Behind the Screen: Cultural Queries Part II

Whereas last time we went over the basics of culture design, here we'll be getting much more into the nitty gritty. This is not an exhaustive list of questions to answer each and every facet of your fictional cultures, such a list would far longer and might even be impossible, but it is intended to help you flesh out and think about the culture you are creating.

Are any of these question prompts necessary? No. Will they help immerse your readers/players in your world? Most certainly.



Each question will have an answer from the sample culture created in the last Cultural Queries post.

• What holidays are celebrated?
• Five major holidays are celebrated throughout the year: Longsun, Nightsend, Ulgarth, Mosrus, and Yintr. Longsun lasts for the month leading up to the summer solstice, Nightsend is held on the winter solstice, Ulgarth is held after the first full moon of summer and marks the new year, Mostus is held on the first sunrise after the winter solstice, and Yintr is held on the first night after the summer solstice. Additionally, various regions have their own, local holidays.
• Do these holidays have a traditional dress?
• A few local holidays have strict formal attire, but the big five do not have any holiday specific dress. Mostly one is expected to dress formally when celebrating.
• What about traditional cuisine (like the turkey dinner at the American Thanksgiving)?
• Longsun, Nightsend, Ulgarth, and Mosrus are celebrated with small feasts, mostly of whatever is available at the time (though soups and stews are common to allow limited food stores to feed more people). Yinter is celebrated with slow-roasted boar, cooked on a spit over a full day and through the night; the result is seasoned meat so tender that it melts in your fingers.
• Is the food prepared by the men, women, or both?
• Depends on the type of food being prepared. Purely grain and vegetable dishes are prepared by the women while meat is cooked by the men. In dishes with a mix of meat, grain, and vegetable, it is a matter of who feels like cooking at the time. The exception to these rules is when traveling, as a matter of practicality.
• What sort of music is played?
• Depending on the activity one of two kinds of music are favored: work or prayer. Nearly every child knows at least one work song designed to synchronize a multitude of people to work in time, and most adults know dozens. After work is finished for the day, villages are filled with songs celebrating the achievements of the ancestors, accompanied by instruments to add to the beauty of the songs.
• With what instruments?
• Work songs are typically sung without instruments, as they are to be sung while working. Prayer songs are famous for villagers finding ways to turn anything at hand into instruments, and many villages have unofficial challenges to work the most bizarre item into song. The most frequent improvised instrument is the ring of hammer on anvil. That is not to say that regular instruments cannot be found, just that they are seen as boring.
• Is singing involved?
• In most villages, the voice is seen as the only required instrument needed. Many traveling to other lands are baffled when they encounter music without singing, as it seems to be missing the most basic element of music to them.
• Is music a regular occurrence or saved for specific/special occasions?
• While certain songs are saved for specific events such as funerals, weddings, etc., in general music is something done almost constantly in some form or another.
• What does the family unit look like?
• The basic family group consists of a wedded pair, their children, and the father’s parents. However, it is not uncommon for the siblings of the wedded pair and their families to live under the same roof. In such circumstances, the ones who own the house have final say in all matters.
• Do men and women have an equal say in parenting the children?
• While the mother rears the children when they are young, as they grow older the father has more and more say. When arranging marriages from another village, the mother may offer her opinion, but she cannot do more than that.
• Are there restrictions on who can have children?
• Women are expected to wait until five years after being wed before having their first child, though when the first child is earlier in the marriage the community sees this as the parents being impatient rather than improper. In cases of pregnancy outside of marriage, it is frowned upon but the child mortality rate is such that no child is turned away. The general viewpoint is that it is not the child’s fault that their mother is unwilling to wait for marriage.
• What is the government structure?
• No central government exists, each village is self-governed, typically by a “king” that in practice is more of a village elder.
• Who counts as a citizen?
