peninsula cultures (Norse), various "Paynim" (Muslim) cultures in the west, and the vaguely Papal state of Medegia. There are "Native Americans" (Flanae), lake-faring "Gypsies" (Rhennee), and the map features a couple of large, connected freshwater lakes in the middle (Wisconsin again).
- The Forgotten Realms setting features a large number of countries that are obviously based on historical ones. Amn is early modern Spain/Portugal, complete with colonies in the equivalent of Central America; Calimshan is vaguely reminiscent of Muslim Spain, with a few Arabic influences; Mulhorand is Pharonic Egypt; Unther is old Babylon; Chessenta (slighty Greek collection of city-states); the Hordelands (blatantly Mongolian, complete with Take Over The World scare); and Chult is sub-Saharan Africa. Bedine people in Anauroch desert (Arabia without genies and flying carpets). And Rashemen, descendants of Rus (old "Russians were descendants of Vikings" anecdote plus grubbed-up Wikkan-friendly fragments plus Slavonic folklore).
Inuit Ulutiun tribes of Great Glacier... Sub-settings are the continent of Kara-Tur, a mish-mash of Asian countries to the point that its book reads more like a travelogue/textbook on real-world Asia than a sourcebook; Aztec-style continent Maztica (removed later), complete with straightforward historical allusions; the continent of Zakhara (home of the Al-Qadim setting) is based clearly on mythic Arabia.
- Altough one of the background concepts for the Realms, namely that it is liberally sprinkled with portals to pretty much anywhere, might explain some of that, by the fact that it is canon that anywhere includes, yes, the Earth on which the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting was published. In the specific cases of Mulhorand and Unther, it is mentioned that their ancestors were ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, taken as slaves by a civilization very good at the portal-making thing, and after overthrowing their oppressors, they spent the next three thousand years or so ruled by the living incarnations of their deties, which might have caused a bit of social stagnation.
- The Mulhorandi also pulled this on another human group, opening portals of their own to another world and kidnapping a vast number of humans known as the Mulan, enslaving them before they rebelled and became a power in their own right. The Mulan then founded their own nation of Thay, which vaguely resembles Renaissance Italy in the sheer amount of backstabbing and debauchery the Red Wizards who rule the land pull on each other, being just as apt to fight one another as they are to invade their neighbors. The difference with Thay, however, is that they openly consort with demons, devils and other twisted, horrific monsters.
- According to R. A. Salvatore, he based the culture of the drow of Menzoberranzan on the Italian mafia!
- The feuding between Neverwinter and Luskan seems to be a nod to the Trojan War, as Luskan is also called "Illusk" (Troy was called "Ilion").
- The human cultures of Birthright are Fantasy Counterpart Cultures; the developers' notes admit as such. Anuire is Renaissance Italy hidden behind a constructed language and some stock Heroic Fantasy tropes, the Khinasi are Turkish Persian Arabs, the Rjurik are Vikings, Brechtur is Renaissance Germany and the Vos are Lzherusskie barbarians. (Yes, it was written during the Cold War (though released shortly after its end), why do you ask?)
- Used to varying degrees in Ravenloft. Some are fairly clear - Barovia is Romania, Borca is Italy, Dementlieu and Richemulot are France, Falkovnia is Wallachia, Forlorn is Scotland, Har'Akir and Sebua are Pharonic Egypt, Pharazia is medieval Egypt, Hazlan is Turkish (by way of the Forgotten Realms' Thay), Lamordia is Switzerland, Mordent is rural 19th-century England, Nova Vaasa is Poland, Paridon is Victorian London, Souragne is antebellum Louisiana, Sri Raji is India, Tepest is Ireland, Valachan is the Pacific Northwest, Vorostokov is Russia, and Wild Lands are Africa. Others, like Darkon and Sithicus, operate through more fantasy filters.
- At least Sithicus is actually a domain snatched from the Dragon Lance setting.
