Demographics, not so easy.

[D. Gray Warrior]

I rarely give definite numbers, I prefer approximate numbers. Since population is always increasing and declining, I think it's best not to have a definite number.

I have one fictional culture set in our world that has a predominantly English majority because they're pirates.

Another world is vaguely European, but they are olive skinned and their language is a mixture of Japanese and Nahuatl.

 

[caters]

I don't give many numbers in my books unless they are important(like the number of people to be on board a generation ship or teleported from a nearby planet). The only exception to that rule is Math World where I have numbers as characters and indirectly refer to math throughout the book. Like for example in this phrase that pi said to 3:

"You know I was about to see what your house of triangles is like?"

Right there I am referring to a shape, a triangle, not in the same way a math teacher would but still that is math right there and unless you have a mind like a math teacher or a physics teacher, you probably wouldn't realize that this was math, you would probably just realize that it is a shape.

 

[Drakevarg]

I'd have to admit I'm patently terrible at realistic demographics. My setting has a lot of cultural isolation that I blame mostly on factors like predation (humans are patently not the top of the food chain and as such tend towards urbanization for protection) and geographical isolation (one of the three continents is an archipelago, and the other two are respectively mostly a frozen wasteland and about 50% dense rainforest).

Of course, the real answer is that I've never done any research on the subject and haven't the foggiest idea how the conditions of my setting would actually influence human development.

 

[buyjupiter]

I'd assume that the troll (avg pop density) would be about on par with what a Bengal tiger's is. Especially considering how closely tiger habitats butt up against human settlements. Tho there is a lot of regard for tigers in India & rehab programs set up specially for them.

I don't think humans in any fantasy world would try to resettle the trolls farther away from human civ.

 

[D. Gray Warrior]

I'm trying to create ethnolinguistic groups for my conworld. The particular region I'm currently working on will either be temperate or subtropical. What physical traits are ideal for those climates?

 

[Miskatonic]

The more "realistic" your world is supposed to be, the greater the scrutiny leveled at it. In the case of ASOIAF it is more GRRM's fault for hyping it as such.

This is essentially why I'm using our world as a basis for my fantasy novel. Plenty of examples of how these processes play out that have been studied and documented.

One of the problems with Westeros is that it's so damn big.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I'm just not even sure why anyone would think Westeros is realistic... yes, there is urination, defecation, rape, sex, murder, political intrigue... which seems to be about the only realistic parts, I mean seriously, the ice wall is physics defying in size and that's just the beginning to the lack of reality. The politics and backstabbing, the grit in the culture, are what feel "real" not the world.

The more "realistic" your world is supposed to be, the greater the scrutiny leveled at it. In the case of ASOIAF it is more GRRM's fault for hyping it as such.

This is essentially why I'm using our world as a basis for my fantasy novel. Plenty of examples of how these processes play out that have been studied and documented.

One of the problems with Westeros is that it's so damn big.

 

[ThinkerX]

I'm just not even sure why anyone would think Westeros is realistic... yes, there is urination, defecation, rape, sex, murder, political intrigue... which seems to be about the only realistic parts, I mean seriously, the ice wall is physics defying in size and that's just the beginning to the lack of reality. The politics and backstabbing, the grit in the culture, are what feel "real" not the world.

Story goes GRRM drew the map for Westeros in half an hour, almost as an afterthought. While he has put a fair bit of attention into the history and background since then, that still shows through. Where he excels is 'deep characterization.'

I get the impression (from the books, not the show) that Westeros is a feudal realm superimposed on feuding tribes of savages. My main critique is the stasis: it seems like this state of affairs has persisted unaltered for millennia, when realistically, there would be at least some technological advancement and groups pressing for social change. And eventually, there would be some advancements and social change. But in Westeros, everything is 'stalled.'

 

[Gurkhal]

I'm just not even sure why anyone would think Westeros is realistic... yes, there is urination, defecation, rape, sex, murder, political intrigue... which seems to be about the only realistic parts, I mean seriously, the ice wall is physics defying in size and that's just the beginning to the lack of reality. The politics and backstabbing, the grit in the culture, are what feel "real" not the world.

The thing with Westeros isn't that its realistic as compared with real history but compared with most other fantasy settings I dare say its pretty realistic especially when compared with older classics, like Eddings, Tolkien or some such author from "back in the day".

