wongery

[wongery]

Fantasy Guide to Building A Culture

Culture is defined by a collection of morals, ethics, traditions, customs and behaviours shared by a group of people.

Hierarchy and Social Structures

Within every culture, there is a hierarchy. Hierarchies are an important part of any culture, usually do ingrained that one within the culture wouldn't even question it. Hierarchy can be established either by age, gender or wealth and could even determine roles within their society. Sometimes hierarchy can may be oppressive and rigid whilst other times, ranks can intermingle without trouble. You should consider how these different ranks interact with one another and whether there are any special gestures or acts of deference one must pay to those higher than them. For example, the Khasi people of Meghalaya (Northern India), are strictly matrillineal. Women run the households, inheritance runs through the female line, and the men of the culture typically defer to their mothers and wives. Here are a few questions to consider:

How is a leader determined within the culture as a whole and the family unit?

Is the culture matriarchal? Patriarchal? Or does gender even matter?

How would one recognise the different ranks?

How would one act around somebody higher ranking? How would somebody he expected to act around somebody lower ranking?

Can one move socially? If not, why? If so, how?

Traditions and Customs

Traditions are a staple in any culture. These can be gestures or living life a certain way or to the way a certain person should look. Traditions are a personal detail to culture, they are what make it important. Tradition can dictate how one should keep their home, run their family, take care of their appearance, act in public and even determine relationship. Tradition can also be a double edged sword. Traditions can also be restrictive and allow a culture to push away a former member if they do not adhere to them, eg Traditional expectations of chastity led to thousands of Irish women being imprisoned at the Magdelene Laundries. Customs could be anything from how one treats another, to how they greet someone.

How important is tradition?

What are some rituals your culture undertakes?

What are some traditional values in your world? Does it effect daily life?

Are there any traditions that determine one's status?

Values and Opinions

Values and Opinions are the bread and butter of any culture. This is the way your culture sees the world and how they approach different life hurdles. These may differ with other cultures and be considered odd to outsiders, what one culture may value another may not and what opinion another holds, one may not. There will be historical and traditional reasons to why these values and opinions are held. Cultures usually have a paragon to which they hold their members to, a list of characteristics that they expect one to if not adhere to then aspire to. The Yoruba people value honesty, hard work, courage and integrity. Here are some questions to consider?

How important are these ethics and core values? Could somebody be ostracised for not living up to them?

What are some morals that clash with other cultures?

What does your culture precieved to be right? Or wrong?

What are some opinions that are considered to be taboo in your culture? Why?

Dress Code

For many cultures, the way somebody dresses can be important. History and ethics can effect how one is meant to be dressed such as an expectation of chastity, can impose strict modesty. While other cultures, put more importance on details, the different sorts of clothes worn and when or what colour one might wear. The Palestinian people (من النهر إلى البحر ، قد يكونون أحرارا) denoted different family ties, marriage status and wealth by the embroidery and detailing on their thoub.

Are there traditional clothes for your world? Are they something somebody wears on a daily basis or just on occasion?

Are there any rules around what people can wear?

What would be considered formal dress? Casual dress?

What would happen if somebody wore the wrong clothes to an event?

Language

Language can also be ingrained as part of a Culture. It can be a specific way one speaks or a an entirely different language. For example, in the Southern States of America, one can engage in a sort of double talk, saying something that sounds sweet whilst delivering something pointed. Bless their heart. I have a post on creating your own language here.

Arts, Music and Craft

Many cultures are known for different styles of dance, their artwork and crafts. Art is a great part of culture, a way for people to express themselves and their culture in art form. Dance can be an integral part of culture, such as céilí dance in Ireland or the Polka in the Czech Republic. Handicrafts could also be important in culture, such as knitting in Scottish culture and Hebron glass in Palestine. Music is also close to culture, from traditional kinds of singing such as the White Voice in Ukraine and the playing of certain instruments such as the mvet.

