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 | * FictionalUnitedNations: A government of governments, mediating between nations. |
22 | * HordesFromTheEast: Lots of feared enemies coming from the east. |
23 | * LadyLand: A female-dominated society. |
24 | * MagicalSociety: A distinct culture of magic-users. |
25 | * ModernMayincatecEmpire: AlternateHistory has let a Native American empire survive and flourish into the modern day. |
26 | * MulticulturalAlienPlanet: A planet with multiple distinct native cultures. |
27 | * MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: A character rejects their culture's practices. |
28 | * NonHeteronormativeSociety: A society whose dominant sexual ethos doesn't center around heterosexuality. |
29 | * PlanetOfHats: A planet where everyone has the same theme or identifying characteristic. |
30 | * ProudHunterRace: A race built around hunting. |
31 | * ProudIndustriousRace: A race built around being diligent and hard-working. |
32 | * ProudMerchantRace: A race built around making money. |
33 | * ProudScholarRace: A race built around learning and knowledge. |
34 | * ProudWarriorRaceGuy: A member of a race/culture built around warfare and honor. |
35 | * ScaryDogmaticAliens: Evil aliens with an obvious dogma, usually a stand-in for real life ideologies. |
36 | * SingleSpeciesNations: Nations populated primarily by a single species. |
37 | * SlaveRace: A race of people enslaved by another race. |
38 | * SneakySpySpecies: A race built around espionage and covert ops. |
39 | * SocietyOfImmortals: A species or civilization whose members are all immortal. |
40 | * SonsOfSlaves: A free culture descended from slaves. |
41 | * SpaceJews: An alien culture which resembles a stereotypical version of a human ethnicity or nationality. |
42 | * SpaceNomads: Peoples who spend their life traveling around space without a permanent home. |
43 | * SpaceRomans: An alien culture that strongly resembles one from Earth's history. |
44 | * TribeOfPriests: A race built around religion. |
45 | * WackyWaysideTribe: A culture which is small and eccentric compared to its neighbours. |
46 | * WanderingCulture: A nomadic culture. |
47 | |
48 | !!Cultures to base your fictional culture upon: |
49 | * AncientEgypt, because EgyptIsStillAncient. |
50 | * AncientRome: [[GladiatorGames Gladiators]], [[GodEmperor Emperors]], [[UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome and an army that you don't want to mess with]]. |
51 | * CommieLand: Soviet-inspired military and ruthless politics. CityOfSpies everywhere. |
52 | * DarkestAfrica: Africa portrayed as a [[HungryJungle treacherous jungle]], [[CrossingTheDesert scorching desert]], or wide savannah populated by [[HollywoodNatives mysterious tribal people]]. |
53 | * {{Eagleland}}: American styled culture based around democracy, liberty, and freedom. For better or for worse. |
54 | * EskimoLand: The HornyVikings to the InjunCountry. |
55 | * FarEast: {{Samurai}}, {{Ninja}}s, and {{Yokai}} |
56 | * HornyVikings: [[GrimUpNorth Northern Northmen]] who [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy base their lives on fighting and glory]]. |
57 | * InjunCountry: People commune with the forces of nature, living in tipis, and believe in totems. |
58 | * MedievalEuropeanFantasy: Many (if not most) fantasy stories are set in a world that is (very loosely) based on the European MiddleAges. |
59 | |
60 | !!Cultures defined by their government: |
61 | * TheAlliance: A group of smaller nations banded together for political strength, usually versus TheEmpire. |
62 | * TheDictatorship: An evil, undemocratic government ruled by a single man or small clique. |
63 | * TheEmpire: Evil, regimented, and intent upon world domination. |
64 | * TheFederation: A generally good, generally democratic ReasonableAuthorityFigure. |
65 | * ForeignRulingClass: A society where the region's native people are ruled by a group originally from another region. |
66 | * TheGoodKingdom: A usually small, usually good, sometimes magical kingdom. |
67 | * HegemonicEmpire: An empire which absorbs instead of conquers and makes people want to be a part of it. |
68 | * TheHorde: Loosely-connected barbarian masses. |
69 | * MicroMonarchy: A tiny country with a monarchy, usually modern and liberalized. |
70 | * MultipleGovernmentPolity: A large empire or federation encompasses smaller countries that might be republics, kingdoms, or other. |
71 | * PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: TheEmpire trying to pass itself off as TheFederation. Includes in its name words referring to freedom and democracy. |
72 | * TheRepublic: Usually capitalist, democratic, and humanitarian heroic culture, more tight-knit than TheFederation. |
73 | * ResurgentEmpire: An empire rises BackFromTheBrink. |
74 | * RisingEmpire: A proud race in an expansionist phase, usually led by TheConqueror. |
75 | * TheTheocracy: A society in which the Church is the government. |
76 | * VestigialEmpire: An empire which has seen better days. |
77 | * VoluntaryVassal: A culture that has willingly sworn to TheEmpire and receives better treatment than those who have been subjugated. |
78 | |
79 | !!Cultural details that make a culture more fantastic: |
80 | * AdvancedCivilizationHollowImagination: A civilization has no capacity for comparatively expansive culture and variety, despite being so advanced and intelligent. |
81 | * AliensNeverInventedDemocracy |
82 | * AliensNeverInventedTheWheel |
83 | * BazaarOfTheBizarre: A marketplace selling strange and wonderful things. |
84 | * {{Conlang}}: The author makes up entire languages. |
85 | * ExoticExtendedMarriage: Exotic cultures are more open to unusual marriage arrangements. |
86 | * ExtremeSpeculativeStratification: The rich and poor are starkly and absolutely divided. |
87 | * FantasticHonorifics: This culture uses unusual manners of address to show status. |
88 | * FantasticNamingConvention: People in this culture have names in an unusual format. |
89 | * FantasticRacism: People in this culture are racist for unusual reasons. |
90 | * FantasticRankSystem: This culture's military uses a fictional system of ranks. |
91 | * FantasyWorldMap: The author has detailed the geography of the world. |
92 | * FantasyPantheon: An invented set of deities for the culture to worship. |
93 | * FictionalAgeOfMajority: An age-based threshold for someone to be considered an adult, join the army, bear the crown or some other plot-relevant thing. |
94 | * FictionalCombatTroop: While the country may be real, the combat unit serving it is at best only loosely inspired by the real world. |
95 | * FictionalConstellations: An invented set of constellations perceived in the night sky. |
96 | * FictionalCurrency: A form of currency invented for a fictional setting. |
97 | * FictionalFlag: If you have a fictional country, it will probably have a fictional flag as well. |
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]] |
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