World Building Blog

Hopefully, this will help kick my muse into action.

Thanks to the in-series existence of the movie's events, it is now definite that there're countries outside of Equestria. So, I'm going to define what those countries are for my fic and really hope that the remaining episodes don't throw it out the window like Shadow Play did my timeline.

Already mentioned in my fic are the following:
-Griffins, and therefore Griffinstone, are German-equivalent. They're very business-like and straightforward, especially to outsiders, but when they have reason to party they party hard.
-The French-equivalent is Les Gargouilles and his subjects, amphibious dragons called gargoyles. Here, I'll point at the movie, wherein there are fish-people and call them the gargoyles in question. They're well known for their art and fashion (despite being underwater most of their lives), and were once very war-like (especially when they were the Gaurs).
-Zebras have Zebafrica, which is a bit unfair to name it that because Africa is a continent not a country (no matter what Drew Carey said). Zebafrica is mostly savanna, and is multiple tribes rather than one united country, each with its own distinct dialects based on the same language.
-There's also Itl'nty, the sea serpent equivalent to Italy. While they're not as known for their fashion (which, to be fair, is mostly in the form of cosmetics), they have a wide variety of foods, including several that aren't technically Italian, like sushi and sashimi.
-Saddle Arabia is outright stated in my fic to be a generalized Middle East, not just Saudi Arabia. Historically, they've been the site of a lot of wars, and there's still a few skirmishes between neighbouring city-states on occasion.
-Dragons have been mentioned as a combination of Russian and Romani/Roma culture (either "Romani" or "Roma" are appropriate, with "Gypsie" generally being considered a perjorative). What I meant by that, was the Romani proclivity for wandering/migrating combined with the Russian stereotype of being very tough and gruff. Particular Flights also pool their treasure hoards into a communal hoard, which all dragons can share in, but close eyes are kept to make sure nobody's over-indulging (especially the younglings).
-Finally, of those already mentioned in-story, is Mesánychta. Mesánychta is Anglicized Greek for "Midnight," and is home to minotaurs and centaurs (and a few satyrs) and is more like Greece than Equestria, despite all the Grecian influences therein. Specifically, Mesánychta is a land of ancient philosophy and early science, but war is not unknown to them (much like the French Gargoyles).

Oh, and Equestria is a blend of several English-speaking countries (particularly Canada) and Greece.

Now, for places in-show that haven't been touched on in YAHES:

-The Changelings under Chrysalis don't really have a counterpart culture, but from what I know (which isn't much) they have a lot in common with North Korea (isolationist, controlled information, that sort of thing). Once Thorax's revolution takes over, they retain a lack of specific counterparts, but basically become a society of hippies (And considering my dad and I are wannabe-hippie geeks, I see no problems with that).
-Yakyakistan, despite being named similarly to Pakistan, is far more likely to be Nordic in nature, particularly stereotypical Horny Vikings. Not much else to say on them yet.

Finally, the movie-folk:
-First, the first non-quadruped we were introduced to: Catfolk. I've decided, based on some recent reading, to name their home country Abyssinia. Their counterpart culture? Egypt, off course.
-The Storm King I'll have hail from Mesánychta (he's a satyr/minotaur half-breed), but he left long before he rose to power.
-Fuzzy folk come from a variety of places, but I'll place a good chunk of them as coming from a counterpart to Australia, just because of its own ecological diversity. So be careful, they know how to survive in unfriendly places.
-The Birdfolk Captain Celaeno and her crew belong to shall be given the punny home of Eagland, a country belonging to United Kingdoms of Great Birdain.
-Finally, the Hippogriff-campi. Also being as Greek in origin as Equestria and Mesánychta, I'll give them some differentiation by making their culture more Roman, which ties in somewhat neatly to Itl'nty being aquatic, just as Italy was once the seat of the Roman Empire.

I might give other countries Equestrian counterparts someday, or we'll get somewhere new I can expound/expand upon.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Neat stuff, and reasonable derivations of what we've seen. Looking forward to more YAHES.