Food and Diet

The way a culture prepares or intakes or treats certain foods are important to a culture. In some cultures, there is a diet yo adhere to, certain foods are completely banned. With Jewish culture, pork is prohibited along with fish such as sturgeon, along with shellfish and certain fowl. Meat must also be prepared in a certain way and animal byproducts such as dairy, must never be created or even eaten around this meat. This is known as kosher. The way one consumes food is also important to culture. In some cultures, only certain people may eat together. Some cultures place important on how food is eaten. In Nigerian culture, the oldest guests are served first usually the men before the women. In Japanese culture, one must say 'itadakimasu' (I recieve) before eating. Culture may also include fasting, periods of time one doesn't intake food for a specific reason.

What are some traditional dishes in your world?

What would be a basic diet for the common man?

What's considered a delicacy?

Is there a societal difference in diet? What are the factors that effect diet between classes?

Is there any influence from other cuisines? If not, why not? If so, to what extent?

What would a typical breakfast contain?

What meals are served during the day?

What's considered a comfort food or drink?

Are there any restrictions on who can eat what or when?

Are there any banned foods?

What stance does your world take on alcohol? Is it legal? Can anybody consume it?

Are there any dining customs? Are traditions?

Is there a difference in formal meals or casual meals? If so, what's involved?

Are there any gestures or actions unacceptable at the dinner table?

How are guests treated at meals? If they are given deference, how so?

#reblogs #worldbuilding

[wongery]

New blog post on the Wongery: "The Purpose of the Wongery". Clarifying, well, the purpose of the Wongery, since I think there have been some minor misconceptions.

(This is not an April Fools' joke. Not that it would be a funny April Fools' joke if it was. I mean, there's nothing really outrageous or unlikely in the post.)

#wongery #worldbuilding #worlds #world #world building

[wongery]

New blog post on the Wongery: "Change of Plans"

This post is not so much about worldbuilding or the content of the Wongery, and more about my travails with my hosting company. So if you're not interested in reading about that, you may want to skip this one. I wouldn't blame you. I'm not really interested in it, and I wrote the damn thing.

#the wongery #wongery #webhosting #webhost

[wongery]

New article posted to the Wongery, about the creation of a new world (and about the frequency with which we probably should or shouldn't be creating new worlds).

Also, here's the article about the new world in question:

https://wongery.com/wiki/Meliauth

#worldbuilding #alternate Earth #world #worlds #world building #Wongery #The Wongery

[wongery]

New blog post on the Wongery: Antisocial Media.

(This blog post is... largely kind of about Tumblr, so posting about it here feels kind of... circular?, but oh well.)

#The Wongery #wongery #Tumblr

[wongery]

After way too long, there's finally a new blog post up at the Wongery.... which explains why it's been so long since there's been a new blog post (or anything else) up at the Wongery. Hopefully it won't be nearly as long before the next time.

#wongery #worldbuilding

[wongery]

Had a lot to deal with lately and haven't had as much time to work on the Wongery as I'd like, but after far too long I just finally got some new articles up—and since it had been so long, I wrote a blog post about it, and about what else has been going on.

The links to the new articles are in the blog post, but I'll go ahead and put them in here separately as well:

#worldbuilding #world building #wongery #fantasy worldbuilding #fantasy

[wongery]

The Wongery has an article about this phenomenon, though it's currently a stub.

if you have the lesbian flag in your fantasy world you must make a justification to why Sappho, Lesbos, Bronze Age Greek poetry, and Emily Gwen exists in your universe.

#wongery #languages #etymology

[wongery]

New blog post on the Wongery: Seven Days In

A blog post about how the Wongery's "hard launch" went, what's been going on during the last week, and where things may go from here. (One place things may go from here is that we've really got to get more articles up...)

https://www.wongery.com/blog/Seven

#wongery

[wongery]

Okay, after spending so much time on the code for the Wongery site trying to get it ready the last week of December, I wasn't going to touch any programming again for a while, but it was bothering me enough that the links to pages in the Wiki "subspaces" (like the RPG page) were treated like broken links even if the page existed (with the red broken link color and the "(page does not exist) tooltip" that I decided I really wanted to get that fixed.

