Racial Cultures [Xiluh]

[SDragon]

can anybody help me come up with ways that the cultures of various races would've developed, particularly in regards to whats been based on history, both ancient and modern?

what I've developed so far:

half-orcs (to be renamed)- they're a slave race, the only race to be considered "lesser" then other races. I'm planning on developing this culture almost entirely separate from the rest, to reflect that they're socially viewed as separate. anybody who's read Interview With a Vampire should have an idea of where I'm going with this.

elves- considerably more assertive then most settings have them. there's a strong militant feel, felt as a need to protect their kind. this is based on both elven pride, and the need for protection, after the recent (in their years) invasions.

dwarves- considerably closer to the cliche elf then to hte cliche dwarf. there's a peaceful atmosphere to the dwarven culture, developed from generations behind the fortification of the mountains.

gnomes- nonexistent.

any ideas where i could go with these and other races?

Edit-- I decided to copy over the Race section from the main thread, for more up-to-date information:

save for the cultural inferiority of yuma, racial arrogance does not exist in Xiluh! this means: elves do not look down their noses at humans. elves do not hate dwarves. the only way halflings are looked down upon is in the most literal sense. there is racial pride, in varying degrees that are more or less proportional to what one would expect in traditional settings, but no racial arrogance.

simply put: sure the dwarves are proud of the defenses their homeland provides; why shouldn't they be? but they do not look down upon human or elven achievements simply because of this. the same goes for all races. [/ic]

Elves have a militant attitude, in response to the attack on them during The Seven Invasions. This is something that turned out to be well-suited by their already lean builds. Elves have orange hued bones, suggesting a connection to Sun. This caused a religious significance about the bones, and the bones of ritually sacrificed elves are used as currency.

Elven males typically resent open displays of emotion, unless said displays are provoked by sport or war. While there are a few emotions that are somewhat accepted in small doses, this is the overwhelming norm for male elves. Such stoicism is pushed for even at young ages, as elven children are given small cuts on their cheeks, to deter stinging tears.

Elven females generally strive for the betterment of both inward and outward beauty. This has lead to the use of crude cosmetics, such as the crushing of purple berries so the juice can accent their lips.

To come

To come
[/quote]

[Lmns Crn]

So, you're using PHB half-orc stats for a new race, one that presumably isn't a halfbreed? One thing you might want to consider is the effect of having that race develop a culture in isolation, versus the benefit of having them develop a culture for many generations in slavery to other, more dominant races. The first approach lends itself to a foreign, alien kind of feel; the second leads to a defining air of washed-out, downtrodden despair, perhaps infused with a thread of hope or defiance. It'll suffuse their culture one way other the other.

Elves are reactive, against recent invasions? This would presumably affect only recent cultural elements, but those might show definite leanings of "we trusted too much and got burned for it, so never again." This could really lead to a strong seperation of pre-invasion and post-invasion elven cultures, especially if young radicals blame pre-invasion peaceful or diplomatic ideals for inviting the invasions. The long lifespans of elves in many settings make this interesting, because almost everyone would remember the old, less radical ways. Some might even remember them with fondness, and think that the new, harshly defensive attitudes are a mistake.

The thing to remember is that a culture is not uniform. In particular with wars throughout our own history, these kinds of events seem to invite fierce differences of opinion.

[Soup Nazi]

half-orcs (to be renamed)- theyre a slave race, the only race to be considered "lesser" then other races. im planning on developing this culture almost entirely seperate from the rest, to reflect that theyre socially viewed as seperate. anybpdy whos read 'interview with a vampire' should have an idea of where im going with this.

I've read everything ever written by Anne Rice, and I have no idea where you're going with this. Unless you're trying to draw parallels between the vampire sub-culture within human culture, or the voodoo practices of the slaves at Plan Du Lac, but if so there are far better examples in real life with minority groups like the Jews, than there are in Anne Rice fiction.

Some good ways to make this work are laws that enforce segregation, and limit the opportunities for half-orcs. Maybe they can't buy property, or vote, or legally marry. Perhaps they even live on reservations.

elves- considerabley more assertive then most settings have them. theres a strong militant feel, felt as a need to protect their kind. this is based on both elven pride, and the need for protection, after the recent (in their years) invasions.

