Creating Unique Cultures

[Ai-chan]

How do you guys go about creating unique cultures within your fantasy worlds? Do you take influences and inspiration from modern cultures found around the world today or in the past? Or do you try to build it off of the unique characteristics of a particular race or species? An example of that would be Bird or fish people who live in the mountain tops or ocean bottoms respectively. Fantasy or sci-fi races like the Aiel from the Wheel of Time or the Fremen from Dune sometimes feel similar due to the common influences that they take from (middle-eastern/Muslim culture), so how would you differentiate your unique culture from something found within the real or another fantasy/sci-fi world?

Ai-chan basically codes a computer program on HTML5 to give some randomized traits to give inspiration. Ai-chan doesn't want to get a headache trying to think up correlations with correlations with correlations. Ai-chan gives it to the computer and lets the computer thinks for Ai-chan.

For example, Ai-chan codes a program that outputs Traits, Population, Prosperity, Terrain Preference, Alignment and Divine Connection.
Traits: randomized (industrious, lazy, friendly, distrustful, trustworthy, backstabbing, aggressive, pacifist, passionate, strict, smart, stupid, thrustworthy, ugly)
Population: randomized between 200 - 3000 (Why 200? Because that's the minimum population for a village in order for the villagers to not inbreed after 5 generations)
Prosperity: randomized (very rich, rich, average, poor, very poor)
Terrain Preference: randomized (plains, mountains, river, swamp, desert, aquatic, forest, arctic)
Alignment: randomized (lawful good, lawful neutral, lawful evil, neutral good, neutral neutral, neutral evil, chaotic good, chaotic neutral, chaotic evil)
Divine Connection: randomized (local deities, forest deity, forge deity, war deity, magic deity, health deity, justice deity, ancestral worship)

So if we assume that Ai-chan has a race called Fal'far and using this program, Ai-chan gets
Traits: industrious, vengeful, trustworthy
Population: 1890
Prosperity: Poor
Terrain Preference: Plains
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Divine Connection: Local Deities

From here, Ai-chan can make the description of the race called Fal'far. Ai-chan just made this up about 5 minutes ago:

The Fal'far are an industrious people, famed for their hard work and their sense of honour. To a Fal'far, a contract is not a piece of paper with a signature at the bottom. To a Fal'far, the word is the contract. When a promise or an agreement has been verbally made, it can only be cancelled or amended by the people who made the verbal agreement. Failure to abide by the details of the verbal agreement is considered an insult to the person and it is not uncommon for blood feuds to occur due to a broken promise. Blood feuds could last decades as long as the side slighted has not consented to forgiving the side that broke the promise.

Despite their temperament, or perhaps due to their temperament, the Fal'far is mostly united and disputes are often solved very quickly. Perhaps, out of fear that it would devolve into a blood feud between families. The population of the Fal'far's main village approaches 2000 souls, with children playing happily in the fields in the evenings.

The Fal'far are mostly farmers, growing common crops such as wheat, corn and lavender. A good number of the Fal'far engage in husbandry, raising cattle and horses, though the number of livestock is few and only considered sufficient for their own use. They engage in trade with the traveling merchant caravans that come every half-year, where they acquire spider silk from Phemon Mountain, cotton cloths from Armrah, and pottery from Enda. The only metal they import is iron, which they use to craft weapons to protect their people, as the land around their region is poor in minerals.

The Fal'far is a contradiction. On one hand, they are very friendly and very helpful to foreigners. On the other hand, their passionate outlook towards punishments and disagreements makes them unpredictable and often disruptive to the concept of justice. An episode in a nearby town where a Fal'far was caught red handed for beating up a farmer is still talked about to this day. The Fal'far claimed that the farmer already agreed to sell a cattle at the price of 16 Pey, but when a merchant offered 22 Pey for the same cattle, the farmer sold it away on the spot. The Fal'far returned with the money, only to find that the cattle was already given to the merchant. In anger, he accused the farmer of being an 'oathbreaker' and beat him almost to the point of death. The Fal'far was jailed but with the aid of other Fal'fars, managed to escape and ended up burning down the whole village after politely asking the villagers to leave if they didn't want to be burned to death.

When a Fal'far says "I'm going to commit Fairvalley on you," most people would be afraid. Very afraid. Very, very afraid.

The Fal'far believes that everything has a spirit. The rocks, the river, the wind, everything is worshipped. They do not believe in idols, or giving names to their gods. They don't even believe in human representations of gods. To them, the spirits are inhuman, and can't be judged or perceived by the standards that humans would use to perceive each other. For that matter, part of their culture involves the respect of their environment and any act that involves damaging nature would involve the act called 'Weeping Ritual'. The Weeping Ritual involves spending the night with the part of nature that is to be damaged or destroyed, and begging for forgiveness for the whole night as they spill some of their own blood as symbolism for their grief.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

That's interesting that your Demon Culture sees marriage as enslavement. Probably due to the "marriage vows" and swearing yourself to only one other person, correct?

Yep, that's partially correct. The humans in my story can marry up to five times. And the fact that they stay together until death after the vows reinforces the idea.

Only elves are monogamous in my work.