- Justified in Odaire, a domain taken from an actual parallel (Gothic) Earth's Italy.
- Pretty much every human culture in the Mystara setting is based on a Real Life country (which makes a certain amount of sense, as it's implied that Mystara is an Alternate Universe to Earth): Thyatis is Rome and/or Byzantine, Karameikos is vaguely Slavic, Glantri is a generically Renaissance-era western European nation, the Northern Reaches are Scandinavia, Heldann is the Teutonic Knights, Darokin is a mish-mash Genoese/Venetian merchant republic, the Ethengar Khanate is central Asia, Ylaruam is Arabia (and directly south of the Northern Reaches... WTF?), the Atruaghin Clans are North American Indians, the Savage Baronies are Mexico and Brazil, Cimmaron is Texas (!!), Robrenn is Ireland, Eusdria is Celtic Gaul, Bellayne is England (with cat-people), Renardy is France (with dog-people), the wallara lizardfolk are Australian Aborigines, the phanaton raccoon-people are South American Indians... the list goes on and on...
- Eberron averts this. There are no direct equivalents to real world cultures.
- The Warhammer setting is full of this, as it supposedly takes place in one of many world manufactured to a similar pattern, including our own. The Empire is early-Renaissance Holy Roman Empire Germany, Kislev is a blend of pre-Petrine Muscovy and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Brettonia is medieval France, Estalia and Tilea are renaissance Spain and Italy, and Albion is druidical Britain and Ireland. Further to the East, you've got Araby, Cathay, Nippon, and Ind, which are just medieval European terms for exactly the countries you'd think. The Tomb Kings are Pharaonic Egypt, only undead, the Lizardmen are... Mayincatecs, and so on. Amusingly, the Earth-based geography and Earth-based cultures don't always match exactly. The High Elves seem like Atlanteans, and the sickenly sadistic and warped Dark Elves are Canadian. Of course.
- Many of the factions in the science-fantasy counterpart Warhammer 40000 are slighty less direct but still obvious take-offs of historical cultures and armies:
- Among the Space Marines, the Space Wolves and White Scars are based on Viking and Mongol stereotypes, respectively, and the Ultramarines smack of blue-armoured Roman Legionaries. The Black Templars are heavily based on Crusaders and Knights Templar (some relation). The Emperor himself is some mix of King Arthur and Jesus.
- Then there's the Imperial Guard. Germany and Russia get two apiece: The Valhallans, despite the Nordic name, are Reds With Rockets ready to defend Emperorgrad from waves of Orks, whereas the Vostroyans are Space Cossacks. Both the Armageddon Steel Legion and the Death Korps of Krieg are Weltkrieg Germans, but we're not sure which are which: the Steel Legion conduct Blitzkrieg, but are pretty light-hearted by 40K standards, whereas the Death Korps slog through mud and wire but have more Fascistic levels of Grim Dark. Then you have the Catachans, who seem to be both sides of the Vietnam war, and the Tallarn Desert Raiders, who appear to be the Arab Revolt with General Monty's equipment, the red-coated, pith-helmeted Pretorians, and the vaguely Prussian Mordians. The Tanith First and Only are subtly Celtic, and while the Cadians are deliberately generic modern military-types, there name is supposedly a nod to Canada's tremendous and oft-overlooked contribution in the World Wars.
- The Inquisition is, quite obviously, based on the Spanish Inquisition, with a bit of Gestapo, and all of the worst fascists in history, really.
- The Orks started life as a caricature of British football hooligans, and come complete with slang and thick Cockney accents. They mostly stay pretty close to their roots, too.
- The Tau Empire are in some ways an East Asian jumble. Their military equipment is strikingly Animesque, they have nebulously Oriental accents and some sort of... Tao Fucianist philosophy, they refer to humans as Gue'la, they have single black cables running out of their suits, and they are all about the Collective Greater Good.
- The Eldar were Asianesque first, Japanese in particular. They even have Katanas.
