i want to talk about kingdom/empire au, but no one will listen but i don't care so
Remember The Road to El Dorado? It wasn't nahua culture by a longshot, but you can tell the artists did extensive research on it in order to create a fictional civilization that fits in that time era and location, right?
That's what Empire!AU is (better name pending).
Senpai (aka thegrumpysiberian aka nonsensicaljello aka Ashley) and I founded it a few months back...actually, it's been a whole year, wow!!
We create civilizations based on previously existing ones, and we add magic, myth, and legend before throwing it all together in an AU world.
Xóchitl, for example is heir to a civilization based on the Meso American cultures, mostly Mexica and Maya. Her mother comes from a foreign kingdom based on Iberia (or Portugal and Spain "mixed"), so she's influenced by both cultures, just more so by the Mexica/Maya.
Senpai's muse, a Siberia named Alexei, is heir to a civilization with Ainu, Russian, and Mongolian culture.
They adventure together; good childhood friends.
My Paris, Marie, does not come from human origins, she is being raised to be a guardian of sorts. A guardian of time. She resides in an underworld like location. She does not like this position, and would like to run away.
To the north, right before Alexei's land starts, there is a grand forest. This forest is dangerous to those who do not know it, and those inexperienced. A while ago, a friend and I were talking about her Arthur's role in this AU, and we decided he would be something like a King/Guardian of the forest, similar to Elves in LotR, and that he would be greatly against the rising Germanic kingdom, which is based off of Hamelin in Ni no Kuni. The king of this kingdom is Germania, and his two sons Gilbert and Ludwig. Gilbert does not want to lead, he wants to be in the battlefield, leading his people to victory. Ludwig is much more suited to lead, but he is the second son.
The dangers in the forest include witches, forgetting who you are, being lost forever, dying, and being eaten, among other things. There are rumours that in the center of the forest, there is a safe zone, but few have entered it, much less come back to tell the tale.
That is really all I have without going into specifics.