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<blockquote data-quote="Edgar Ironpelt" data-source="post: 8687557" data-attributes="member: 32075">One can easily justify going in either direction with world building. Isolationist/nationalist/exclusionist societies were very common historically (and still are, one could argue), and that's without the large, real, and undeniable biological differences seen in D&amp;D Land, or the even larger ones of Tolkien's Middle Earth. And you don't have to impute that much isolationism or exclusionism to people who would rather be ruled by their &quot;own kind&quot; - who aren't unfriendly toward the people of the next-door kingdom, but who still would prefer &quot;home rule&quot; or &quot;self rule&quot; over being ruled by that next-door kingdom of a different people. On the other hand, the &quot;X is the kingdom of the Elves, Y is the kingdom of the Dwarves, Z is the land of the Halflings&quot; setup does feel unattractively stiff and stereotyped, especially if taken to extremes. (Note that not even Tolkien had a single Kingdom of the Elves or Kingdom of the Dwarves, but rather multiple kingdoms of elves and of dwarves.) I personally prefer a cosmopolitan setup where language, religion, culture, and being a loyal subject to the human prince Whoever or the dwarf-queen Whatshername overrides the importance of being an elf or a halfling. What bugs me more than &quot;X is the kingdom of the Elves...&quot; is &quot;A is the Deity of the Elves, B and C are the Deities of the Dwarves, and D is the Deity of the Halflings&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Edgar Ironpelt, post: 8687557, member: 32075"] One can easily justify going in either direction with world building. Isolationist/nationalist/exclusionist societies were very common historically (and still are, one could argue), and that's without the large, real, and undeniable biological differences seen in D&D Land, or the even larger ones of Tolkien's Middle Earth. And you don't have to impute that much isolationism or exclusionism to people who would rather be ruled by their "own kind" - who aren't [I]unfriendly [/I]toward the people of the next-door kingdom, but who still would prefer "home rule" or "self rule" over being ruled by that next-door kingdom of a different people. On the other hand, the "X is the kingdom of the Elves, Y is the kingdom of the Dwarves, Z is the land of the Halflings" setup does feel unattractively stiff and stereotyped, especially if taken to extremes. (Note that not even Tolkien had a [I]single[/I] Kingdom of the Elves or Kingdom of the Dwarves, but rather multiple kingdoms of elves and of dwarves.) I personally prefer a cosmopolitan setup where language, religion, culture, and being a loyal subject to the human prince Whoever or the dwarf-queen Whatshername overrides the importance of being an elf or a halfling. What bugs me more than "X is the kingdom of the Elves..." is "A is the Deity of the Elves, B and C are the Deities of the Dwarves, and D is the Deity of the Halflings" [/QUOTE]

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