- Also somewhat apparent in the Chaos Space Marines, too. Most notably would be the Thousand Sons◊, based highly on ancient Egyptian styles, wearing similar crowns on their armors to the pharaohs and other similar assecories, and the architecture of Prospero◊ further proves this fact with pyramid-shaped architecture. The Night Lords might also be Slavic inspired, too.
- The Necrons have some ancient egyptian about them, and sometimes Mayan and Mesopotamian too, basically every pyramid building culture.
- This is part of the basic premise of AEG's 7th Sea; every nation is an exaggerated version of a nation in 17th-century Europe. Avalon is England (with Inismore as Ireland and the Highland Marches as Scotland), Castille is Spain (with its own Spanish Inquisition), Montaigne is France, Eisen (name means "iron") is Germany, Vodacce is Italy, Vendel (which means "banner") is Holland, Ussura is Russia, and the Vestenmanavnjar are the Vikings. There's also the Crescent Empire, which is based off the Ottoman Empire.
- Castille is an Istanbul Not Constantinople. It was one of the kingdoms that were united to form Spain (Aragon, Leon, and Navarra being the others).
- Likewise, AEG's Legend of the Five Rings setting puts a number of rival Japanese samurai clans on a China-like map under the control of a strong Imperial house - but not strong enough that the clans aren't constantly fighting each other. One of the clans, the Unicorn, has strong Mongolian influences.
- Given joking justification in the world of Yrth, the "house setting" for fantasy gaming in GURPS - many cultures there resemble those of ancient and medieval Earth, but that's because they were founded by refugees from Earth, accidentally transported to Yrth by a truly humongous critical failure on a powerful spell.
- Loosely speaking, the four major nations in Reign are Fantasy Counterpart Cultures. Dindavara is feudal China, Uldholm is the Nordic nations, the Truils are the Germanic tribes, and the Empire is Imperial Britain in its decline. However, it does some very interesting things from this base framework... to the point that Uldholm in particular is only a Fantasy Counterpart Culture in the loosest sense of the term.
- The Riddle of Steel has lots of Fantasy Counterpart Cultures in its game world, including Sarmatov (Poland), Otamarluk (Turkey) and Tengoku (guess), alongside fantasy staples such as RenFaire Kingdom and Barbarian Hero Land. Consequently it's often used for Earth-based historical games, with or without the more blatant fantasy tropes.
- The wargame Hordes of the Things (released by Wargames Research Group, better known for its historical games) points out that the inhabitants of fantasy worlds think of orcs and goblins much as medieval Europeans thought of Mongols, and for essentially the same reason. It's no coincidence that HoTT's goblin army handles similarly to DBA's Mongol army in play. Other games that play on this connection include the aforementioned Birthright, which features a goblin khanate.
- Name a real life culture. It's somewhere in Exalted. In particular, The Realm appears to be what would happen if ancient Rome, modern-day America, and China had a baby. Lookshy resembles a Magitek Sparta, and the Linowan have many similarities to Native Americans, while the Northwestern tribes have a very Nordic feel to them. Then there's the ancient Aztec dinosaur people...
- The Realm's satrapy system is almost exactly the same as the one used by the Persian Empire, down to the name used. Yes, THAT Persian Empire.
- Battletech's nations all have a bit more depth to them, but they all can be looked at this way on the surface. Of the various superpowers, the Draconis Combine is mostly Japan, the Federated Suns is mostly Britain, the Capellan Confederation is mostly Chinese, the Lyran Commonwealth is mostly German, and the Free Worlds League, with its multiculturalism, federalism, and republicanism in a Feudal Future, is vaguely American. The Inner Sphere as a whole is medieval Europe, with ComStar as the Catholic Church, and the Clans are the Mongol Horde.
- The location and culture of Dogs In The Vineyard are similar to the Mormon-settled Deseret Territory of early Utah.
