References and Easter Eggs

This article is an incomplete list of references and easter eggs scattered throughout Map Lore, both in-universe and out of it.

## General

* The city of **Sheffield** plays a comparatively large importance in Map Lore. The founders of both Nordica and Neo-Europe, Josef Matsson and Wolfgang Von Stuttgart lived there for some time, as did Neo-European Premiers Adam Bronstein and Alexander Miliband. Furthermore, it has played a large role in events such as the Third World War.
* Doctor Who characters/actors have been at least the partial inspiration of many characters, mainly in their appearance, in both Neo-Europe and GUISS. See their sections for more detail on the matter.
* As children, Wolfgang Von Stuttgart and Josef Matsson played a role-playing game called '**Cartography Mythos**,' which is synonymous with, well, 'Map Lore.'

## April Fools' Day, 2021

* Much of the 2021 April Fools Day event is based in the predecessor to Map Lore, **Cursed Maps**, of which the Lord Bucket Empire was perhaps its most prominent power. The Spaceship discovered by the Hagall is a reference to Airship New Zealand, and foreshadows the reveal of the nation's true leader. This in and of itself a reference to the British satirical political figure, Lord Buckethead.
* Interestingly, General Tsatsos, although not actually meant to be Cassia Tsatsos, does parallel her involvement with the Domolaki, despite preceding it by a couple of months.

## April Fools' Day, 2022

### TheBlazingEmpire's

* The 2022 April Fools event is unfinished. This is a reference to GUISS lore.
* The inclusion of The Stig as the main antagonist is a Meta-Reference to the Stygara's name referencing the character. The implication is that, the Valati nation were spared his wrath as The Stig misconstrued the coincidence as worship. The character is largely a continuation of Top Gear's 'The Stig'
* Despite this, the plot of TheBlazingEmpire's 2022 April fools is rooted in 'The Hunger Games', though specifically Brantsteele's Hunger games Simulator, where through a number of games ran in early 2019, The character developed a reputation for brutal killings.
* Reflecting this, a number of kills are formatted exactly as they appeared on the simulator, based on a number of screenshots.
* The Stig's appearance is foreshadowed by the use of "Some Say" at a couple of points earlier in the story, referencing the lines used on Top Gear to introduce the character.
* Furthermore, the dead Micheal Schumacher specifically references Top Gear season 13 episodes 1 and 2, where in the former, the Racing driver poses as The Stig for a lap in the Ferrari FXX. The latter episode implies that Schumacher stole The Stig's Identity, and he is ultimately found "Tied to a chair with German Piano Wire". In the event, the Stig gets revenge for this act, Leaving the F1 driver to a similar fate.
* As a character moment, The Stig is unable to tell the difference between Ekrim Tekin, and his decoy clone Mehmed, killing the former.
* The other characters included come from one of three sources: Those already present in the area, mostly random Valati, as well as the Strike team, Notable characters from Map Lore's past, which have been displaced through time, making up the majority of the characters present, and Real world Individuals from the present day.
* Specifically, a number of tributes are used to set up further references:
	+ Present day Boris Johnson becomes confused when Otto Von Stuttgart references his Map Lore death from Covid 19 in 2020.
	+ Similarly, Boris is concerned to learn about WW3 from Daniel Håstad, referencing fears surrounding the escalation of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
	+ Among those sent to Valos is one of the Map Lore creator's acquaintances, referencing the inverse occurring in Jakenobi's April Fools Event, implying the two are connected.
	+ Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez is here also, due to a number of in-jokes, including the Wiki page 'Checoslovakia' by TheBlazingEmpire. Furthermore, he is described as "a legend" in reference to a quote from his Teammate in the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a subject of in-jokes by F1 fans since.
	+ Hagall captain Engvar Hague and Domolaki Nagaurir are both present, despite being the same person.
	+ The Stig is able to tell Mehmed and Shikari apart, due to the latter's mutations.
	+ The Domolaki Occupation veteran Achea is a reference to Songs of War's Achilean Nestoris.
	+ Tanya Matsson and Flitch Mikuri play out a scene between the characters they individually reference.
* The Sky darkens as the final fight with the Stig begins, as in The Hunger Games.
* The Timekeeper makes an appearance, a character appearing in numerous of TheBlazingEmpire's other works, including multiple mapping efforts, as well as the BEEU, though he isn't truly contiguous with any prior iteration. There are a number of references connected with the character's appearance:
	+ The Timekeeper explicitly calls Map Lore a 'Null Timeline', referencing both the BEEU and The mapping effort 'Remix', both of which feature at least one Null Timeline, despite Null Timelines not working in this way.
	+ He also insinuates that an unknown source causes the Timeline to end, implying the closure of the Discord by the last surviving member in Jakenobi's event was the cause, further linking the two events.
	+ The line he uses to introduce himself is taken directly from the unreleased Songs of War season 2, with only the names switched.
	+ He recognises Tanya Matsson due to her referencing a character he interacts with in The BEEU, though he does recognise that they are not the same person.
	+ Futhermore, the line he says after recognising this references Star Wars Episode 7, where the line belongs to Maz Kanata.
* The heavy intertwining of This event with Jakenobi's despite the completely unrelated premise results in a weird implication, that "Stig leads the Stygara" is a standard April Fools event, akin to 2021's Lord Bucket Empire, but gets caught up in Jakenobi's event, entwining the two.

