Greyhawk Online is pleased to bring you a submission from one of the greatest contributors to the Greyhawk Community – Jason Zavoda – creator of the Encyclopedia Greyhawkania. Jason gives us the comparative analogs he likes to use in his games to create the culture of various nations of the Flanaess.
The nations listed are circa 576CY, from the WoG folio edition.
Read on, dear Greyhawker, and don’t forget to comment below about what you use for various countries and which parts of the list you like, or might use for your own game!
‘Til the Starbreak!
Here are the general sources I’ve used in the past (as far as I remember). For the most part these are based on movies and popular fiction rather than historical texts. Nothing is set in stone and over the past nearly 40 years of DMing the Greyhawk setting I’ve used so much material for three full scale multi-year Greyhawk campaigns that I’ve lost track of where it all comes from. I’ve found that tying down regions to real world locales helps incredibly with developing a consistent collection of names for NPCs. It is also a great deal of aid to be able to shoehorn cultures into the game and be able to say to someone “It’s like Last Kingdom, Braveheart, Zulu but with arrows and orcs, etc…”
Oerthly Equivalents
| Almor, Prelacy of | Cromwellian England |
| Bandit Kingdoms | Various |
| Bissel, March of | Hungary |
| Blackmoor | Finland |
| Bone March | Various Fantasy |
| Celene | Lothlorien |
| Dyvers | Amsterdam |
| Ekbir | Damascus |
| Frost Barbarians | Vikings |
| Furyondy | France |
| Geoff | Wales |
| Gran March | Templars |
| Great Kingdom | Otto 1st Hold Roman Empire |
| Greyhawk, city of | Gygax Gord the Rogue novels & Various Fantasy |
| Highfolk | Rivendell |
| Horned Society | Various Fantasy |
| Ice Barbarians | Vikings |
| Idee | Rennaisance Italian City-state |
| Irongate | Rennaisance Italian City-state |
| Iuz | Various Fantasy |
| Keoland | England |
| Ket | Romania/Bulgaria/Transylvania |
| Lordship of the Isles | Carribean British Islan dports and strongholds based on pirate movies |
| Medegia, See of | Loosely based on the Three Musketeers Cardinal Richelieu |
| North Province | Englad of King John and Robin Hood |
| Nyrond | England |
| Onnwal | Rennaisance Italian City-state |
| Pale | Rome |
| Perrenland | Switzerland |
| Plains of the Paynims | Mongol |
| Pomarj | Various Fantasy |
| Ratik | Various Fantasy |
| Rel Astra | Various Fantasy |
| Rovers of the Barrens | Pre-Christian Magyars |
| Scarlet Brotherhood | Nazi/Tuetonic Knights |
| Sea Barons | Carribean British Island ports and strongholds based on pirate movies |
| Sea Princes | Barbary pirates |
| Shield Lands | Arthurian fantasy Englad without Arthur |
| Snow Barbarians | Vikings |
| South Province | Spain – El Cid – kinda |
| Spendrift Isles | L series – Various Fantasy |
| Sterich | General Western Europe medieval |
| Stonefist | Cossacks |
| Sunndi | Rennaisance Italian City-state |
| Tehn | Northern England |
| Tiger Nomads | Mongol |
| Tusmit | Ottoman |
| Ulek(s) | Various Fantasy |
| Ull | Ukraine after Mongol Invasion |
| Urnst, County of | Generic Medieval |
| Urnst, Duchy of | Generic Medieval |
| Valley of the Mage | Various Fantasy |
| Veluna | Generic medieval/ fantasy |
| Verbobonc | Various fantasy |
| Wild Coast | Various fantasy |
| Wolf Nomads | Huns |
| Yeomanry | Old Prussian |
| Zeif | Persian |
If Nyrond is Southern England, and Tenh is Northern England, I’d hazard that Ratik is Scotland.
The Bandit Kingdoms is somewhat like Ontario, Canada, geographically, at least. The Rovers and the Nomads lands could be the Canadian plains (Alberta & Saskatchewan).
That’s interesting, David! … I actually had to look up what the geography of Ontario is like! That might well be the case north of the Rift Canyon and Rift Barrens, but the Bandit Kingdoms is a really, really small place to fit that much into … especially in the couple or few hundred miles between the Rift and the Fellreev.. But, it does seem reminiscent of the Canadian Shield.
That being said, though, I think Jason is mostly referring to cultures, rather than geography.
Nice one, Jason! Falls in line with most of mine. Cossacks and Hungary are two I never would’ve thought of. My Pale is more like Cromwellian England with plate/knights or Hussite Bohemia.
This is a Nice overview and will be very handy, especially for those new to greyhawk. Great stuff Jason.
So very glad that there are others who do this.
Would you the consider the Adri Forest to be an analogue to the North American forests of the 19th century?
That’s a pretty difficult one to answer.
There are some who’d say the Felreev forest might be a little more like North American forests in the 1800s, since the Rovers of the Barrens would be there.
But are you asking more about the geography and climate, or the fauna, or something else in particular?
The Adri’s not a bad choice to be similar to that kind of northeastern forest, thought there probably wouldn’t be as many pine there as in the US northeast, if that’s what you’re looking for.
Though, it’s certainly not unlike an 1800s English forest, for what it’s worth.