Line #16 Main/FictionalCultureAndNationTropes


1	Tropes that describe entire fictional cultures, nations or ethnic groups.
2
3	See also NationalStereotypes for tropes that relate to the fictional portrayals of specific RealLife nations.
4	----
5	[[index]]
6	!!Fantastic cultures:
7	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: An entire race of people who are simply evil.
8	* AlwaysLawfulGood: ...And its exact opposite.
9	* AntiMagicalFaction: A distinct culture of magic-haters.
10	* BarbarianTribe: Uneducated and often chaotic, ranging from AlwaysChaoticEvil mooks to ProudWarriorRace {{Noble Savage}}s.
11	* BeePeople: A race with a eusocial hive-like society similar to real-life bees and ants.
12	* BornInTheSaddle: A culture centered around horses and horseriding.
13	* BornUnderTheSail: A culture centered around sailing.
14	* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: A highly advanced civilization that resembles an elegant ancient one, plus technology.
15	* CultureChopSuey: FantasyCounterpartCulture cobbled together from several real ones.
16	* ElementalNation: Nations divided based on ElementalPowers.
17	* EminentlyEnigmaticRace: A species primarily known for being unknowable.
18	* FantasticCasteSystem: A society divided into very different and distinct cultures, and nearly always lacking individual freedom to move between them.
19	* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Cultures on non-Earth worlds that are similar to real ones.
20	* FantasyCounterpartReligion: Religious mythologies loosely inspired by anything from the real world.
21	* FictionalCombatTroop: While the country may be real, the combat unit serving it is at best only loosely inspired by the real world.
22	* FictionalFlag: If you have a fictional country, it will probably have a fictional flag as well.
23	* FictionalUnitedNations: A government of governments, mediating between nations.
24	* HordesFromTheEast: Lots of feared enemies coming from the east.
25	* LadyLand: A female-dominated society.
26	* MagicalSociety: A distinct culture of magic-users.
27	* ModernMayincatecEmpire: AlternateHistory has let a Native American empire survive and flourish into the modern day.
28	* MulticulturalAlienPlanet: A planet with multiple distinct native cultures.
29	* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: A character rejects their culture's practices.
30	* NonHeteronormativeSociety: A society whose dominant sexual ethos doesn't center around heterosexuality.
31	* PlanetOfHats: A planet where everyone has the same theme or identifying characteristic.
32	* ProudHunterRace: A race built around hunting.
33	* ProudIndustriousRace: A race built around being diligent and hard-working.
34	* ProudMerchantRace: A race built around making money.
35	* ProudScholarRace: A race built around learning and knowledge.
36	* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: A member of a race/culture built around warfare and honor.
37	* ScaryDogmaticAliens: Evil aliens with an obvious dogma, usually a stand-in for real life ideologies.
38	* SingleSpeciesNations: Nations populated primarily by a single species.
39	* SlaveRace: A race of people enslaved by another race.
40	* SneakySpySpecies: A race built around espionage and covert ops.
41	* SocietyOfImmortals: A species or civilization whose members are all immortal.
42	* SonsOfSlaves: A free culture descended from slaves.
43	* SpaceJews: An alien culture which resembles a stereotypical version of a human ethnicity or nationality.
44	* SpaceNomads: Peoples who spend their life traveling around space without a permanent home.
45	* SpaceRomans: An alien culture that strongly resembles one from Earth's history.
46	* TribeOfPriests: A race built around religion.
47	* WackyWaysideTribe: A culture which is small and eccentric compared to its neighbours.
48	* WanderingCulture: A nomadic culture.
49
50	!!Cultures to base your fictional culture upon:
51	* AncientEgypt, because EgyptIsStillAncient.
52	* AncientRome: [[GladiatorGames Gladiators]], [[GodEmperor Emperors]], [[UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome and an army that you don't want to mess with]].
53	* CommieLand: Soviet-inspired military and ruthless politics. CityOfSpies everywhere.
54	* DarkestAfrica
55	* {{Eagleland}}: American styled culture based around democracy, liberty, and freedom. For better or for worse.
56	* EskimoLand: The HornyVikings to the InjunCountry.
57	* FarEast: {{Samurai}}, {{Ninja}}s, and {{Yokai}}
58	* HornyVikings: [[GrimUpNorth Northern Northmen]] who [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy base their lives on fighting and glory]].
59	* InjunCountry: People commune with the forces of nature, living in tipis, and believe in totems.
60	* MedievalEuropeanFantasy: Many (if not most) fantasy stories are set in a world that is (very loosely) based on the European MiddleAges.
61
62	!!Cultures defined by their government:
63	* TheAlliance: A group of smaller nations banded together for political strength, usually versus TheEmpire.
64	* TheDictatorship: An evil, undemocratic government ruled by a single man or small clique.
65	* TheEmpire: Evil, regimented, and intent upon world domination.
66	* TheFederation: A generally good, generally democratic ReasonableAuthorityFigure.
67	* ForeignRulingClass: A society where the region's native people are ruled by a group originally from another region.
68	* TheGoodKingdom: A usually small, usually good, sometimes magical kingdom.
69	* HegemonicEmpire: An empire which absorbs instead of conquers and makes people want to be a part of it.
70	* TheHorde: Loosely-connected barbarian masses.
71	* MicroMonarchy: A tiny country with a monarchy, usually modern and liberalized.