I stayed up way later last night than I should have trying to figure out what was going on there, when there are other things I really should have been doing, but I eventually got it fixed. Not a major issue, but that had been bothering me.

Now hopefully this week I'll finally get some new articles posted...

#wongery

[wongery]

Whoops! I checked the site on my phone to make sure it hadn't gone done again... and realized that I'd never looked at the site on my phone before since the redesign, and that I hadn't taken mobile accessibility into account, and that the site's front page looked terrible viewed on a cell phone.

Anyway, I added some css to deal with this, and the site should be much more mobile-friendly now. Sorry about that.

#wongery #web design #css

[wongery]

Okay, I contacted my hosting company and the site is back up, although I'm not entirely sure whether the upgrade is complete, so I can't guarantee it may not temporarily go down again. (The agent assures me there will be no further issues, but at this point I don't entirely trust them… I am not happy with my hosting company right now…) Sorry for the trouble, and thanks again for your interest.

The Wongery — A Site About Imaginary Worlds

Hi! Please check out our site about imaginary worlds!

The Wongery

We've been working on this site for fifteen years, but we've never told anyone else about it until today. Why not? Because we're not very bright, I guess. Is a blazed Tumblr post really the best way to get the word out? Probably not! Like I said, we may not be very bright. Still, I've been on Tumblr for more than a decade (not with this account; I just created this account recently; but I have a personal account I've had for a lot longer), so if nobody ends up visiting the site because of this blazed post, well, I guess the worst-case scenario is that we've just given Tumblr a little money to pay them back for all the time we've spent here. (Well, no; maybe the absolutely worst-case scenario is that somebody does visit the site, and hates it so much they devote their lives to hunting me down and eradicating me and everyone I ever loved, and then this somehow results in the destruction of the universe. But I think that's pretty unlikely.)

Anyway, the site is called the Wongery, and it's at https://wongery.com, and it includes a wiki called the Central Wongery where we post about our own imaginary worlds, and another wiki called the Public Wongery where anyone can post about their creations. It's not limited to just writing text content; there are places where you can post RPG stats for creatures and characters of your worlds, and LEGO models, and video game assets, and more. (Admittedly, there is nothing in those places yet, but they're there.) It's still very much a work in progress, and there are a lot of broken links right now and features we haven't implemented yet, but there's enough there that I hope people can get some enjoyment out of it.

Anyway, please visit our site and see what you think! And please refrain from doing anything that might somehow result in the destruction of the universe. Thank you.

[wongery]

Okay, I contacted my hosting company and the site is back up, although I'm not entirely sure whether the upgrade is complete, so I can't guarantee it may not temporarily go down again. (The agent assures me there will be no further issues, but at this point I don't entirely trust them… I am not happy with my hosting company right now…) Sorry for the trouble, and thanks again for your interest.

The Wongery — A Site About Imaginary Worlds

Hi! Please check out our site about imaginary worlds!

The Wongery

We've been working on this site for fifteen years, but we've never told anyone else about it until today. Why not? Because we're not very bright, I guess. Is a blazed Tumblr post really the best way to get the word out? Probably not! Like I said, we may not be very bright. Still, I've been on Tumblr for more than a decade (not with this account; I just created this account recently; but I have a personal account I've had for a lot longer), so if nobody ends up visiting the site because of this blazed post, well, I guess the worst-case scenario is that we've just given Tumblr a little money to pay them back for all the time we've spent here. (Well, no; maybe the absolutely worst-case scenario is that somebody does visit the site, and hates it so much they devote their lives to hunting me down and eradicating me and everyone I ever loved, and then this somehow results in the destruction of the universe. But I think that's pretty unlikely.)

