#basram

1. Republic

ESCAB says most of the hundreds of Gaean countries are monarchies that evolved from tribal communities where one clan accumulated enough power to rule over the others. Basram is apparently one of the exceptions. Republic (res publica - the state is a “public matter” made by and for the people) often comes to be as the result of overthrowing a tyrannic ruler (or ruling class/group), or via revolution. I chose that path as well, even though there probably are examples of state bodies which were already created as republic, too. With massive social changes, several groups can be hit hard of course, so I tried to incorporate that a bit when creating Cyro’s backstory.

2. Crest

Dragons here, dragons there, dragons everywhere. That’s Gaea for you. The official flag of Basram is the familiar symbol of symmetric entwined serpentine creatures, which probably can be dubbed as dragons. It’s quite similar to the crest of Asturia, which you see on the flags and banners, but also in the huge ‘altar’ thing at Millerna’s wedding:

So, it may have a religious connotation. In Asturia, it probably represents their sea dragon god, Jeture. But I was not so sure what it represents in Basram. The position of the dragons is certainly reverse from Asturia above (they face away from each other) and they seem to be breathing fire out of their mouths.

Well, since I’ve been writing this fic for a while, I had decided that Basram would have some sort of sun worship long time ago. But it was only recently I have discovered about the double dragons of Basram, so I tried to incorporate it somehow. In the end I settled on the dragons representing the Sun and the Moon (and no, I was in no way original, see for example the Gandhara dragons).

In Gaea’s case, it would probably be the Sun and the Mystic Moon. And the Moon can be their offspring. Just fanwanking here.

When it comes to the Vis Arcana universe, Cyro used to be a monk of Tonatis, the male/Sun aspect. But maybe there is (or was) a complementary female religious order worshiping the Moon?

I made the geographical terms I used correspond to this theory, Cyro mentions Heliopoli and I have thought of Lunasta. Kind of obvious, right? (I have not been too creative)

Anyway, it’s quite possible that the dragons were simply meant to represent Jeture as well, because it looks like Basram borders with the same sea as Asturia. The sea, where, you know, Jeture is supposed to reside.

3. Uniform

There are a few pointers of what Earth countries served as inspiration for the Gaean ones. The clothes being one of the more obvious. And what we are looking at here is an obvious case of a pickelhaube, which together with the overknee boots points right in the direction of Prussia for me. I mean look at this 19th century Prussian cuirassier [IMG SRC] side by side with our guy for example:

Or another good example here.

Of course, there are more countries and armies which used the pickelhaube over the history and maybe some of them would look similar, too. And I don’t think we should simply put a ‘=‘ between Basram and Prussia anyway, because this is still a fantasy universe, but well, there seems a certain inspiration. And for those familiar with European history, the militarism of Basram may come as less of a surprise.

4. Geography

According to the map, Basram is located quite down south, souther than Asturia itself, nearing Freid. And that would make the climate quite Mediterranean/hot. But only if you think in Earth’s terms. These people do not really look like they live somewhere in a warm climate, but heck if I know. On the map it looks like they have a seacoast, some major rivers and mountains. Then there is that thing of Gaean map being just the rotated version of ice age Europe which would tell us more about the topography, but nah. Too lazy for that for now.

5. Energist Bomb

Well. The whole bomb business may also sound very familiar. A new, unexpected strange weapon with enough destructive force to wipe out whole armies and cities, leaving nothing in its wake.  Maybe even more so when you know what followed in the series, i.e. the allied countries turning on each other. The nuclear bomb was not just about Japan either, it was also about deterring any potential future enemies from among the Allies (well, especially one of them). And the US certainly certainly were a republic from the beginning. So yeah, more sources of inspiration here at work probably...