Tamriel Provinces IRL

Dark_Claw

So I've recently been thinking about which real life countries the various ESO provinces are based upon, as they are all clearly influenced by real life environments and cultures. So far I've decided upon these:

Black Marsh
Mexico

I went with Mexico because I think the vast cloud forests that cover central America greatly resemble the swamps of Black Marsh. Plus Mexico was home to the Aztecs; an ancient culture that the Argonians are clearly based upon (just look at the architecture for example).

Cyrodiil
England

This is a photo of the Lake District in Cumbria, and it was actually a personal visit to this place that made me think of its semblance to the Imperial province with its rolling hills and blankets of woodland, dotted here and there with quaint villages.

Elsweyr
India

I personally think that Elsweyr has some serious Indian vibes. The fact that it has a mixture of both desert and jungle, the latter of which being the hunting grounds of tigers and other big cats, makes this seem quite likely.

Hammerfell
Egypt

Okay so when I say Egypt I really mean the Sahara Desert in general, though I went with Egypt because both the desert and the ancient ruins in that country are particularly Hammerfell-esque. The above image was actually taken somewhere in Algeria, but I couldn't help but post it due to its resemblance to Craglorn.

High Rock
France

I think it's safe to say that High Rock is clearly based off France, seeing as how the native Bretons were actual people who lived in that country. Plus I couldn't help but notice that the subregion of Gavaudon in Stormhaven sounds eerily similar to that of Gevaudan; a region in France that was once terrorized by a creature many people considered to be a werewolf. And what is there an infestation of in nearby Glenumbra? Exactly.

Morrowind
Indonesia

I think the above image speaks for itself.

Skyrim
Norway. Obviously.

Yeah, I don't think I need to go into detail on this one either. There's a reason why Skyrim is often referred to as "Norway Simulator".

Summerset Isles
Thailand

Okay, so this one was a little difficult. First and foremost I thought it should be somewhere tropical, and since the design of the Altmer has an obvious Far East influence I moved my search to Asia and eventually settled on Thailand when I saw the coastlines.

Valenwood
Brazil

Admittedly the first location I thought of when it came to Valenwood was Australia, due to its massive creepy-crawlies. However, I think Brazil is a better fit due to the Bosmer resembling the Indigenous tribes of South America more so than aborigines and the fact that Brazil, much like Valenwood, has a big portion of its landmass comprised solely of jungle.

So those are my choices for real life Elder Scrolls locations. I'd love to hear everyone else's opinions though.

Wow

Elsewyr is not India, but Indonesia.

Click the spoiler for more info

Rawlkha of course, Khajiits are my favourite race




Are their architecture inspired by the traditional indonesian houses? To be more specific, Torajan Tribe?




look at this tongkonan house it looks like one of those Khajit's


Some says India, but in India you wont see such architecture. They are heavily inspired by Torajan Tribe in Indonesia.

if you come to Sulawesi Island, you can see real life Khajiit village in their full glory Even the /dancekhajiit emotes (male version) looks similar to their dance. I don't know what the dance was called, couldn't find the video of it.



Here is the interior of the Tongkonan house

Their temples/shrines, looks like one of those "Candi" called structure in Indonesia. If you ever visit Bali you'll see them.
Even more spoiler

The interior of a Candi

Dark_Claw

I see what you mean. However, whilst the buildings do indeed greatly resemble Indonesian architecture, I still believe that the landscape and environment of Elsweyr is more similar to that of India.

Wow

Dark_Claw wrote: »

I see what you mean. However, whilst the buildings do indeed greatly resemble Indonesian architecture, I still believe that the landscape and environment of Elsweyr is more similar to that of India.

If you think Indonesia is all about thick forest then you certainly haven't visited here. You should come here, you will see Elsewyr-like vast landscapes that could make your jaw dropping

Dark_Claw wrote: »

Elsweyr
India

I personally think that Elsweyr has some serious Indian vibes. The fact that it has a mixture of both desert and jungle, the latter of which being the hunting grounds of tigers and other big cats, makes this seem quite likely.

