Patrica C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions

People and Customs -- Ethics and Values

• What will people swear a binding oath by? What do people use as curse words?
• What are the most desired/most valuable things in this society--gold, jewels, drugs, money, furs, reindeer, oranges, etc? Why is it desired/valued? Do different races value different things? Is there a race/culture for whom non-material things (information, time) are the valuable things? How did they get that way?
• What things are considered normal and acceptable in this society that would not be considered normal or acceptable in yours? (Examples: dueling, drugs, open homosexuality, polygamy, infanticide.)
• What things are considered shocking in this society that are not considered shocking in yours? (Examples: showing a woman's ankles, eating left-handed, reading in public.) What are the reactions of ordinary people when someone does one of these things?
• What are the acceptable limits to honor and/or honesty in this society? Is a binding oath unbreakable no matter what, or can you get out of it if the other party turns out to be evil scum or if you weren't fully informed? Are "white lies" acceptable socially, or is lying in any form unacceptable?
• What are the attitudes toward ownership? What constitutes "theft" and what can be stolen--gems, gold, purses, small moveables, someone's good name? Are thieves organized in a guild, licensed by law, freelance, or what?
• Who is considered a citizen, with the rights and privileges thereof? What are those rights and privileges (voting, protection from thieves, the right to a hearing in Rome) and what responsibilities go along with them (jury duty, providing funds or knights for the lord's army)?
• Are there certain classes of people (wizards, foreigners, children, peasants, women) who have fewer legal rights or less recourse than full citizens? Why? Are they considered mentally or morally deficient, a danger to the state, or is there some other rational?
• What are the most controversial subjects in this culture? What things can you easily start a friendly argument about in any bar? What things will automatically start an unfriendly argument? (cf. the list of topics forbidden for discussion on this echo)
• What are the social taboos--what things are "not done", like wearing a bathing suit to the office? What things are never talked about? What would happen if someone did? How do these taboos vary for different races?
• What are the biggest social faux pas--burping loudly at a formal banquet, drawing steel in the presence of a king/noble, asking a dwarf whether it's a male or a female? What subjects or actions cause embarrassment or discomfort?
• What are the society's mores regarding courtship, marriage, and family? Is marriage primarily a civil or a religious institution?
• What are the standards of beauty for people? For paintings and sculpture? For clothes and furniture? How do they differ from the standards in your culture (example: a culture which considers fatness a highly desirable beauty trait)? How do they reflect the physical traits of the various people (example: dwarves considering height a *negative* trait, werewolves attracted by length of teeth or scent, etc.)?
• What kind of ideal life do people aspire to? Does everyone want to be an English country gentleperson, living out in the country, or is it the New York social whirl, or the jet-set lifestyle, that attracts most people?
• What kinds of people are the rebels and outcasts of this society? How does society deal with them--prison, exile, decapitation, reformation, etc?
• Who are the arbiters of ethics (as opposed to law)? How did they get to be arbiters? Who are the arbiters of the social milieu? Ditto, ditto.

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