I think all you need to do here is make them lawful instead of Chaotic. They are all ready equiped for the job with proficiencies in long swords, bows, and rapiers. Emphasise the mithril armor, and swordplay aspects of their culture, more than the magic.

dwarves- considerabley closer to the cliche elf then to hte cliche dwarf. theres a peaceful atmosphere to the dwarven culture, developed from generations behind the fortification of the mountains.

They could be craftsmen, merchants, engineers, rather than soldiers. Again little need to change things there either. Dwarves can fill this role just fine as they are. maybe they are ruled by an elected republic, rather than kings and thanes.

any ideas where i could go with these and other races?

Lot's of ideas over here, but you need to provide some guidelines. I've been itching to use halflings as pigmys for a while, and I've been dying to see trolls in some sort of worthwhile culture. Maybe as freelance mercenaries, who hire themselves out ot the highest bidder. However in order to offer something of actual use to you, I need a simple framework to operate within.

I hope my handful of suggestions are useful, and maybe you can help me to help you. Peace out Homes!

-Nasty-

[Xeviat]

I'm not sure with what exactly you are going for, but you should probably consider the nature of their evolution or creation. Maybe it will help you to read the idea behind my demi-human race's cultures:

Humans: For millenia, throughout the Dragon/Giant war, humans were the slaves of Giants. It was mankind who helped the Dragons win the war, and in turn the dragons left them in peace. Mankind began their civilization centered in the four cities of the Giants, and expanded outward. Because of their relatively short lifespans, many have forgotten what it meant to be a slave, though the religion based around the five humans who led the fight against the giants does preach that their enslavement should be remembered.

Dwarves: Dwarves were created by the Earth Dragon in the image of man, originally made to help protect the race of man from giant incursions (hense their abilities vs. giants). Their civilization grew up around this millitant attitude, and even after the golden age of men came to a close, dwarves still practiced this millitant tradition. They believe in a strong defense, and were driven underground. Many remain closely tied with humans; in order to maintain an underground civilization, much needs to be imported; this explains their prodigious minning and exporting. They are a race of tradition, and everything is done for the clan.

Elves: After the dragon/giant war, Elves were created by the Air dragon in the image of man. They were originally created to be diplomats between humans and the spirit world, thus explaining their association with the fey. As they grew apart from humans, they issolated themselves, and people forgot the distinction between elves and fey.

[SDragon]

crayon- yes, im using the half-orc stats for a non-halfbreed race. orcs dont fit in my setting quite right, and i would abhor a world with a halfbreed, but no fullbred counterpart.

the foreign, alienated culture was what i was going for (which was the extent of the Anne Rice comparison, actually. i just couldnt think of a decent way to put it into words when i wrote that). the half-orc race has been in slavery for plenty of generations, but the culture itself developed in isolation. my biggest problem is the cultural elements that seperate them so much from the other races.

i havent really thought of what the pre-invasion elven culture was like. i had always assumed the elven culture was more or less the same before the invasions, with the invasions acting as a stern reminder, but the seperation in culture makes more sense. at the current point in time, however, the society has pretty much settled.


nastynate- i guess my use of the anology to the plantation slaves in 'interview' wasnt the best. the reason it was used was because it was the description given that inspired me to go in that direction.

the segregation laws are a wonderful idea. this, of course, would explain the lack of any violent acts of defiance.

the thing about elves isnt really a law/chaos thing. its more of a diplomatic/militant thing.


xeviat- hopefully this post helped clear up what im looking for.

[SDragon]

Some thoughts:

I'm thinking of making halflings a sort of woobie race, possibly with some (more?) parallels to the butt monkey status of Jews. Any thoughts on this?

Also, awhile back, I was reading about a modern-day hunter-gatherer tribe who, in order to curb crying, would make small slashes on children; the salty tears would sting the wounds, discouraging crying. I thought this seemed fitting for the stoicism of the elves. If nothing else, the scars would be an interesting visual addition to them. Thoughts?

[LordVreeg]

I'm kind of lost about the Jewish comment.

I love the elf idea.  How long do you want them to live?

