Oceania, Land of the Trinity
language
Because Oceania is the focus of this series of books, of course the language is based on English. Otherwise no one would understand what the hell I'm writing! :D In reality, it's a bastardized offshoot of Old World Laurasian, with some very mild influences from Irrerre and Jamikka, as well as the nearly-dead Gypsan culture. (Gypsan refers to the so-called "gypsies" who inhabited the land before the founding colonists arrived on what later became known as Oceanian. The language is, at this time, based on Chinese, but since the culture is nearly dead at the time of the events that take place, I'm not delving too much into it.)
government
Oceania is ruled by a monarchy, but it is very particular about its monarchs. Every single monarch of the nation absolutely must have what is called the "blood of kings" in order to become the monarch in the first place.
culture and society
The culture and society are still being constructed, so I'm not going to go into it too much. It's a monarchy, but the monarchs are more than just talking-heads. They are in many ways also religious leaders. I still haven't worked everything out, not by a long road (still need to figure out the whole "Pledge of Oceania" idea).
Map of Oceania (a bit outdated, but still worth a look)
Laurasia, empire of war and conquest
language
The Oceanians originally came from Laurasia, but escaped during a time of holy war, when the Emperor declared war on all followers of the Trinity. The Conquistadors were so badly defeated that escape was their only choice. Because of this, I wanted the language of Laurasia to be a language that has had very heavy influences in the creation of English. The three biggest contributors I could think of were Latin, German and French. Spanish kind of falls in with French, in my opinion. I finally chose French, because it is a language I've always been fascinated by but too chicken to learn. Plus, I felt it rather accentuated Rico's somewhat exotic philanderous appearance, with all the "Language of Love" spouting from him. ;) I suppose Italian is what I should have gone with, being that Old World Laurasian (the language of the Oceanian founders) is pretty much entirely Latin (yeah, the dead language that's still read and written by scholars and clergy all over the world). But French just seemed to be a better fit to me. A little less cliched in my opinion.
government
Laurasia's government is essentially a form of an Imperial Monarchy, in a way. Basically, the Emperor exercises control over the country by military might.
culture
Laurasia, unlike its real-world inspiration, is a land of war and strife, at all times. It is called an Empire, but only because the Imperial Army holds sway over the small townships and counties by sheer military might. There are constant small battles and wars. City-states and counties fight each other all the time. Thus, they have honed to near-perfection the Art of War.
society
Laurasia is a very male-dominated society. The woman is viewed as the property of the men in her family and has very few rights. This is particularly true of noblewomen, who are merely property and/or broodmares, nothing more. (Think of classical Rome). The peasant women are viewed only slightly better by their menfolk because their help is needed in businesses and farms (They provide an extra pair of hands to help out.) Because of this, a woman who is outspoken is often reviled and can become a target for misogynists. Slavery doesn't really exist in Laurasia, but only because the level of warfare makes taking hostages more profitable than taking slaves.
Map of Laurasia (a bit outdated, but still worth a look)
Irrerre, the distant empire of secrecy
language
The Irrerreo language is based primarily on Greek. The reason for that is quite simple: I wanted a language that was very old, that had influences on English but in very subtle ways, and one that had a very different alphabet. One person suggested German, but because English is considered a "Germanic" language, I felt that it wasn’t appropriate. Since I'd chosen Japanese for Jamikkan, I needed something else completely different but not obscure. With French (and by turns, Latin and all the Romance languages) being used for Laurasian, I was left with either Arabic, Hebrew, Greek or Slavic. I chose Greek because I felt it was a language rich with academics and oral history, something I wanted the culture and language of Irrerre to reflect.
government
This has not been developed yet.
culture and society
Because this is a deliberately mysterious country, I haven't put too much work into the culture and society, but I see no reason not to use Classical Greek or Greco-Roman history as a template.
Map of Irrerre (a bit outdated, but still worth a look)
Jamikka, the nearby island nation
language
The language of Jamikka is based primarily on Japanese. The reason for this is that I wanted to create a society that was so completely foreign to Oceania, with a completely different language structure and alphabet, as well as a completely different culture to go with that. I wanted something that was etymologically separate from any of the basic original influences of English. The only living languages I could think of to choose from were Arabic, Oriental and Hebrew in origin. Being that Jamikka is an island country, I chose Japanese over Chinese (also, because there is more learning material out there, with all the fascination with Japanimation and manga). Developing the character of Sendai Ryukomura has helped to streamline these ideas.
government
This has not been developed yet.
culture and society
Being that most of my energy is focused on Oceania itself, I'm purposefully not delving too much into this. I figure, however, that when the time comes, I'll probably base this culture and society for the most part on Feudal or pre-Meiji Japan. I want something that is very isolated and resistant to outside influences, and that seems to be a pretty good time period, but this is of course subject to change..
Map of Jamikka (a bit outdated, but still worth a look)
