Ok the other races are obvious

Imperial-Roman
Breton-British
Red Guard-Middle Eastern
etc.

But who are the Dunmer based off of? I have heard anything from Native American to African to Japanese. What is the general thought that most people think they are based off of?

Palestinian or Arabian, my thought would be middle eastern in general...

and redguard - middleeastern WTH?? O_o
xD

They aren't. Neither are the other races you mentioned.

First of all,these sorts of threads should die in a fire.

And yes, of course Redguards are Middle Eastern. They aren't very African. They belong to the Islamic world, clearly. The Middle East, Persia, India and the Swahili Coast.

Influences for the Dunmer include ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians and Turkic nomads. Obviously they are neither.

Ashlanders- Native American
Hlaalu- Egyptian
Redoran- Middle Eastern
Telvanni- Smurf

ok, i live like one country from middle east, and i'm not so sure that india counts in middle east xDDD

i would go for...

altmer - egptians
argonian - native amazonian tribes
bosmer - picts
breton - briton celts
dunmer - arabians
imperial - helenistic civ
dwemer - persians
khajiit - no idea
nord - norseman
orc - mongolian
redguard - middle and south africans

i've only had appearance and style of races in mind

Indeed,look in the pocket guide to the empire it shows a picture of Hammerfell, the architecture is very much Arabic. Would show you a picture if I could find one, and I don't have a scanner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-Arab

a demographic graphicon of north africa should make this clear


i'm not home, so i can't really look... is it similar to http://www.google.hr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.featurepics.com/FI/Thumb300/20070702/African-Architecture-369641.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.featurepics.com/online/African-Architecture-Photo369641.aspx&usg=__ZBX3SCHFxnOPCLrY-ENchpR0m6w=&h=297&w=449&sz=33&hl=hr&start=36&zoom=1&tbnid=RTJYIZbjz75FTM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=160&ei=pm47TcHWPMqBOtXwxbsL&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dafrican%2Barhitecture%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dhr%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:hr:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D604%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C961&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=292&vpy=130&dur=2423&hovh=182&hovw=276&tx=184&ty=209&oei=hm47TcTfI8WBOqb3tPsK&esq=3&page=3&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:36&biw=1280&bih=604

or http://www.google.hr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/fzfeens/photo_3/02_Fatepuri%2520Masjid%2520Mosque.JPG&imgrefurl=http://ancientafricae.wikispaces.com/Songhai%27s%2BPeople&usg=__Wok4giqPxOqQJoKsM6EWe8ny8k0=&h=1944&w=2592&sz=1244&hl=hr&start=18&zoom=1&tbnid=4EsxBZVkNl9zdM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=170&ei=JW87TZrYGsLsObr39JgL&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dafrican%2Barhitecture%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dhr%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:hr:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D604%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C370&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=852&vpy=229&dur=3803&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=163&ty=210&oei=hm47TcTfI8WBOqb3tPsK&esq=5&page=2&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:18&biw=1280&bih=604?

it's aaaaall africa...

The Dunmer don't have any obvious cultural links to a RL culture in the way that the human races do.


'Velothi' names in old Dunmeri are lifted straight from Akkadian or Sumerian, or in some cases made to sound like those languages.

Yep!!!

and 4LOM

I have heard that the Dunmer names are almost identical to Assyrian names, and from what I have researched it is corrrect.

ok, their skin is dark as african, and architectual style is that of north africa, so I'm settling for afroarabs.

What are you talking about? They're not Afro-Arab, they're Yokudan.

If you insist on playing the Shallow Ethnic Stereotype game, you can't ignore their Persian influences.

Listen. None of the races are an exact copy of any real-world culture or ethnicity.

None of them.

Not even the Imperials are exactly Roman. There are many Roman and Greek influences but their history is much different.


This is a different world.

The way the universe is set up and has evolved in the Elder Scrolls universe is fundamentally different from our own.


The Dunmer are Dunmer. They were Velothi or Chimer. Before that they were a rebel group of Aldmer who believed in Good Daedra. Before that they were Aldmer. Before that? I'll leave such speculation to loftier minds.

it's amuzing me, this topic

=)

the name of the topic is -who are the dunmer BASED off of-

=)


so, if the BSG guys don't have access to the pond of abstraction, they must be based on something

=)

Assyrian is actually the name of a branch form of Akkadian so we're both right.

They are based on the Drow from Forgotten Realms (in some places in DF, even their names were Drowish). Slavery, Assassinations that go unpunished, Great Houses, Evil gods (in past... and Mephala is similar to Lolth in some ways)... they are basically the Drow.

Of course, Betehsda made good job of using the base of Drows and adding many, many unique elements so they feel and are an unique culture. They are not based on any Real Life Culture and even their real base can hardly be called that (tough I think gamesas mentioned few RL cultures like Egypt as being an inspiration).



Base is just a base, not a copy-paste. You have a base on which you build other elements and if you succeed, you get something unique.

Did i say anything about history? I said based off of. meaning their look and culture.

I'd put it more to the numerous North-Western Asian tribes. Mongolians being some of them, but also the vast numerous tribes throughout Siberia. Key give away: Yurts instead of Tepees/Long-houses/Pueblo.
Are you kidding? Machiavellian Rome!

Notice in the last thread, I talked about how American the Dunmer seemed. Goes to show you how much this matters.

Easy patronising answer: the Dunmer are based on Sri Lankan Tamils because they're an occupied people and worship more than one god*.

Accurate patronising answer: they're based on lots of different things, some real, some fictional, some *gasp* invented in the mighty brains of the devs. But nothing specific enough for a lazy 1:1 comparison.

*and their women are hot

@Akul - thanks man, a nice solvage for this entaglement...
@singapore - agreed

Anyone else finds the Dwemer are very much Sumerian-alike? ^^

Well they have the same rockin' beards, that's for sure. Worldview, culture and technology - very different. But the beards, those count for a lot.

Those ghosts did look very ancient Mesopotamian, but other than that not really.

[edit] Yes, it's the beards. Facial hair that means business.

i was thinking of beards, what else makes difference? O.o

Well obviously having a vaguely Sumerian looking beard makes you exactly like a Sumerian in every way, shape and form .It's not like history, language, religion or culture have anything to do with defining a people or anything. What kind of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMLgEnDGkG4 nonsense is that?

I think this forum needs to have a serious discussion about race, ethnic identity, and cultural heritage. Especially race as it is perceived in the fantasy genre, and how that perception interacts with race as it is perceived in the real world. All of these "what's this race's real life equivalent?" and "what's this culture's real life equivalent?" threads convey a significant misunderstanding about the concepts of race, nationality, and ethnicity. Especially how these concepts translate into a fantasy setting. Just sayin'.