I wrote last week about how Bhutan influenced Emporium, but an equally big influence was Lithuania. I was on an island (well, pseudo-island) called Nida and there they have the legend of how Amber came to be. 

The legend says that there were two lovers, Jūratė and Kastytis. Jūratė was the immortal sea-goddess who lived in an amber palace at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, and Kastytis was a mortal fisherman. Jūratė went to confront him about overfishing but ended up falling deeply in love. She brought him to her underwater palace, where they lived happily until the supreme thunder god, Perkūnas, discovered their forbidden romance. He destroyed the amber palace with a fatal lightning bolt, killing Kastytis. The amber that washes up on the shore is both remnants of the castle and the tears of Jūratė. I adapted this story to be more demonic and use soul amber as the main currency of the Emporium. But that was not all.

When I needed to add more Orders, I thought about the Samogitians. These were hardcore warriors that helped maintain Lithuanian's status as the last pagan country in Europe for hundreds of years. How tough were they? They fought off the Mongols, dealing them a crushing defeat, for one thing. But, eventually, assaulted by the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order, after dealing with the Golden Horde and sneaky Poland, they fell. 

How is that relevant to Emporium of the Damned? Well there is an order of demon hunters (cleverly called "Samotigians") that resisted demons for centuries before falling. They can still aid PCs and teach them much about anti demon measures. 

There are a few more little Baltic easter eggs, but that should give the gist of how these histories and mythologies all join the demonic mélange of Emporium.