AtlasSniperman
2015-08-22, 05:28 PM
Nations rise and nations fall, many great worlds are filled with civilizations and cultures with different ideals and technology; from the magical elven airships to the horse nomads, every nation holds different things in different regards.
This is a simple little 5 attribute system designed for those who aren't great at creating cultures on their own and need some form of numeric structure behind it to feel they have something realistic. This process gives each culture, civilization or nation(whatever you deem to call them) both a level and 5 attributes. The level represents the group's power compared to other groups and helps determine how far along in the development of technology or ideals the culture may be. The five attributes are; Tech, Arc, Div, Psi and Inc, which are all detailed below.
(Please note, that in using this system you do not HAVE to include Arcane magic, Divine magic, Psionics or Incarnum in your world, where these are noted it is simply a guide for if you do include them)
Tech: The development of tools and machinery to improve the lives of the people. A very low value would likely use individual and simple tools, A moderate value is more likely to have better tools to improve individual tasks. A high value includes tools to make certain tasks at all possible. A very high value completely automates some tasks.
Arc: The tradition of passing cumulative knowledge from generation to generation. A higher value means information can translate over a larger generation gap with smaller changes or misinterpretation. Arc also measures the influence of Arcane magic on the culture and its tools.
A "low" value means the general populace only has access to word of mouth knowledge
A "medium" value indicates that for the general populace learning can be attained through training.
A "high" value represents cultural access to books and libraries.
An Arc attribute in the "very high" range indicates easy access to every piece of collective knowledge in the civilization to all citizens.
However, if Arc has a value of 0, it does not mean that there is no means of passing down information through generations, only that the knowledge of previous techniques and training is only available to the social elite.
Div: Spirituality, faith in a higher power or groups. A higher value means both a more rigid structure and definition of the higher power, and a greater effect that power has on the civilization. Div also measures the influence of Divine magic on the culture and its tools.
A "low" value is best suited to a civilization accepting of a group of beliefs, without endorsing any.
A "medium" value indicates a group of wildly accepted beliefs.
A "high" value is typical of a civilisation with structured and consistent beliefs
A Div attribute in the "very high" range indicates a strict adherance to a single set of beliefs, with the elimination(typically violently) of other beliefs.
However, if Div has a value of 0, it does not mean there is no religious faith, simply that one person's opinion is of no consequence to another.
Psi: The importance of personal development. A higher value means a greater emphasis on an individual's skillset and sense of self-worth. Psi also measures the influence of Psionics on the culture and its tools.
A "low" value is typical of a culture where everyone has a place in the hierarchy and there is no chance of changing status.
A "medium" value is often found in cultures where a civilian may change their social standing through serious effort, even if such are limited to selected professions.
A "high" value allows more room for change in social status through hard work, with centers for learning available to advance ones knowledge in a specific field.
A Psi attribute in the "very high" range indicates a great emphasis on personal development and skillfulness, with social classes(should they exist) being built not on blood but difficulty and detailed level of skills.
However, if Psi has a value of 0, it's not as much a case of no possibility of advancement as it is the lack of interest on the part of the populace.
Inc: The importance of history and tradition. A higher value means a greater emphasis on the opinions and values of the past. Inc also measures the influence of Incarnum on the culture and its tools.
A "low value is typical of a culture wherin people will retry things themselves more often than check if it has been done before.
A "medium" value indicates that the people of the civilization will tend to learn from their past, though are unlikely to hold any special reverence for it.
A "high" value can often be found in civilizations and cultures that value the importance of tradition, with many at this point also practising some level of ancestor worship.
An Inc attribute in the "very high" range indicates a strict adherence to rules and traditions, even if the original reasoning has been long lost.
How do the attributes work?
Simple; each civilizations 'level' is a measure of it's strength compared to others. The sum of all of a civilization's attributes totals out to four times it's level. Any increase in one attribute requires a decrease in another to maintain this balance.
An attribute can be as high as 12, or as low as 0(with the exception of Tech, which has a minimum of 1).
A value of 1-3 is considered 'low',
4-6 is considered 'medium',
7-9 is 'high'
and 10 through 12 is considered 'very high'.
As a note, typical medieval fantasy technology(swords, plate armor, seige weapons and the like) fall in "medium tech".
The purpose of a range of 3 attributes inside each group is for two main reasons:
A difference of 2 points is required for a non neutral alignment in the "advised alignment" notes below.
While two attributes can both be "medium", the populace may place more importance in one than the other, thus requiring a higher value.