We also have those in Yogyakarta

Some women in Minangkabau are selected to be the High Mother who hold the key to their clan lives. And the selected women started their training and all about the customs and manners since they're blooming young girls.

In Minangkabau folklore named Tambo Minangkabau, Bundo Kanduang is a title of honour for a woman chosen by her people or her clan. Also has a meaning as the True Mother. Her beauty is represented with a term of Nymph or Moth (beautiful insect with decorative and gorgeous wings, well, some of Minangkabau people think that Moth is calmer than butterfly instead ), in Minangkabau we call it Limpapeh. Her presence also a blessing of her land, and she is as precious as jewellery. And she was chosen to be the key holder to the clans property and wealth. (credits to assattari)


The building beside her (it's called Rumah Gadang), I think you can find building very-very similar to it right in Kneharti's Roost

Dark_Claw

I can confirm that I have never visited Indonesia. However, I would argue that the Khajiit are based off the Romani people; an ethnic group that originated from India. They were also predominantly nomads and gypsies, much like the Khajiit. And as for the Indonesian countryside resembling Elsweyr, I challenge you to find me an example of a vast Indonesian desert, 'cause all I could find were recipes for kolak.

Wow

Dark_Claw wrote: »

Indonesian desert, 'cause all I could find were recipes for kolak.

Parangtritis, Central Java.

http://media.viva.co.id/thumbs2/2013/11/04/228222_gumuk-pasir-parangtritis_663_382.jpg
http://cdn.metrotvnews.com/bank_images/actual/133483.jpg
http://hardivizon.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/gumuk-pasir-02.jpg

In Indonesia, we would have found Sahara desert like in Africa. This is the natural phenomenon is occurring in Indonesia. Interestingly, this desert is formed in tropical areas with high rainfall. Of some existing data, desert in Indonesia is claimed as the only desert in Southeast Asia.

Parangtritis sand dunes, or “Gumuk Pasir Parangtritis” according to local tongue, were formed in thousand years of natural process. Some experts said that the sands were actually volcanic materials erupted by Mt.Merapi which flowed along the stream of Opak and Progo rivers to their estuaries in the south sea. The materials then been brought to the shore by strong waves, and after dried by the sun, the smooth and light sands blew by strong wind came from the ocean. Since Parangtritis beach was bordered by limestone hills, the sands could not pass the hills and fell before them, made a desert like area on an open part of the land between the hills and the beach. The wind that blew continuously in the area from various directions in a certain times made the sands became sand dunes with various unique forms.

http://triptojogjakarta.com/news/read/39/Shades-of-the-Sahara-Desert-in-Yogyakarta.html

Kolak? lol. If you are looking for Skooma, there's no Skooma equivalent here, the closest one probably Tuak/Tuwak/Toak (varies depends on dialect) a drinks produced from Nira. Nira is some sort of sugar. Though it's not as extreme as Skooma, It can make you feel euphoric / high, and addictive.

Dark_Claw

I'm not entirely certain whether a large beach would count as a desert. Just because it looks and feels like a desert doesn't make it a desert. This is the Thar desert:


And some more of India's wilderness.

Wow

1) For starters, the Khajiit are not descended from desert tribes. There are deserts in the north, yes, but there are also jungles.

2) Not all Khajiit are nomadic. In fact, the lore states that there are (or rather were) hundreds of cities in Elsweyr. That rather flies in the face of a nomadic lifestyle. Calling the Khajiit nomadic is like calling the Chinese nomadic because they like to travel and can be found living in other countries aside from China.

Those are southern most part then yes it's a beach, you walk to the north, you will see sand dunes with no water in sight, Parangkusumo Sand Dunes. During the day the heat in this place is very hot but if the air in the evening would turn out to be very cool. Locals did not differentiate these 2 places so they usually call them as Parangtritis.
http://gambarfoto.co/pemandangan-alam-indonesia.html


3) Khajiit have a rather clear Southeast Asian architectural style. You will not find such architecture in India.




