Populations (CSC)

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Who are the people who dwell in the land? What do they do to survive? Who are their leaders? How do they feel about adventurers looting the ruins of their ancestors? These are important questions, and the good DM will have an answer for each and every one of them.
The next stage of world creation is to place sentient and social life upon it-people of all shapes, sizes, natures, and goals. These are the races of men, demihumans, and monsters who are the basis for the character races and their foes. Since we are still dealing with the world on a large scale, let us first place its peoples and races in general locales on the map. The steps that follow are ideas for creating people to live in the world.
==Select the Races==
The DM should decide what races dwell in his world. If he wishes to have all the character races available, those races must have one or more homelands around the world. Place these peoples in parts of the world that fit their nature, keeping in mind that many of them may dislike being close to each other. Elves tend to prefer forested areas, especially deep and ancient forests. Dwarves and gnomes have an affinity for mountains and the minerals they hide. Halflings love well-drained, rolling hills. Ores and other rapacious monster races take any lands ripe for plunder, but are commonly driven away by elves and dwarves. Humans, in their diversity, dwell wherever a living can be made, regardless of climate or geography.
==Culture Levels==
Assign a culture level to each group of people. Culture level is a catch-all classification that describes the life-style, technical accomplishments, and trappings of civilization possessed by a people. These levels can be loosely defined as barbarian, nomadic, feudal, civilized, and decadent. Although endless variations and crossovers exist within these five classes, they sum up the essence of that type of culture.
Peoples who are not separated by a major geographic obstacle (such as oceans, mountains, deserts or vast forests or grasslands) tend to share the same culture level. Essentially, if a wilderness area is home to one tribe of barbarian humans, it's a good bet that all peoples in the immediate area are also barbaric. There are exceptions to this rule, though. Nonhuman races are often closed societies. They rarely intermix with other cultures and often purposefully isolate themselves. Colonization and migration bring incursions of outside culture levels into previously homogenous regions, although eventually one culture level will again dominate the region.
===Barbarians===
These primitive people often dwell at the edge of the known world and manage to survive in a most primitive state. Occasionally, they may develop an extensive culture. Barbarians rarely have a written language more complex than pictographs and do not bui1d anything larger than their roughly fortified villages. They hunt, fish, and gather their food. More advanced barbarians may farm or raise livestock. Barbarians have limited metal technology, but readily work stone, wood and bone for their tools and weapons.
They are ruled by the best warriors in the tribe or clan and their religious leaders are witch doctors and shamans. Otherwise, they hate and even fear the trappings of magic use. Ancestor worship and beast totem cults are the religion of the superstitious barbarians. Religious structures are often mounds or rough stone temples (like Stonehenge). The artifacts of "higher" culture levels are often feared. Sample barbarian cultures may include cavemen, tribesmen, lizard men, goblins, ores, ogres, and hill giants.
===Nomads===
A nomadic culture depends on its ability to move from place to place, as seasons and resources dictate. They depend heavily on mobile livestock, hunting, and gathering. They build no pennanent structures (although portable ones are common) and agriculture is just not practica1. They are often mounted or use beasts to transport their belongings.
Metal working nomads are rare, but warrior bands are plentiful. Nomads are often ruled by charismatic chieftains, who are both mighty warriors and clever leaders. Nomads are often strongly, even fanatically religious, and dote upon the teachings of their shamans. Sample nomad cultures include dervishes, gypsies, gnolls, and locathah.
===Feudal culture===
This is a transitional society that occurs as a dynamic barbarian or nomadic culture takes the first steps toward civilization. Feudal people have a keen sense of right and wrong and develop a central government that relies on the principles, powers, and rights of royalty and nobility (see the Feudality government description that follows later in this section). Each ruler owes allegiance to a higher ruler and in tum receives allegiance from his own vassals. Common folk are little more than slaves. Devotion to religion is important, so long as it does not interfere with the desires of the ruling class. Magic use is tolerated but not well liked. Feudal folk live in small to medium-sized towns, build strong fortresses, and have a stable economy. Sample feudal cultures include medieval Europe and Japan.
===Civilized culture===
These people are city builders and their cultures are typified by both extensive kingdoms and individual city states. They typically have central governments, but true power is held by those who wield wealth.
Civilized cultures are constantly growing, learning, and expanding. Technologically, they are the most advanced people in the campaign. Civilized cultures have diverse economies that rely just as heavily on the process of trade as they do on growing or creating trade goods. Most religions are tolerated in civilized lands, though all may not be popular. The same can be said for magic use.
