Patrica C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions

Daily Life

• How do people feel about foreigners? Non-humans? How ready are they to accept different ideas? How cosmopolitan are they?
• How much social mobility is there? Is it easy or hard for a person born a peasant to advance to the middle class, or for a middle class person to advance to the upper class or nobility? How much resistance would there be? Would such a person ever be accepted socially?
• What things are considered luxuries--chocolate, coffee, cotton, flush toilets, spices?
• What do people in general look like? Would a blonde (red-head, brunette) stand out in a crowd? Someone 5' tall? 7' tall? Do non-humans?
• What is furniture like--big and blocky, delicate, simple, elaborately carved or decorated? What is it mostly made of--cloth, wood, stone, etc.? Are certain things (like chairs with arms) reserved for high-status individuals?
• In what ways does furniture design reflect the customs of people (example: beds with bed-curtains for privacy in medieval keeps where servants wandered through rooms without warning; chaise lounges as common furniture in a society where people are accustomed to recline rather than sit, etc.)?
• What are plumbing and sanitary systems like? Who builds and maintains them? How reliable are they, and who do you call when the drains back up? How do they differ from city to farm?
• How do people cope with various disasters--fire, floods, volcanoes, plague, etc.? How common are such disasters?
• How early do people get up in the morning in the city? Country? Are clocks common, or do people tell time by the sun or by listening for the church bells?

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