### Jakenobi's

* The plot of Jakenobi's 2022 April Fools is largely inspired by two films, *The Matrix* and *The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse*. From the Matrix, the basic idea of breaking free into the real world is carried over, as is the 'Red Pill.' With the League of Gentlemen, the primary inspiration comes from the characters entering the real world to kill their creators; furthermore, in both TLOGA and the Map Lore, the characters initially target the lesser-known fourth member and 'kill' him off in the first few minutes.
* Lord Buckethead, from **Cursed Maps,** is alluded to.
* Another meta reference is the inclusion of Pol Pot, given the Discord Server was at the time named the 'Pol Pot Dimension.'
* Hector Papalazarou plays Clash Royale, a mobile game.
* The final conversation between Tekin and Jake mirrors that of James Bond and Alec Trevelyan's dialogue of 'For England, James?' 'No, for me,' from the 1995 film *GoldenEye.*
* Tekin drives an Aston Martin, a car commonly associated with James Bond.
* The apartments of both Ewan and Joshua are Number Nine, referencing the comedy-horror anthology series *Inside No. 9,* given the strange occurrences in rooms/buildings with that number.
* 'Myron Kuzmenko' says the line 'get some perspective' (from David Verrey's Doctor Who character) before being slain by Joshua. Unfortunately, Kuzmenko turned out to actually *be* David Verrey.
* The varous Map Lore characters are frequently self-referenced and their character traits mocked, such as Tekin's one-note personality of 'power and sex,' or Gorgolez's blueness.
* Tekin yells 'SEEEEEX!' in the same fashion as Grampa Simpson does in a scene from *The Simpsons*.
* The excessive violence and swearing was partially inspired by the films of Quentin Tarantino, especially *Reservoir Dogs* and *Pulp Fiction*.
* In an already fourth wall-breaking story, Tekin at one point wonders if the events of the Fools' Day are being written by 'another version of Jake'. Well...