• Anyone born within the village is treated as a member of the community while outsiders that marry in are typically warmed in after a few years. Outsiders that settle in the village but do not marry in are seen as outsiders, regardless of the actions they perform on the village’s behalf they are still seen as not being a part of the community.
• Is slavery practiced?
• A form of indentured servitude is practiced where a person works for a given number of years in exchange for a great boon or service. Oftentimes this is between three and six for a treasured weapon, part of a dowry, or a litter of pups. In more extreme circumstances, such as when saving another’s life, the servitude can last as long as twenty years.
• What if any animals are revered?
• Dogs are considered to be the closest thing to living ancestors, and indeed many believe that some time after death they will be reborn as a dog. For this and other reasons dogs are often named after influential ancestors.
• What if any animals are reviled?
• Bears are the symbol of corruption, gluttony, and sloth. A widespread myth tells of a wicked king that managed to be reborn as a dog and ate all his littermates. As a result he was banished, but continued to gorge himself in the wilds. The next time he was seen, he had eaten so much that he had grown larger than any dog that had ever lived. To this day his offspring can be found in the wilds, gorging themselves until they are so tired that they sleep for months.
• What gods/spirits/entities are the focus of worship?
• While death is seen as an entity to be respected, the ones that they worship are their ancestors and it is believed that every star in the sky is the soul of an ancestor. On nights where the aurora dance across the sky, it is said that the ancestors are returning to be reborn. For this reason, those born during an aurora are often called Old Souls.
• What is the relationship between the people and the divine?
• “Death appeared before the dying hunter. Though It did not speak, Its presence carried a message in the very air, ‘Your time has come.’ The warrior grinned, blood staining his teeth as he delivered a jape with his final breath, ‘I was wondering when you'd show up. Did you get lost in the woods?’”
• How do they worship (IE: prayers, offerings, ritual sacrifice, etc.)?
• On the solstices, they will bring forth the carcass of a bear slain on a ritualized hunt and burn it as an offering to the ancestors. In times of hardship, where the people are starving or dying, an elderly man and woman will be sacrificed and cremated alive. Their screams, or lack thereof, determine how long the current hardship will last, the sooner they scream the longer the hardship.
• What sort of evil/bad entities are there?
• Not all ancestors are welcomed. Just as there are helpful ancestors so too are there evil ones. In addition, bears and bear spirits are particularly reviled and hated. A common phrase goes along the lines, “The only good bear is one over the cooking fire.”
• What sort of good/helpful entities are there?
• In addition to the good and helpful ancestors, otter spirits were the ones to teach fishing to mortals. Elk are the kings of the grasslands and a symbol of fertility and bounty.
• What entities that are neither/sometimes good and evil?
• The most widespread spirits are often Tricksters. Lacking a form of their own, Tricksters will take the form of various animals such as foxes, rats, mice, birds, or even ephemeral flames. While some Tricksters are well-meaning, using pranks to teach a hidden lesson, others are cruel, finding sadistic joy in fooling hapless mortals.
• How are each of these entities viewed (IE: hated, respected, caution, etc.)?
• Evil ancestors and bear spirits are reviled; helpful ancestors, otter spirits, and elk spirits are respected and revered; most other animals are looked at with caution, never sure if they are a Trickster in disguise.
• How is time viewed (linear, circular, etc.)?
• Many legends speak of seers and soothsayers predicting terrible futures for the heroes. The common thread between these individuals is some form of the phrase, “To predict the future, read the past.” This leads most to assume that time operates in cycles like the seasons. While the finer details may be different year to year, the seasons themselves don’t change.
• Who records history?
• Historic events for a village are recorded by the village’s resident historian/astronomer called Kykleda. When a major event, be it war, drought, plague, etc., occurs, they gaze up at the stars to find an arrangement of stars to serve as a constellation to record the event.
• How is knowledge passed on (orally, written record, etc.)?
• While a written language and alphabet (based off of constellations) does exist, most historical knowledge is passed from one kykleda to their successor by pointing out the constellation associated with a specific event and telling it to them. Other professions pass their knowledge on through their apprentices, teaching them all that they know.
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