Hi! Just throwing this question out there for a few of the great writers I love and admire because I’m curious to know their opinions~ ^_^ Where do you think Whitestone would be in real life?
In real life as in our IRL world?
Percy is consistently characterised with an upper class British accent so the obvious shout would be somewhere in Britain. Taliesin-as-Percy also notes that the de Rolo family and much of the original population of Whitestone came from Wildemount, which is stated by Matthew Mercer to specifically have Prussian influences - which can be easily used to incorporate a version of Whitestone located in Britain. A lot of Britain's early history, before it became a world power, was characterised by it being repeatedly invaded* and a notable invasion and colonisation was by the Angles** and the Saxons. Saxons originated from Saxony which is an area of Germany and honestly Britain and especially the British upper-class have had a long history of relations with Germanic groups and especially royals. Hells that's part of what dragged everyone into the clusterfuck that was WW1.
So, in short, if we take Wildemount as fantasy Prussia, that would make Whitestone a most likely Anglo-Saxon-established settlement in Britain. As for specific location, I can think of two and these are less based on history and more based on how Whitestone is described in canon.
Firstly, the North of England. Yes, everyone knows that the North of England accent is very different to the Southern English accent (even if it is sadly not given as much representation in media as it should really have) but when you get to the upper classes - nobles socialise more with other nobles than locals of the area they dwell in. Rich people associate more with other rich people than with poorer neighbours. This is an established fact. The North of England is also known for a few minor mountains and hefty hills - the Pennines, Yorkshire Dales, Lake District, etc. - which suits with the Alabaster Sierras, and some of those are closer to the coast. Similarly, the North has a history of coal mining (and coal mine striking, go unions) which would be a possible parallel to whitestone the mineral - whitestone and refined residuum both have hefty magical properties which rather powers a magical world, while coal was for a long time the primary fuel source of much of the world before oil and natural gas were exploited for the same purposes.
The other possible location I can think of would be in Wales. Wales has been technically a part of Britain as a whole and under English rule for fucking ages, but has managed to maintain a considerable national identity despite both that and a lot of efforts to stamp out Welsh language, folklore, culture and the like. This kind of gels with the idea of Whitestone as a city state within the continent of Tal'Dorei, neighbouring the main Emon-run territory but separate too - even as we see it become more infolved over the course of the first Campaign. Secondly, Wales also has mountains! Thirdly, Wales also has coal mines! As well as historical precious metal mining to boot. Fourthly, there's some really niche local folklore and interesting religious history in Wales which I think would tie in well if you were to include the canonical Pelor history. Fifthly, finally.... Wales has some fucking great forests. The North of England has some cool forests too, but I've been up north and I've been to Wales and I remember the woods in Wales and the streams, waterfalls and all much more. The woods, I think, are important, because then you have a Parchwoods. Then you have a means of physical isolation just as in canon.
So yes, I would say if you're putting Whitestone in the IRL world you'd want to locate it in Britain, and if you were locating it in Britain I'd say either the North of England or in Wales, with a heavy leaning towards Wales.
I hope this helps!
*Anyone who tries to claim that Britain's superiority comes from any kind of national purity is fucking lying to themselves - we are a mongrel nation with a bastard language of kludged together parts; Britain's power comes from the fact we have the English Oak tree which enabled us to build fuckmassive boats well suited to troublesome weather and from that master the seas and commit a great deal of colonialism.
**The word "England" actually comes from "Angles" which which was combined with Saxon to create "Anglo-Saxon" and I'm pretty sure most people recognise "Anglo-" as a modifier - Anglophone, for example, meaning English-speaking.
