What real life continent or land is Kunark based on?

[SorenVC]

I'm a huge fan of the Iksar Empire and I wanted to know what real life continent or land this Kunark is based on where the Iksar live. This is the wiki description for Kunark.

"Kunark is a continent introduced in EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark. It is home to the Iksar.

Kunark is a continent of ancient ruins and hostile lands. Records tell tale of empires lost to time, their ruined cities and hidden tombs still filled with treasures. The evil hand of Cazic-Thule touched this land and spawned the Iksar, a powerful reptilian race. Once the predominant force, they now strive to rise from the ashes and reclaim their glory. The creatures in Kunark are quite formidable and regard all as invaders. Only the elven outpost of Firiona Vie offers safe haven for adventurers. This is no place for the weak."

Based on this description, what culture or land do you think this Kunark or Cabilis could be based on? There's gotta be something. Lake of Ill Omen sounds very biblical and ancient for example but I can't grasp what they based the Iksar aesthetics on exactly. Anyone got a clue?

[zelld52]

All I know is that Brad McQuaid created Kunark years before EverQuest - it was part of his tabletop RPGs lore.

[Findlyn]

Purely based off of aesthetics of some of the Iksar armor, the weapons they use, and some of the architecture, its eastern Asian based; Japan/China/etc.

However, its a fantasy game, I doubt other than some of the aesthetics its largely based to reflect IRL location. Especially when you consider most of the rest of the world(before and after kunark) dont have any other easily identifiable "Oh this is 100% x country/society"

[Zuranthium]

Odus is Japan, Antonica is the Americas (and a bit of the middle east thrown in), Faydwer is Europe, Kunark is like a combo of Africa/Southeast Asia/Australia, and Velious is Antarctica.

[OriginalContentGuy]

I'm a huge fan of the Iksar Empire and I wanted to know what real life continent or land this Kunark is based on where the Iksar live. This is the wiki description for Kunark.

"Kunark is a continent introduced in EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark. It is home to the Iksar.

Kunark is a continent of ancient ruins and hostile lands. Records tell tale of empires lost to time, their ruined cities and hidden tombs still filled with treasures. The evil hand of Cazic-Thule touched this land and spawned the Iksar, a powerful reptilian race. Once the predominant force, they now strive to rise from the ashes and reclaim their glory. The creatures in Kunark are quite formidable and regard all as invaders. Only the elven outpost of Firiona Vie offers safe haven for adventurers. This is no place for the weak."

Based on this description, what culture or land do you think this Kunark or Cabilis could be based on? There's gotta be something. Lake of Ill Omen sounds very biblical and ancient for example but I can't grasp what they based the Iksar aesthetics on exactly. Anyone got a clue?

Nebraska

[Ennewi]

Lake of Ill Omen sounds very biblical and ancient for example but I can't grasp what they based the Iksar aesthetics on exactly. Anyone got a clue?

LoIO almost certainly was lifted from or inspired by Zelda. Koi was EQ's version of the catfish, and although the equivalent to a "ring of stones" is in TD, Koi was spawned in LoIO for GM events.

https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/Lake_of_Ill_Omen

[Jimjam]

It’s exotic and mysterious. For me it is a mishmash of the following vibes:

A mix of Central and South America, Oz and the Malay archipelago as well as the far east.

[Duik]

Yes, i remember running my camel train across the strzeleki desert wondering if the rhinos would attack me. :)

NVM, they prolly escaped from the zoo.

[Wakanda]

I can understand why some people would say is Asian-esque because of City of Mist, but every time I run through Kunark and see all of the giant statues, pillars, columns, aqueducts I can't help but imagine that who ever created this land was deeply inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire.

I've also always assumed Kithicor Forest was based off of Teutoburg Forest.

[Jimjam]

I can understand why some people would say is Asian-esque because of City of Mist, but every time I run through Kunark and see all of the giant statues, pillars, columns, aqueducts I can't help but imagine that who ever created this land was deeply inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire.

I've also always assumed Kithicor Forest was based off of Teutoburg Forest.

Perhaps just a mishmash of Empires in general?

Edit: now I imagine Warlord Rile and his fearsome army as a fleet of Iksar Redcoats in an East India style organisation, like in the Pirates of the Caribbean, accents and all haha

[F0rmsh1fter]

Kunark is very obviously australia

[kjs86z2]

kunark is the reptilian overlord home planet

[CrazyPro]

detroit

[Teddie1056]

I can understand why some people would say is Asian-esque because of City of Mist, but every time I run through Kunark and see all of the giant statues, pillars, columns, aqueducts I can't help but imagine that who ever created this land was deeply inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire.

I've also always assumed Kithicor Forest was based off of Teutoburg Forest.

I mean, there is the LEGION of Cabilis. There definitely is a post-collapse Rome vibe.

[TastyBunny]

It seems geo-societal feature of Kunark is mostly from jungle civilizations of indo-sumatra region. It is almost identical in many parts, including those Asian-like structures inside CoM.
They also have a Lizard-looking mythical creatures in their mythology said to be inhabitted deep in the Jungle, have their own civilization.

Ofcourse Kunark is not just that(even if my assumption is correct), as someone said those white marble structures are obvious staple from Greece culture

[Duik]

Kunark is very obviously australia

Yes, Australia is known for its jungles and ancient cities.

[SorenVC]

I agree since it's located south-east on the Norrath map, it might very well be Australia. Although the Iksar wear mongolian looking armor like east asia.

[cd288]

I think if it had actually been based on anything in particular we would've heard about it by now. Brad, old EQ devs, and others involved in the project have spoken at length about EQ's development and I don't think anyone said anything like this about Kunark.

[SorenVC]

Kunark is very obviously australia

Or MAYBE Kunark is Indonesia since there is an island called Komodo Island where the Komodo Dragons are plenty. And Iksar are obviously humanoid looking Komodo Dragons.

https://www.welt-atlas.de/datenbank/karten/karte-6-623.gif

[Ekco]

it's been talked about, it's based on the one guy's DnD campaign and some nerds figured this out already it's a mashup/inspired by X1: The Isle of Dread and like 1-2 old ass DnD Modules, the one with Frogloks in it i forget the name of and the rest is his customizing it enough to be his own.

the dev vaguely talks about it in a interview on youtube and in some blog/forum posts if you google his name and all the campaign notes and lore used to actually make Kunark for EQ still exist in a storage locker he said during the alovingrobot interview on youtube


https://i.imgur.com/ZFyBkYL.png

^ map for X1 look at that map and tell me you don't see parts that inspired kunark, 15 is obv the port in for Dreadlands, the tunnels for FV..etc..etc

[Xer0]

My guess would be the khmer empire/ angkor wat based on the presence of numerous ruined temples/relics of former societies deep in the jungle. But I think it's more of a generic blend of many asian cultures, based off of various apparent asian influences in their architecture/armor. (helmet embellishments, weapons such as katana and naginata, and the style/appearance of their armor, particularly the way their heavier armors have that sort of rectangular metal mesh that is reminscent of samurai armor)
https://img.cambodianess.com/uploads/news/photo_4_2025-07-25_20-29-55_1753450474.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQTsPVKNgva0XXNZy_oSoQEjRRVpr3KZ Tuetg&s
https://img.cambodianess.com/uploads/article/07-2025/1753449474.jpghttps://www.renown-travel.com/images/khmer-temple-in-thailand-l.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/20171126_Angkor_Wat_4712_DxO.jpg/1280px-20171126_Angkor_Wat_4712_DxO.jpg