Multiple Cultures

[Androxine Vortex]

I think it's fair to say that when we create our worlds, we have a majority culture set in mind. Meaning, if you're writing about Viking like heroes and their quests, i think it's fair to assume that the majority of places, characters, and beliefs in your story will be influenced or revolved around that. Most of my world is a darker version of typical tolkien and medieval influenced and i don't say typical in a bad or generic sense. Its just when i imagine the characters i think of them wearing armor similar to that used in lotr And i suppose from that is where my inspiration comes from.

But i was thinking of having more and more cultures and societies in my story. I developed a sort of mix of Roman and Babylonian section of my world and was thinking of having a Japanese influenced nation with similar beliefs, architecture, and weapons/armor. But next to knights and Romans and Vikings i don't know if samurai would be too out of place and just feel like it was thrown in there.

Do you have opposite cultures interacting and playing roles in your stories? What advice would you give me to make them distinct and unique but not so alien and foreign it seems out of place?

 

[evolution_rex]

I think having multiple cultures is a key part of what makes fantasy and world building fun. I think if it's all one culture it gets a bit stale so you have to freshen up a bit by showing off the different cultures. I think what some people have issues going to far and making their story a tour of their fantasy world, going everywhere and meeting characters of each culture. Depending on the plot, I think you should stick to one culture with one or two major characters from a different culture, and maybe at some point in their adventure visit an area where the people have a unique culture. Unless the story is of course huge in scale and it works into the plot.

 

[Gurkhal]

I agree that having multiple cultures makes it come more alive but then again I don't think we should see this as an end to itself. For example if I write a story inspired by Norse mythology, and decide to throw in ancient Egyptians for some reason, it can work to break the themes and moods of the story and thus I would need to plan and think over how to bring it into the story, but I don't think it per necessity would be wrong to add ancient Egyptians to a story like that. I just need to plan it a bit.

 

[X Equestris]

I have a fair number of cultures, though I try to keep them close to related cultures in feel and aesthetic.

For example, my most southern nations are primarily European inspired. The Seven Marches are mostly fertile plains, and house a culture that is mostly Germanic, with a few light Polish influences. Most people here are farmers or ranchers, and the country is famed for its elite cavalry. The Empire of Ciria is French inspired, and fairly typically medieval, though it's a major cultural center. It gobbled up two smaller kingdoms from the same culture: Anjenne and Vannen. The Kingdom of Corhiel is inspired by England, with elements from both Anglo-Saxon and post-Norman conquest periods.

All three of these kingdoms were once part of an empire founded by the Prophet Torsten. He was the son of the Prophetess Elissa (the Christ figure of the Faith of the Mother), who was executed by the Tyrian Dominion, the dominant power of the time. After his mother's death, his father rallied the three cultural groups that had embraced Elissa's teachings, and waged war on the Dominion. Torsten took over leadership after his father died during the war, and permanently broke the Dominion's power. He ruled the three cultural groups until his death, when the empire split between his many children. At the end of this power struggle, the previously mentioned countries took shape. They're closely bound together because of this shared political and religious heritage.

The other major country in the south is the Kingdom of Vyspa. It was never part of Torsten's empire, and was forged from numerous small clans. It's unifier brought the Faith of the Mother to his island nation to weld it together. Vypsa's people, the Dynion, are a fusion of Celtic and Norse culture.

The Colonies are a loose affiliation of city states settled by the Tyrians, and they became independent after the Dominion's power was broken. Most of those city-states still follow Tyrian customs, though Valencium and its allies adopted the Faith of the Mother and have tight links with the other southern nations.

North of my southern countries the land gives way to a vast rainforest. It's inhabitants are influenced by the tribes of the Amazon.

Past the rainforest is the Mklarite Empire, a nation inspired by the Aksumite/Axumite Empire of modern day Ethiopia, with lesser influences from Songhai and the Hellenic Successor states. This is the second such empire. The first conquered almost all of its neighbors and assimilated them into its culture, but eventually began to decline and was conquered by the rising Tyrian Dominion. The second began during the Tyrians' war with the southern tribes. With the Tyrian's forces further south, the Mklarites launched a successful rebellion. They aided Torsten during his war, and adopted the Faith of the Mother. After his death, their version of the Faith separated from the southern version. The Mklarite Empire is currently the strongest military and economic power on the continent.

To the north is a vast desert, the Northern Wastes, which is almost entirely uninhabited. The few people living there have adopted either Tyrian or Mklarite culture.

On the far northern coast of the continent lies what's left of the Tyrian Dominion. The Tyrians are based on a fusion of Rome and Carthage, with a mythology influenced by the Aztecs. The Dominion formed from a group of city states ruled by a magocracy that united and conquered their neighbors. They expanded southward, conquering the declining First Mklarite Empire with bound demons and dragons amplifying their armies, settling the Colonies, and wiping out the original inhabitants of the Seven Marches. Numerous civil wars began to erupt, culmination in a massive one called the Collapse, which devastated the empire, destroyed much of its knowledge, and forced it to give up a lot of territory. The Dominion stumbled along until Torsten crushed itand forced it to sign a treaty in which it gave up all claim to territory to its south. It's still powerful, probably tied for third strongest country on the continent, but it is a mere shadow of its former self.

