Satires and references in Arcanum

Since the original thread on this subject has degenerated into first religious debate, and now quantum theory debate, I have ressurected it here, because I think it was an interesting thread. Richard Vorak, feel free to post your original "stuff I noticed in Arcanum" bits again. Here are some of my own:

1) As mentioned earlier, Hieronymus Maxim is obviously based on the real Maxim who improved on Richard Gatling's rotary-machinegun design and built several prototype flying machines. Maxim's real name was Hiram, which is obviously quite similar to Hieronymus.

2) I know this is painfully obvious, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. The Whitechurch murderer is based on Jack the Ripper. Killing prostitutes, and I believe that many of the acutal murders were in the Whitechurch district of London. Any Brits, feel free to correct me. Additionaly, many have speculated that Jack was actually possessed by a demon. La'anamalech, anyone? (if anyone has read my Ranka/Za'anamalx story in General Discussion, yes, Za'anamalx is a tribute to the demon in Arcanum.)

2) When you ask the guards about the Boil in Tarant, they call it a "wretched hive of scum and villiany." Howdy, Ben Kenobi! I think that there was a similar reference in Fallout. I'll have to find it.

3) A book in the home of Victor Misk is called Durin's Day or something like that, an obvious reference to Durin, ancestral father of the Dwarves, in The Hobbit.

4) Why do Dwarves have Scottish accents? Is it because they live in the mountains and kick ass on all their enemies? Not only do Magnus and other Dwarves in Arcanum sound Scottish, but Gimli son of Gloin does in the movies of Lord of the Rings.

5) There are two books in the Tarant Library called The Orcish Question, vol 1 & 2. Sounds suspiciously like the Nazi documents on the "Jewish Question," that is, what to do about the problem of all these productive, wealthy Jews screwing up the country. The whole Orcish labor dispute is also an obvious reference to the debate over the abolition of slavery.

I know there are more of these, but I can't think of any right now. I'll post them as they come to me.

 

I'm sure you're right, it's just been a while since I've doen that particular quest.

I can't believe I missed that! That brings the parallel even closer. In the move From Hell, Jack the Ripper is actually the Royal Doctor.

 

Scottish? I'd say Scandinavian. Dwarves are in essense a shrunk version of vikings. The dwarf in the Wheel Clan who sends you to the Dredge to find a toy train is named Vegard- a typically Norwegian name.

 

I thought it was because Scottish women have beards.

:crickets chirp:

Anyway, fun as it always is to repeat ourselves, it's been done to death:

http://www.terra-arcanum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=658

 

A certain Welsh girl, who was one of my best ever friends, had a Norwegian boyfriend named Vegard.

 

Bedokaans

The Reptilian Lizard Folk of the Dark Fens: Native Americans of the Great Plains, anyone?

Isle of Despair: Atlantis. Advanced Technology... Island... Fish-shaped submarine (like in that gay Disney movie 'Atlantis')...Yep!

The Demise of the Dragon Knights: The Battle of Agincourt? Really sucky for France...Thier Melee-orientated Knights (Cumbrian Dragon Knights) get shot down by common footsoldiers (Tarantian Gunmen)

and I'm sure i'll think of more as time goes by.

 

But, if I remember right, there are lines in those books like mindless brutes.

The labor thing is a recreation of... the labor thing. I have always thought of Wheeler & his guards as the Pinkertons. Read a little early history of the union movement in America & England.

I have always looked at the Orcish thing as being much much more akin the the post slavery black experience in America. The 1/2 Orcs mimic the Irish of the era here. I see the Gmomes as the Jews.

The 1/2 Ogres are virtual slaves, but they & the mystery around them are something else again.

 

Wow, you are absolutely right. I defintely should have seen that. The Pinkertons were cool guys, as strikebreakers go. How about the Irish gangs? Folks like good old Boss Tweed used them as labor sluggers also.

Woah, do I detect some anti-Semitism? While I can see the parrallel with the "wealthy businessman" motif, the gnomes seem to be based more on Italian Mafiosi. Read the section on gnomes in the manual, and you will see that gnome families protect their own, and often get into bloody feuds with each other. Perhaps it is more of a combination of Jewish businessmen and Italian Mafia. Of course, one of the founders of the modern Mafia was a Polish Jew named Mayer Lansky. He and Lucky Luciano started the national syndicate. There have been many other Jews i the Mafia as well. Longy Zwillman, Pretty Amberg, Bugsy Seigel, Greasy Thumb Guzik, etc. But it has always been an organization dominated by Sicilians like myself.

 

Someone else inthis forum drew out the racial paralells pretty nicely in a different thread. Half Orcs are the Irish, gnomes are the jews, elves are supposed to be the asians i believe. Im not sure, but yeah, its something like that, its actually a pretty acurate depiction ofthe stereotypes present during the late 1800s.

 

Elfen Asians?

May I inquire: How are the Elves Asian? They seem a lot more Celtic/Germanic Barbarian to me. And the Elves are integrated into Human Society, unlike most Asian Peoples, who were shunned and abused. The only similarities I find are 1-Thier 'Slitty' Eyes, and 2-Their Haughtiness to other races. But #2 could be attributed to Tolkien's Works.

 

I kind of see the Isle of Despair as Austrailia. Austrailia started as a criminal island, just as the Isle of Despair.

 

He's just stating the facts. You're surely not disputing that parts of Australia were used as dumping grounds for Britain's petty criminals?

Anyway, I don't think the Isle of Despair is meant to be Australia. It's not unique in history as a penal colony, and there are plenty others that better fit the bill. Devil's Island, for instance.

It's definitely not Alcatraz. Alcatraz was a prison on an island, not a penal colony.

 

Re: Elfen Asians?

Maybe. But I am an asian and I beg to differ from the way you perceive asians, especially the 2nd. I am a Filipino and I wouldn't pass for a haughty person, or at least that's what I can say for myself. Yes I do have pride, only when it counts. But it would be good to be compared to an elf(the Tolkienese elves not the Keebler).

 

Oh goodie!! I now have a mace. I was wondering how you guys get to have swords and armor and all that. Well at least I have a mace.
:-(
OOOPPPSS!! Sorry, I just got too excited over my mace. This isn't even the right forum.