Video Games
- The Ace Combat series loves these. At the most blatantly obvious, the Osean Federation is the United States, Emmeria is too [adding a C makes it very obvious], North Point is Japan, Yuktobania, Erusea and Estrovakia [the Stroviet Union] are all Russia, Belka is Germany and Sapin is Spain. Aurelia and Leasnath appear to represent the entirety of South America.
- Strangereal's lack of nuclear proliferation gives us a subversion; characters in The Belkan War and especially The Unsung War display attitudes about and intentions with nuclear weapons that seem downright bizarre to the player, who has lived in a world with thousands of the things their whole life.
- The building and unit designs for all four nations in the series Advance Wars are based on World War II-era combatants: Orange Star is America, Soviet Russia is Blue Moon, Green Earth is Germany, and Yellow Comet is Japan. Interestingly, none of the four nations are villainous. The bad guys, Black Hole, have no earth parallels and are designed to appear off-world or alien.
- Similarly, you have the Western Frontier (American), Tundran Territories (Russian), Xylvania (Germany/Romania), Solar Empire (Japan), and Anglo Isles (England) in Battalion Wars.
- Tamriel, the continent upon which The Elder Scrolls games take place, is like this. Cyrodiil is the Roman Empire (with vague Chinese trappings), and the other human races resemble Rome's client states - the Nords being Norsemen, the Bretons being Celts (Oblivion made them specifically Celts from Bretagne), and the Redguards being negroid people with vaguely North African architecture and curiously English-sounding names. The High Elves have a vaguely British culture. The extinct Dwemer have a Steam Punk Mesopotamian/Semitic motif. Mainstream Dark Elf society resembles medieval Catholic Europe, while the Ashlanders have more Mongolian trappings. Orcs also have a Mongol-type culture, though their naming convention uses Norse-ish patronymics. The unseen continent of Akavir ispopulated by dragons,insane monkey-folk and giant snakes (that ate all the humans) with East Asian cultural trappings.
- The Jade Empire is a dead ringer for Ancient China, complete with dense jungles to the south (Indochina), impassable mountains to the west (the Himalayas), northern steppes populated by "the Horselords" (Mongols), and an eastern ocean, from which come foreigners resembling 16th century European explorers. It's a little Steam Punk and All Myths Are True, so it's not quite as Flanderized as most examples of this trope.
- The MMORPG Granado Espada is entirely based around fantasy counterparts of Old World cultures and their role in the New World.
- Freelancer contains four different "Houses": Liberty (United States), Bretonia (United Kingdom), Kusari (Japan) and Rheinland (Germany). And on top of that, their places are named after actual places (such as "Planet Los Angeles"). However, this styling is intentional as the four houses are themed as the descendents of colonists from the four countries.
- There was also a fifth ship, the Hispania, that was broke down.
- They became Spanish pirates of various factions. There's probably some trope hidden there somewhere...
- Rise Of Legends features Fantasy Counterpart Cultures to Renaissance Italy, the Arabian Nights Middle East, and Mayan/Aztec Mesoamerica, complete with "appropriate" techs (Steampunk/Clockpunk, swords & sorcery, and sub-Sufficiently Advanced Alien tech, respectively) for its three factions. Two of the three also have very obvious Meaningful Names, with the Renaissance Italians being Vinci, and the Mesoamerican nation being Cuotl (A reference to Quetzalcoatl, who some UFOlogists and cryptohistorians claim was actually an alien).
- Almost all video game RPGs contain at least one such country, usually modelled after Japan. See Wutai.
- Other than the aformentioned Wutai, however, most Final Fantasy games are surprisingly good at inventing unrecognisably fantastic cultures aside from a few vague parallels. A noticable exception is Final Fantasy X 's more deliberately asian-like setting.
- Some elements of the Middle East are notably present in Aht Urhgan, The Empire of Final Fantasy XI. San d'Oria also possesses many elements of Europe's middle ages.
