Let's create a setting by starting with the most cliché type of fantasy world possible :
>The world is a large island the size of Europe, divided into six nations >Nation of the center : Kind of similar to medieval europe in terms of climate, landscapes and people. >Nation of the north : Nordic/viking atmosphere, cold country. >Nation of the east : Nomadic tribes living in great steppes, similar to mongol people. >Nation of the west : Desertic and dry country, arabian people, "One Thousand and One Nights" atmosphere. >Nation of the south : Jungles and marshes, tropical climate, tribes of black-skinned natives. >Nation of the sea : Somewhere off the west coast, an archipelago populated by Amazons.
Then, let's add little by little interesting and original aspects that differ from the classical fantasy to the societies of the six nations, the customs of the peoples, their political systems, their way of life, etc.... I propose to limit the magical side of this world and start with a low-fantasy setting, to focus on what we can bring to the societal aspect of each people more than on the magic system, the magical beasts, etc....
Mason Myers
> The eastern nomads are more akin to historical khazars than mongols
Kevin Harris
The people of the nation of the centre revere the skulls of their ancestors, and often carry them as standards into battle. It is considered a grave dishonour to lose an ancestor-skull, so the ruling families construct heavily guarded mausoleums filled with intricate traps to safeguard the skulls of their ancestors from rivals.
Christian Perry
Once the fights are over, in the Central Lands, it is very common to see looters scouring the battlefield in search of a dead (or still alive) noble to behead. A ransom is then demanded to his family in exchange for the skull of the deceased. The sacredness of a dead person's skull is so great that some families have already ruined themselves to see the return of one of their member' skull.
Jacob Roberts
This causes tensions with the nation of the north, who believe that a person's soul resides in their skull, so upon death they believe the skull should be shattered to release the soul inside and let it journey to the afterlife. Failure to do so can result in the soul being trapped and reanimating the body as a vengeful undead monster. The people of the north also believe that too much talking can cause the soul to leak out through a person's mouth leaving a person weak and open to evil influences, so they also dislike the people of the west who are a voluble bunch
Matthew Phillips
The people of the Northern Lands live in a matriarchal political system. Each clan is led by a council of women who make laws and are responsible for diplomatic affairs. The clan's warriors are not allowed to go to war with another clan, or to loot the border villages of the Centre, without the approval of the Women's Council.
Juan Perry
It is said that before one of the amazons of the sea nation can become a ships captain, they must undertake a perilous journey by boat to a land far to the west of their home archipelago, where a castle made entirely of pearl sits atop a silver mountain. What happens there, none will say, but all agree that those who survive come back changed...
Chase Adams
>The Vikings are mostly peaceful, nomadic , hunter gatherers, their raids are purely to hunt big game.
Carter Walker
Unlike other peoples, and for reasons that are incomprehensible to scholars from the rest of the continent, the colors of the eyes of the natives of the jungles of the South are extremely varied : they can have eyes of classic color (blue, brown, green) but also colors never seen in other countries (violet, red, gold).
Within tribes, social roles and ranks are assigned according to eye colour. A red-eyed baby will be educated and trained to become a warrior. A child with yellow eyes will be destined to become a goat farmer. The black-eyed natives are hunters, the blue-eyed ones are shamans and doctors...
Isaiah Evans
>they actually do raid, but it's against groups of terrible monster-people who keep watch over vast swaths of land like the Cyclopes and their sheep. The monster-people have far more animals in their "herd" than they will ever need, but they're selfish and egotistic and don't care if the humans starve.
