Earth cultures in Eorzea. What next?

Hello everyone. Here I am with another thread for another crazy topic.

I've received some pretty cool responses for yet unseen terrain types and for Mysida.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-in-the-future.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ill-it-show-up

Now it is time to look at Earth cultures. This time I want to ask about various IRL cultures.

We already have a nice list. We have sci-fi Rome for Garlemald, Greece for Limsa guest starrring the pirates of the caribbean, the Middle Eastern Ul'dah, the Egyptian Qarn, the Japanese Hingashi, Mongolian Azym Steppes and the Celtic Mhach. Just to name a few. Oh and Ala Mhigo as our India.

Which should be next on the menu? Of course Ilsabard will be most likely more techno rome, but for 6.0 and beyond we could see a lot more. Mesoamerican? Native American? Eastern European? A more alive and working ancient Egypt? Victorian England? Inuit?

I'd like a strong presence of Egyptian influence in dungeons and cities because why not. This also extends to gear design as a whole.

-Used to call it the “Shining World of the Seventh System”. And on the continent of Wild Endeavor, in the mountains of Solace and Solitude
-The second sun would rise in the south, and the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver, and when they caught the light every morning, it looked like a forest on fire. When the autumn came, the breeze would blow through the branches like a song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDZU-4jpZuU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8agYk3Jv4c - Martha is hawt!

Gallifrey theme.

Welp, time to nitpick....

Ul'dah surprisingly isn't entirely Middle Eastern, especially after looking at particular gear set and style for another city-state. It's a lot closer in influence to the Maghreb (North Africa), which matches more closely to the environment of region Ul'dah is in as well as the architecture and commerce theme of the city (and they too had sultanates).

Limsa seems less Greek and more colonial Caribbean (hence the pirate themes) with a possible hint of general Mediterranean influence (which isn't entirely Greek).

Ala Mhigan influence looks more like the Ottoman Empire given the architecture and more European flairs like the griffin statues. The closest thing to Indian influence would be either the more Near Eastern influence for Monks and the nearby Ananta (which aren't technically part of the city-state yet).

Everything else seems about right. Qarn is definitely Egyptian influenced, Hingashi is indeed Japanese-themed, the Xaela of the Azim Steppes are more or less Mongolian-inspired, Mhach does appear to have some Scotch-Irish influence (edited), and Garlemald does indeed reek of Roman inspiration.

It does help to list what else we have though:

Gridania seems to be Eorzea's version of Central Europe given the environment of predominantly coniferous forest and vastly increased use of wood over stone for building material in the area.
Ishgard is pretty much Medieval France and Germany since that's where it was mentioned that the dev team went to for inspiration for Heavensward (well, France anyway).
Sharlayan is what we would identify as "Greek" due to the architecture, the academic culture and the overall worldview that seems to come from its more adamant residents (who hated outsiders).
Doma I think was originally intended to be Japanese pre-Stormblood, but the addition of Hingashi meant changing Doma to a more Asiatic mix.
Finally, Thavnair is our Arabian influence point, especially taking note of the Thavnairian fashion we currently have as well as a shared interest in scientific fields such as chemistry (or alchemy as Eorzea recognizes it).

Much like the Ananta, we see cultural influences in other beast tribes. The Ixal of Xelphatol are inspired specifically by the Aztecs as it comes from the word "Ixtlán" is usually associated with a wind deity there named "Ehécatl" (anyone who has done the Ixal beast tribe stuff should find that mildly familiar). The Vanu Vanu have their influence from most likely the Maori, however somewhere in Polynesia could have shared cultural attributes that could provide such inspiration as well.

What we're generally missing are cultures that would be considered in "far reach" areas. This would include most of the Americas (likely this "New World" section I still haven't seen anything on), anywhere in the Arctic Circle (more local regions of Ilsabard might cover that), Scandinavia (Aerslaent in the far north should have more of it compared to anything seen in Dravania), Central/Southern Africa and Southeast Asia (more of Othard may or may not cover that) along with likely many others I can't think of right now. Personally, I'll take any of them.