[SDragon]

Which part are you lost on? The "butt monkey status" thing is mentioned in the Real Life section of that link, and the parallels to Xiluh halflings... well, so far, there's only really the fact that both were slave races to a powerful nation early on in their history.

I think I'm ultimately going to use the cuts/scars thing for the elves, but there's a few small things I'd like to hammer out first. The pictures of the tribesmen showed that their scars really didn't follow any noticeable pattern, save for being on the cheeks. I'm thinking of leaving a pattern of some sort; would the cuts be more efficient vertically, or horizontally? Also, would it be more admirable to show that you handled having more cuts, or to show that you didn't have to have as many cuts?

I'm not sure how long I want them to live. I know I don't want the indefinite lifespan that Tolkien gave his elves, though. Right now I'm toying with the idea of having very little variation in racial lifespans.

[Kindling]

Woah.. Pretty awesome to see a thread resurrection from so long ago like this :)

I think the idea of the tear-catching scars is amazing, both flavour-wise and in terms of look. I dunno if it's more "efficient" but visually, I think horizontal, or maybe slightly slanted, scars would be the most powerful. And I think that having less cuts would be seen as more admirable as it shows an early development of the unflinching stoicism that they seem to be after. Perhaps a few rare individuals have no cuts at all, and this shows that they were either raised by filthy liberal hippie parents or that they have NEVER CRIED. Ever. Obviously other wouldn't know which just by looking, and it wouldn't be beyond certain individuals to lie "what? No, no, my father was a iron-fisted war-marshal, I just never showed any signs of weakness as a chi- OW! OWWWW!!! MY TOE!!! AAHHHHHHH, THE PAIN!!!"

[Ghostman]

Give it a few centuries and the original reasons for the scarification might become de-emphasized, while the tradition itself is continued but takes on new characteristics. Eg. they start making the cuts in specific patterns to display social status or caste. Imagine if you could tell whether one is a noble, craftsman or peasant, a first-born child, a member of a particular society, a son of a recognized hero, was born under unlucky stars, etc - just by glancing at their scars.

[SDragon]

Ghostman, I like the idea of the tradition taking on new characteristics like that; it's possible different elven tribes might use different patterns. I'm not sure, though-- do tribal variations of a race-wide tradition stretch belief?

Kindling, I like to try to keep these threads active whenever they need be. My work on Xiluh is sporadic at best, but this helps me focus my attention.

I like your idea in the slanted scars, too. Regardless of whether or not I go with the tribal variations, I'm probably going to end up using that.

Your explanation for why less scars would be more admirable makes total sense, too.  I'm thinking that just about all of the races will tend to push toward social conformity, so the stinkin' liberal hippie parents probably won't be too much of an issue :p

[SDragon]

Some random ideas:

Humans-- at least in comparison to the other races-- are somewhat hedonistic. While they do strive for what they consider to be long-term pleasure as well as the more obvious short-term pleasure, the longer-lived races usually see it all as short-term pleasure.

Halflings. Well, they do have more parallels to Jews now. Most obviously, they were major victims in a recent war. I'm thinking they should have a somewhat exclusive culture, as well.

Also, let's be honest, aren't they essentially homunculi glorified in their biological intricacy? I'd imagine this would put them in an interesting position on the food chain. Maybe they have no natural predators. They probably have unusual sources of sustenance. Should they even have any source of sustenance? Perhaps they don't even need food.

Any thoughts?

[LordVreeg]

Jewish Halflings...you kill me.  Good Lord.  

[SDragon]

Jewish Halflings...you kill me.  Good Lord.  

Why do I suddenly get the feeling that, if I were to ever publish this, this is how it would be remembered?

[SDragon]

Copy/pasted:

Bump. I realized that I can make the word "man" with this. So far, I've been using -i for pluralization, which would make more than one man be "mani". I wonder, should I "Xiluh-ize" the spellings of the various races? That would give me something like "eleve" for elf, and something like "drave" for dwarf. Not sure what I would do for halflings, though. Maybe "havulenke"? "Habete"? Of course, I'm not even sure if I really do want to do this, but it is an interesting thought.

Any thoughts on this?