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Accents

This one looks set to run and run. Personally I thought that Zevran sounded Italian, but given that the chap who said otherwise is posting from an Italian IP address I think I may have to defer! But now it's been corrected saying that Antiva is supposed to be Italianesque, though without any useful citations this could be problematic.

Anybody know for certain, or should "Italian" or "Spanish" just be replaced with "Mediterranean" in an attempt to avert further disagreement? --vom 15:02, December 11, 2009 (UTC)

Lol, yes, let's go with Mediterranean. Personally, I think Zevran sounds like Antonio Banderas, and... well, I'm surrounded by Latin Americans who speak English with accents, I wouldn't say it's so different from the way Zevran's accent sounds. At the same time, I'm not familiar enough with Italian accents to be able to definitely say "Zevran doesn't sound the least bit Italian." - Ancestralmask 15:08, December 11, 2009 (UTC)

David Gaider has stated Antiva is based off of Spain. Just as a p.s, I am Italian and none of the Antivans found in the game have much of an Italian influence in their accent. Master Ignacio has a more northern spanish accent. --Selty 15:47, December 11, 2009 (UTC)

Then I'm all for that. I would have said Spain myself. ;) If you could add a reference link to where David Gaider stated this, it would also probably help cull future disagreements. - Ancestralmask 15:57, December 11, 2009 (UTC)

So, after some reasearch, this is what is most likely the final version:

- Antivan names and accents are clearly influenced by Spain. Nothing in common with Italy here.

- Antivan society is based on medieval/renaissance Venetian Republic, a powerful merchant nation, and on modern Southern Italy, where the government has little power and criminal groups not different from the Antivan Crows pull the strings.

Quote from David Gaider from Bioware forums

This is what David Gaider said on Bioware's forums:

"Yes, Antiva is a fictionalized version of a medieval Italian city-state like Venice. It's not a perfect comparison by any means, but then none of the Thedas nations are meant to be. They're inspired by real-world history, but that's where it remains.

No, we did not use an Italian accent for Antiva.

And marioflag is half-right in that the original name for Antiva was Calabria. But only because we liked the sound of it. If there are any further similarities between the real Calabria and the Antiva that we have now it's purely coincidental."

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