I can't remember when it was that I learned the Nabateans were a real civilization of people that existed thousands of years ago. I thought it was interesting, especially since FE hadn't really branched outside of generic western European or Japanese themes till this game (Fortune's Weave looks SO exciting!!). But I hadn't paid any attention to this particular still till now.
The real Nabateans lived largely around Petra (Jordan) and Hegra (Saudi Arabia), and little is known about them beyond the tombs they left behind. I was completely shocked to discover the writers actually did their research here - I mean look at this! Zanado is literally west Asian desert! Here are some photos in the vicinity of Hegra:
(This last one is the main tomb Hegra is known for)
For all 3H's flaws, the world building is definitely not one, because they succeeded in making it pretty culturally diverse, lived in, and a mirror to reality in some ways. I haven't seen this particular example mentioned anywhere but taking the little we know about this ancient civilisation and adding in some similarly-coded fantasy elements elevates the story a lot for me. Maybe it's just the Persian in me speaking but it's so exciting to see different cultures finally being incorporated into fantasy mythos like this. There is Almyra, but we know so very little about what culture they're supposed to represent (Turkic? Arab? Persian???). Anyway, says a lot to still be learning new things about this game 6 years later.

















