QfG2
There are several instances of the Marx Brothers - Ali Fakir (selling you a saurus) is Groucho, and Ali Chica (who owns the store opposite the Kattas' inn) is another Marx (whose name I forget...) He even tries to sell you a duck - you ask him why a duck, and he eventually comes to "Duck Soup" - a reference to the Marx Brothers film by that title.
Uhura (here and in QfG3) might be a reference to Uhura on the Starship Enterprise (and there's even a Starship Exitprize in the introduction to QfG2).
Harun al-Rashid, the Sultan of Shapeir, is in actuality a real person - one of the most famous Abbasid Sultans that ever lived (766-809). Under him, Baghdad flourished to be the greatest and most abundant city of its period, and his reign and the fabulous court over which he held sway are immortalized in "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights". Here is more information:
http://en.wikipedia....Harun_al-RashidJa'afar, for that matter may also be a reference to a real person - the son of Harun al-Rashid's vizier, Yahya the Barmakid. He is not known for doing much other than having an affair with Harun al-Rashid's sister, for which he was executed. But the name Ja'afar, or Jafar, seems to be derived from character named Jafar or Giafar in tales of the Arabian Nights; there, Jafar is the Vizier to Caliph Harun al-Rashid, rather than just (as in real life) the vizier's son.
Suleiman ben Daoud - the Name of Power in QfG2 - is the direct Arabic translation of "Solomon, son of David", the famous Biblical King. Both Solomon and David are, of course, common to and revered in all of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. What makes Solomon such an appropriate "Name of Power" is that Solomon is credited in the Koran for having power over demons, or
djinni; this is a common element in later Jewish and Arab legends, and Solomon is often attributed to possession of a magic ring called the "Seal of Solomon". Here is more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon--------------------------------------------------------
QfG3
Frik and Frak - the two demons in the Lost City - are a nod to a famous partnership of Swiss comedy ice skaters, Werner Groebli and Hans Mauch, whose stage names were - wait for it - Frick and Frack! *BWG* They came to public fame in the later years of a series of skating spectaculars called Ice Follies, promoted by Eddie Shipstad and his brother Roy, which began in 1936 and ran for almost 50 years. Their association lasted so long, and they were at one time so well known, that their names have gone into the language.
Michael Mauch, the son of Hans, had this to say about the origin of their names: "Frick took his name from a small village in Switzerland; Frack is a Swiss-German word for a frock coat, which my father used to wear in the early days of their skating act. They put the words together as a typical Swiss joke."
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QfG4
The music in the Hotel Mordavia is "Antira's Dance" from Peer Gynt Suite No.1 by Grieg (but I think we all know that one by now!) *G*
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QfG5
Silmaria and Marete are obvious references to ancient Greece; the soldiers seen around Silmaria are obvious references to the hoplites.
The balloon you have to build is a reference to
Around The World In 80 Days - in fact, I think the FA even has a copy of that book.
If you look around Marete and various islands at some things, eventually you'll find some of the "Straight from the Leg" lists that Pegleg wrote and published on the Sierra boards, back in the late 90s. I remember reading some of his lists when they were originally published - they were hilarious and enormously popular. Two of the lists can be found if you look at the dryads or at the table in the thieves' guild.