What are the Vanu Vanu based off?

What real life culture(s) are the Vanu Vanu based off? I imagine it's some tribal culture but I don't really know which. I doubt they invented all of it without any inspiration either.

Mayan/Aztec? Just a wild guess.

They are probably based off:
Kakapo
"The kakapo (Māori: kākāpō or night parrot), Strigops habroptilus, also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the super-family Strigopoidea endemic to New Zealand."

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...4b10bdb17f.jpg

and

Māori people (Probably around 1500-1840)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...d_Lindauer.jpg

Not real life, but:

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/...20070928224715 + http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/...20091114200711 = http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/...20150527051322

But in all seriousness, their tribal ways do resemble the Māori very closely, including their Haka (war dance)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vejjiegirl

They are probably based off:
Kakapo
"The kakapo (Māori: kākāpō or night parrot), Strigops habroptilus, also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the super-family Strigopoidea endemic to New Zealand."

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...4b10bdb17f.jpg

and

Māori people (Probably around 1500-1840)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...d_Lindauer.jpg

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Second picture looks like they photoshopped pokemon ears onto a man.

Aren't Ixali based on normal parrots? Vanu Vanu are more like crested serpent eagles like this one:

http://www.kolkatabirds.com/cresteds...eaglebp8as.jpg

I always thought the vanu vanu were owls

Yagudos. Duh *cheeky grin*

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/...20080901055554

Wow, what are they teaching in schools these days. The Vanu Vanu are clearly based off of the Atlantian sky island settlers of the 9th century. Their wonderful culture was destroyed by the waste of Western "civilization" when the callous Issac Newton forced their islands to plummet from the sky after his invention of gravity in the 17th century.

Physically one would assume owls considering one of their attacks is called "Hoot"

I can't believe so many people responded only to the title when the real question is contained in a single sentence of the OP. /sigh

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Originally Posted by Xanikk999

I can't believe so many people responded only to the title when the real question is contained in a single sentence of the OP. /sigh

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Probably because that question was answered within the first few posts...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jynx

Probably because that question was answered within the first few posts...

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Then why respond at all if they aren't going to add anything relevent. Just let the thread die in that case.

It's pretty darn obvious the sundrop dance is based on the Maori Haka, that tells you all you need to know.

Alright I see that they probably are based on the Maori somewhat. I noticed this paragraph from wikipedia which strongly resembles the Vanu Vanu rep grind you can do:

Quote:

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Around 1500 CE a group of Māori migrated east to the Chatham Islands, where, by adapting to the local climate and the availability of resources, they developed a culture known as the "Moriori." This was related to but distinct from Māori culture in mainland New Zealand. A notable feature of the Moriori culture was an emphasis on pacifism. When a party of invading North Taranaki Māori arrived in 1835, few of the estimated Moriori population of 2,000 survived; they were killed outright and many were enslaved.

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You'd probably have some luck looking at Polynesian/Pacific Islander cultures in general. The dance at the least, is Haka inspired, but their fictional culture as a whole is probably a hodgepodge of references from many sources - the names of a lot of local fauna for instance (Sanuwa, Waukkeon, etc) sound distinctly Hawaiian.

Are the other beast tribes based on any real world cultures?

Well, Ixal naming conventions definitely have a very strong Aztec influence, that's one obvious one. I haven't interacted all that much with them in-game, so I don't know if it extends beyond just names to how they've been designed and so on, but it's a starting point.

The other beast tribes don't seem to have anything that jumps out as obviously as that, at least nothing I can think of at the moment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gunspec

Wow, what are they teaching in schools these days. The Vanu Vanu are clearly based off of the Atlantian sky island settlers of the 9th century. Their wonderful culture was destroyed by the waste of Western "civilization" when the callous Issac Newton forced their islands to plummet from the sky after his invention of gravity in the 17th century.

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Well I apologize that the standards ot teaching was different when I went to school 20 years ago. No need to be so rude.

Vanu Atu.

Maori.

Samoa.