Anyway, the site is called the Wongery, and it's at https://wongery.com, and it includes a wiki called the Central Wongery where we post about our own imaginary worlds, and another wiki called the Public Wongery where anyone can post about their creations. It's not limited to just writing text content; there are places where you can post RPG stats for creatures and characters of your worlds, and LEGO models, and video game assets, and more. (Admittedly, there is nothing in those places yet, but they're there.) It's still very much a work in progress, and there are a lot of broken links right now and features we haven't implemented yet, but there's enough there that I hope people can get some enjoyment out of it.

Anyway, please visit our site and see what you think! And please refrain from doing anything that might somehow result in the destruction of the universe. Thank you.

[wongery]

Okay, I contacted my hosting company and the site is back up, although I'm not entirely sure whether the upgrade is complete, so I can't guarantee it may not temporarily go down again. (The agent assures me there will be no further issues, but at this point I don't entirely trust them… I am not happy with my hosting company right now…) Sorry for the trouble, and thanks again for your interest.

The Wongery — A Site About Imaginary Worlds

Hi! Please check out our site about imaginary worlds!

The Wongery

We've been working on this site for fifteen years, but we've never told anyone else about it until today. Why not? Because we're not very bright, I guess. Is a blazed Tumblr post really the best way to get the word out? Probably not! Like I said, we may not be very bright. Still, I've been on Tumblr for more than a decade (not with this account; I just created this account recently; but I have a personal account I've had for a lot longer), so if nobody ends up visiting the site because of this blazed post, well, I guess the worst-case scenario is that we've just given Tumblr a little money to pay them back for all the time we've spent here. (Well, no; maybe the absolutely worst-case scenario is that somebody does visit the site, and hates it so much they devote their lives to hunting me down and eradicating me and everyone I ever loved, and then this somehow results in the destruction of the universe. But I think that's pretty unlikely.)

Anyway, the site is called the Wongery, and it's at https://wongery.com, and it includes a wiki called the Central Wongery where we post about our own imaginary worlds, and another wiki called the Public Wongery where anyone can post about their creations. It's not limited to just writing text content; there are places where you can post RPG stats for creatures and characters of your worlds, and LEGO models, and video game assets, and more. (Admittedly, there is nothing in those places yet, but they're there.) It's still very much a work in progress, and there are a lot of broken links right now and features we haven't implemented yet, but there's enough there that I hope people can get some enjoyment out of it.

Anyway, please visit our site and see what you think! And please refrain from doing anything that might somehow result in the destruction of the universe. Thank you.

[wongery]

Yikes, sorry, my hosting company decided to upgrade my hosting plan just as my Blaze campaign started, in a display of fantastically terrible timing.

The site is up again now, although I'm not entirely sure whether the upgrade is complete, so I can't guarantee it may not go temporarily down again. Thanks for your interest, and sorry for the inconvenience.

The Wongery — A Site About Imaginary Worlds

Hi! Please check out our site about imaginary worlds!

The Wongery

We've been working on this site for fifteen years, but we've never told anyone else about it until today. Why not? Because we're not very bright, I guess. Is a blazed Tumblr post really the best way to get the word out? Probably not! Like I said, we may not be very bright. Still, I've been on Tumblr for more than a decade (not with this account; I just created this account recently; but I have a personal account I've had for a lot longer), so if nobody ends up visiting the site because of this blazed post, well, I guess the worst-case scenario is that we've just given Tumblr a little money to pay them back for all the time we've spent here. (Well, no; maybe the absolutely worst-case scenario is that somebody does visit the site, and hates it so much they devote their lives to hunting me down and eradicating me and everyone I ever loved, and then this somehow results in the destruction of the universe. But I think that's pretty unlikely.)

Anyway, the site is called the Wongery, and it's at https://wongery.com, and it includes a wiki called the Central Wongery where we post about our own imaginary worlds, and another wiki called the Public Wongery where anyone can post about their creations. It's not limited to just writing text content; there are places where you can post RPG stats for creatures and characters of your worlds, and LEGO models, and video game assets, and more. (Admittedly, there is nothing in those places yet, but they're there.) It's still very much a work in progress, and there are a lot of broken links right now and features we haven't implemented yet, but there's enough there that I hope people can get some enjoyment out of it.