I just want a Hanukkah's Menorah for my house

I actually thought Qarn more reminded me of more of an Aztec theme than Egyptian, but that could just be me.

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Originally Posted by Kazrah

Welp, time to nitpick....

Ul'dah surprisingly isn't entirely Middle Eastern, especially after looking at particular gear set and style for another city-state. It's a lot closer in influence to the Maghreb (North Africa), which matches more closely to the environment of region Ul'dah is in as well as the architecture and commerce theme of the city (and they too had sultanates).

Limsa seems less Greek and more colonial Caribbean (hence the pirate themes) with a possible hint of general Mediterranean influence (which isn't entirely Greek).

Ala Mhigan influence looks more like the Ottoman Empire given the architecture and more European flairs like the griffin statues. The closest thing to Indian influence would be either the more Near Eastern influence for Monks and the nearby Ananta (which aren't technically part of the city-state yet).

Everything else seems about right. Qarn is definitely Egyptian influenced, Hingashi is indeed Japanese-themed, the Xaela of the Azim Steppes are more or less Mongolian-inspired, Mhach does appear to have some Celtic influence, and Garlemald does indeed reek of Roman inspiration.

It does help to list what else we have though:

Gridania seems to be Eorzea's version of Central Europe given the environment of predominantly coniferous forest and vastly increased use of wood over stone for building material in the area.
Ishgard is pretty much Medieval France and Germany since that's where it was mentioned that the dev team went to for inspiration for Heavensward (well, France anyway).
Sharlayan is what we would identify as "Greek" due to the architecture, the academic culture and the overall worldview that seems to come from its more adamant residents (who hated outsiders).
Doma I think was originally intended to be Japanese pre-Stormblood, but the addition of Hingashi meant changing Doma to a more Asiatic mix.
Finally, Thavnair is our Arabian influence point, especially taking note of the Thavnairian fashion we currently have as well as a shared interest in scientific fields such as chemistry (or alchemy as Eorzea recognizes it).

Much like the Ananta, we see cultural influences in other beast tribes. The Ixal of Xelphatol are inspired specifically by the Aztecs as it comes from the word "Ixtlán" is usually associated with a wind deity there named "Ehécatl" (anyone who has done the Ixal beast tribe stuff should find that mildly familiar). The Vanu Vanu have their influence from most likely the Maori, however somewhere in Polynesia could have shared cultural attributes that could provide such inspiration as well.

What we're generally missing are cultures that would be considered in "far reach" areas. This would include most of the Americas (likely this "New World" section I still haven't seen anything on), anywhere in the Arctic Circle (more local regions of Ilsabard might cover that), Scandinavia (Aerslaent in the far north should have more of it compared to anything seen in Dravania), Central/Southern Africa and Southeast Asia (more of Othard may or may not cover that) along with likely many others I can't think of right now. Personally, I'll take any of them.

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just want to say... i only forum when im at work and always wish i had the time to craft posts such as this.

You sir, are an awesome person. thank you.

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Originally Posted by Lord_Zlatan

just want to say... i only forum when im at work and always wish i had the time to craft posts such as this.

You sir, are an awesome person. thank you.

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Thanks! I felt that as an anthropologist, I have to weigh in a bit more heavily on this one.

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Originally Posted by ChaoticCrimson

I actually thought Qarn more reminded me of more of an Aztec theme than Egyptian, but that could just be me.

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It's totally egyptian based, and if you need more proof, do the Hard Mode, some of the monsters and the final boss are definitely not aztecs.

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Originally Posted by Lord_Zlatan

(an excellent post)

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Seriously <3

We have this habit of associating fantasy cultures with a very few select "Hollywood" historical settings. FF14 takes some refreshing steps outside those boundaries, which is a trait it shares with a lot of good genre fantasy pieces, while keeping some core flavors, mostly of the European and Asian variety, intact.

I'm still in love with how they chose to place one of the most memorable recent story segments in a Mongolia-inspired region, because that's a place that tends to go severely under-utilized in these kinds of stories as anything other than a cheap and predictable go-to for "foreign invading horde" type antagonists.

