Bluebomber4evr wrote:Ryan Naylor has said the Valachani people are based on the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. This would include Oregon, Washington (the state), and parts of Canada such as Vancouver. The language and some parts of the culture were said by Ryan to be "norwegian" (although I have heard from people in Denmark that Vaasi is the same as their language).
Von Kharkov is not of these people, however, so his name and (apparent) ethnicity will appear different. It is important to note, however, that his name and human appearance are both artificial, as Von Kharkov began life as a large predatory cat. He was later polymorphed into a human form by a wizard, who chose the particular human form and name for him.
The thing is with a domain like this, is that it is OBVIOUSLY real-world inspired, but unlike many of the other worlds, there is no 1 to 1 association to be made. It's a little Native American, it's a little Scandanavian, it's a little of fantasy, etc. (I haven;t read the entry in the Gaz)
having said this, I DO feel that it may benefit from a little tweeking.
I think, for the sake of sort of fitting it in with the rest of the core, picturing it like North-westerned USA/Canada works best, and you can sort of keep the dark skin (or if you prefer, you can decided their skin is darkly tanned, maybe? with a reddish tinge? Whatever you need to do. Byut then to straight black hair makes sense, if you feel that stright hair/balck skin doesn;t work. Mind you, to THAT, I would simply point to certain ethnic groups in India which are very dark-skinned and have, yup, straight hair...). Anyhow, it works well, geographically: it makes it a backwater, isolated from the rest of the core. It's surrouned by mist and forests, and the wildlife seems to fit an old-wood forest with some sharp moutains and gorges... So it works on that level.
It if the fact that they speak Vaasi seems an issue, I suggest the following: have Vaasi as the official "state-sponsored/endorsed language, and maybe invent a native tongue? Native Valachani? So, most of the merchants, etc. would speak both, with the poorer people favouring Valachani? It's an idea...
It sort of leaves the people alone to develop a culture which is markedly different form the rest of the core, with an emphasis on self-sufficiency. There may be trade with Mordenshire - with trade likely being uneven at best - perhaps the less crupulous Mordentish merchants trade old, primitive fireams to them in exchnage for furs, gold and other commodities more prized by so-called civilized realms. Most of the trading is likely small-scale anyways.
And I can't help but think that White Fever (though I know it's not the case) reminds me of the tainted blankets traded to Native Americains in an effort to weaken their populations...
last thing; I think it's pretty safe to assume here that the skin colour of the Valachani is purely cosmetic, an effort to tie them in to that panther-like quality of dark predator. but also, it's meant t have their appearance not stand entirely at odds with Von Kharkov, so it's really not a big issue to either let it satnd or change it...
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