Aliahan

The Kingdom of Aliahan is the starting area of Dragon Quest III, and consequently chronologically where the Erdrick Trilogy begins. It's only fitting, then, that we begin our exploration of the Trilogy's setting for The Saga of the Ortegids there.

Aliahan is, by the standards of the game, quite a large kingdom, seemingly occupying an entire (albeit small) continent. There are two towns and several dungeons located there - of course, we can assume that this is a constraint of game mechanics, and that any kingdom of such size would hold many more settlements that are glossed over due to not having anything to serve the game's narrative. Its remote location makes it isolated from other major powers, but numerous NPCs in other areas are familiar with the kingdom, so it can be reasoned that it maintains trade with them. Furthermore, it does appear to have a military - the castle has guards, and the protagonist's father, the titular Ortega, is noted as an accomplished warrior. Thus, it doesn't appear that Aliahan is particularly isolationist. At the least, it may need to deal with threats from inside its borders.

What is interesting is that NPCs in Aliahan mention that the kingdom "once ruled the world" - some nebulous time in the past, its influence was far greater than it holds in the present day. We see evidence of this in how the eastern end of the continent contains an ancient shrine with a portal to elsewhere in the world, and similar such shrines are discovered in the game, scattered throughout the overworld and allowing for fast travel.

I don't think it's much of a stretch to assume that these shrines are in fact the remains of magical infrastructure left behind by a much vaster and more advanced Aliahanian empire, perhaps one that established most of the cities in the game given how they tend to be located close by. This gives the vibe of a lost ancient civilization, grander and more powerful than its degenerate successors - both a very pulpy idea, and one in keeping with trends in OSR gaming. It's also very gameable - ancient Aliahanian ruins and artifacts would lend themselves nicely to dungeons and the treasures within.

Aliahan is one of the few locations in DQ3's overworld that doesn't have an obvious real-world counterpart. The land mass it's located on appears to be a completely original one, located in the center of what would correspond to the Pacific Ocean, and the culture has always been portrayed as generically medieval European. Some have correlated it with Australia or Antarctica, but both of those already have closer parallels in the game (we'll get to that in time). Others have cited comparisons to the lost continents of Mu or Lemuria, which certainly lends things a pulpy tinge.

For The Saga of the Ortegids, I've chosen to portray modern Aliahanians as Anglo-Saxons - fyrds, shieldwalls, and boar-crested helmets. I'd even go so far as to combine the city's castle with the tavern you can recruit allies at to instead have a grand mead hall where adventurers from across the land gather.

There's a number of reasons behind this. In a meta sense, considering I'm taking liberal inspiration from Beowulf for this setting, it only seemed right to call back to the people who wrote it. But it also fits the insular location, and the presence of periodic unrest and blood feuds caused by a tradition of weregild would justify a martial culture despite the lack of hostile neighbors, as well as tying into the fact that the plot of DQ3 is largely driven by you seeking revenge for your slain father. The fact this would make the culture similar to yet recognizably distinct from the vaguely Nordic Alefgarders is a fortuitous touch. Also, the most important Aliahanian in the series is Erdrick himself, and the name "Erdrick" is derived from "Eardric," a (to my knowledge) invented name that would translate to "world ruler" in Old English. While 3 would retcon this into being a title, if Erdrick is only a historical figure in the setting rather than a playable character, I see no reason it can't simply be his real name here, in the name of streamlining. The presence of ancient Aliahanian ruins from a bygone empire would also make for an amusing inversion of Roman ruins in Britain, although that analogy may be a little strained when a Roman analogue also exists at the same time.