A comparison can be made of sorts between the Tech attribute and the history of technology in our world. However this is not set in stone and is simply a guideline.
1 is Stone age tools(civilisation likely relies more on other attributes),
3 is Somewhere around the Egyptian Empire
5 is Typical Medieval fantasy
7 is moving into 15th Century clockwork devices
9 is the Industrial Revolution
11 is WW2
Comparitive numbers in other Attributes may look similar, with 11-12 typically including a civilisation possessing a power similar to nuclear weapons.
Advised alignments?
As an additional point of interest, each of the four "magic" attributes lends itself to a culture of a certain alignment. The higher Arc than Div, the more likely a culture is to be "Good" on the "Good/Evil" axis. The higher Psi than Inc, the more likely a culture is to be "Chaotic" on the "Chaos/Law" axis.
If Arc is greater than Div+1, then the culture is likely to be good.
If Div is greater than Arc+1, then the culture is likely to be evil.
If neither of the above apply, the culture is likely to be neutral.
If Psi is greater than Inc+1, then the culture is likely to be Chaotic.
If Inc is greater than Psi+1, then the culture is likely to be Lawful.
If neither of the above apply, the culture is likely to be neutral.
However these are merely guidelines, and a race's base alignment is more likely to influence cultural alignment than these values. Tech has no influence over alignment, however most D&D cultures have roughly "Tech:5", being the general medieval value.
Can a civilization advance or decline?
Yes, if you want to work out the history of the culture you can move around points as you desire, moving up or down a level requires adding or removing points so that the sum is alwasy correct. This lets you see the change in mentality of an area, perhaps even spawning archaic phrases that don't count in the civilization anymore. A good example would be a civilization where the Div value has grown significantly, which may still have people using the phrase "it's a free country" even if that isn't the case anymore.
A civilization can also collapse, this can occur when you shuffle around numbers and there is a change in one value(with the exception of one point changes) that halves or doubles the attribute very quickly.
What about nations at war?
This system isn't meant to simulate combat between civilizations. However if this is something you really want to try it could work. In most cases the civilization with the highest level will win any particular war. If one side of the war consists of allied civilizations, use the highest level +1 per lower levelled nation. Often a culture's attributes may change as a result of war, pulling more points into a particular attribute as a result of the public's outlook as a result of the war. This is not uncommon, and may be the most common way to shuffle numbers if you choose.
This is a simple little 5 attribute system designed for those who aren't great at creating cultures on their own and need some form of numeric structure behind it to feel they have something realistic. This process gives each culture, civilization or nation(whatever you deem to call them) both a level and 5 attributes. The level represents the group's power compared to other groups and helps determine how far along in the development of technology or ideals the culture may be. The five attributes are; Tech, Arc, Div, Psi and Inc, which are all detailed below.
(Please note, that in using this system you do not HAVE to include Arcane magic, Divine magic, Psionics or Incarnum in your world, where these are noted it is simply a guide for if you do include them)
Tech: The development of tools and machinery to improve the lives of the people. A very low value would likely use individual and simple tools, A moderate value is more likely to have better tools to improve individual tasks. A high value includes tools to make certain tasks at all possible. A very high value completely automates some tasks.
Arc: The tradition of passing cumulative knowledge from generation to generation. A higher value means information can translate over a larger generation gap with smaller changes or misinterpretation. Arc also measures the influence of Arcane magic on the culture and its tools.
A "low" value means the general populace only has access to word of mouth knowledge
A "medium" value indicates that for the general populace learning can be attained through training.
A "high" value represents cultural access to books and libraries.
An Arc attribute in the "very high" range indicates easy access to every piece of collective knowledge in the civilization to all citizens.
However, if Arc has a value of 0, it does not mean that there is no means of passing down information through generations, only that the knowledge of previous techniques and training is only available to the social elite.
Div: Spirituality, faith in a higher power or groups. A higher value means both a more rigid structure and definition of the higher power, and a greater effect that power has on the civilization. Div also measures the influence of Divine magic on the culture and its tools.
A "low" value is best suited to a civilization accepting of a group of beliefs, without endorsing any.
A "medium" value indicates a group of wildly accepted beliefs.
A "high" value is typical of a civilisation with structured and consistent beliefs
A Div attribute in the "very high" range indicates a strict adherance to a single set of beliefs, with the elimination(typically violently) of other beliefs.
However, if Div has a value of 0, it does not mean there is no religious faith, simply that one person's opinion is of no consequence to another.