- The Ogir-Yensa Sandsea of Final Fantasy XII is very obviously based on Soviet-occupied Afghanistan and Gulf War-era Iraq, with keffiyeh-wearing fish people running around executing sneak attacks on travelers, and giant rusting oil field tanks lying around, rendered useless due to terrorist activity and the invading country not wanting to waste any more time and money protecting them. It even has a a native who gets executed by the Culture Police -minded queen for being interested in something other than killing and religion!
- The Warcraft Universe has a lot of these, which is particularly evident in their architecture:
- The human/undead towns and cities resemble 17th century and/or medieval Europe.
- They seem for the most part to emulate Britain, with many towns names ending in "shire" (whereas in the real world the shire is the area ruled by the town, eg. Gloucester [pronounced "glosster"] is the county town of Gloucestershire [pronounced "glosstersher"]) like Darrowshire, Goldshire etc. Stratholm breaks this naming convention appearing germanic in origin, although beings architecturally identical to Stormwind.
- The tauren's culture is similar to western Native American tribes; some male Tauren even saw "How" when you greet them.
- The orcs are were originally a mix of vikings and mongols. However, after the Ret Con about them being Chaotic Good instead of Evil, they've gotten more and more of the positive cultural and architectural motifs connected to barbarians, their main city being a glorified camp site in a ravine, everything made out of animal hides and with spikes. There are also elements of Samurai Bushido in their battle culture, particularly in their "Victory or Death" philosophy.
- Jungle trolls speak with Jamaican accents, practice voodoo, do capoeira, and live in huts, while building giant Mesoamerican-style Temple cities and practicing human(oid) sacrifice.
- Forest trolls speak with hispanic accents, build giant Mesoamerican-style pyramids and have human(oid) sacrifice.
- Ice trolls use floating weapons, zulu shields and tiki masks to guards their houses, and build giant Mesoamerican-style/Babylonian Zigurats, while worshipping/killing animal gods, and practicing human(oid) sacrifice.
- The qiraji and some silithid have a sort of amalgamation of Egyptian and Mesopotamian architecture (most of the Silithid live in enormous hives).
- The night elves are an unholy mashup of Classical Greece, and Feudal Japan, with some Nordic elements as well. Fluted columns stand side by side with torii in many parts of their lands. Also, the style of dress of night elf male aristocrats greatly resembles Japanese court robes.
- The blood elves, on the other hand, have influences from the middle east. Their buildings often are adorned with geometric archways, rugs and floor cushions, and hookah pipes.
- The dwarves use of runes and their hairdos and braided beards seems inspired by the vikings. They talk with scottish accents and can do the Cossack dance, however.
- The Draenei have eastern European accents and Crystal Spires And Togas architecture.
- The pandaren have a psuedo-Chinese culture. They were originally styled as samurai, but this offended Chinese fans since pandas are their national animal (and the only place in the world where they're found in the wild).
- The Tuskarr, who live in the cold north, seem to be the walrus-ified version of the Inuit.
- And the Vrykul is clearly inspires by the old vikings, complete with giving their leaders swedish/norwegian names
- Come to think of it, it would be easier to have the voice actors just tell what nationality you want them to do
- In Skies Of Arcadia, you have Valua as Spain, Nasr as the Middle East, Ixa'Taka as Mesoamerica, and Yafutoma as Japan with some (more) Chinese influences. Additionally, the various independent islands in Mid Ocean seem to support a culture similar to England, or at least English colonies.
- In Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, the Clakkerz are Wild West settlers/rednecks and the Grubbs are the oppressed Native Americans.
- Maple Story started with fairly generic towns, but there are some new worlds that are very familiar. There's Korean Folk Town, "Japan" (complete with kitsune, kappa, and yakuza bosses), Ariant (a generic Middle East/Arabian fantasy world), "China" (with pandas and Ginseng monsters), and who knows what else in the future.
- The map of Golden Sun's planet, called "Weyard," appears to be a very distorted version of Earth.
