Earth cultures in Eorzea. What next?

[Lord_Zlatan]

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.

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.

[Kazrah]

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.

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

[Mahri]

(an excellent post)

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.

[Kazrah]

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.

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?

[Mahri]

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?

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?

[Kazrah]

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.

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.

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.

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.

[Lord_Zlatan]

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.

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.