## April Fools', 2023

### TheBlazingEmpire

* The preface jokes about the unfinished nature of 2022's April Fools, before it, ironically meets a much worse fate.
* The whole narrative is based on the Finno-Korean Hyperwar, an elaborate 4chan prank that alleged a previous technological collapse had occurred as a result of warring between two megastates. Though, it deviates somewhat in regards to certain aspects.
* The leader of the Finns is Finnish Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas.
* The Order of the James, existing in opposition to Supreme leader Valtteri references an infamous exchange between Valtteri Bottas and his then race engineer James Vowles in the 2018 Russian Grand Prix, seeing the F1 driver forced to concede the race victory to his teammate. The actual members of the order instead reference prominent James's in other media, Former Top Gear host, James may, Comedian and Taskmaster series 7 contestant James Acaster, James bond, and James (the Train)
* Ri Hoon finding himself in an opulent city, only for it to be described as a 'Korean Birmingham' plays on the idea that the city of Birmingham is sometimes depicted as less developed by parts of the North of England, to imply how advanced these nations are by contrast.
* Ekrim Tekin randomly becomes a guy in-between POVs, in reference to Jakenobi's 2022 April Fools event, where he inexplicably becomes a guy upon entering the real world.
* The creatures Tekin discovers, though initially described as Valati, are actually Ardoni, the species from Squared Media's Songs of War which the Valati are themselves a reference to.
* Star War's General Grievous is present, with the aim of hunting the Jedi, a pseudo-reference to his lightsaber collection, implied by a line in episode III.
* Furthermore, The inclusion of Jedi Bob as the last jedi, references a beloved minifigure within the Lego Star Wars community, though unnamed in the 2002 Republic Gunship from which he originates.
* The positioning of Jedi Bob in the poster for TheBlazingEmpire's 2023 April fools event pokes fun at a Rise of Skywalker poster, which featured an action figure of Ian McDiarmid's Emperor Palpatine.
* The Inclusion of the Kim Fried Chicken car references a livery in Forza Horizon 5 that got its creator banned for 8000 years.
* 2022's Daniel Håstad returns, resulting from it, as well as the unfinished crossover story 'Worlds Collide' sharing a timeline with the 2023 April Fools event.
* The Markings of the leading Ardoni represent the Political compass, a concept that has had a defining role in the early days of Map Lore, and with ties to the god they worship being JREG, a once influential creator in the political meme sphere in the days of Map Lore's inception.
* The dynamic of Ri Hoon and Korean leader Gwok Hoon was to play off of the Luke/Vader dynamic in Star Wars's original trilogy, with the leader being a masked figure later revealed to be the Father, or in this case, Great Grand Uncle. Contrary to the plot of Episode VI, Ri instead joins the Korean Leader.
* The Order of the James only includes James the Train in order to run over Valtteri Bottas, as it provided a funny visual to accompany his death. The plan was initially to create numerous images depicting key moments in the story, and this was to be one. However, due to the project being abandoned, only one was ever created, that being the poster.
* Lord Buckethead and The Stig make Cameo Appearences, as they featured predominantly in TheBlazingEmpire's 2021 and 2022 April Fools Events, respectively.
* The Epilogue of The April Fools Jokes that should TheBlazingEmpire have not resumed his lore by the release of the story, he would have unjustly deprived the world of "The greatest Map Lore April Fools story ever conceived". To this day, there is still no Map Lore.

### Jakenobi

* The female Tekin refers to Freya Ibsen as a 'paranoid android'. This is a double reference, to both the character Marvin from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and the Radiohead Song.
* Tekin says the past couple of months have felt like five hundred years - due to Map Lore proper being on indefinite hiatus in 2286 for 18 months, and if we followed the original 1-day-per-year rule, around 500 years would have passed.
* The Third World War plot is largely inspired by James Cameron's Terminator:
	+ A future Freya Ibsen acts as the Terminator, Past Tekin fulfills the role of Sarah Connor and Kyla Risa acts as Kyle Reese. However, the three main characters have been genderbent.
	+ The company Skynet becomes Skynord, with Ibsen as the hivemind.
	+ Certain scenes are directly based on scenes from the Terminator, including when Ibsen enters the past, when she says 'I'll be back' and when her endoskeleton is revealed.
* 'Major Tom' harks back to David Bowie's character of the same name from his songs 'Space Oddity', 'Ashes to Ashes', and 'Blackstar'.
* Freya Ibsen's 'seducer' mode is based on the Fembots from Austin Powers, complete with laser-shooting breasts.
* The 'multiverse' plot with present Tekin takes inspiration from several sources, including Doctor Who, Into the Spiderverse, Doctor Strange 2 and general sci-fi.
* The universes the female Tekin visits include:
	+ One based on Breaking Bad (or more accurately, the memes it has generated) where Tekin takes the role of Jesse Pinkman. She meets Walter White and Mike 'Kid Named Finger' Ehrmantraut.
	+ One based on Minecraft. She even meets Minecraft Steve.
	+ A world where Borat is the supreme ruler of Kazakhstan, which has conquered the world. His face is on blimps and the Running of the Jew is a frequent festivity. Borat and Kazakhstan also harks back to one of Map Lore's precursors.
	+ One that is largely the 'real' timeline. Boris Johnson is alive and well in 2022, shortly before his resignation. Tekin remarks that she never liked him and beats him up.
	+ A distant future with a figure named 'Jezran'. This one is based on a half-drafted novel detailing distant-future events of a strange world, where both Tekin and Tsatsos have secretly survived. Tekin has been reduced to the head of a secret society, stuck on Earth and surviving by artificial means.
	+ The final dimension she visits has a portal to 2148 which appears to be very similar to a Shardpool from Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere universe - used for entering the Cognitive Realm and eventually reaching other planets.
* Jezran refers to the '*first* Third World War'. This is a pastiche of a trope in time travel stories where future travellers call the Great War the 'First World War', confusing those from the past, for example in Doctor Who. It results in a silly implication that there will be multiple conflicts with the same numerical number...
* The bootstrap paradox, another common time travel trope, occurs with the Interdimensional Backpack. Jezran has one, because he is the future Tekin, but only has it because he told the past Tekin to tell Tek to construct another one.
* Jezran refers to the future with one name: REVENANT. More on that one day, perhaps.
* Upon Ibsen's demise, the Tekins remark 'the bitch is dead', the final line spoken by James Bond in Ian Fleming's Casino Royale.
* When Tekin asks Kyla about REVENANT, she simply replies with 'spoilers', much like the timeline-muddled character of River Song does in Doctor Who.
* Tekin reemerges 'under the sea, in an Atlantic submarine, in the shade', playing on the lyrics of the Beatles' Octopus' Garden.