- The starting area of the first game, Angara, bares similarity to medieval Europe, has a region similar to the Scandanavian peninsula to the north, and a (comparatively small) area with Oriental inluences to the east. It goes so far as to call the path from the eastern reaches to the western reaches "Silk Road".
- The continent south of Angara, Gondowan, has Midde Eastern influences at the far north, tribal African influences further south, and is generally shaped like Africa.
- Indra, which had originally been just southeast of Angara, appears to have Indian culture and is shaped like India.
- West of Angara is Hesparia, which is dominated by a Native North American-style tribe.
- Just south of that (though not connected by land bridge) is Atteka, which has Native South American influences.
- There's also Osenia, which doesn't appear to have Australian influences, but is shaped like Australia, positioned where Australia would be compared to the other continents, and has a location called Air's Rock.
- Various island chains also represent Japan (Izumo) and the East Indies (Apojii). There's even an Atlantis (Lemuria) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean's counterpart (the Great Eastern Sea).
- There's even a completely uninhabited version of Antarctica (Tundria) down at the bottom of the map.
- The Quest For Glory series has each game taking place in a different region like this, each of them representing the four cardinal directions except for the third game, which was made as an afterthought. In order they are: Speilburg (Germany, North), Shapier (Middle East, South), Fricana (Africa, none), Mordavia (Russia, East) and Silmaria (Greece, West).
- The Glorious Empire of Overlord 2 is the Roman Empire with Anti Magic.
- Grandia has your party traveling East across an ocean to The New World which is clearly a distorted Europe.
- The exact counterparts of the Eve Online nations is the subject of much debate:
- The Amarr are closely modeled on the medieval Catholic Church... combined with the slavery of the pre-Civil War South.
- The Caldari are a heavily-corporate culture with a few Japanese and Russian influences.
- The Gallente are a hybrid of the United States and the French.
- The Minmatar draw on Norse mythology for some of their ship names. They also have elements of Africans or Native Americans, being a very tribal culture.
- Guild Wars has a bunch of these as well
- In prophecies, Ascalon is a mix of various medieval European areas, while the Charr seem somewhat based on Mayincatec architecture
- In factions, Kaineng city and Shing Jea island architecture and names seem based on various East Asian areas. Kurzick lands use gothic architecture with Germanic and slavic sounding names, Luxon lands use ancient greek sounding names.
- In nightfall, Istan and Kourna appear to be a mix of Ancient Egyptian architectureand Sub Saharan African environments, while Vabbi represents Arabian Nights Days.
- The Lucas Arts tactical RPG Gladius is comprised entirely of these. Imperia is Rome, Nordagh is a stand-in for the Nordic countries, the Windward Steppes are Asia, and the Southern Expanse is Egypt.
- Sonic Unleashed doesn't even try to hide it. All of the levels are based off of various real-world locales, such as modern Greece, China, and New York. The only exception is the final stage.
- Good Lord, where do you even start with Dragon Age? Just look at the main page.
- The various regions in Pokemon are based on various bits of Japan. The first region (Kanto) even has the exact same name.
- Some of the cities in the handheld games are also based on European locations, e.g. Sootoplis City is based on Santorini, Greece. The Orre region, from the Game Cube games, is based on, of all places, Arizona.
- Final Fantasy VII has the Cetra, an ancient race of persecuted wanderers who are supposed to be the only ones with access to 'The Promised Land'. The main Cetra in the game (born to a non-Cetra father and a Cetra mother, but treated as completely Cetra) was living undercover in a household run by a non-Cetra, lying about her heritage in order to stop The Empire's agents finding her and taking her to have sadistic experiments done on her. Her mother was tortured to death by The Empire during the war (involving a culture known for ninja and samurai). Does This Remind You Of Anything?
