Hey, hope you're doing well! I just saw the map for your upcoming book and I recognised some of the names which are/were provinces/ancient cities in my native country! I wanted to know what was the story behind the provinces you chose in your world and how you named them? Have a good day!
is it histria, severin, or carpathia? š some of this is in the post-story appendix, but sure, iād be happy to give you a run-down!
histriaĀ is inspired by exactly what it looks like: the roman empire and later neoclassical eras that paid homage to it. i was an ancient history junkie in elementary school, so histria is kind of me going back to my roots. histria was named after the ancient greek colony that spent a long time under roman rule.
jormunthalĀ has a viking aesthetic with some mashed-in highland influence. itās pretty much skyrim, except everyone has the sense to wear long sleeves. of all the names,Ā ājormunthalā is the one with the least meaning, lmao. itās meant to sound phonetically norse, but as far as i know, itās not a real-life name.
severinĀ is inspired by several different chunks of russian history. its aesthetic is a blend of the ivan the terrible era and enlightenment/war and peace period, with a heavy gothic flair. āseverinā came from the character sĆ©vĆ©rine in skyfall, honestly just because i thought the name was pretty. but i later realized that it also has the wordĀ āsever,ā fromĀ ŃŠµŠ²ŠµŃ, the russian word forĀ ānorth.ā
carpathia is a green, woodsy province inspired by england, with a mainly war of the roses/tudor influence. visually, itās the closest dangerous crowns comes to āstock ye olde english fantasy.ā i know the carpathians are a real-life mountain range, but in this case itās named after the ship that rescued the survivors of the titanic, because⦠again, i thought the name was pretty. oops.
kadithaāsĀ biggest basis is in the islamic golden age, with its innovations in education, science, art, and trade. geographically, itās like the holy land/fertile crescent region, with a large desert and small, valuable agricultural area. itās named after haditha, a city near baghdad thatās on the euphrates river, and the kadisha/qadisha valley in lebanon.
jubaĀ is inspired by various kingdoms and groups in west africa - in particular the benin kingdom, the mali empire, akan, yoruba, and igbo people. i was really spurred on by ruth carter talking about the real-life inspiration for the costumes in black panther, and i loved the art and textiles that came up when i started doing research. the nameĀ ājubaā came from the ancient king of numidia, but apparently itās the capital of south sudan, too! the more you know.