## Neo-Europe/Human Commonwealth

### General

* The borders of Prussia are very similar to that of the historical German Empire (1871-1919), with the addition of Austria. As many of my previous alternate history/future scenarios featured Germany somehow evolving to have these borders, it seemed fitting to include it as such, cementing Germany's borders becoming this an inevitability in all map-based projects.
* The likenesses of Premiers Isaac Powell, Lloyd Rothschild, Oswald Fischer, Alexander Mikos, Alois Carron, and Alexander Miliband have been inspired in part by Doctor Who actors; Paul McGann for Powell, William Hartnell for Rothschild, Peter Cushing for Fischer, Bradley Walsh for Mikos, Peter Capaldi for Carron and David Tennant (very loosely) for Miliband. The reasons for this are unknown.
* Premier Catherine Van Helsing is named after Professor Abraham Van Helsing, a primary character from Bram Stoker's horror novel Dracula (and its subsequent adaptations). She shares little with the literary character, however, besides their shared Dutch heritage (although making Catherine Van Helsing a vampire hunter *would have* been an interesting turn of events for Map Lore).
* 2161 was a year that seemed to go on forever as Map Lore was paused on that date for some time; when it ended, Premier Van Helsing stated it 'felt like an eternity.'
* Premier Ernest Jackson's role as an actor, particularly his role as a fictional Premier of Neo-Europe, **Roger Connery**, in the political comedy series *The Talents of Leadership* (2171-74), mirrors the career of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his own role in the series *Servant of the People.*
* The 'Gentlemen's League of Anti-Tekinites' is named in honour of the comedy troupe and tv series 'The League of Gentlemen.'
* The formation of CEHN is loosely based on the American Revolution, with a colonial possession demanding autonomy and eventually gaining independence, followed by a conflict with the home nation (with the breakaway nation aided by an enemy of the home nation). Unlike the United States, CEHN does not succeed in gaining long-term independence.
* Several of Neo-Europe's Starships take their names from things, such as 'Mycroft' (from the brother of Sherlock Holmes) and 'Macra' (from the villainous crustaceans of Doctor Who).
* A candidate from the 2264 Election is named as **Kent Binn-Heed,** a reference to the satirical British politician Lord Buckethead/Count Binface, as well as a reference to Map Lore's predescessor, **Cursed Maps,** owing to Buckethead's role in that universe.
* The Fellowship of the Radiants is a combination of the names of two groups from fantasy works: The Fellowship of the Ring from J R R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and the Knights Radiant from Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive.
* Furthermore, the Fellowship shares some similarities with the criminal orginisation SPECTRE from the James Bond franchise, given they are both secretive groups that meddle in nations' affairs.
* Adding more to this, the Fellowship of the Radiants has some vague influence from the standard 'secret society', of the likes of Freemasons. Conspiracy theories around the Illuminati and other groups were used as additional inspirations, especially the idea that members of government were involved.
* Miriam Gorgolez's genetic enhancements are an homage to the Chiss species from Star Wars, specifically her blue skin and red eyes. Furthermore, much like its most prominent member, Grand Admiral Thrawn, she is a tactical genius and served as an Admiral.
* Hector Papalazarou's name is taken from Papa Lazarou, a character from the comedy series The League of Gentlemen. His nationality in turn references what the original character was named from - the creators' Greek landlord - while his appearance is inspired by Reece Shearsmith. He has additionally said one of Papa Lazarou's most iconic lines; 'Hello Dave,' as well as 'This is just a saga now' and 'You're my wife now!' (upon his marriage to Miriam Gorgolez.)
* **Vimata**, the band of Hector Papalazarou's father **Justinian**, is a parody of several bands, especially a-ha, as well as elements of The Beatles, U2, Duran Duran and Queen.
* Gorgolez uses the phrase 'We have all the time in the world,' which is the title of a song by Louis Armstrong.
* Papalazarou explains, in great detail, the premise of the 2018 mobile game 'Among Us,' in one of his ramblings and sings its theme.
* A high ranking member of the Human Commonwealth is named Colonel Sanders, in honour of the KFC Creator.
* **The Battle of Constantinople** somewhat parallels with the Battle of Coruscant from the Revenge of the Sith, given the enemy attacked the capital and kidnapped the leader.
* The capitol of the Martian Colony Alsada is named **Bowie**, referencing David Bowie's song *Life on Mars?*
* Ringo Talacre is named after Ringo Starr of the Beatles; his middle name, Ziggy, stems from Ziggy Stardust, a stage persona of David Bowie.