72	* MultipleGovernmentPolity: A large empire or federation encompasses smaller countries that might be republics, kingdoms, or other.
73	* PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: TheEmpire trying to pass itself off as TheFederation. Includes in its name words referring to freedom and democracy.
74	* TheRepublic: Usually capitalist, democratic, and humanitarian heroic culture, more tight-knit than TheFederation.
75	* ResurgentEmpire: An empire rises BackFromTheBrink.
76	* RisingEmpire: A proud race in an expansionist phase, usually led by TheConqueror.
77	* TheTheocracy: A society in which the Church is the government.
78	* VestigialEmpire: An empire which has seen better days.
79	* VoluntaryVassal: A culture that has willingly sworn to TheEmpire and receives better treatment than those who have been subjugated.
80
81	!!Cultural details that make a culture more fantastic:
82	* AdvancedCivilizationHollowImagination: A civilization has no capacity for comparatively expansive culture and variety, despite being so advanced and intelligent.
83	* AliensNeverInventedDemocracy
84	* AliensNeverInventedTheWheel
85	* BazaarOfTheBizarre: A marketplace selling strange and wonderful things.
86	* {{Conlang}}: The author makes up entire languages.
87	* ExoticExtendedMarriage: Exotic cultures are more open to unusual marriage arrangements.
88	* ExtremeSpeculativeStratification: The rich and poor are starkly and absolutely divided.
89	* FantasticHonorifics: This culture uses unusual manners of address to show status.
90	* FantasticNamingConvention: People in this culture have names in an unusual format.
91	* FantasticRacism: People in this culture are racist for unusual reasons.
92	* FantasticRankSystem: This culture's military uses a fictional system of ranks.
93	* FantasyWorldMap: The author has detailed the geography of the world.
94	* FantasyPantheon: An invented set of deities for the culture to worship.
95	* FictionalAgeOfMajority: An age-based threshold for someone to be considered an adult, join the army, bear the crown or some other plot-relevant thing.
96	* FictionalConstellations: An invented set of constellations perceived in the night sky.
97	* FictionalCurrency: A form of currency invented for a fictional setting.
98	* FictionalGreetingsAndFarewells: A different type of greeting or farewell than is used in real-life languages.
99	* FictionalZodiac: The culture has its own version of the zodiac.
100	* InventedLinguisticDistinction: The culture has its own dialect, language, or other linguistic trait that sets it apart from other cultures.
101	* LeftJustifiedFantasyMap: If the work contains only part of a world map, it normally shows that the main cultures are on the western part of the continent, and "the east" is undefined.
102	* LowCultureHighTech: A civilization is more advanced technologically than they are socially.
103	* MechanisticAlienCulture
104	* NamedworldAndNamedland: The country is named "something-land".
105	* NoBloodTies: A society in which parents are not expected to raise their own offspring.
106	* NoFathersAllowed: A culture or society in which ''everyone'' has a DisappearedDad.
107	* NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture
108	* OneMansTrashIsAnothersTreasure: People in this culture find [[MundaneObjectAmazement mundane things amazing]] or [[SolidGoldPoop amazing things mundane]].
109	* SociallyScoredSociety: In this culture, each person's reputation is somehow given a rank or score. The higher it is, the better their life is.
110	* SpeculativeFictionLGBT
111	* TerminallyDependentSociety: A society that depends on a single piece of AppliedPhlebotinum to survive.
112
113	!!Fictional settings for these cultures:
114	* {{Americasia}}: A setting where the dominant culture is a blend of American and Asian culture.
115	* {{Arcadia}}: A gentle, utopic countryside where people are InHarmonyWithNature.
116	* {{Atlantis}}: An ancient island civilization which sank into the ocean for one reason or another.
117	* BananaRepublic: A fictional developing tropical nation, usually of Central or South America, populated by militias and tinpot dictators.
118	* {{Bulungi}}: A fictional developing country wedged into sub-Saharan Africa.
119	* EnchantedForest: Vast old forest, home to strange things and secrets.
120	* FictionalCountry: A fictional nation-state in an otherwise real-world setting.
121	* FictionalProvince: A fictional province/state/county/etc. set within an otherwise real country.
122	* GhibliHills: Pristine and usually not-too-dangerous wilderness near civilization.
123	* GrimUpNorth: The frigid north is a place of darkness and danger, and possibly evil.
124	* LandOfOneCity: The setting (country, kingdom, planet...) has only one city, making it a City-State.
125	* MagicalLand: The "other world" which people from ours visit.
126	* NorthIsColdSouthIsHot: When the north of the world map has all the cold regions, and the south has all the warm regions.
127	* PostSovietReunion: Russia reunites with post-Soviet states into an alliance, supranational union or superstate.
128	* {{Qurac}}: A generic North African, Middle Eastern, Central or South Asian country populated by sand, camels, optional oil, and either sultans or terrorists.
129	* {{Ruritania}}: A small backwards country in Southern, Central or Eastern Europe.
130	* TheSavageSouth: The south is barbaric, inhospitable, and hot.
131	* TropicalIslandAdventure: A tropical island, usually located in or based on the Caribbean, Oceania or Southeast Asia.
132	* {{Uberwald}}: A dark and gothic Eastern European setting.
133	* UnitedEurope: Europe has become a unified entity.
134	* {{Wutai}}: A generic FarEast-flavored setting in MedievalFantasy.
135	[[/index]]

Context Main / FictionalCultureAndNationTropes