Culture
A word with varied meanings, Culture in world building relates to shared knowledge, belief, behaviours, ethos, goals, and practices. Culture can define a group of people or create a set of norms that are expected to be adhered to by those within the social group.
Within cultures, there may be subcultures. The ease of communication may determine the level of cultural integration with a group or sub-groups.
Shared Knowledge
Social networks help to share knowledge and create cultural norms. In ancient civilisations, knowledge was often shared through the telling of stories around a camp fire. Many role-play games reflect this method of communication through the character class, Baird. Stories were often told to provide answers to 'worldly' questions, such as "Why do Humans wear clothes?" and to educate and encourage certain behaviours from the listeners. In medieval times, the Town Crier filled an important role in western civilisations. Sharing news and keeping citizens aware of the time. "It's four o'clock and all is well." In modern times, the internet and mobile devices are popular forms of communication. Technology is breaking down cultural differences by sharing information more quickly.
Institutions of learning are a powerful tool for communicating information. Formal schooling has existed since ancient times across Byzantine, Greece, China and India. The founding of the primary education system began in 425AD.
- How is knowledge shared in your Civilisation?
- What type of knowledge is shared?
- On what basis is the knowledge founded? (Religious, Scientific, Experience, Military)
- Who shares the knowledge?
- Is the knowledge regulated by a government or other entity?
- Is knowledge shared equally?
- What value does knowledge have in your Civilisation?
- Is knowledge shared equally among different social classes?
- Are there any social taboos associated with the sharing of knowledge?
- Is there a formal or informal education system?
- Are there any social customs associated with the sharing of knowledge?
- Describe the education system and the minimum grades required to achieve various career paths.
Belief
Belief systems provide us with answers to questions about the meaning of life and the purpose of doing things. Belief systems have helped us evolve by providing answers to the reason for certain behaviours when we have not been able to rationalise these ourselves through scientific discovery. Magic is ancient belief system practised by the Druids and other cultures such as those found in African tribes, Indian and Aboriginal. In modern times, there has been renewed interest in magic, heralded by the repeal of the last Witchcraft Act in 1951. Science is also a belief system that has its roots in Ancient times.
- How have belief systems started on your world?
- Why did have they started?
- Is there more than one belief system?
- How flexible are the belief systems?
- Was their any supernatural involvement in the development of the belief system?
- Was their any alien involvement in the development of the belief system?
- Was the belief system started through conspiracy?
- Is the belief system real?
- What are the citizens perception of the belief system?
- How influential is the belief system on:
- politics
- shared knowledge
- tolerance
- wealth
- technology
- exploration
- geography.
Behaviours
What are the general behaviours of your civilisations? Casting a glance back over the Human civilisation I would generalise that Humans are aggressive, like sharing information, determined and social beings.
From these general behaviours we can now relate other behaviours which a group of people might display through their learned demeanour and habits.
For example aggressive behaviour might suggest a barbaric society, where there are extreme social differences and classes and where physical punishment is metted out with a degree of gusto.
Consider including sub-cultures in your civilisations. Sub-cultures can easily be distinguished through a different set of behaviours.
What is the general temperment of the social structures especially the belief systems that exist within your civlisations?
Ethos
Ethos incapsulates the common attitudes, beliefs, and characteristics of a group or time period.
A table listing all the various social groups found within your civilisation and shared list of attributes, attitudes and beliefs is a useful tool when world building. For writers it can be a useful cross reference to ensure continuity in the story telling.
Goals
Goals help to unite a group of people toward achieving a common interest.
What are the common goals of your civlisation? Create a list the broad goals of your civilisation. These may be more orientated towards broad groups such as Government, Business, Industry, Primary Produces.
A goal of Government might be to increase the coffers of the royal household in a civilisation which has a Kingdom structure. Where as a goal of primary produces could be to irrigate more arid land and fertilise it for farming.
Subcultures will also have goals, some of these goals may be shared by other subcultures or differ slightly. For instance, a sub-culture of immigrants from Northern lands may have a goal to open foriegn speaking schools. This goal may also be shared with immigrants from the South. Create a diagram that shows the overall culture of your civilisation and the subcultures within it and link these to the major goals they have or share with each other. You may also want to include the population totals for each group. You can then see which goals will be favoured more than others. These goals are likely to be achieved before any of the others.
Practices
Practices are the rituals that are created within cultures and are influenced by religion, type of government and social classes as well as occupational choice.
A culture might have the practice of starting work as the sun rises. A small sub-culture, namely those of the highest class who control the wealth and the politics, don't go to work and can stay sleep until the third sun is high in the sky.
What are the daily rituals of the average person in your civilisation?
If your civilisation has sub-cultures, describe the different rituals that set them apart.
What are the reasons behind each ritual?
What do your citizens think of the rituals particularly those belonging to other cultures?
Links
Every Culture
Aboriginal Culture
An online resource for World Cultures (Washington State University
World Culture