### Ekrim Tekin

* Much of Ekrim Tekin's appearance and mannerisms are based on Roger Delgado's incarnation of the Master from Doctor Who.
* Ekrim Tekin was referred to as 'the sick man of Europe,' a nickname given to the Ottoman Empire in its final years, referencing both his nationality and how both Tekin and the Empire were essentially dead men walking.
* Ekrim Tekin himself, while a mostly unique character, is arguably an amalgamation of several existing individuals, both real and fictitious:
	+ Roger Delgado, actor (physical appearance)
	+ The Master, Doctor Who (certain mannerisms and insanity, as well as his refusal to die. Furthermore, Tekin's damaged appearance following the Moonbase accident is directly inspired by the Master's emaciated form in the Deadly Assassin and the Keeper of Traken).
	+ Palpatine, Star Wars (Cheating death through cloning, essence transfer, secret base, belief he is more than an ordinary human).
	+ Jango Fett, Star Wars (having a clone army in his image)
	+ Omega, Star Wars (a female 'clone' of the original and is currently a child)
	+ Francisco Franco, Spanish Fascist (an early inspiration. This links in with initial plans of Tekin tolerating the monarchy, and allowing them to retake power once he dies. Initially, his appearance was to be based on Franco).
	+ Recep Erdogan, president of Turkey (another early idea for his physical appearance)
	+ The Clones of Ekrim Tekin have several references to Jango Fett's Clones from the Star Wars Prequels and the Clone Wars:
		- Several share names, e.g., Rex, Cody, Wolff and Gregor.
		- They suffered a mass-defection and turned on their commanders.
		- They have a special group of mutated clone known as the Bad Batch.