Anyway, please visit our site and see what you think! And please refrain from doing anything that might somehow result in the destruction of the universe. Thank you.

[wongery]

Oh no aargh in a display of horrendously bad timing my hosting provider chose to upgrade my hosting (therefore making my site temporarily inaccessible) just as my Blaze campaign started.

Dang it. The site should be up again within an hour or two; I'll let you know when it is. Thanks for your interest.

The Wongery — A Site About Imaginary Worlds

Hi! Please check out our site about imaginary worlds!

The Wongery

We've been working on this site for fifteen years, but we've never told anyone else about it until today. Why not? Because we're not very bright, I guess. Is a blazed Tumblr post really the best way to get the word out? Probably not! Like I said, we may not be very bright. Still, I've been on Tumblr for more than a decade (not with this account; I just created this account recently; but I have a personal account I've had for a lot longer), so if nobody ends up visiting the site because of this blazed post, well, I guess the worst-case scenario is that we've just given Tumblr a little money to pay them back for all the time we've spent here. (Well, no; maybe the absolutely worst-case scenario is that somebody does visit the site, and hates it so much they devote their lives to hunting me down and eradicating me and everyone I ever loved, and then this somehow results in the destruction of the universe. But I think that's pretty unlikely.)

Anyway, the site is called the Wongery, and it's at https://wongery.com, and it includes a wiki called the Central Wongery where we post about our own imaginary worlds, and another wiki called the Public Wongery where anyone can post about their creations. It's not limited to just writing text content; there are places where you can post RPG stats for creatures and characters of your worlds, and LEGO models, and video game assets, and more. (Admittedly, there is nothing in those places yet, but they're there.) It's still very much a work in progress, and there are a lot of broken links right now and features we haven't implemented yet, but there's enough there that I hope people can get some enjoyment out of it.

Anyway, please visit our site and see what you think! And please refrain from doing anything that might somehow result in the destruction of the universe. Thank you.

[wongery]

Oh no aargh in a display of horrendously bad timing my hosting provider chose to upgrade my hosting (therefore making my site temporarily inaccessible) just as my Blaze campaign started.

Dang it. The site should be up again within an hour or two; I'll let you know when it is. Thanks for your interest.

The Wongery — A Site About Imaginary Worlds

Hi! Please check out our site about imaginary worlds!

The Wongery

We've been working on this site for fifteen years, but we've never told anyone else about it until today. Why not? Because we're not very bright, I guess. Is a blazed Tumblr post really the best way to get the word out? Probably not! Like I said, we may not be very bright. Still, I've been on Tumblr for more than a decade (not with this account; I just created this account recently; but I have a personal account I've had for a lot longer), so if nobody ends up visiting the site because of this blazed post, well, I guess the worst-case scenario is that we've just given Tumblr a little money to pay them back for all the time we've spent here. (Well, no; maybe the absolutely worst-case scenario is that somebody does visit the site, and hates it so much they devote their lives to hunting me down and eradicating me and everyone I ever loved, and then this somehow results in the destruction of the universe. But I think that's pretty unlikely.)

Anyway, the site is called the Wongery, and it's at https://wongery.com, and it includes a wiki called the Central Wongery where we post about our own imaginary worlds, and another wiki called the Public Wongery where anyone can post about their creations. It's not limited to just writing text content; there are places where you can post RPG stats for creatures and characters of your worlds, and LEGO models, and video game assets, and more. (Admittedly, there is nothing in those places yet, but they're there.) It's still very much a work in progress, and there are a lot of broken links right now and features we haven't implemented yet, but there's enough there that I hope people can get some enjoyment out of it.

Anyway, please visit our site and see what you think! And please refrain from doing anything that might somehow result in the destruction of the universe. Thank you.