References to Earth in the design of Ilethes

In the design of the fictional planet Ilethes, many references to Earth, its physical characteristics and human landscape have been made, a list of which is provided below. The list is relevant as the planet is intended to be a critique of the human situation.

Geography

• The shifting course of the Or river in Erdia, the homeland of the Areth, is parallel to the shifting course of the Yellow River, the homeland of the Chinese.

• The width of the Issol A'i, a heavily used strait vital to trade, linking the ports and industrial centres of south Marcasia and Arophania, is 16km, equal to that of the Singapore Strait.
  • The importance of the strait is parallel to the Panama Canal, namely drastically reducing travel time between economic centres.

• The shape of Istheusia, the origin of humans on Ilethes, is derived from that of Africa, as is the existence there of a large desert preventing north-south contact.

Anthropography

• The Areth are parallel to the Chinese in their culture, social structure, their developmental timeframe and their simultaneous predilection for commerce and esteem of scholarship.
  • Arithia is parallel to China in the sequence of its political structure (i.e. cities to empire to feudal kingdoms to unified republic) and the nature of its influence abroad (mainly through vassals and tributaries rooted in trade; currency, system of measurement, writing system)

• The Tannaean language is a Finnicised version of Chinese.

• The Karyāba are parallel to the Arabs in their culture and language, as well as their architecture.

History

• The 1935 Zesou Crisis is inspired by the 1935 Italian invasion of Abyssinia, and the 1956 Suez Crisis (from the latter of which the crisis derives its name).

• The Cordial Alliance is a play on the pre-WW1 Entente Cordial that eventually became the Triple Entente.

• The Pisex Alliance created by the Pisex Treaty is a whimsical play on the name of the Polish capital, where the 1949 defensive alliance was formed between the USSR and its satellites.

Trivia & Miscellany

• Pänno Street, where author Otäära Kotoka was murdered in front of a patisserie, is named for the Italian word for bread (pano).

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