When I am world building I think a lot about the numbers involved. And then I start asking questions:
1. What is the population of a place? This lets me know how many people I am dealing with – a higher population means I have more of everything, and usually means I can have more specialists in non-productive activities.
2. How big is this area – how densely populated is it? Is this intensive agriculture or lots of herding or even hunter-gatherers? There’s a world of difference between rural Wyoming and the LA basin!
3. What are the significant cults and how many people do they have? In RQ, cults carry key cultural activities and associations – so if I know there is are a lot of Orlanth cultists in a place, I can tell a lot about the people. Same thing if there are a lot of Lodril cultists or whatever. If there are a lot of Storm Bull cultists, that definitely is going to mean something!
The answers to these questions tell stories that help flesh out a culture and a society.
So things you won’t see from us is the term “carl” or “cottar.” Both terms are discontinued.