Web Comics
- As mentioned in the page quote, Azure City of Order Of The Stick is a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of mostly Japan and a little of the rest of East Asia also. We haven't seen much of the rest of the world, but it seems from the Pantheons the North will be equivalent to the Vikings, the West will be Mesopotamian, and the East would be Greek if the Eastern gods still existed to make this version of the world.
- Sorcery 101 uses this with the England counterpart called Terra. It's more an Alternate History world where some placenames differ than a fantasy counterpart.
- Dominic Deegan has a several fantasy cultures that are strongly flavored by real-world counterparts: the Callanians are medieval western Europeans (knights, castles, feudalism, etc.), Semashi are renaissance Italian (high culture and homeland of numerous reknowned composers with names like Ciarenni and Montefiore; being as they're dark-skinned humans, it also suggests Caribbean influence), the werewolves are Russians (living in northern latitudes and drinking lots of vodka), the Nagasta are Japanese (island-dwellers who are reknowned for their seafood and traditional martial arts), and the orcs are Magical Native Americans.
Web Original
Western Animation
- Done purposefully in Futurama with a planet modeled on ancient Egypt. And a planet modeled on American baseball teams.
- In Avatar The Last Airbender is a somewhat different examples in that while the Air Nomads are based on Tibet, the Water Tribes the Inuit, the Earth Kingdom on Qing dynasty China, and the Fire Nation on a combination of Tang dynasty China and Imperial Japan, there are many subculture examples. For instance, Kyoshi Island is based off isolationist Japan and the Foggy Swamp Tribe is based on a combination of native South America and Mississippi River Delta. In the episode "Cave of Two Lovers", Zuko also met a girl named Song whose name and dress resembled that of traditional Korean culture. Later, Aang and Zuko meet the Sun Warriors, who are simply Incas with the serial numbers files off. So needless to say, a lot of different non-European cultures were included in Avatar.
- I thought the Foggy Swamp Tribe was based off of Vietnamese culture. They, at the very least, have Vietnamese names.
- Actually, the Air Nomads also borrow a lot from Shaolin Buddhist culture in addition to Tibetan Buddhism. The Water Tribe borrows from several circumpolar indigenous cultures as well as some Polynesian cultures.
- The Earth Kingdom is so large it encompasses Qing Dynasty China primarily in the city-fortress of Ba Sing Se, but also has areas influenced by Tang Dynasty China (see early season 2) the Gobi Desert (see Library episodes) and Northeastern China and Korea (like the Song character.)
- The Fire Nation is based off of industrialized, Imperialist Japan—it's a chain of volcanic islands who uses the premise of "sharing prosperity" (similar to Japan's argument in World War II) to conquer its neighboring nations. Coal-based military industrial complex, State emperor worship, schoolbook propaganda, etc.
- The Foggy Swamp Tribe and the Sun Warriors were not so much based on native South American or Mississippi river delta than on cultures from Southeast Asia. The Foggy Swap tribe is reminiscent of river dwelling cultures in Southeast Asia. The Sun Warriors are definitely not "Incas with serial numbers filed off." The one Mayan-looking building in the Sun Warrior compound is more likely based after the Candi Sukuh in Indonesia, the rest of the compound borrows architectural styles from places like Angkor Wat and Phanom Rung. And the clothing worn by the Sun Warriors seems also derived from Southeast Asia, particular the headdresses which resemble Iban warrior headdresses.
- Transformers Generation 1 (the original '80s cartoon) had the "Socialist Democratic Federated Republic" of Carbombya, whose leader was "Supreme Military Commander, President for Life, and King-of-Kings" Abdul Fakkadi, whose capital city's population was "4000 people and 10000 camels", and which was so stereotypically Arab and stereotypically evil that it supposedly prompted the departure of Casey Kasem—voice of Cliffjumper, Bluestreak, and the Teletraan-1 computer and of Lebanese descent—from the show.
- The Super Friends did this a lot with alien worlds. There was Camelon the medeival planet, Texacana the cowboy planet, Zaghdad the Arabian Nights planet, etc.
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