And you also asking for a cat heh. There's also big cat in Sumatra Island, Panthera tigris sumatrae (or just simply called Sumatran Tiger), but sadly they are critically endangered now
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3566/3684745707_1d377b8d2f_b.jpg

Also white tiger does not exclusive to India, they can also be found in South Malaya, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, as well as in various parts of India.

Sentinel

A lot of places have multiple influences honestly.

Some influences are purely architectural, others purely cultural, but oftentimes many of the peoples and places of Tamriel find a nice mixture of cultures to base themselves off of.

High Rock, for example, resembles France, but also has large influences from Britain and Germany (and perhaps more states) in certain regions.

Cyrodiil has mixtures of architecture ranging from Greek and Roman to British.

It is likely that the architecture and environment have their own influences of which culture and customs have others.

Consider Bangkorai, a region of High Rock

(just browsed the web, Spain does resemble parts of the zone)

magnusthorek

Just because we have the second largest forest in the world doesn't mean the whole country is a jungle like 90% of Valenwood is

Dark_Claw

1. I don't know what your point is. The name Khajiit literally translates to "desert walker", so it's obvious that the desert has a large influence on their culture, whether they originated there or not.

2. I have never heard of the "Chinese nomad" stereotype. Anyway, that's like saying that the Romani people weren't traditionally nomadic because they originated from a country that also had many cities. It was something most of them did, enough for it to become a defining part of their culture.

Still doesn't make it a desert.

3. I never said it didn't. Khajiit architecture is clearly based off Indonesian buildings, but that doesn't mean that everything else about Elsweyr is therefore influenced by Indonesia as well. For example, the Nords are obviously based off Scandanavians but certain aspects of their culture are also Celtic.

And in the last pic I was giving an example of an Indian jungle. The fact that a white tiger was included was just a bonus.

BenLocoDete

What great example of a beautiful multicultural thread. I feel that the references belong to pretty much every place in the world with a mix of either the environment or its inhabitants, i.e. while I feel the Black Marsh would fit best some Brazilian environments and Australia the Valenwood province, the bosmeri have both asian and south americans indigenous tribes traits found in their body marks, bow and arrow expertise and their connection with the nature(while lances fit better when yielded by argonians).

As found in other articles, while nords are clearly inspired in the scandinavian cultures, they tend their dead much like the egyptians did. Even their tombs murals resemble the ones found in Egypt.

Again the elves have eyes similar to asians, but Khajiiti architecture is much more close to the ones found in the Indo-part of the Asia.

I remember some articles mentioning that the original lore authors choose french to name the Tsaesci individuals.

It is a big mix of multiple references.

Dark_Claw

magnusthorek wrote: »

Just because we have the second largest forest in the world doesn't mean the whole country is a jungle like 90% of Valenwood is

At what point did I claim that the whole country is a jungle? The Amazon rainforest makes up a lot of Brazil as do the jungles of Valenwood, and I also mentioned the similarity between the Bosmer and the South American tribes.

magnusthorek

I didn't say you said, don't feel offended about it. Sometimes I like to see this s*it country mentioned in games or movies. I'm just throwing some facts around.

Like... the Amazon Forest covers a big part of the country. 42%! It's a lot! But much less than Valenwood, I believe, that might be like 80% of the region.

What's not jungle in Valenwood makes small settlements (not really cities, saved the more importants like Elden Root, Arenthia, Marbruk...). Here we have the 7th biggest city on Earth, with more than 12 million people (an old census).

With "tribes" I guess you meant indigenous population. Well... From more of 204 millions of habitants, "only" ~897 thousand are indigenous.

Fine, they do look like some Bosmers, but they're very cultural and ethnically distinct.

Dark_Claw

My apologies. I never intended to come across as insulting, I was only making an observation.

magnusthorek

None taken

Like I said, sometimes it'a good to be remembered by something nice, other than the cr*p we often see on news or Internet.

magnusthorek

Sentinel wrote: »

Consider Bangkorai, a region of High Rock

Oh my... This park is so much like Bangkorai

Especially to the southeast, where M'aiq likes to hide.