"Hollywood" or no, though, I do look forward to whenever we get an expansion with Thavnair in it that's gonna just be a ridiculous feast of Arabian-Nightsy goodness.

Note on Doma and Hingashi: They can both be seen as fully representative of Japan, but during very different time periods. Doma reflects the war-torn Sengoku era, while Hingashi (or Kugane, at least) is the more cosmopolitan Meiji Restoration. Or something close to those effects, anyway. It's a little bit like how Gridania and Ishgard are 100% Europe, but Gridania's a pagan culture of antiquity, while Ishgard is all about the High Middle Ages.

Tangentially, the inclusion of Rabanastre in FFXIV reminds one of it's original incarnation in FFXII: An imagining of a Mesopotamian city-state advanced to a Renaissance-parallel.

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Originally Posted by Mahri

Note on Doma and Hingashi: They can both be seen as fully representative of Japan, but during very different time periods. Doma reflects the war-torn Sengoku era, while Hingashi (or Kugane, at least) is the more cosmopolitan Meiji Restoration. Or something close to those effects, anyway. It's a little bit like how Gridania and Ishgard are 100% Europe, but Gridania's a pagan culture of antiquity, while Ishgard is all about the High Middle Ages.

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Doma's a weird one. Although it does have that Sengoku-era feeling with both the Ninja and the Doman-garbed Garlean soldiers, the geography of what we've seen of the city-state is much closer to one of the river deltas in China. Even the name of the region (Yanxia) is Chinese.

What makes things more interesting is that looking at the more Doman-esque Garleans, it makes the story arc in Yanxia more like a reflection of the invasion of Manchuria....but that would be just crazy, right?

I believe long ago during early HW Yoshida said the far east was supposed to be a mix of Asian cultures and not just Japan. Granted, Japan is the predominant one, but it's kind of expected to see bits that reflect more China or Korea. It's not surprising they don't want to represent Chinese culture directly given their past and ongoing conflicts IRL, a representation taken the wrong way could put the company in a bad political spot.

But back on topic, there's also the currently inaccessible region of Nagxia which represents Viet culture.

Also Ala Mhigo has a strong Gaelic/Scottish influence as well as Indian architectural design (Ala Mhigan characters with spoken dialogue often have strong Gaelic accents, Highlander hyur originated there, musical cues for Gyr Abania having a Scottish influence, and the nation was originally an autocratic kingdom with European trappings).

I'm strongly expecting Meracydia to be Hydaelyn's version of Australia being a mysterious 'great south land' where everything trying to kill you is in play. ;)

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Originally Posted by Kazrah

Doma's a weird one. Although it does have that Sengoku-era feeling with both the Ninja and the Doman-garbed Garlean soldiers, the geography of what we've seen of the city-state is much closer to one of the river deltas in China. Even the name of the region (Yanxia) is Chinese.

What makes things more interesting is that looking at the more Doman-esque Garleans, it makes the story arc in Yanxia more like a reflection of the invasion of Manchuria....but that would be just crazy, right?

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True; the aesthetic, name, and music is very...Chinese fairytale, for lack of a better description. It feels so incredibly appropriate to fly through on that promotional floating cloud mount from a little while back. I really do hope they plan on including other regions of Othard in future content, as there's tons of directions they could take with it.

As to the latter statement: I never thought of it that way, but if the parallel was intentional, given my understanding (albeit incomplete) of Japanese popular sentiment towards that rather ugly affair, it'd be a very bold call-out for FF's writers to make.

I'm sure there's been at least one Japanese forum thread to non-constructively discuss it. :V


So related to this still, something I'm wondering: What's the Ruby Sea like? The natives (pirates, mostly) might be sort of Okinawan, but I'm unfamiliar with their motifs. The settlements seem to feature a lot of colorful decorative sailcloth fabric that makes me think "ambiguously Polynesian" but it might be more specific than that.

Of course Sui-no-Sato and Shisui are as fairytale-Japan as it gets; seemingly a reference to the "dragon palace" folklore and such. I mean, they have a palace, and Au Ra are kinda dragon-like, right?

