From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998
Subject: Re: Tsurani

Japan during the Tokagawa Shogunate, China during the Sung Dynasty, Korea for some of the cultural window dressing, a touch of Zulu from before the Zulu-Boer War, and a couple of things I cribbed from the Aztecs. Mix well, stir, and pour.

Best, R.E.F.

From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: 24 June 1999

No mystery. The influences for how I designed the Tsurani originally for Magician were asian.

I wanted the reader to have a huge sense of "culture clash" after the 1st half of the book was spent in a relatively European-esque environment.

The Tsurani culture is "Pan-asian," as a little bit of a lot of cultures are mixed and matched. The relationship of houses and Clans is very Japanese, similar to the pre-Tokagawa Shogunate. The High Council and the Court of the Emperor is roughly Sung Dynasty era China. Lots of the physical description in the Empire Series was Janny's, as a result of her time in Korea. The temples were, however, pre-Columbian Aztec, and I tossed in some military stuff from Cetswaio's Zulu Empire.

Best, R.E.F.

From: Raymond Feist
Date: 29 August 2003

It's actually "Asian meets Aztec with some Zulu thrown in" Tsuranuanni. Lots of Japanese, but also Korean and Chinese. The court culture is very Chinese, during the Sung and Han dynasties. The warrior code is very Japanese. The prayer gates and temple structures and a lot of the fashion and art is both Korean and pre-Columbian mezo-American. The combat is very Zulu.

Best, R.E.F.

From: Raymond Feist
Date: 03 March 2006

Tsuranuanni is a pastiche, a blending of Asian (Korean, Chinese, Japanese), Zulu, and Aztec cultures. A lot of the politics is Chinese (the central court with a huge bureaucracy), Japanese (the split between the Emperor and Warlord), but a great deal of the physical descriptions are Aztec (white buildings covered in murals) and Korean(prayer gates, costumes) and the Zulu influences are more military.

Best, R.E.F.