Sentinel

This area from Greece resembles the Gold Coast of Cyrodiil:

Wow

I still dont understand why they pick Kenya as Elsewyr equal IRL,

runagate

Wow wrote: »

Elsewyr is not India, but Indonesia.

Click the spoiler for more info

Rawlkha of course, Khajiits are my favourite race




Are their architecture inspired by the traditional indonesian houses? To be more specific, Torajan Tribe?




look at this tongkonan house it looks like one of those Khajit's


Some says India, but in India you wont see such architecture. They are heavily inspired by Torajan Tribe in Indonesia.

if you come to Sulawesi Island, you can see real life Khajiit village in their full glory Even the /dancekhajiit emotes (male version) looks similar to their dance. I don't know what the dance was called, couldn't find the video of it.



Here is the interior of the Tongkonan house

Their temples/shrines, looks like one of those "Candi" called structure in Indonesia. If you ever visit Bali you'll see them.
Even more spoiler

The interior of a Candi

It freaks me out that you know that. I've spent an improbable amount of time staring at those houses over the years. I watched a video about genetic studies of migration patterns compared to these cultures, and how the older populations are still matrilinear, just last night.

Dark_Claw

Wow wrote: »

I still dont understand why they pick Kenya as Elsewyr equal IRL,

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. Whatever country Elsweyr is based upon, I think we can both agree that it certainly isn't Kenya.

ArchMikem

Geopolitical borders are not unique to specific biomes. Take the united states as an example, off the top of my head i know the u.s. has at least five different climates in its borders. My own state of Washington itself has two climates, dense wet forests of evergreens in the west, and expansive flat dry plains in the east, seperated by the cascade mountains. Just Washington state alone could be compared with parts of Cyrodiil and Elsweyr.

But dont get me wrong, im enjoying this topic.

Mojmir

ArchMikem wrote: »

Geopolitical borders are not unique to specific biomes. Take the united states as an example, off the top of my head i know the u.s. has at least five different climates in its borders. My own state of Washington itself has two climates, dense wet forests of evergreens in the west, and expansive flat dry plains in the east, seperated by the cascade mountains. Just Washington state alone could be compared with parts of Cyrodiil and Elsweyr.

But dont get me wrong, im enjoying this topic.

Arizona has some beatidul forests in the north,dunes to the south, and of course the grand canyon.
Hell even south idaho is dramatically different than the north.

Elloa

Dark_Claw wrote: »

Wow wrote: »

I still dont understand why they pick Kenya as Elsewyr equal IRL,

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. Whatever country Elsweyr is based upon, I think we can both agree that it certainly isn't Kenya.

And Skyrim is NOT the Swiss Alp either. But whatever...they have choosen those destination, probably because of convenience in organisation. Maybe a Norway cruise was not fitting. Maybe an Indonesian trip was too complicated to organise.

Danikat

They probably picked Kenya because you're much more likely to see a variety of big cats there than in Indonesia.

I suspect places their partner company normally runs trips was also a factor, they're not going to create a whole new package deal just to suit this one contest.

Wow

@runagate Had a friend back then from that Island and she informed me all these stuffs in detail.

Dark_Claw wrote: »

Wow wrote: »

I still dont understand why they pick Kenya as Elsewyr equal IRL,

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. Whatever country Elsweyr is based upon, I think we can both agree that it certainly isn't Kenya.

I agree

Wow

Temple in Rawlkha



Temple in Indonesia



Can't wait for the new Xpac

Wow

The Elseweyr artworks looks so familiar!



That definitely looks like "Rumah Gadang", house of Minangkabau people

ArenGesus

You forgot about coldharbour. It reminds me a lot of Newark.

Cundu_Ertur

ArenGesus wrote: »

You forgot about coldharbour. It reminds me a lot of Newark.

Hold on, now, that's not fair.


To Coldharbour.

siddique

Elsweyr is based on North and West Africa and Yemen, not India.