Psi: The importance of personal development. A higher value means a greater emphasis on an individual's skillset and sense of self-worth. Psi also measures the influence of Psionics on the culture and its tools.
A "low" value is typical of a culture where everyone has a place in the hierarchy and there is no chance of changing status.
A "medium" value is often found in cultures where a civilian may change their social standing through serious effort, even if such are limited to selected professions.
A "high" value allows more room for change in social status through hard work, with centers for learning available to advance ones knowledge in a specific field.
A Psi attribute in the "very high" range indicates a great emphasis on personal development and skillfulness, with social classes(should they exist) being built not on blood but difficulty and detailed level of skills.
However, if Psi has a value of 0, it's not as much a case of no possibility of advancement as it is the lack of interest on the part of the populace.
Inc: The importance of history and tradition. A higher value means a greater emphasis on the opinions and values of the past. Inc also measures the influence of Incarnum on the culture and its tools.
A "low value is typical of a culture wherin people will retry things themselves more often than check if it has been done before.
A "medium" value indicates that the people of the civilization will tend to learn from their past, though are unlikely to hold any special reverence for it.
A "high" value can often be found in civilizations and cultures that value the importance of tradition, with many at this point also practising some level of ancestor worship.
An Inc attribute in the "very high" range indicates a strict adherence to rules and traditions, even if the original reasoning has been long lost.
How do the attributes work?
Simple; each civilizations 'level' is a measure of it's strength compared to others. The sum of all of a civilization's attributes totals out to four times it's level. Any increase in one attribute requires a decrease in another to maintain this balance.
An attribute can be as high as 12, or as low as 0(with the exception of Tech, which has a minimum of 1).
A value of 1-3 is considered 'low',
4-6 is considered 'medium',
7-9 is 'high'
and 10 through 12 is considered 'very high'.
As a note, typical medieval fantasy technology(swords, plate armor, seige weapons and the like) fall in "medium tech".
The purpose of a range of 3 attributes inside each group is for two main reasons:
A difference of 2 points is required for a non neutral alignment in the "advised alignment" notes below.
While two attributes can both be "medium", the populace may place more importance in one than the other, thus requiring a higher value.
A comparison can be made of sorts between the Tech attribute and the history of technology in our world. However this is not set in stone and is simply a guideline.
1 is Stone age tools(civilisation likely relies more on other attributes),
3 is Somewhere around the Egyptian Empire
5 is Typical Medieval fantasy
7 is moving into 15th Century clockwork devices
9 is the Industrial Revolution
11 is WW2
Comparitive numbers in other Attributes may look similar, with 11-12 typically including a civilisation possessing a power similar to nuclear weapons.
Advised alignments?
As an additional point of interest, each of the four "magic" attributes lends itself to a culture of a certain alignment. The higher Arc than Div, the more likely a culture is to be "Good" on the "Good/Evil" axis. The higher Psi than Inc, the more likely a culture is to be "Chaotic" on the "Chaos/Law" axis.
If Arc is greater than Div+1, then the culture is likely to be good.
If Div is greater than Arc+1, then the culture is likely to be evil.
If neither of the above apply, the culture is likely to be neutral.
If Psi is greater than Inc+1, then the culture is likely to be Chaotic.
If Inc is greater than Psi+1, then the culture is likely to be Lawful.
If neither of the above apply, the culture is likely to be neutral.
However these are merely guidelines, and a race's base alignment is more likely to influence cultural alignment than these values. Tech has no influence over alignment, however most D&D cultures have roughly "Tech:5", being the general medieval value.
Can a civilization advance or decline?
Yes, if you want to work out the history of the culture you can move around points as you desire, moving up or down a level requires adding or removing points so that the sum is alwasy correct. This lets you see the change in mentality of an area, perhaps even spawning archaic phrases that don't count in the civilization anymore. A good example would be a civilization where the Div value has grown significantly, which may still have people using the phrase "it's a free country" even if that isn't the case anymore.
A civilization can also collapse, this can occur when you shuffle around numbers and there is a change in one value(with the exception of one point changes) that halves or doubles the attribute very quickly.
What about nations at war?
This system isn't meant to simulate combat between civilizations. However if this is something you really want to try it could work. In most cases the civilization with the highest level will win any particular war. If one side of the war consists of allied civilizations, use the highest level +1 per lower levelled nation. Often a culture's attributes may change as a result of war, pulling more points into a particular attribute as a result of the public's outlook as a result of the war. This is not uncommon, and may be the most common way to shuffle numbers if you choose.