Real World Inspirations

The following page dictates what the real world inspirations are for various groups, kingdoms, and/or people. This is mostly just for reference and to assist in painting a mental picture of Xesteria's cultures, but it can be also used to assist in planning story elements or backgrounds for PCs.

## Human Kingdoms

**Albion:** Strongly themed after colonnial era United States and WW1/WW2 era Germany. Slavery and internment camps are fair game in Albion, and there is a huge class and cultural divide in the kingdom where it is believed that the poor and less fortunate are considered to be inferior and lesser than those who are well off to such an extent that they have no rights and are essentially bred for slavery. Though Albion has a high number of people who support this way of life, there are also many who oppose it yet must go along with it and earn money through it simply because they cannot find an alternative way of life in their own kingdom.

**Alexandria:** The kingdom of Alexandria is combines the best, and worst, of the most wealth-obsessed cultures and societies of our past. The vast majority of Alexandrian society is idealistically like the rich Eastern European bureaucrats and nobles of the Renaissance era. Alexandrians demand ultimate comfort and settle for nothing less than the best. Their belief is that prosperous wealth is power rather than military might.

**Artalia:** A combination of Ancient Rome and the United States. Artalia is a glorious kingdom that believes that they are a mighty empire that stands for peace and justice. Artalia feels like they are untouchable, a belief that was only heightened after their victory over Vecna in 394 BP.

**Jourdain:** France. That's pretty much all there is to it. They love cheese, entertainment, sailing, and wine. Jourdainians are literally just French people in a fantasy world.

**Kaspia:** Kaspia is an amalgamation of African, Arabian, Indian, and Middle Eastern cultures. The desert kingdom is essentially just a giant melting pot of these four major real world cultures. They are all very prideful people, and are sometimes looked at questionably by the kingdoms of Zeltennia simply because the cultures of Kaspia are rooted in many ancient traditions that can be viewed as archaic or cruel such as the Albion slave trade. Kaspia does have many elements of the modern day first world countries in that woman are often viewed as equal, and sometimes superior, to the men of the kingdom and there is great admiration and respect for women of the desert kingdom. Other than the very neutral perspective Jourdian, this differs from Albion and the Zeltennian kingdoms have not reached this point and still believe that Xesteria is, for lack of better phrasing, primarily a man's world.

**Nordland:** Scandinavia and Siberia. The Nordish people have that Siberian aloofness and toughness, and idealistically function like Scandinavians (or ancient Vikings to be specific). They are also a heavy amalgamation of various fictional honourbound races such as Klingons from Star Trek, the Nords from The Elder Scrolls, and the Alliance faction from Warcraft.

**Sagebard:** Similar to Stromgarde with the medieval England vibe, though Sagebard has little to no interest at all in expansionism. For all intents and purposes, they are the Scotland of Xesteria. They exist beside their larger cousin (England/Stromgarde), but they are a patriotic people who are largely content with being left to their own devices.

**Stromgarde:** Stromgarde is based off of medieval England with a slight bit of Viking influence. They believe themselves to be the greatest kingdom in the world and have a history deeply rooted in colonization, conquering, and expansionism. They have, in the past, conducted very hostile attempts at taking over other lands (ie. Lenadia), which is reminiscent of how Germany behaved during the World War 1 and 2 eras. Because of this, Stromgarde has a bloodied past that it is not proud of, much like how the history of Germany is looked upon in our world.