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As someone who particularly finds fascination in Iranian culture (I hope I don't give it away too obviously ~:joker:), I personally find both Turan and Iranistan to be based on colloquial Iranian culture; The former appears to be an amalgam between Sassanian and Ottoman grandeur, while the latter seems to be the "Classical Persian culture" in its representation of Anshan.
That's the plan, basically.:2thumbsup:
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Ironically Robert E. Howard sprinkles many cultural imprints and impressions on very diverse cultures, and so the "Iranian-ness" turns into a merely fragmentary device (Ctesiphon, Hyrkania et al.), but Turan with its slightly Turcophone twist on Iranian conceptions and "common ancestry" to Hyrkania (Which finds its nearest historical relative to the Mongols), is a very strongly projected Persianate culture. The very name Turan itself is an Iranian concept, as are Khorosun, Shahpur, "Aghrapur" (Read: Naming convention), Yezdigerd (Yazdgerd/Izdegerdes) and Khawarism. Shem too has a few splashes of impressions (Akbitana... Obviously Ecbatana, Shushana... Susa)
Iranistan's role in the Hyborian Age is complicated and mysterious: none of the experts I talk to can agree on their origin. One says they are the remnants of eastern Thurians, another that they were an early Hyborian tribe. I'm treating the "Iranian" elements of Turan as being influenced by the old Iranistan empire (of which Akbitana and Shushan the Imperial were cities until the Sons of Shem took them), explaining the Turkic/Persian quirk of Turan.
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That's my take on it, so for me the Iranian culture, much like the "Roman'esque division" a la Corinthia/Koth, I find Turan and Iranistan to be the two sides of the same coin, even though the canon would have them pitted as mortal enemies. This goes to show the huge source of inspiration history can be in the construct of fantasy as a genre.
True that. :beam: