Worldbuilding in Wetlands

Wetlands (a.k.a. Swamps, Fens, Marshes, Bogs, & Bayous)

Kinship & Descent: Family life in the wetlands would be one of ever present danger. The swamps are not a safe place to wander. Fauna have an unusual ability to hide and not be seen. Vegetation on all levels here makes it extremely easy for the non-predatory fauna to hide, sometimes next to the predatory flora. This place has enough danger that the plants will eat you too, similarly so does a tropical forest.
Also large civilized populations in this type of ecology would disrupt the environment’s balance in ways that would alter the flora and fauna. People who did live in this ecology would most likely live in smaller groups, non nomadic. Families would be close together, particularly nuclear families. However, they would not be isolated. Matrilineal or patrilineal may reside here. Division of labor would be a pillar of the society, and it would need to be defined. Hunter-gatherer groups would be common because the soil in these areas doesn’t work well for agriculture. Language: Language here would not necessarily be affected by the environment. The more than likely non-isolationist nature of villages would create a stable language group barring no geographical boundaries between dialects. Most things creating true language barriers are geographical. Boundaries can also physically unique to the life forms; such as a wolf communicating with a human in the same language. Though there may be supernatural or magical means that allow for communication. Organization & Stratification: The most common way of organizing a group in this type of ecology would be more finite compared to other ecologies. It may include a council of elders. The oldest people may be revered, the dangers of the wetlands are many and to grow old may indicate wisdom apart from the group. This is the way it is in several ecologies. Usually this is more often the case in correlation with the lower levels of technology. The dangers of wetland don’t come from just the flora or the fauna, but they come from the land itself. Age might very well become a way of marking prestige. Therefore leadership may be based on age, with coming of age rituals becoming very important. Whether it is age or sex that sets up the leadership in a group; caste systems simply don’t seem to be the normal idea for a wetland culture. They could interfere with survival of the group in such a harsh environment, particularly if the swamp (insert random a.k.a. for swamp…) is prone to freezing during the winter months if the latitude or elevation permits. Economics: High trafficked trade routes in a swamp may prove to exist most often inside groups that are within the geographical boundaries. Travel with large amounts of goods for anything other than trade might not be well received unless there is a river or lake system within the swamp making transportation of goods and services less of a hardship and less expensive. Wheeled vehicles that are not of a high enough technological advancement to navigate through unstable ground and through often dense vegetation would not be used to transport goods for trade over long distances. The building of roads in wetlands would, most likely, dictate a higher level of technology than hunter gatherer, or the presence of a previous culture of higher technological advancement. Wheeled vehicles may not be used at all. Animals would more than likely be used over land, or watercrafts on river and lakes present in the area. Canal systems would indicate a large workforce (possible slave labor, forced labor by the hierarchy, and/or the technology to build them with machines. At the very least a canal built without technology would take a long time depending on the distance. Watercrafts may be the mode of transportation if a river or lake system is present, or even if the water table is high enough to create water through most of the area. Religion & Magick: Religion and magick are often related. Religion would most likely be nature based in a low tech culture, and possibly ancestor worship in a high-tech culture. Civilizations in this ecology see too much of natures precariousness within the land itself to not assign it a supernatural anima. Ancestor worship may also take hold in addition to or independently depending on the social stratification. Religion always has the potential for elaborate rituals in whatever technology level that it creates. Where there is an environment that constantly poses a threat to survival via the flora, fauna, geologic features, or weather conditions cultures are more likely to view that gods must be appeased. Such as virgins being thrown into volcanoes to appease the volcano and keep it from erupting… we all know how well that works. The rituals may or may not be deeply rooted within the culture. However influence of another culture especially with a higher technological understanding of the environment may affect these rituals. The question really is how; do the natives react to the assault on their gods. World-building in a Wetland: Isolation with in a wetland environment may be a serious issue affecting all cultures within it. So you may have many smaller groups that have language differences. The language difference because of close proximity may not create a barrier constantly. Some languages would be more common than others. Possibly even a common tongue maybe the vernacular of the majority. Economics in such an environment would prove to be interesting. Trade may use a barter system or a system of hard currency. There probably wouldn’t be market places. The swamp itself would have to be cleared. Natives would know that to do that creates more problems that it is worth. However, it does create a hunter gatherer society. That in turn because wetland is never good farm land means no agrigarian set ups. Farming would be difficult. I would be possible to cultivate an area where a grove of say berry bushes already existed. People may take the other invasive plants from strangling out the flora endangering a food source, but nothing more than that is really possible. Eventually the carrying capacity will cause one of two things to happen. The groups will split on its own to find more sustenance, or the groups will stay cohesive and move to find a lesser populated area where their larger numbers will be more easily supported.
The organization for such a group(s) could vary from one to another or there could be one intermittent council of leadership. Whether that is matriarchal or patriarchal is perhaps influential by several factors…religion, how is kinship defined. Is it matrilineal or patrilineal? This often will help define the power structure of a group. Religion may also play a defining role in the way a group is stratified. Hunter-gatherer groups tend to rely on their faith to fix sickness and to keep the environment at bay. Religion in these environments is often used to explain the unexplained particularly where technology is low. A low tech religion will often anthropormorphize something that poses a great danger; For example the Mayan and the Jaguar, the Hawaiian volcanoes and Pele, and the Greek god Zeus as the entity responsible for storms.
Religious specialists are often also caretakers of the sick. Usually only one sex has connection with the supernatural, but it would be fun if it were both. Defined by ability, or perceived ability by the current religious specialist. If it was what rituals surround this choosing, and when does it happen. Are there portents to its coming? Are there taboos? Magick of these religions is often heavily tied to the lands around it.