* The Tekin family motto, *Dünya Yeterli Değil* (The World is Not Enough), is lifted from the motto of the Bond family *(Orbis non sufficit).*

## The Realm

* The family of First Commissioner Josef Matsson reference a number of different things:
	+ His father, Frederik Matsson, is a reference to Taksmaster's 'Fred the Swede'.
	+ His wife, Britta, references a character from TheBlazingEmpire's own series, the BEEU, namely Bri.
	+ His youngest Daughter, Tanya likewise references another BEEU character, Tanya Langford. She is by far the character with the deepest connections to their namesake, with them looking similar, sharing a birthday, and a number of life events. In particular both get comatosed, referencing a key event in 'Fractured', the subseries in which she was introduced. There are also a number of references over the course of her life:
		- Her partner, Warren Pieterson is a reference to "Warren", the mechanic from Forza Horizon 3
		- A number of competitors across her time in F1 are also references, with "Esteban Aglio" and "Nathan Brooks" referencing Voice Actors "Tom Aglio" and "Carl G Brooks", who play "Senn" and "Thalleous/Galleous" from Songs of war respectively.
		- She Wins F2 in her first season, making her eligible for the "Anthoine Hubert" Award, named after the Formula 2 driver who died at Spa in 2019, foreshadowing her own crash at the racetrack.
		- Her son, and thus, Josef Matsson's grandson, Viktor, is a reference to Swedish youtuber Iskall85.
* The Nordican state of Hushi, alongside Nordica's ownership of the Territory of Kerguelen is a direct reference to an April Fools video made by Geography Now. It's 2018 'Limberwisk' video places the fictitious nation in the area that Hushi takes up in Map Lore, using a rotated version of the Kerguelen islands. At one point, Nordica was to invent technology to move the Kerguelen islands (itself inspired by technology from a former world building project) into the area, completing the referential state. However, this, alongside similar plans to move Hawaii to expand Bruniland were dropped when it was realised that the technology would be too far fetched for the time period. The Hush language is heavily rooted in the language of the same name shown in the video.
* The flag of Vinland is based off of designs by American Gothic Metal band Type O Negative, which has since become associated in mapping circles with the idea of a Nordic settled Newfoundland, despite the design having no historical provenance. The black cross is replaced with purple however, as the flag is currently used by white supremacist groups. This purple is derived from the etymology of Vinland, signifying the 'wine berries' that gives the state it's name.
* In the lunar colony of Hreggland, The city of Concord derives from a location in The Animated Minecraft series 'Songs of War', in which Conchord is one of six kingdoms.
* Similarly, Nordica's national Anthem, 'Under the Stars' is named for a piece of score from the series, 'Whispers Under the Stars', although it has no heigtened significance in the series, or indeed in relation to Grand Map Lore, instead, merely a result of the track bearing a name that would work as that of a national anthem, albeit with a few changes.
* Nordica starting with colonies in Africa was a reference to Swedish West Africa, a state in this series' predecessor, **Cursed Maps**. Initially this was mirrored with a number of New 'x' names, although this was soon dropped. Present Day Ghania has no connection to this reference.
* Likewise, the 2021 April Fools event heavily featured the **Lord Bucket Empire**, a major power in the Cursed Maps series. This empire is itself a reference to the British satirical political figure, Lord Buckethead. In the series, he had converted New Zealand into an airship, which is referenced here as a space cruiser.
* Laos became known as West Vietnam as an attempt to scam GUISS. At the time, GUISS was trying to incorporate former communist nations, and while Laos was formerly communist, was deemed less desirable to them than Vietnam. As such, the state's name was changed to make it more desirable, although no trade ever occurred. West Vietnam stayed a part of The Realm, and the name stuck.
* Former Realm State, and Autonomous Region of Ghania, Nyala, is a misspelling of Nayala, one of Burkina Faso's provinces.
* The captain of the Hagall IV, Engvar Hauge is a reference to the mapping series Hague, with the name being an anagram of the series' title. Furthermore, his story parallels a theory that lead character Hague is actually memory-wiped Gauche, the main villain of the series Hague is a sequel to, and who a large focus is placed on finding. Though this occurs the other way round, with Engvar Hauge becoming the Domolaki Nagaurir.

## GUISS

* Myron Kuzmenko is literally David Verrey.
* Iov Zaystev was nicknamed by his political opponents as the 'hermit' during his time as General Secretary. This was a reference to the map lore years of 2150 to 2157 as it was never mentioned or implied in yearly updates that Zaystev ever left the Supreme Soviet or Moscow.