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Also Ala Mhigo has a strong Gaelic/Scottish influence as well as Indian architectural design (Ala Mhigan characters with spoken dialogue often have strong Gaelic accents, Highlander hyur originated there, musical cues for Gyr Abania having a Scottish influence, and the nation was originally an autocratic kingdom with European trappings).

I'm strongly expecting Meracydia to be Hydaelyn's version of Australia being a mysterious 'great south land' where everything trying to kill you is in play. ;)

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I'd completely rule out voice acting, accents are different in JP/DE/FR, and the main reason we have Gaelic/Scottish VAs is because SE is staying with VAs from the UK.

Nagxia (The region south of Yanxia) seems to be the world's equivalent of southeast Asia, judging from the fact that the ao dai, non la, and guoc (Which are traditional Thai clothes) are made using materials from that region.

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Originally Posted by Kazrah

Welp, time to nitpick....

Go ahead. That's what drives discussion

Ul'dah surprisingly isn't entirely Middle Eastern, especially after looking at particular gear set and style for another city-state. It's a lot closer in influence to the Maghreb (North Africa), which matches more closely to the environment of region Ul'dah is in as well as the architecture and commerce theme of the city (and they too had sultanates).

Yeah that was my other guess. I'm hardly an expert in antropology

Limsa seems less Greek and more colonial Caribbean (hence the pirate themes) with a possible hint of general Mediterranean influence (which isn't entirely Greek).

Yeah the Mediterranean is mostly the architecture. Naturally none of them fit 100% It is fantasy after all

Ala Mhigan influence looks more like the Ottoman Empire given the architecture and more European flairs like the griffin statues. The closest thing to Indian influence would be either the more Near Eastern influence for Monks and the nearby Ananta (which aren't technically part of the city-state yet).

Well the ananta are not Ala Mhigan, but they are Gyr Abanian.

Everything else seems about right. Qarn is definitely Egyptian influenced, Hingashi is indeed Japanese-themed, the Xaela of the Azim Steppes are more or less Mongolian-inspired, Mhach does appear to have some Celtic influence, and Garlemald does indeed reek of Roman inspiration.

It does help to list what else we have though:

Gridania seems to be Eorzea's version of Central Europe given the environment of predominantly coniferous forest and vastly increased use of wood over stone for building material in the area.
Ishgard is pretty much Medieval France and Germany since that's where it was mentioned that the dev team went to for inspiration for Heavensward (well, France anyway).
Sharlayan is what we would identify as "Greek" due to the architecture, the academic culture and the overall worldview that seems to come from its more adamant residents (who hated outsiders).
Doma I think was originally intended to be Japanese pre-Stormblood, but the addition of Hingashi meant changing Doma to a more Asiatic mix.
Finally, Thavnair is our Arabian influence point, especially taking note of the Thavnairian fashion we currently have as well as a shared interest in scientific fields such as chemistry (or alchemy as Eorzea recognizes it).

Much like the Ananta, we see cultural influences in other beast tribes. The Ixal of Xelphatol are inspired specifically by the Aztecs as it comes from the word "Ixtlán" is usually associated with a wind deity there named "Ehécatl" (anyone who has done the Ixal beast tribe stuff should find that mildly familiar). The Vanu Vanu have their influence from most likely the Maori, however somewhere in Polynesia could have shared cultural attributes that could provide such inspiration as well.

What we're generally missing are cultures that would be considered in "far reach" areas. This would include most of the Americas (likely this "New World" section I still haven't seen anything on), anywhere in the Arctic Circle (more local regions of Ilsabard might cover that), Scandinavia (Aerslaent in the far north should have more of it compared to anything seen in Dravania), Central/Southern Africa and Southeast Asia (more of Othard may or may not cover that) along with likely many others I can't think of right now. Personally, I'll take any of them.

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Nice list. This is exactly the reason why I made this topic. To get responses like this.

