This estate description is part of a short series of posts on the people and society of my homebrew setting, Galthamar. Ideals, self-portrait A Gobelin is tough and tenacious, wily and resourceful, tolerant and open. Even if facing a hard life, Gobelins find a way to look after themselves and their own. Gobelins do not… Continue reading The estates of Galthamar: Gobelins
Category: Worldbuilding
Imagining worlds for use in games, fiction, etc.
The estates of Galthamar: Dueren
This estate description is part of a short series of posts on the people and society of my homebrew setting, Galthamar. Ideals, self-portrait A Duer is professional and practical, strong and sturdy, trustworthy and true. Dueren cultivate skill and expertise in whatever they do, be it craft, business or other occupation. Whether rich or poor,… Continue reading The estates of Galthamar: Dueren
The estates of Galthamar: Eltheren
This estate description is part of a short series of posts on the people and society of my homebrew setting, Galthamar. Content Warning: colourism and related prejudice about appearance On that note, before I start: I nearly revised this to remove or greatly tone down the colourism and appearance prejudice here, but I’ve left it… Continue reading The estates of Galthamar: Eltheren
The estates of Galthamar: Holbits
This estate description is part of a short series of posts on the people and society of my homebrew setting, Galthamar. Ideals, self-portrait A Holbit is industrious and family-oriented, honest and true, hospitable and courteous. They follow steady ways of life, such as agriculture, handicrafts and long-contract employment. Holbit culture is traditional and modest, with… Continue reading The estates of Galthamar: Holbits
The Estates of Galthamar: Highmen
This estate description is part of a short series of posts on the people and society of my homebrew setting, Galthamar. Ideals, self-portrait A Highman is tall and noble, strong and brave, just and decorous. Raised to be warriors, Highmen are the protectors of the land and its people, and therefore the rulers and holders… Continue reading The Estates of Galthamar: Highmen
Galthamar and its -verse: common human characteristics
Humans in the Galthamar-verse are fundamentally similar to those in the real world, and many could blend in here. Sex and gender As in reality, most humans in one of two sexes, male or female, with differences in reproductive organs and some tendencies to differ in bone structure, body hair and other characteristics. There are… Continue reading Galthamar and its -verse: common human characteristics
Galthamar: an example of socially-constructed race
As I have discussed in recent posts, I’m world building with just one highly variable human species, instead of absolutely separate races in the standard DnD mode. But I still have a bit of a soft spot for the traditional sub-Tolkien archetypes and a few years ago it occurred to me that I could recast… Continue reading Galthamar: an example of socially-constructed race
Socially constructed race
In this post, I’m going to lay out some principles for world building without essentialism in race. This starts to put into action some of the things I’ve worked out in other recent posts (signposted here). In future posts, I think I will set out a specific society following these principles, and showing an idea… Continue reading Socially constructed race
Essentialism
I’ve touched on this in recent posts, but I want to explain what I mean by ‘essentialism’ as an approach to race. It is a very dated idea that I think most people now understand doesn’t reflect the real world, but it was prevalent in the British Empire (and other colonial societies), baked into the… Continue reading Essentialism
Racial mixing vs separation
In this post (part of a series on race in fantasy), I will discuss the logic of what happens if different fantasy races can interbreed, and what world building options are therefore open to a logical world-builder. Two disclaimers before I get into this: I am talking about biological heredity: what modern science calls genes… Continue reading Racial mixing vs separation