By contrast, my demon folk are open in their relationships, which includes their own parents and siblings. DNA issues? Nah, they're demons; doesn't apply.

But in turn, humans and gods see that custom as freaky and detestable, hence the 'demon' name for them.

Edit: my apologies for the late reply. I just woke up. It's 6am back here.

Oh and before I forgot, the human marriage in my work is like this:

First wife/husband would be in charge of the entire household.

Second wife/husband would be expected to hold the finances and do budget.

Third wife/husband is in security.

Fourth wife/husband assists the third.

Fifth wife/husband assists the fourth and third. And also with the children.

Before marriage, the couple is expected to pick who will be the 'owner of the household'--the one who will be married into. Hence, it's either five wives, or five husbands. Yeah, they function like a corporation more than an Earth family.

 

[TheHelpfulFawn]

Yep, that's partially correct. The humans in my story can marry up to five times. And the fact that they stay together until death after the vows reinforces the idea.

Only elves are monogamous in my work.

By contrast, my demon folk are open in their relationships, which includes their own parents and siblings. DNA issues? Nah, they're demons; doesn't apply.

But in turn, humans and gods see that custom as freaky and detestable, hence the 'demon' name for them.

Edit: my apologies for the late reply. I just woke up. It's 6am back here.

Oh and before I forgot, the human marriage in my work is like this:

First wife/husband would be in charge of the entire household.

Second wife/husband would be expected to hold the finances and do budget.

Third wife/husband is in security.

Fourth wife/husband assists the third.

Fifth wife/husband assists the fourth and third. And also with the children.

Before marriage, the couple is expected to pick who will be the 'owner of the household'--the one who will be married into. Hence, it's either five wives, or five husbands. Yeah, they function like a corporation more than an Earth family.

That's a lot of spouses for humans. Do they get married all at once or does the Husband/Wife get to marry again after the initial time?

 

[Deleted member 54065]

That's a lot of spouses for humans. Do they get married all at once or does the Husband/Wife get to marry again after the initial time?

They can get married all at once and/or marry again after the initial one, as long as the 'slot is open'. As for the raison d'etre, it's because my humans think that only one partner in the household could get things difficult, hence they go for two-five espouses. Cherseans view marriage more than the 'loving relationship'; for them, it's a 'life of convenience'.

On the author side, it's my way of going around the 'monogamous route', since I'm writing a harem story without the burden of choosing one in the end. The challenge on this is to give each leading lady proper 'screen time', so that they won't just exist just to be a member of the 'harem'.

In relation to that, my 'universe' for that work is divided into five, interconnected worlds. MC is being viewed as an otherworlder, since he came from Earth, thus, traditions and customs of those places don't necessarily apply to him. It's one of the main conflicts of my work, my MC's common sense against the culture of the worlds he's in.

 

[TheHelpfulFawn]

They can get married all at once and/or marry again after the initial one, as long as the 'slot is open'. As for the raison d'etre, it's because my humans think that only one partner in the household could get things difficult, hence they go for two-five espouses. Cherseans view marriage more than the 'loving relationship'; for them, it's a 'life of convenience'.

On the author side, it's my way of going around the 'monogamous route', since I'm writing a harem story without the burden of choosing one in the end. The challenge on this is to give each leading lady proper 'screen time', so that they won't just exist just to be a member of the 'harem'.

In relation to that, my 'universe' for that work is divided into five, interconnected worlds. MC is being viewed as an otherworlder, since he came from Earth, thus, traditions and customs of those places don't necessarily apply to him. It's one of the main conflicts of my work, my MC's common sense against the culture of the worlds he's in.

Ahh that makes sense. A good reason to have a harem without it feeling forced.

 

[Gryphon]

For me, it depends on the themes that I'm going for. If the themes of my story has nothing to do with separate species or people, I don't show other cultures. However, if I do include certain themes like discrimination or unification of living beings, then I make damn sure my cultures are accurate and portrayed as well as I can. I also keep in mind that those cultures represent my theme in some way as well.

 

[2021]

See that rock over their, it is are god, guarding spirit, the one that watches over this land.
If you touch it, you will be sacrificed to it, and I will eat you’re heart to show my grace to it

 

[TheHelpfulFawn]

For me, it depends on the themes that I'm going for. If the themes of my story has nothing to do with separate species or people, I don't show other cultures. However, if I do include certain themes like discrimination or unification of living beings, then I make damn sure my cultures are accurate and portrayed as well as I can. I also keep in mind that those cultures represent my theme in some way as well.

I see. So if the setting only takes place in a single country/cultural region, it is better to just not write out more than you need to.

 

[Ai-chan]

For those who want to use the race generator that Ai-chan use at the top of this thread, here is the link. Race Generator v20220201

You don't need to download the file, but if you do download, you can make use of it offline. If you do not want to download it, you can just click download but at the download window, choose "Open With" your preferred browser. This program runs on your browser whether online or offline.