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Originally Posted by Kazrah

Doma's a weird one. Although it does have that Sengoku-era feeling with both the Ninja and the Doman-garbed Garlean soldiers, the geography of what we've seen of the city-state is much closer to one of the river deltas in China. Even the name of the region (Yanxia) is Chinese.

What makes things more interesting is that looking at the more Doman-esque Garleans, it makes the story arc in Yanxia more like a reflection of the invasion of Manchuria....but that would be just crazy, right?

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Yes, Yanxia is more like China. Only it has Doma and some kitsune. We need more history.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

Nagxia (The region south of Yanxia) seems to be the world's equivalent of southeast Asia, judging from the fact that the ao dai, non la, and guoc (Which are traditional Thai clothes) are made using materials from that region.

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Hope we'll go there in the future. Like a patch or an expansion.

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Originally Posted by Mahri

So related to this still, something I'm wondering: What's the Ruby Sea like? The natives (pirates, mostly) might be sort of Okinawan, but I'm unfamiliar with their motifs. The settlements seem to feature a lot of colorful decorative sailcloth fabric that makes me think "ambiguously Polynesian" but it might be more specific than that.

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It's possible, although given the geography present in the Ruby Sea (and I think any pre-neutrality backstory as well), I'd wager the inspiration there is the Sea of Japan, which could also explain the style of storytelling we see in the Shisui story arc more consistent with traditional Japanese folklore. The Confederacy and the Ruby Tithe remind me a bit of the Wokou, but the source of influence there could just as easily be anywhere in the South China Sea.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Also Ala Mhigo has a strong Gaelic/Scottish influence as well as Indian architectural design (Ala Mhigan characters with spoken dialogue often have strong Gaelic accents, Highlander hyur originated there, musical cues for Gyr Abania having a Scottish influence, and the nation was originally an autocratic kingdom with European trappings).

I'm strongly expecting Meracydia to be Hydaelyn's version of Australia being a mysterious 'great south land' where everything trying to kill you is in play. ;)

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This was why I stated the link between Ala Mhigo and the Ottoman Empire, which had origin links to both Persia (Near Eastern) and Rome (Western/European). VA and music do tend to be a bit misleading when it comes to this stuff though, and it's usually due to artistic preference on part of writers and composers. What visual and musical themes found in Ala Mhigo to be deemed "Scottish" though I'd think would more likely be either Baltic or Eastern European (which both of those regions were under Ottoman influence to a degree and point in time).

As for Meracydia, given that we've seen influences of Judaism (Sephirot), Agnosticism (Sophia) and Zororastrianism (Zurvan); I think that place is just going to be a general mosh pit of cultural inspirations.

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Originally Posted by Mahri

Seriously <3

Tangentially, the inclusion of Rabanastre in FFXIV reminds one of it's original incarnation in FFXII: An imagining of a Mesopotamian city-state advanced to a Renaissance-parallel.

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I agree. Rabanastre is one of my favorite cities in FF as a whole because I felt like it really captured the marriage of 2 distinct cultures, but also a nation on the brink of eradication.

The choice to use gaelic accents for Highlanders wouldn't have been a decision solely by the English voice directors, as the localization is conducted by members of the main writing team, and all decisions like that appear to be shared across the board. So, the accents you hear are fully "canon" and thus fair game for real-world parallels.

So anyway, I hope the SE-property reference train just flies off the rails in content to come. Nagxia is like Southeast Asia? The visuals and sound of the Seiken Densetsu series were heavily inspired by such, let's get some of that! Meracydia is from whence the quasi-Abrahamic/Ancient Near Eastern-themed Warring Triad hails? Maybe we'll finally get a Xenogears tribute!

The EN VA Ala-Mhigan accent is Yorkshire, not Scottish/Gaelic (and done badly in most instances).

Comparison of Boromir to Gimli in the Lord of the Rings movies, if you will.

Don't they usually go for native speakers?

I can't claim expertise, but there were complaints about Fang and Vanille's accents in FFXIII, where both their actresses were Australian.