They aren't on the same continent, but the Yintari are close enough to be a major influence on the landscape of my setting. They're going to be based on China, with some influences from the Bushido code for their warrior class. The Yintari have developed gunpowder and cannons, and they're currently fighting the Tyrians over strategic islands in the Northern Ocean. I haven't really dug into them yet, seeing as they're so far away, and most people in the setting wouldn't know anything about them.

 

[Russ]

When you are thinking about these cultures and how long term exposure to each other impacts them, I think there are two important points to keep in mind.

The first is that many cultures have an amazing ability to remain distinct in language, laws, art etc even when exposed to other cultures over long periods. Culture tends not to "leak and blend" as much as you might think.

On the other hand, unless prevented somehow, technology does. So if one group invents say stirrups, the three field system, or better ways of making steel, other cultures will often rapidly adopt those things unless actively prevented or they are completely unable to emulate it.

Just some stuff to keep in mind.

 

[The_Murky_Night]

I enjoy multiple cultures so much many of the plots I come up surround a clash of cultures. The current story (that only exists in my head, as of now) involves a Princess from a land based on colonial India marrying a powerful aristocratic share owner of a trading company (unsurprisingly based off the East India Company). Her struggle with culture shock would be central to her story line. I think, however, trying to shove too many different cultures into one story can be extremely overwhelming and off putting if it does not fit with theme, mood, and plot.

 

[ChasingSuns]

If it doesn't hinder the story, then multiple cultures that are diverse can be a beautiful thing. You could even take cultures and blend them together. One of my favorite visual aspects of Game of Thrones is the way that they chose to style the Lannister armor. It has a samurai-ish feel, but blended with more traditional European armor. One way to make this fluid is by looking at the expansion of races in your world. For example, the humans in my world all originally came from the same part of the continent, but throughout the centuries have settled in different areas. This has cause some changes in their cultures, including architecture, customs, and clothing. Also, the other races that live in the surrounding areas from any particular kingdom could have an effect on this as well (through years and years of trade and such). In the end, anything is possible as long as it doesn't throw the story off

 

[The Stranger]

honestly, i wouldn't worry too much about a certain culture or civilization being too out of place. the worlds a big place, not confined to just one culture or set of beliefs. if vikings and samurais can coexist in the real world, why not yours? i would try and put them in different places within the world, like maybe say that they came from a far off continent. i actively try to take influence from as many cultures and peoples as possible to create my world, it makes it more interesting that way.

 

[skip.knox]

I do have a dominant *human* culture. I rely on non-humans to provide the exotic touches. So, for example, my orcs are monotheists (the humans are polytheistic). Elves carry individualism to an extreme and believe in reincarnation. Gnomes are a dependent culture, living in symbiosis (first with dwarves but later with humans). Not all cultural differences need to end with clashes.

Even within the human culture there is ample room for variation. Just look at Europe in the Middle Ages.

 

[Feo Takahari]

In terms of separating cultures, I usually use grudges and prejudice. One culture has land or resources the other wants, and they're sufficiently different that it's easy for them to demonize each other. So long as the conflict continues, not many ideas will pass from one culture to another.

 

[Mythopoet]

Doesn't just about every fantasy world nowadays have a bunch of interacting cultures?

 

[Gurkhal]

Doesn't just about every fantasy world nowadays have a bunch of interacting cultures?

I would think they have. The question of course is if the interaction between them is realistic compared to the effects of that interaction.

 

[FifthView]

Doesn't just about every fantasy world nowadays have a bunch of interacting cultures?

In my current WIP, I'm dealing with a single large, continent-spanning civilization that is geographically isolated from the rest of the world. It's basically a large island. There is a second continent to the south, but it's exclusively populated by a single non-human race, at least any portion of it accessible to the humans. Otherwise, my human population is surrounded by a vast ocean and has no knowledge of the existence of other human societies elsewhere in the world. (Actually in my design, although there may be other continents beyond the vast ocean, I don't plan on them having a human population. They won't figure into my story, in any case.)

That said, there are regional differences. Although the civilization is a single empire, it is divided into four different, largely self-governing regions. All these regions have a common cultural origin, a common language and common religion, but centuries have led to slightly different cultures for them. There is also an isolated fringe society in one secluded area of the continent, distant from the other regions on this continent – a small breakaway group that separated itself from the empire centuries earlier that has little interaction with the empire (for now.)

While I greatly enjoy cosmopolitan approaches in fantasy fiction – wars, trade, international intrigue, sundry adventures into the unfamiliar, and the like – I wanted to build something of the reverse for this story. Plus, I think that even town-to-town, village-to-village, city-to-city differences, not to mention the differences between village and town/city life, can lead to enough variation in culture to make for an interesting world.