Also note that Westeros is a pretty streamlined world. The focus of the story are on feudal politics and magic and thus these areas are mostly developed while the rest are either left out or only exists as far as the importance of their support and importance goes in regards to the feudal politics and the magic storylines.

 

[Gurkhal]

I'm trying to create ethnolinguistic groups for my conworld. The particular region I'm currently working on will either be temperate or subtropical. What physical traits are ideal for those climates?

The way I see it, I wouldn't worry to much about ideal physical traits. If all creatures have opted physics then I dare say they have no need for tools and so won't develop the kind of civilization we see humans develop in our world.

 

[SergeiMeranov]

Since this article doesn't seem to have been posted, I think it's a good resource for stuff like this. For medieval fantasy worlds at least.

Article on Medieval Demographics

This is incorporated into a random kingdom generator here. It's the medieval demographics calculator.

 

[Miskatonic]

I'm just not even sure why anyone would think Westeros is realistic... yes, there is urination, defecation, rape, sex, murder, political intrigue... which seems to be about the only realistic parts, I mean seriously, the ice wall is physics defying in size and that's just the beginning to the lack of reality. The politics and backstabbing, the grit in the culture, are what feel "real" not the world.

Because the author tends to pass himself off as an expert of sorts on the period in history the books are based on. He also tends to complain about the unrealistic aspects of fantasy works, such as LOTR, when it comes to the finer details about how human civilizations operate.

 

[Miskatonic]

If you are in the ballpark when it comes to being realistic, you are probably in OK shape. Population size is probably one of the biggest issues where realism is concerned.

 

[Tandrel]

I adore the nerd-level on this article!

His/her writing made me think of something important in my world. I'm going to make it a little bit more scarcely populated outside the cities, and think of the population in the cities before I write them. After all a hundred thousand or a million is quite different.

 

[Miskatonic]

I adore the nerd-level on this article!

His/her writing made me think of something important in my world. I'm going to make it a little bit more scarcely populated outside the cities, and think of the population in the cities before I write them. After all a hundred thousand or a million is quite different.

I concur. I like how the author is actually dealing with the concept of being "realistic" in a way that shows that there is more to it than merely violence, sex, and a grittier depiction of human life.

I have distance markers on my map, I just need to figure out population density and adjust it based on a few factors.

 

[SergeiMeranov]

One thing I'd add is that while mental exercises into realism and accuracy in world building are all great, you shouldn't become overly focused on what is probably going to be at best a window dressing to your story.

As someone that's spent way too long coming up with the ins and outs of a world's geography and reasoning out why people in the world live where they do and what the climate and geography have done to mold their culture I can say that it's easy to get lost in the weeds. Is it accurate to have a cities of millions of people in a supposedly realistic medieval world? No. Would changing the number of people from 1,000,000 go 100,000 have any meaningful impact on the story? Probably not.

I was reading through a list of quotes regarding writing and there was one from an author, Madeleine L'Engle, who was taking a course in Chaucer's writing. On the final the professor was asking why Chaucer used certain phrases and had characters behaving in certain ways and her response was "I don't think Chaucer thought about any of that" I think that line of reasoning holds true in world building as well. As writers, and more accurately as critics, we have a tendency to focus on the nuanced details of a story and see if they're exactly correct because there is this feeling that getting tiny details correct makes the world more fully real and fully realized. In reality though, a lot of that stuff is fun to think about but doesn't really impact the story in a meaningful way.

To illustrate my point, if I'm writing a story about a small town person going to the capital. The distance, in miles or kilometers, he travels isn't as important as whether the journey was long or short. If he is supposed to be marveling at the size of the city compared to his small town then it doesn't matter if his town has 10,000 people and the capital has 1,000,000 or the figures turn out to be 1,000 and 100,000 because the real thing that's important to the story is that it's a town that's bigger than he ever imagined possible.

This is ending up longer than I'd intended, but the larger point I'm trying to make here is that when you wade into things like correct demographics and the finer points of world-building you should make sure that it's going to ultimately have some sort of impact on the way your story plays out and not just be a backstory that is never really addressed. In my own experience, getting to deep into world building just becomes a way to avoid writing the story. Not saying it's the case with you at all, but it's just something to bear in mind.