Essos- Dev Diary Archive

[knuckey]

Essos has finally been released! The following dev diaries outline the process of adding it in:

-Essos Part 1- One Year On
-Slavery, Part I
-Slavery, Part II
-Ruins & Colonisation
-Some Flavour (Piracy/Triarchs/Bleeding Years)
-Release Date (Dany Quest/Faith)

Other Dev Diaries:
-New Additions

 

[Carbon]

Holy smokes this is beautiful.

 

[victimizer]

Unbelievably beautiful. I never got into the mod at first because I always found westeros very boring; just a huge england with some weird features. But Essos looks incredible and very promising.

 

[TMSaxon]

England? How is Westeros England? Certain regions (e.g. the North) have elements of England, but others really don't (e.g. Dorne).
On topic: The dev diaries look extraordinarily promising- is the release date still doable?

 

[The_13th_Ronin]

When is this out? I heard December... It's December now?

 

[bomber43]

Soon...

 

[GrandPanjandrum]

Dorne is meant to be Wales: restive region with a different cultural group from the rest of region was not conquered by the initial invasion but through gradual and extended warfare.

 

[ndrgmm]

Dorne is meant to be Wales: restive region with a different cultural group from the rest of region was not conquered by the initial invasion but through gradual and extended warfare.

Dorne is meant to be Spain; however, geographically westeros is England
The climate, the food, the ethnic groups (sandy, salty and stony dornishmen, as basque(pale), andalusian(darker) and other spanishes)

 

[Ccllnply]

Strange, I always thought Dorne was meant to be Dorne.....

 

[ndrgmm]

Strange, I always thought Dorne was meant to be Dorne.....

Funny

 

[TMSaxon]

Dorne is meant to be Spain; however, geographically westeros is England

Yes, I always saw Dorne as mixture of Spain, Venice (decadent high culture), Egypt under the Fatimid's, and maybe a touch of South East Asia/India (cuisine etc.). Geographically, parts of Westeros are England (North, maybe Riverlands and Crownlands)- but others aren't- Dorne (western half Sahara, eastern half more Middle East), Iron Isles (Iceland maybe, with touches of Norway/Orkney and Shetlands) and so on. Indeed, culturally, the Riverlands and the North are I believe the only ones that actually resemble England- and even there, the North is also Scotland, and the Riverlands is also Germany- constant invasions, large river connections etc.

 

[ndrgmm]

Yes, I always saw Dorne as mixture of Spain, Venice (decadent high culture), Egypt under the Fatimid's, and maybe a touch of South East Asia/India (cuisine etc.). Geographically, parts of Westeros are England (North, maybe Riverlands and Crownlands)- but others aren't- Dorne (western half Sahara, eastern half more Middle East), Iron Isles (Iceland maybe, with touches of Norway/Orkney and Shetlands) and so on. Indeed, culturally, the Riverlands and the North are I believe the only ones that actually resemble England- and even there, the North is also Scotland, and the Riverlands is also Germany- constant invasions, large river connections etc.

I read a persuasive interpretation;
Riverland-Netherlands (but maybe also Germany, yes); Dorne-Spain; Iron Isles-Vikings, Stormlands-Germany[Bavaria], The Vale-Switzerland and of Course the North-Scotland. The very english region is Westerlands. Of course, it's not so simply, there are mix of several elements (like sahara for Dorne, as you said), but i think that is the structure.
I did not understand the venetian elements in dorne, decadent high culture?
(Are we OT?)

 

[TMSaxon]

I read a persuasive interpretation;
Riverland-Netherlands (but maybe also Germany, yes); Dorne-Spain; Iron Isles-Vikings, Stormlands-Germany[Bavaria], The Vale-Switzerland and of Course the North-Scotland. The very english region is Westerlands. Of course, it's not so simply, there are mix of several elements (like sahara for Dorne, as you said), but i think that is the structure.
I did not understand the venetian elements in dorne, decadent high culture?
(Are we OT?)

Very OT. Sorry, was typing in a hurry. By decadent high culture, I was referring to Oberyn and Arianne, and the fact that lovers are so common that they even have their term and a certain measure of respect. There were times when the "Noble Republic" was noted as being extraordinarily wasteful and decadent, to the point of almost collapse at times.

 

[DarkReborn]

The Stormlands are northern medieval Spain and Dorne is southern medieval Spain + some mediterranean details since they're from the Free Cities and those are almost exclusively pseudo-Mediterranean.

 

[TMSaxon]

I would say that the Stormlands are more Northern France (e.g. Normandy) then Northern Spain (granted, I'm not that familiar with Northern Spain). But the castles, the knightly emphasis, the vaguely zealous attitudes, the emphasis of following ones lord even to exile and death (granted, that is a very Anglo Saxon trait, but still), the very feudal style rewards of lands and titles, all point, for me, to N. France. Of course, geographically, N. Spain is a much better fit. Hmm.

 

[DarkReborn]

I was basing myself on the Dornish marches, it used to be the common fighting grounds of Dorne and the Stormlands pre-Aegon.... northern France may fit, if it wasn't for the fact that the obvious (maybe too obvious) French equivalent is the Reach.

 

[Ccllnply]

Funny

Not particularly. I was simply trying to point out that saying "X fantasy kingdom is Y actual nation" is ridiculous. I see your point totally, Dorne and Spain do share elements but so do Spain and Italy, that's how nations are. Westeros is a continent in A Song of Ice and Fire and England is a nation in reality. If G.R.R Martin sat down and started copying nations directly from reality he wouldn't be a best selling author and I believe he said as much himself in an interview I saw a while ago.

 

[ndrgmm]

Not particularly. I was simply trying to point out that saying "X fantasy kingdom is Y actual nation" is ridiculous. I see your point totally, Dorne and Spain do share elements but so do Spain and Italy, that's how nations are. Westeros is a continent in A Song of Ice and Fire and England is a nation in reality. If G.R.R Martin sat down and started copying nations directly from reality he wouldn't be a best selling author and I believe he said as much himself in an interview I saw a while ago.

It's obviously that he had not used the existing nations as they are, like it was a copy-paste; but the elements that he used are taken from reality, like Tolkien did for the Shire. Of course, Braavos is not exactly Venice, there are other elements (colossus of Rhodes, florentine banks), but it obviously what he thought. Understand the nations that have inspired the realms are a way to understand the books, the books' world and this mod that reproduces it.

 

[Ccllnply]

It's obviously that he had not used the existing nations as they are, like it was a copy-paste; but the elements that he used are taken from reality, like Tolkien did for the Shire. Of course, Braavos is not exactly Venice, there are other elements (colossus of Rhodes, florentine banks), but it obviously what he thought. Understand the nations that have inspired the realms are a way to understand the books, the books' world and this mod that reproduces it.

That's basically what I'm saying as well. I just feel that fantasy nations shouldn't be simplified so much, especially Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire.

 

[EmperorTojo]

Will the Dothraki Sea be reterrained? I'd really love it if it looked more like steppe lands.