In many – although not all – fantasy campaign worlds non-human creatures are homogeneous no matter where they are from. An elf is an elf, a dwarf is a dwarf, and an orc is an orc regardless of the environment and other culture influence where they reside. For its part Golarion has a number of different ethnicities of non-humans in the same manner as humans. However many of these different cultures have little to nothing written up about them and it becomes our job to piece together what they might be like from a page here and a paragraph there. I have done so it the past with desert dwarves, cannibal halflings, snowbound elves, and jungle orcs, and today I look to expand upon the elves of the Asian analog lands of Tian-Xia, in the province of Jinin.
Have you used the Jinin elves before? Have you ever created a culture of Asian inspired elves? In this case they are analogous to Japanese, but what if they were modeled after ancient Korean or Chinese? What other information do you think would round out the Jinin elves?
I have a PFS PC who is an elf from Jinin. She's almost 300 years old, chaotic good, and doesn't really fit in with their orderly culture. That's why she left to go see the rest of the world, and ended up in the Pathfinder Society. (Really, the elves of Jinin "encouraged" her to leave and go share her elderly wisdom with the world, because she's so annoying.)
So I haven't really delved into the details much, other than thinking of it as feudal Japan with elves.
Fromper wrote: I have a PFS PC who is an elf from Jinin. She's almost 300 years old, chaotic good, and doesn't really fit in with their orderly culture. That's why she left to go see the rest of the world, and ended up in the Pathfinder Society. (Really, the elves of Jinin "encouraged" her to leave and go share her elderly wisdom with the world, because she's so annoying.)
So I haven't really delved into the details much, other than thinking of it as feudal Japan with elves.
I made them mostly like fueldal japan but according to the lore they spent 1000 years in the DArklands after leaving Varisia, 7000 years as isolationist, and they didn't really meet the Tian-Min and get absorbed into the Lung Wa empire until 1000 years ago. So they really only have 1000 years of the feudal Japanese influence and that really only maybe two or three generations for the long lived elves. And elves don't strike me as a people who change as quickly as humans. So I needed to make sure they had some aspects of their previous culture that they still clung too, or aspects that merged bth cultures instead of having the Tian-Min culture subsume theres.
Apupunchau wrote:
I made them mostly like fueldal japan but according to the lore they spent 1000 years in the DArklands after leaving Varisia, 7000 years as isolationist, and they didn't really meet the Tian-Min and get absorbed into the Lung Wa empire until 1000 years ago. So they really only have 1000 years of the feudal Japanese influence and that really only maybe two or three generations for the long lived elves. And elves don't strike me as a people who change as quickly as humans. So I needed to make sure they had some aspects of their previous culture that they still clung too, or aspects that merged bth cultures instead of having the Tian-Min culture subsume theres.
That said, the isolationist phase means their culture would've already diverged from traditional elf culture for some time.
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Davia D wrote: Apupunchau wrote:
I made them mostly like fueldal japan but according to the lore they spent 1000 years in the DArklands after leaving Varisia, 7000 years as isolationist, and they didn't really meet the Tian-Min and get absorbed into the Lung Wa empire until 1000 years ago. So they really only have 1000 years of the feudal Japanese influence and that really only maybe two or three generations for the long lived elves. And elves don't strike me as a people who change as quickly as humans. So I needed to make sure they had some aspects of their previous culture that they still clung too, or aspects that merged bth cultures instead of having the Tian-Min culture subsume theres.
That said, the isolationist phase means their culture would've already diverged from traditional elf culture for some time. Definitely. I had them switch over from Chaotic Good to Lawful mostly good because of there 1000 years in the darklands. The journey tempered their capricious nature. I also made them stray from most of the gods they once worshipped feeling slightly betrayed. Although since the notations on religion in the region said they still worshiped Shelyn and Desna I made provisions for those two and added one that helped guide them throught he Darklands, the Empyreal Lord Benorus.
I decided they had moved away from druidism and the green faith. In this land where spirits like the Kami and Oni walked freely I moved them more to Shamanism. But It specifically says they manage to merge their art with the aesthetic of the Tian-Min so I had to work that in too.
There was enough information to give a guide but a loooooot of blanks that needed filling.
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