Parallels between CLOK races and real-life cultures?

[Moon_Dew]

After a long hiatus I'm finally back.

Now, as for my question, what are the parallels, if any exist, between the various races in CLOK and real-life cultures?

Personally I've always seen the Grummers as similar to Industrial-Era Germany.

[Lysse]

The Faewyr seem to have a strong Scandian influence, based on their general naming scheme and the little we know of their culture.

[Moon_Dew]

After reading the wiki entry I think I can say that the Rhuidim seem to have a Transylvanian influence, at least Hollywood's version of Transylvania.

And the Nuum seems to have parallels with Persian, Arabian, and Egyptian cultures.

The Parren are described as easy going seafolk, and Parr is known as Arad's international trade hub. Jamaican influence?

Which race has the closest parallel with Scottish culture?

[Blitz]

I've always sort of thought of the Viali as renaissance Italians, or maybe French.

Nuum and Persian/Arabic seems to go well together.

Huec and Aztec could go hand in hand.

Parren and Hawaiians, with a touch of Swiss on the side (international bank accounts/trade hub and all).

Fasa and (American) Indians maybe?

If I had to hazard a guess, Giganti would be real close to the Faewyr's Scandian roots with just a hint of extra Viking sauce.

The Rhuidim are hard to find, but going off my renaissance Italy vibe from the Viali, they would be the descendants of our real world's heretics of the time, maybe..?

That leaves the Hillfolk, which must descend from Hoblings and Halfbits. Must be Pygmies.

[Rias]

This is a kind of risky subject because I don't want too many assumptions to be made, and I'm sure I've made assumptions myself about the inspirations I draw on. I've tried to make all the CLOK cultures be unqiue, even when they're based on real-world ones. That said, I'll offer some inspirations the CLOK cultures have had.

Tatlhuecan has some loose parallels to the Aztecs and similar ancient mesoamerican cultures.

Nuum has some loose parallels to ancient Egypt.

Tol Rhun pretty unique. I can't think of any real-world parallels.

Ivial is, ehhh, kind of a mashup of Ancient Rome and the idealized Arthurian society of legend, with its own further quirks and unique points. Their language is obviously strongly based on Italian. Honestly, don't make any assumptions on this one - it's mostly unique at this point, with just a few inspirations from those cultures.

As Lysse said, Faewyr have a strong Scandian influence. I shamelessly pull from various different but similar real-world cultures and combine them as I like.

Giganti are pretty unique, but have some small Scandian influence as well (mostly their language and script).

Hillfolk are kind of like frontiersy colonial-era American independents, I guess. They prefer keeping things small, simple, and independent, away from the interference of others.

Parrens are, hmmm ... pretty unique. Kind of hard to nail down. There's some mixture of the stereotypical easygoing Pacific Islander culture and the Age of Sail Caribbean stuff. Their culture isn't very strongly developed yet, to be honest.

When I think of Grum, the first thing that currently comes to mind right now is that movie "Hugo." All the clockwork and gears and fun stuff like that, and that whole "feel" the movie has.

Rithiel can comment on the Fasa if she likes.

[Blitz]

Thanks for the insights, Rias. =)

I can't believe I forgot about Egyptian for the Nuum... My only alt is based on that idea. As for what race has most correlation with (historical) Scotland, I'm tempted to go with Giganti.

<3 Giganti

[Rias]

I've always sort of thought of the Viali as renaissance Italians

Good call.

[Rias]

The Parren are described as easy going seafolk, and Parr is known as Arad's international trade hub. Jamaican influence?

And another good call.