I t seems that the way to a successful rpg is to base its races and map etc on the Earth we live and know. You've only got to look at the world of warhammer to see this.

i.e. The Nords are like our Norseman of the Baltic & Scandinavia, the Imperials are like the Roman Empire of south & central Europe & the Mediterranean. I'm guessing that the Bretons are loosely based on the celtic people of Cornwall & Britanny in the UK & France.

what about the other races? Do you see them similar to any other people?

I see the human races in TES similar to European and African people as shown above. Their skin colour being from a flesh pink through to brown. The Elven races I see more as oriental / native American people as in Chinese, Japanese, Siberian & Mongolian. Thier skin colour being yellow (with the exception of dunmer & orcs who had their skin changed). America in TES is merged in with Asia which is kinda correct as native Americans came across from Asia and were NE Asia genetically.

The orcs I see as a Mongolian / Hun type people as short, but very strong and stocky. I see them more as semi-nomadic who live off wild live stock as opposed to farming and settled society.

The Dunmer I see as a Siberian / Japanese people. The Siberian as in like the native American Indian who live in tents (like the traditional Dunmer in Morrowind) and the Japanese as in their more advanced Dunmer who live in structured society. I see them as the main users of katana sword, light armor and bow.

The Altmer I see like a more orderly society like that of ancient China or Thailand crossed with a type of Atlantis idea. I see them as the ones to invent silk robes, spectacles or gunpowder etc. I'm sure they seem mystique to the Imperials the same way the orient seems that way to the Europeans.

The Bosmer I see like Vietnamese, Burmese & Cambodians or south American Indians living in amongst the tree close to nature. They are also short in height.

The Khajiit I see possibly like India / Persia due to them being like tigers, their names and the fact they live in jungle & dessert which is like India / Persia.

Anyone else have oppinions?

Imperials - Romans
Nords - Scandinavians
Bretons - French/English
Redguards - Morocco and other nearby countries
Khajiit - Egypt and the Middle East
Argonians - Various South American tribal people
Altmer - Stylistically depicted as very alien, so hard to say in that regard, similar to any purist nationalist empire/country such as Nazi Germany
Bosmer - No idea, I would guess some sort of tribal people
Dunmer - Various cultural influences, hard to decide on one
Orcs - Mongol barbarians

EDIT: Wait, why are you using Siberian to refer to American Indians? Siberia is Northern Asia. Also, the tents the Ashland Dunmer live in are called yurts, which are Mongol, so there may be some influence there.

By the gods, SOMEONE PRESS THE BUTTON!
http://ojezap.posterous.com/instant-no-button-star-wars-funnies-ftw
Sorry, but there are so many nearly identical threads to this one that such an exclamation was needed to voice my bemused frustration.



There's a reason for this. Earth is our only comparable reality. We draw all of our inspiration from it, it is our template for what reality may be like elsewhere. I don't think it has anything to do with whether or not rpgs are successful, since all rpgs contain this element.

EDIT: Oh, and the races presented are all a deliberate mixture of influences. No one real-life culture parallels those seen in the Elder Scrolls world.This is generally how this inquiry is answered, so I feel like this post is incomplete without it.

Sorry. I find anthropologist interesting. I love studying books about the forming of cultures and genetics etc. That is probably why I find the whole TES universe so intriguing and exciting.

The American Indians are genetically related to the Siberians and came to being in the Americas by crossing over from Siberia to Canada & North America. Also if we go way back then the majority of Japanese are genetically and historically close to Koreans who themselves are also closer to Siberians to that of Chinese. That is why Koreans / Japanese look different to many Chinese. Mongolians / Huns although still related are again another branch genetically & historically to both Siberians & Chinese.

I think we can agree that the orc & Dunmer def' have mongol / E.Asian influences. The Bosmer & High Elves are the same in skin tone etc except one is very tall and show advanced society with knowledge of magics and the other is short and lives close to nature.

The Khajiit I said India & Persia as opposed to Egypt is because tigers are found in India and Khajiit are basically tigers in a human form. Also the Khajiit homeland is desert & Jungle like India & Persia. India & Persia historically have a lot of links and the Persian language is the sister language of the ancient Indian language know as Sanskrit (a bit like Latin as it is a dead language but many of the modern languages descend from it).

http://www.rajasthantourism.gov.in/About-Rajasthan.aspx

My take on Imperials that I had to nab from another thread I posted in.



Edit:

The Ka Po' Tun are more close to Tigers in human form, Khajiit resemble Lions in my opinion.

yh true. OK tiger and lions live in India, lol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatic_Lion

would agree with this but Altmer would be Japanese, Dunmer would be chinese.

I saw it the other way around. Dunmer are the more warring people expert with sword and bow where as Altmer are into the arts.

Japan were the warlords and China were the advanced society of the ancient world inventing many of the things we have today. When China first came into any real contact with Europeans they saw them as barbaric.

Orcs I see as the Huns / Mongols.

Bosmer I see as Cambodians or Burmese.