Symbolism in Arcanum: Races and Countries

Let's identify some symbolism in Arcanum. In this thread we will talk about races and countries only.

The country that Tarant belongs to (someone help me on this one) = United Kingdom
Kingdom or Arland = Ireland
Tarant = London
Therefore, Caladon = ...Dublin?

Orcs = Irish
Gnomes = Jews
Half-Ogres = Slave race that was bred for size while the intellect atrophied (african americans?)

What do YOU think?

 

The Unified Kingdom

And why would that be so?

 

Are you trying to imply that Caladon is full of Orcs?

 

Actually the UK just prior to becoming the United Kingdom. It's just happening about two centuries late in Arcanum

Quite likely

Yes

No, Scotland. Known to the Romans as Caladonia (Ireland is Hybernia). The United Kingdom became the United Kingdom when in the 16th/17th century the Kingdom of Scotland, feeling left out of the European colony craze (England, Portugal, Spain, France and the Dutch had taken all the good places) decided to pass the hat for funding almost quite literally around the entire county. They picked the worst spot in the world for cold climate people to colonize, what is now Panama. The entire colony died of tropical deceases and the like. They owed England a lot of money and England said they would forgive the debt if they gave up their sovereignty. Thus the cross of St. Andrews and the cross of St. George were combined into the Union Jack as the two kingdoms united.

Quite likely an amalgam of the Irish and black Africans. In 1885 Gen. Gordon was sent to Khartuum because of anti slavery sentiment at home in Britain.

Yep

Not sure on this one, it could be another mish mash of Indian/African/Chinese/etc man servants that many of the upper class had during the Victorian period.

 

Those scaly, green, inarticulate drunks!? They couldn't be the orcs!

 

Nice irish joke from the irishman.

Lukan said,

I think that's pretty insulting.
Not only is it a stab in the dark, but it's asking for one.

 

The orcs most likely are an allegory for the irish in Victorian England.
In the Tarantian library there's a book called The Orcish Question.

Now, there was a phrase used by British politicians after the Act of Union, referring to Irish nationalism and independence.
They used to call it the Irish Question.

 

Hexed stuff shows inverted pentagrams, that's satanism

And what about other places like Roseborough, Vendigroth, Tulla.

I don't know why but Tulla reminds me of Morocco...

 

This is... quite the resurrection. However, since it's a valid continuation of the discussion, I'll allow it.

Vendigroth, I thought, was always a nod towards Atlantis.

The more I think about the symbolism in this game, the deeper stuff, like the references to different locations, the more I find it brilliant.

 

That's one of the things that makes Arcanum the most brilliant game ever!

Hip hip hurray!

 

One of the things I've always liked about Arcanum was the whole race thing. Playing the game as a half-orc gives a very different feel than a human. Elves and dwarves also feel different as well, not every game pulls that off. Most of the time race is a minor stat adjustment at the beginning of the game and a cosmetic alteration only.

An on-topic post of a thread last posted in about a month or two ago? In a forum with our activity level this is is not gravedigging. It's contributing.

 

Philes, that was exactly my intention, thanks for clearing it up

This forum must remain alive at all costs, imagine if a crazy developer decides to make an arcanum sequel or even a remake, they need the forum to get in touch with stuff right?

 

There's a Russian city named Tula. It's pronounced the same, Too-lah.

 

:thumbup:

It does smell of racist misconceptions. Except for the Irish, who are absolutely like Orcs.

edit: goddamn just saw the date

 

Ah sure, I knew I heard about Tula once, there's where the ФГУП is located.

PS.: ФГУП is a weapon design bureau.

 

I misread the year on Lukan's post as 2009 when I first saw this.

So, if Tulla is named after Tula, what's the correlation, and why? Wait. Vendigroth... could Vendigroth perhaps be social commentary on the current state of Russia, post-USSR? It's a bit of a stretch, given the older parallels with everything else, but possible, I suppose.

 

Well, that's a possibility, a very good possibility indeed. Although Russia wasn't transformed into waste, they were a highly technologically-tend people, and the waste might mean the social status on post-USSR Russia...

Very interesting. But still, what would be the Earth equivalent to Roseborough? What about Cattan, Isle of Despair, Elven tribes, et cetera...

 

Stillwater: Any American town really. Tidy and serene, but when night falls everyone turns to gangbangs and idol worship.

Isle of Despair: Soviet satellite state. Collecting the scrap of more advanced societies, fighting over resources, people trying to get off that shit before it goes down for good.

Elven tribes: latest episode of Survivor. Lots of trees and the tension is palpable.

 

My oinions about real world references of settlements found in this game...
- Shrouded Hills: Wild West America
- Tarant: the mixture of London (built next to the big river, but not quite a river delta, size) , New York (without Statue of Liberty, but much of the economy there is 188X style oligopolic capitalism) ,Washington D.C. (capitol of the Republic-style government). for me, Tarant is more America than Britain. look at firearms in gun shops. (Wincester, Colt, Sharps, and Remington Rollingblock - lookalikes)
- Dernholm: Spain after its war against the USA. lost almost every colony, the country locked to the political tourmoil
- Caladon: the city, and its political systems look very europe to me. hard to find real life resembles
- Blackroot: The town is quite "misplaced" to me. while the whole game is Late-Victorian steampunk themed, The town itself is described as "Pirate's port", and even the ships made there still a 17th-18th century construction and not even single steam-paddled vessels present in the whole game (not sure why but i think the classical pirate became pretty obsolette in Victorian days)
- Stillwater: This settlement is extremely fantasy to me. Its local cult was extremely Pre-Constantine Roman.
- Isles of Despair: This place might be inspired by the history of Australia, However, for me... the isle itself looks much like French penal colony (used right after Paris Commune, much of the rebels were shipped there so its harsh conditions would reshape their political beliefs, well its anticipated purpose gone awry though...)
this is all I known about settlements as i've played the game so far.

 

Pretty damn sweet onions you have there, here are some of mine.