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Originally Posted by Mahri

The choice to use gaelic accents for Highlanders wouldn't have been a decision solely by the English voice directors, as the localization is conducted by members of the main writing team, and all decisions like that appear to be shared across the board. So, the accents you hear are fully "canon" and thus fair game for real-world parallels.

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We have no reason to believe the Japanese writing team was involved in this, and again this accent is not present in the other languages, how can it be canon for English but not canon for the other 3? I think it's better to stick to cultural representation that remains the same regardless of language.

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Originally Posted by Mahri

Don't they usually go for native speakers?

I can't claim expertise, but there were complaints about Fang and Vanille's accents in FFXIII, where both their actresses were Australian.

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No idea about FFXIII, but single player games have more freedom here, it's one work and done, much easier to have a diverse set of voice actors. For MMOs the contracts are longer and continued, which I imagine is why they couldn't keep the American voice actors when they switched to UK ones in Heavensward.

The writing team includes the localization teams. Koji Fox, among others, is on board from the word go. It isn't a Japanese work being translated into English well after it's a finished product. The creative end of development involves people from all over the world.

While it's neat to compare differences in scripts (like how our English version of Midgardsormr is notably more taciturn), none of the voice acting should be considered precedent over that of other languages.

As such, really, they're all fair game for this thread. It would be really interesting to know if any of the in-game cultures are given a specific spin for the other languages this game comes in.

I'm aware that the writing teams work together for the script, but this subtopic has nothing to do with the script, we're talking about voice acting in one of the four languages of the game, English voice actors and their accents are not canon, again we went from American accents to UK accents and this had nothing to do with lore, just like people from Ishgard not having French accents doesn't mean there's no French influence in character and map design.

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Originally Posted by Mahri

It would be really interesting to know if any of the in-game cultures are given a specific spin for the other languages this game comes in.

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They likely wouldn't unless it was for some sort of censorship reasons or if there's some sort of application of code (i.e. anagrams) that could only be applied in specific languages. Otherwise, it's possible, but not without getting offensive.

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Originally Posted by alimdia

I'm aware that the writing teams work together for the script, but this subtopic has nothing to do with the script, we're talking about voice acting in one of the four languages of the game, English voice actors and their accents are not canon, again we went from American accents to UK accents and this had nothing to do with lore, just like people from Ishgard not having French accents doesn't mean there's no French influence in character and map design.

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Pretty much this. There might be particular behaviors exhibited in the voice acting intended to mimic behaviors of the characters, but when it comes to cultural inspiration sources, there's barely any information to be acquired from character voice acting compared to what can be gained by looking at the environments established in the world of the game. In short, voice acting represents the character rather than the culture, accents and all.

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Originally Posted by Mahri

Don't they usually go for native speakers?

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In this case, native to the UK, but not native to Yorkshire, sadly. I'm sure it's absolutely fine for everyone not from this country lol

it seems SE is working on adopting the Southeast Asian culture, as previously mentioned with the current zones, and also because of a tidbit about the monster Aswang: "Forced to accept the truth of its existence, we call it by the word the merchant taught us in his native tongue: Aswang." which is most likely Filipino. it'll be fun to see more Asian-themed zones, but I hope they don't do it just to compete in the Asian-Wuxia-themed MMO market (if you've played one you've played them all xP). I'm so down for more Ancient Egypt influence if possible.

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Originally Posted by duvvvv

it seems SE is working on adopting the Southeast Asian culture, as previously mentioned with the current zones, and also because of a tidbit about the monster Aswang: "Forced to accept the truth of its existence, we call it by the word the merchant taught us in his native tongue: Aswang." which is most likely Filipino. it'll be fun to see more Asian-themed zones, but I hope they don't do it just to compete in the Asian-Wuxia-themed MMO market (if you've played one you've played them all xP).

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We might see the scenery, but I think we're more likely to see an impression of the Wuxia storytelling style rather than the full-blown stuff. As for that B rank mob, I'm not too sure it's related to Nagxia, but more likely running out of lore-inspired names to work with.

I do agree with the ancient Egypt stuff, and hopefully we can get more fun stuff with ancient places like Qarn.