Orcs and Elves living together...

[Quasqueton]

Consider the core/standard/RAW D&D races and species...

What would it take for a "world society" to evolve that chould have humans, orcs, elves, goblins, dwarves, etc. living together in [relatively] peaceful co-existance? Metropolises with mixed D&D races and societies not constantly at each other's throats?

A city scene like this:

What would prompt such a world society to evolve? What would hold it together? Is this kind of thing even possible with the core/standard/RAW D&D races?

Are there any published examples of such a culture?

I would ask for Real World examples (and ask if our modern world is such), but the various races of man in the Real World can not be objectively labeled as Good or Evil by nature like many of the D&D races can be.

Quasqueton

 

[Voadam]

Trade and easy travelling. The more people want and have the ability to mix the more cosmopolitan things will get. The only problem will then be finding potential mates if the population is too diverse, i.e. if there are only three potential mates in a city, that subpopulation may not survive many generations.

If good and evil individuals can coexist in large numbers easily within a single race community then adding in multi-race ones should not be impossible.

 

[Desdichado]

DISCLAIMER: I despise the term RAW.

As to your actual question, Sharn is the city you're looking for here. What it takes is remembering that alignment is not absolutely tied to a race, nor is it a good guage of an individual's politics.

 

[drnuncheon]

Or Freeport.

J
Wait, you said not at each other's throats...

 

[Khayman]

This could be Sigil, for that matter... though conflict was present, it was much more nice-nice. Partly due to social reality, and partly due to the lack of gating (etc.) within the city, but largely thanks to the scariness that is The Lady of Pain.

 

[Felix]

Money.

Money would spur that kind of society to develop. As long as the inhabitants feel that they can become better off by not killing the namby-pamby elf next door, but rather by bankrupting his business with a series of clever moves, then you'll have a peaceful society.

Just as viscious. Just as mean. But there won't be nearly the violence.

Start with protecting private property and contract enforcement, and after 50 years you'll have a nice little multi-whatever society growing.

 

[Arani Korden]

Are there any published examples of such a culture?

Al-Qa*frickin*dim.

Ahem. Sorry.

In Al-Qadim, the various races are united by a shared faith, and characters from Zakhara find the racial tensions in other parts of the world quaint at best.

 

[maddman75]

I could see such a situation evolving in the following circumstances.

First, each race would need to have a geographically isolated, more or less independant homeland. There's no obvious borders to fight over, and everyone has the natural resources they need to prosper. As anyone who's played any Civ knows, a neighboring nation that has say, Iron or Horses that you lack is practically begging for an invasion. You need to also have a lot of room in these homelands. As soon as one of these lands starts getting crowded, they'll be looking to expand.

Second, the city in question would need to be an independant city-state where the nations do most of their trading. Perhaps they are ran by a council, with one member from each race saying their part.

It would really help if there was a common cause, some great enemy that caused them to unite and, at least for awhile, forget past hatreds. This could have been recently, and in fact would help if most of the nations had been depopulated after the dragon/giant/demon/whatever armies were stopped.

The most obvious plotline then is that old tensions start to arise, and the alliance starts to break apart. Only a small band of intrepid adventurers can hope to find proof that the demon army is rebuilding, and waits for a sign of weakness to start the killing all over again.

 

[Umbran]

What would it take for a "world society" to evolve that chould have humans, orcs, elves, goblins, dwarves, etc. living together in [relatively] peaceful co-existance? Metropolises with mixed D&D races and societies not constantly at each other's throats?

Well, that depends on exactly how peaceful "relatively peaceful" is. Do you mean peaceful as our own real world is, or moreso? Because in our own real world, various cultures and races are clashing all the time, but for many, perhaps even most, there's little violence in day to day life.

If you want it akin to our real world, look to the real world for answers. A major issue is wealth - if most folk have at least a certain reasonable minimum, and a reasonable chance to get more, then you'll have peace. If too many people (of any race, or a mixture fo races) don't have enough wealth, there will be violence.

 

[Klaus]

I'm surprised this didn't get mentioned before:

The gods. Remove Corellon, Gruumsh, Moradin, Lolth, etc. In the RAW (sorry there, Joshua! ), these gods activelly promote cross-racial hatred and violence (specially Gruumsh, but the others are not so innocent).

In fact, without the unifying influence of CG, CE, LG or other alignment gods, the core races would gravitate towards Neutral (like humans, who lack an unified racial pantheon, do).