## Miscellaneous

* The Valati, in general, are heavily based on Songs of War's Ardoni, although with a number of biological differences. While the Ardoni are portrayed as taller human -like creatures, the Valati diverge more from this, owing to their extraplanetary origin. For instance, the Valati have long, spindly legs, suitable for a low gravity environment like that of Valos, itself inspired by the leg structure present in the species of the fictional planet Anu. Furthermore, the Valati have a wider variety of colours, of which being more akin to tattoos, than the magic-based initiation system present in SoW. There are also a number of further references to the series embedded in the names associated with the Valati. Firstly, three of the sanctuary moons, as well as the host planet, Osiva, are named after characters in the series. To that end, the NMV Sentyr and PMV Volturi, both apart of the Hagall relief effort, reference two of the five Ardoni clans, that being the Sendaris and Voltaris. In conjunction, two of the Valati nations reference a further two Ardoni clans, with the Nestara and Kaltara being derived from the Nestoris and Kaltaris clans, also bearing their respective colours. There are also a large number of other references present in the names and colouration of the Valati:
	+ The Tauara are a reference to a character in Exurb1a's 'And then we'll be okay', with Tau being the central character in the video. Incidentally, the name derives from the Greek letter of the same name, although the similarly named Zetara have nothing to do with this reference. Their colouration comes from the toxic green haze portrayed frequently in the video.
	+ The Keilara reference a character within the BEEU, namely Fractured's Kayla Fletcher, with their colour derived from her associated element, Absorbtion.
	+ Despite seemingly being named for H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu, The Cthara instead derive from Terraria's Eye of Cthulhu, itself named after Lovecraft's eldritch god. This can be more clearly seen with their colouration, much more closely evoking the Eye of Cthulhu's colouration than anything relating to Cthulhu.
	+ The Stygara reference Top Gear's Stig, with their white colour coming from the character's distinctive white racesuit.
	+ On a similar note, The Flintara reference Forza Horizon's Darius Flynt, the main antagonist of the first game. Their gold colouring is a reference to the Gold wristband you must obtain to reach the final stage of the game.
	+ The Iskara are a reference to the Swedish youtuber Iskall85, with their green coming from his channel's colour.
	+ The Tambara reference Star Wars' Wat Tambor, held up as somewhat of a joke by the Star wars community, including among Map Lore's creators.

* While some of these names are only surface level, a few of the Nations have characteristics that further tie into their references. The Kaltaris are generally warlike, and thus, so are the Kaltara. Another example of this would be that the two Nations aligned most closely with the Domolaki, are the ones that reference the villains of their respective IPs, the Cthara and Flintara.
* In particular The Keilaran Ivak, Flitch Mikuri more explicitly parallels the character her nation is named after, with her first name based on the character's last. There are also a number of parallels between the two characters, such as both having a scar over their left eye, as well as a past involving capture and oppression, before facing up to it with newfound help.
* When attacked by a group of Domolaki, led by Opothik, The Kaltaran Ivak says "I have fought against your kind for 200 Years. Whatever the Domolaki are planning, we will persist" which largely mirrors a line from Songs of War series 1 episode 6.

* The surnames of several Presidents of French Guyana represent characters from Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series of fantasy novels, notably Kelsier, Ladrian and Dockson. Other than their names, they have nothing in common with the characters, however.
* The Domolaki have taken a small level of inspiration from several sources:
	+ Their history, nomadic nature and warlike customs somewhat mirror the Mongols, and parts of their language take a small level of inspiration from Mongolian. Likewise, the Warlord **Oromkarh** is analogous with Genghis Khan.
	+ The Ice Warriors from Doctor Who, given their bulky exoskeleton suits and reptillian inside. However, unlike the Ice Warriors, the Domolaki do not originate from Mars.
	+ The Yuuzhan Vong from Star Wars Legends, through their invasive, destructive nature, use of organic machinery and their being unknown and originating far away from known territories.
	+ Metroid's Space Pirates, for similar reasons as above and how they colonised planets and appropriated technology. In addition, both groups were hostile to a collective known as the Galactic Federation.
	+ Singers/Parshendi from Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series, through aspects of their appearance, culture, hostility to humans and ability to change into distinct 'forms' (of which two are currently known for the Domolaki).
	+ Additionally, while unintentional, they share some similarities with the Anunnaki of ancient Sumerian lore; being an invasive race. Furthermore, their names are somewhat similar.