You feel it is too lacking? Of course, Ai-chan wrote it in like like 20 minutes this morning. If you want Ai-chan to make changes to suit your story, inform Ai-chan. If it's not too annoying and Ai-chan has the time, Ai-chan will probably do it. If it's super annoying or Ai-chan doesn't have the time, Ai-chan will tell you no. Ai-chan will post this in Ai-chan's Author Tools later as well.

@SailusGebel
@TheHelpfulFawn

The license is Public Domain, which means you can use it however way you want in whichever capacity without crediting Ai-chan or mentioning the name of the program. Though it would be nice if you thank Ai-chan for it if you find it helpful.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

How do you guys go about creating unique cultures within your fantasy worlds?

Uh. Every culture is unique.

Do you take influences and inspiration from modern cultures found around the world today or in the past?

If you use language, you are already limiting yourself. The fact we are communicating with english binds us together with a shared culture and meaning. There may be differences in how we view the meaning of different words. I may say 'Cunt' and you might be offended. Or you might think that is friendly banter (for all you aussies out there.) Everything you do takes inspiration from the present and past.

Or do you try to build it off of the unique characteristics of a particular race or species?

Just be logical about it. If everyone has wings, chances are people aren't going to see windows the same way as everyone else.

An example of that would be Bird or fish people who live in the mountain tops or ocean bottoms respectively. Fantasy or sci-fi races like the Aiel from the Wheel of Time or the Fremen from Dune sometimes feel similar due to the common influences that they take from (middle-eastern/Muslim culture), so how would you differentiate your unique culture from something found within the real or another fantasy/sci-fi world?

Why would you?

Look, culture, and in a fashion tropes, are things the reader understands. If I call the bad guy Evil-Evil McEvil you are expecting him to be evil. If his idea of evil is to Open, lick and put back on the shelf jars of mayonase then you're going to expect a comedic type of evil. If his name is Gouge Vandire and he likes to burn entire PLANETS, you expect other things from him.

The more 'unique' stuff you make up, the more time you have to spend explaining that 'unique' shit and the more time you take from your story. I don't care about Gouge Vandire has a fear of the letter 'S' because 800 years ago there was a tyrant on his home world who crucified people on a giant Letter 'S', so nobody uses the letter S any more.

HOW DOES YOUR 'UNIQUE' CULTURE ADVANCE THE PLOT?

it doesn't? Who cares? if you stick with what people know, expect, and understand, you can just handwave meaningless exposition and move onto your story.

 

[atgongumerki]

HOW DOES YOUR 'UNIQUE' CULTURE ADVANCE THE PLOT?

it doesn't? Who cares?

I have to disagree on this.
my unique culture is part of my world, so it will inadvertently influence my plot and story.

For argument's sake, let us assume we have the most generic story. Hero vs some kind of bad guy.
then the story you write is not about the result. The result of the story is clear: Bad guy defeated. Hero wins.

The story is about how the hero gets to defeat the bad guy.

If you go for a less generic story the uniqueness of your culture creates conflict between your mc and arbitrary third parties.
You can create a story without a single villain! Without evil!

Example: the gods from @Hans.Trondheim 's story could send out missionaries to the demons, telling them how bad incest is. The demons could thereby have learned of marriage and how it is conducted by humans. They could try to invade the humans to liberate them from slavery (marriage).

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Example: the gods from @Hans.Trondheim 's story could send out missionaries to the demons, telling them how bad incest is. The demons could thereby have learned of marriage and how it is conducted by humans. They could try to invade the humans to liberate them from slavery (marriage).

Well, while this could be a plot, the demon race from my work look down on humans for their 'barbaric' behavior, seeing themselves as 'harbingers of knowledge'--and with evidence to back it up, since my humans are more focused on dominating one another, while demons spend most of their time breaking the rules of their world's physics...and the mandates of heavens as well.

I had enough of portraying demons as 'evil' and 'barbaric', see? I thought of, well, how about portraying them as 'civilized' and 'misunderstood'?

P.S.: My apologies. I really love to talk about culture and its connection to story-telling.

 

[atgongumerki]

Well, while this could be a plot, the demon race from my work look down on humans for their 'barbaric' behavior, seeing themselves as 'harbingers of knowledge'--and with evidence to back it up, since my humans are more focused on dominating one another, while demons spend most of their time breaking the rules of their world's physics...and the mandates of heavens as well.

I had enough of portraying demons as 'evil' and 'barbaric', see? I thought of, well, how about portraying them as 'civilized' and 'misunderstood'?

P.S.: My apologies. I really love to talk about culture and its connection to story-telling.

No worries. For me, worldbuilding is the best part of writing. and talking about it is a close second.

So? Demons are a race of mad scientists! are mad scientists of others races compared to demons then?

 

[Amok]

the secret lies in giving 'em funky hats

 

[Deleted member 54065]

No worries. For me, worldbuilding is the best part of writing. and talking about it is a close second.

So? Demons are a race of mad scientists! are mad scientists of others races compared to demons then?

Yeah, basically they are a one huge race of mad scientists from Sweet Home Alabama.

And the best part of it, is that their common sense clash with my MC's, which I think makes the story 'alive' and not some generic, slap-your-sudden-idea isekai.

 

[SakeVision]

I rip off from modern cultures, then add some fantasy flavors and twists.