D&D General consideration on sapient folk having two distinct base cultures?

[Ixal]

The Viking Era included the best steel in Europe. These artisanal methods can be extremely effective, but require knowledge and hands-on experience to do well.

Vikings weren't nomadic.

 

[Yaarel]

Vikings weren't nomadic.

The Vikings were largely hunter-gatherers, at least seasonally, because most of the terrain is hostile to continental farming techniques. Fishing, wild animals, berries, and other wild plants are a main staple. To some degree, traveling by sea and rivers, seasonally and for years at a time is nomadic.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Shamanic animistic cultures tend to be about the power and influence of a mind, where objects of nature also have mind. It is by definition psionic.

That said, manipulating the elements of earth, water, air, and fire, and plants, in other words, skies and lands, tends to be its own discipline.

Where the other psionic disciplines tend to focus on humans and animals, primal tends to focus on the minds of objects. As a result, these mountains and rivers become members of the tribal community. These primal minds do the same psionic disciplines that humans do. But these mountains and rivers can become members of the human family, and viceversa. A mountain that has a strong mind can project outofbody and manifest ghostlike in a human form, sometimes a giant.

true but I see psionic as more ascension and enlightenment based, the art of becoming more hence my desire to contrast them giant each other just as both divine and arcane use the weave these run on the same thing but are different so they can be compared and contrasted?

 

[Ixal]

The Vikings were largely hunter-gatherers, at least seasonally, because most of the terrain is hostile to continental farming techniques. Fishing, wild animals, berries, and other wild plants are a main staple. To some degree, traveling by sea and rivers, seasonally and for years at a time is nomadic.

Just because the men travelled for trading and war doesn't make them nomadic. They had numerous villages and even large cities.

 

[Yaarel]

true but I see psionic as more ascension and enlightenment based, the art of becoming more hence my desire to contrast them giant each other just as both divine and arcane use the weave these run on the same thing but are different so they can be compared and contrasted?

Mysticism in the sense of an infinite wholeness that transcends all things, is also psionic.

Even tho animistic cultures sometimes describe mystical experiences (Great Mystery, ginnungagap,etcetera), they are very much about the relationships among the minds of the material world.

The technological nomads who travel the traderoutes are sometimes of the more mystical transcendent variety of psionic.

 

[Redwizard007]

Just because they man travelled for trading doesn't make them nomadic. They had numerous villages and even large cities.

Scandinavians certainly weren't nomadic. The subculture that we call Vikings, eh maybe. It's a stretch, but I see where he was going with that statement.

 

[Yaarel]

Just because they man travelled for trading doesn't make them nomadic. They had numerous villages and even large cities.

Norway did not have large cities. Indeed the first "city", was founded during the Viking Era.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Mysticism in the sense of an infinite wholeness that transcends all things, is also psionic.

Even tho animistic cultures sometimes describe mystical experiences (Great Mystery, ginnungagap,etcetera), they are very much about the relationships among the minds of the material world.

The technological nomads who travel the traderoutes are sometimes of the more mystical transcendent variety of psionic.

one of these days we need to sit down and really hammer something out as I think it might end up good.

I am also trying to come up with other different contrasts for other common sapient folk.

 

[Ixal]

Scandinavians certainly weren't nomadic. The subculture that we call Vikings, eh maybe. It's a stretch, but I see where he was going with that statement.

Doesn't change that there were permanent villages and later cities from where the Vikings got their weapons, etc. from. Especially the large cities which sprung up for a reason.
Thus for the discussion about the industrial capabilities of nomadic people they would be not nomadic.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

we all know the elves with their wood and high elves, gnomes and their rock and wood gnomes but I had a realisation, humans, even in the real world had more or less two district live styles thought out our history if you really boil it down, settled and nomadic both of which feature on most of the major continents.

is this a good thing to somewhat lean into when making a setting or am I just wrong again?

I think you could create some sort of cosmology/mythology which effectively accomplishes this, sure.