===Decadent===
Civilized cultures that slip past their peak without totally collapsing in on themselves become decadent. Social and moral decay sets in and the people become jaded, constantly seeking new forms of pleasure. They are slowly losing what they have learned and gained. Government, while centralized, has lost much of its authority and small autocracies dependent on personal power and wealth develop to fill the void. The poor are poorer and the rich richer than ever before. Tragically, they believe their culture to be at its dynamic prime, vastly superior to everything else. The drow (dark elves) and the late Roman empire are classic examples of decadent culture.
==Building Cultural Character==
It's time to start thinking about the more colorful nature of the region's major peoples. Whereas culture level describes the technical accomplishments and attitudes of a people, Cultural Character describes their personality-the things that make them unique. While it's easy to say "make cultures memorable," the means may not appear quite so simple-and yet, they are!
The key is to use resources outside oneself, stealing, or synthesizing cultures from the history of our own world, or from favorite fantasy novels. Another, more difficult but extremely satisfying, method is to make a culture's character grow from one or two of its more colorful details.
Taking directly from history is quick and easy. The DM can easily adapt the time of King Charlemagne (eighth century France) for his feudal culture. They have a rough and ready code of honor, are defended by numerous cavaliers (see The Complete Fighter's Handbook), worship a central, powerful religion, and are constantly fighting against the expansion of a similar desert-based nomadic/feudal culture located beyond a orange of mountains. By changing the names and adding fantasy elements, most cultures from our own world can be picked up and moved to a fantasy campaign.
Use imagination when including fantasy. Do more than say that the king has a magic sword, rides a hippogriff, and is served by a 14th level wizard. Imagine that a good dragon has been complicating battles with the nomads in the mountain passes by driving off both sides, or that the king is resisting demands coming from the dominant religion's clerics that he outlaw magic use. Both concepts add color to the culture and provide a basis for adventures.
Synthesis involves combining two or more cultures to make a wholly unique society. It involves asking the question "What if ... ?" regarding the cultures involved. The best way to start a cultural synthesis is to research cultures from our own history. Find several that are intriguing and that would apply to the world being created. The cultures involved need not even be historical contemporaries. The typical stereotype of hard working, staid, metal-mining dwarves might be combined with the fanatical Mujadheen rebels of Afghanistan to create fiercely driven, semi-nomadic dwarven rebels, fighting against an occupying force, and wielding weapons of superior construction and design. Merge Oriental martial artists with medieval Europe for a people whose knights fight only with unarmed combat. Make sure that the most important aspects of the synthesized cultures are logical. An Egyptianized barbarian culture may mummify their dead, but they would not have the skills to make enduring pyramids.
Creating a culture out of a few details of information is the hardest and most time consuming. If this method is chosen, the culture may take time to evolve and development will probably occur during game play as the people of the culture interact with the player characters. Begin with a simple concept for the people, such as "They never bathe in water" or "All of their architecture, artwork and clothing are decorated with dragon motifs." Answering why they do this is the next stage. To make a people truly memorable, search for an answer along fantasy lines. The non-bathers may fear evil water spirits or believe that dirt upon their bodies helps them draw magical power from the world. The draconian artists might focus on actually becoming dragons as their faith increases.
Continue to add details as they come to mind. The dirty-bodied folk may be ingenious chemists or perfumers who have learned to profitably combat body odor. The dragon-worshippers are on eternal pilgrimages to acquire the remains and artifacts of dragon-kind (often appearing as manic souvenir hunters in exotic bazaars). Consider any peculiar customs that may have developed, like the practice of showing an open palm or shaking hands to indicate that they are free of weapons. Behavioural oddities can make a culture appear more exotic than a few oddities of appearance.
As a finishing touch, ask whether the culture has any specific likes or dislikes? Do they have any taboos or unusual laws? How do they feel about interaction with outsiders? How do they react to outsiders (its a good bet that any culture that isolates itself from the world has a healthy dislike or distrust of strangers). Remember that folk are usually friendlier towards others who resemble them and less trusting or even horrified of beings who are substantially different.
Regardless of how cultures are developed, the DM who invests time in their development will be richly rewarded.. For soon his players will begin to tell tales, not of their adventures, but of their encounters with the world's strange and unusual peoples.
==Population Centers==
Regardless of culture, people tend to congregate and build camps, villages, towns, and cities. The DM must decide where to place major human and demihuman population centers. These need not all be cities and may include customary gathering sites for barbarian and nomadic peoples. Use the same considerations that guided people throughout the history of our own world. The largest population centers are usually located on large bodies of water, especially along the seacoast or on the shores of bodies of water with an outlet to the sea (like lakes and rivers).
The health of a population center depends on commerce, and the most efficient way to move trade goods from one place to another is by boat or ship. Other major population centers will develop where an abundant natural resource exists' such as mineral ores, or exotic animals. Feel free to develop a large number of population centers. In the next step, many of them will become part of the dust and mystery of history.