Oceans & Salt Water Shores

Oceans are something of a wondrous place to set a culture. We in reality don’t have any culture past or present that lives solely, without touching land, on or within the oceans of our planet. There are many cultures that use the ocean for survival or spend the majority of their time on the ocean. It is a powerful influence on humanity.
Economics:
Shore: The economics of an oceanic culture demand that they take most of their materials from the sea, and for the most part use the ocean for transportation. If the culture is on an archipelago then fresh water may be a valuable resource. They may use shells as a form of coinage, or more likely use a barter system of trade. Trade inland is a very likely thing.
Underwater: If the culture resided under the surface of the ocean then anything gathered from a land dwelling race might well be considered of great value and prestige.
Language: There are many things that alter language within culture. Ecology generally doesn’t alter language patterns, but in this case ecology alters physiology, which therefore alters language due to physical limitations of the speakers. Physiology in these environments may play a huge part in language development.
A culture that wrapped itself around the shore of the ocean would develop an air breathing language as normal. It may use references of water in odd or unique ways. However the true differential for shore cultures would be amphibious habitation. If the culture was amphibious then it may develop more than two aspects of language.
However, an underwater culture may use more verbal language than body language because light travels badly in water. Body language would most likely be reserved for closer quarters, or clearer waters where visibility cannot cloud the interpretation of physical movement. It also may have two types of languages. One is used for far away and another that is used for closer contact. The reason for this might be that while sound travels well in water its finer points do not. Therefore pronunciation may well reduce verbal communication to clicks and whistles due to the physical limitations of the physiology that it takes to live with gills underwater. Physical makeup can always play a major role in the development of language. Here in fantasy is where it would be most visible. Tones in combination with clicks and whistles could mean a slew of things in the language of the deep or the language of the shallower depths.
Social Structure: These types of cultures are both hunter-gatherer and agrigarian. Both models have a potential for a high degree of success. Both also have the potential to be very complicated systems. Though underwater cultures could have less of a tendency toward democratic systems, because they are immersed in an environment where survival is threatened on a constant basis. All configurations of stratified government models would work in this instance, for either shore cultures or underwater.
Religion & Magic: Obviously the center of the religion is going to involve water in some major aspect. However, the general rule of a female deity usually dictates a matriarchal society and vice versa may not apply here. Secondary deities may include personification of sea creatures, the moon, and with shoreline culture the personification of weather events such as storms or wind. Magic in the ocean may not accommodate material components nearly as well as semantic and/or verbal components. The type of magic would definitely depend on the type of social structure according to Wallace’s continuum. The higher the technology and the more complex the social structure means the more complex the magic. It may also dictate whether magic is restricted to specialists.
Kinship & Descent: The system of descent whether patriarchal or matriarchal would most definitely depend on whether the culture viewed the sea as male or female. Water affects so much of their lives; food, materials, medicine, all kinds of things, that it would be the ruling ‘force’ within not only the supernatural structure but also the pattern of relationships. The sea brings life and takes it away. The descent of people should follow the natural element that keeps them alive.
World building: Creation of a civilization in an ocean environment must be defined by depth. The deep ocean is going to have a different type of culture than a shallow oceanic environment. For ease of development we will choose a shallow oceanic environment to prevent the isolationist model. Shallow oceanic cultures may have a limited but not isolated group of contact with other cultures. The other issue is that the limited contact would be with those who would also affect the language that is spoken above land. Communication in a culture that is agrigarian or/ and isn’t nomadic is more likely to develop a writing system. Written communication would be likely in pictographic form as the light doesn’t tend to be very good below a certain amount of footage. The growth of flora on rock surfaces would limit fine writing.
Something else to consider is the written language used for only sacred purposes? The religious specialists of the shallow oceanic ecology could be the only ones permitted to walk on land. The culture may view the land as a version of the underworld. They may view vegetation as well as fauna on land as demonic. Perhaps they see the creatures that live on land as evil because they do not live in the resplendent waters of the ocean where life abounds in an ever present cycle of life. The reason they view the ocean as having no real death is that a lot of creatures that live in the ocean if they stop moving they will die.
Religion may not have many physical components because the ocean currents as physical forces would take them away with the currents, or maybe not if the physical representations were big enough or in underwater caverns. Religious elements may also include sound, and temples that are big enough to resist ocean currents.
The stratification of the political and social structure would be in a caste system. Things change much to fast in this environment for there to be any room left to argue with elders/officials in times of danger or strife. However, in all cultures there is usually a system for resolving disputes. What would a system where there is little room to challenge the hierarchy be like? Would it be combative, spiritual, or intellectual? Economics would most likely reflect that those of higher position within society would have more money and power. Money creates gaps not only in the economic structures, but also in the religious structure. The caste systems are steep, and money is required for offerings to the gods. This makes religious worship a truly hard price for those towards the bottom of the food chain.

Ecosystem World Building: Tropical Forests

Social Structure: Usually groups are no bigger than a large clan or tribe. This gives way to government from within. This is important in reference to whom governs the group. The only reason for migration is to find sustenance, territorial dispute, and /or seasonal migration due to weather. Neither matriarchies nor patriarchies have a history of dominance on Earth in these environments. Matriarchy/patriarchy has a large role to play here. Division of labor is usually based on sex in small groups like this. This type of ecosystem usually spawns a hunter gatherer society. Hunting may most likely be accomplished by males and gathering and child rearing done by females.

Kinship and Descent: The group is most likely to have a very strong emphasis on family. Marriage is usually from within the group, unless a bride is negotiated for from outside, via bride price, raiding party, war, or trade. Children usually stay with the mother until a certain age, and then they can go elsewhere; such as if the child is male and learning to hunt with the father. However, do not discount the power of woman in a culture such as this. If the father has little to do with the early child rearing then most of the early values are impressed by the mother.

Religion & magic: Tropical forests generally create an individualistic or shamanistic religion. Shamans are highly respected as they are the only connection to the supernatural from the profane (mundane), and they can often bring or keep health from failing, or bring doom or save the group. The religion itself defines whether the religious specialist is exclusively male or female. It doesn’t have to be influenced by the gender dominance within the social structure but it often is.
Usually if the society is matriarchal the main deity of power is female and vice versa. Hunter-gatherers tend to be nature oriented, and use the personification of animals, and/or celestial bodies. Ancestor worship can occur, but sometimes it’s found within a more stable environment where the group isn’t constantly moving; such as the ancient Chinese.

Economics: Economics of the Jungle could be interesting. Hunter-gatherers are most often traders. They lack the stability to have a hard currency because creation of money requires a stable site of residence. Unless each tribe used something that it manufactured from nature, but then counterfeiting could be an issue. Tribes could be raiders, and pillage until they have enough goods. They would then move past the raided tribes range to trade the goods acquired in another area as though it were their own.

Language: This would be more affected by the type of life that the ecology forces upon the inhabitants. The nomadic lifestyle would create a high exposure or a low exposure to other dialects or languages, and influence the originator's vernacular accordingly.

World building Tropical Forest:
Creating a culture here from nothing must take into account the effect of the ecology on the creature living in it. Carrying capacity dictates that a certain area of land can only support a certain amount of life. Therefore as groups grow larger they need more land to sustain them; (IE: hypothetically 50 people for food and water per 5 acres). The nomadic tribe may use women as a commodity in trade, creating a patriarchal system where daughters are highly valued because of the wealth obtainable through trade. If this is the case what does the religion say... most likely a male deity is at the top of the pantheon... or is there a pantheon?? Monotheism could create a way for control via the male patriarchs.
This eliminates a higher power for appeal within the supernatural. Then what is the "evil" supernatural like. Is it dominated by the feminine? What traits does this evil portray? It would concur that the evil deity would personify female disobedience, and is there a reviled cult of rebellious women that run the cult in secrecy..., logic would stand that it may be made of mostly mothers and grandmothers, very few maidens. Mothers would be the most likely to rebel against this part of the economy and religion being reluctant to part with their flesh and blood.
This cult would create political strife within the caste of women in reference both to each other, the loyal obedient women of the culture, and the independent thinking females that realize that the religion is being used as a source of power for the men. Are there separate eating, sleeping, and dressing areas for woman and men. Division of labor becomes a must, and thereby affects the economy of material wealth other than the women that the tribe gives birth to. The language may use all references to things in a general form as a male point of view. It may also have given way to a separate language of prestige used among the males for political and social ties.

Apsects of Cultures

Language: Verbal, written, & physical movements(body language) used to communicate between creatures.
* this doesn't mean that it is communication between creatures of the same species.
Economics: The supply & demand that goes on within or between groups of peoples. That is not limited to within the same culture, geographic area, or within fantasy the same species.
Kinship & Descent : This is how a culture determines relationships between people, who is related to who & how or why, and how lineage is tracked.
Religion & Magick: The supernatural belief system of a culture. What do they believe in and how do they manifest that belief in the physical realm.
Social Structure: The way a group organizes itself. This is possibly one of the more complicated aspects because one culture can have many groups that organize themselves differently within a culture for many reasons.