I know I said that "Cultural Identity" was the next step in the stage, but it was giving me fits so I redirected my brain to this step for a while so it could take a break from Identity and still be productive. And besides, this step is more important anyway.

Essentially, worldview is how you view the world. And that view is greatly influenced by the world that you are viewing. So in this step, we’re going to look at the world in which your culture lives and how that world shapes their worldview. We’re going to look at this in two sections: Geo-physical Environment and Socio-historical Environment.

• Geo-Physical Environment
  The physical world that your culture lives in day-after-day can shape their worldview in ways that persist in the culture for centuries in spite of relocation or technological advances.
  • What is the climate like where your culture lives?This can have a very instinctive impact on every level of your culture. A desert culture where the wind can bring sandy death at any moment and where the sun above bears down unrelenting heat not view the sky/heavens as a home to benevolent forces, and would probably have a pretty high view of water, which would be equated with life. So what climate does your culture live in? Tropical plains? Arid desert? If your culture is a fairly wide-spread then keep in mind that it will change to reflect it’s environment wherever it is.
  • What climate did your culture originate in? While it’s true that culture changes as it moves around, there are views and beliefs within that culture that can withstand centuries of change and those views would be shaped by the environment that the culture was first born into.
  • What types of terrain most surround your culture? What is the landscape of your culture like?This can often have a strong subliminal influence on your culture’s worldview. For instance, mountains play a major part in Hindu and other eastern religions that were born in and around the colossal Himalayas, and to the Greeks whose island homes were surrounded by water, the entire cosmos was encircled by the river Oceanus.
  • What types of plants are familiar to your culture?
  • What animals are familiar to your culture?These often reflect deeply in the symbolism that your culture uses. For instance, if the seagull was the only type of bird that your culture ever encountered, it might be their symbol of the strong noble king of the skies instead of the eagle or such.
    • What are the predators of your culture’s world?
    • What are the food animals of your culture’s world?
    • What animals has your culture domesticated?
    • What animals are considered vermin by your culture?
    • What animals are revered and what animals are feared by your culture?
  • What type of society is your culture? Hunter-gatherer? Agrarian? Pastoral? Coastal/Fishing? Do they move around alot and experience a variety of environments or stay pretty much in the same place? The answer to this question will also help you get an understanding of what they rely on their environment for. For example, agrarian societies rely on rain for the crops to grow, but not too much, and long thaws for a good growing season. Hunter-gatherers rely on the land for large animal populations to feed them and plenty of natural vegetation for foraging. Fishing/coastal communities rely on smooth seas and large fish populations. This brings us to our next question…
  • What natural resources does your culture rely on and how naturally accessible are they? For instance, both the Ancient Egyptians and the Ancient Sumerians were mostly agrarian societies and both needed water for their crops. The Egyptians however had the Nile which flooded seasonally and predictably each year, while the Sumerians had the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers which flooded violently and unpredictably and had very little rain so they had to rely on irrigation to water their fields. So what do the members of your culture need from their environment and how easy/hard is it for them to get it?
    • What types of weather does your culture depend on and how frequent/infrequent are they?
    • How much does your culture rely on rain?
    • What species of wildlife does your culture depend on and how populous are they?
    • What types of plants are important to your culture and how plentiful are they?
  • What natural forces/elements are beneficial to your culture?
  • What natural forces/elements are harmful to your culture
  • Are there any natural forces/elements that your culture depends on but fears at the same time?For example, for coastal/fishing cultures, the sea is the source of food and thus of life, but it’s also a wild uncontrollable force that claims lives without warning.
  • What natural forces/elements mystify the members of your culture and leave them in awe?
• Socio-Historical Environment
  Here we’re going to look at the shared history of your culture, its members’ shared experiences, and their common place in the larger social structure of the world?
  • What are some of the most impacting natural disasters in your culture’s history?Droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. You get the picture.
  • What is your culture’s origin/emergence and how might it shape their view of the world?For instance, Rome was originally a city oppressed by Etruscan monarchs, which instilled the Roman people a distrust of monarchies.
  • What are some of the major political events in your culture’s history? Birth of that culture’s nation? Civil wars? Conquest by a foreign civilization? Conquest of another civilization? Consolidation of warring factions? You get the general gist.
  • What are some of the major events of global significance in your culture’s history?
• View
  Ok, so we’ve looked at the world your culture lives in, now we’re gonna take at the impressions which that world makes on their worldview.
  • How does your culture view the safe-ness of the wider-world?
    • Is the world seen as a big scary place froth with unknown dangers?
    • Is it seen as an exciting place filled with adventures where the dangers are seen as opportunities to prove oneself?
    • Is it seen as a relatively safe place with occasional dangers here and there?
    • Is it viewed with indifference as being of no interest to those inside the cultural microcosm?
    • Is it seen as a neutral place, neither all-safe, nor all-dangerous?
  • How does your culture view the order of the world?
    • Is the world viewed as being chaotic and unpredictable?
    • Is it viewed as being governed by specific and observable laws and thus predictable?
    • Is it viewed as mostly orderly with occasional exceptions?
    • Is it viewed as being governed by secret laws that are beyond the common person’s comprehension?
    • Is it viewed as being able to be basically understood by all people?
    • Is it viewed as wholly incomprehensible and mystifying?
  • What are your culture’s basic views about the natural world?
    • What natural forces does your culture view as good/benevolent/helpful?
    • What natural elements does your culture consider reliable/stable/safe?
    • What natural forces does your culture view as harmful/malignant/cumbersome?
    • What natural elements does your culture view as unreliable/unstable/treacherous?
  • What are your culture’s basic views of outsiders?
    • Are those outside your culture generally viewed negatively (i.e. as treacherous/malicious/ignorant)?
    • Are they generally viewed positively?
    • Are they viewed neutrally?
    • Are they viewed indifferently, as not relevant or important to those inside the microcosm?
    • Are they generally welcome or unwelcome?

Fascinating to read and think about, as always.

I heartily agree.

I never considered delving this deeply into the basic structure of my books, but I'm beginning to change my mind. I can see certain areas where my current series isn't as strong as it could be due to lack of development.

Thanks for posting all this, Seer. With a blueprint for how one should go abou this in-depth business of worldbuilding, it shouldn't be as hard for me to actually put the plan into action.

...time permitting of course.

I must read this as well.

EDIT: I added in an extra section to this step.

• View
  Ok, so we’ve looked at the world your culture lives in, now we’re gonna take at the impressions which that world makes on their worldview.
  • How does your culture view the safe-ness of the wider-world?
    • Is the world seen as a big scary place froth with unknown dangers?
    • Is it seen as an exciting place filled with adventures where the dangers are seen as opportunities to prove oneself?
    • Is it seen as a relatively safe place with occasional dangers here and there?
    • Is it viewed with indifference as being of no interest to those inside the cultural microcosm?
    • Is it seen as a neutral place, neither all-safe, nor all-dangerous?
  • How does your culture view the order of the world?
    • Is the world viewed as being chaotic and unpredictable?
    • Is it viewed as being governed by specific and observable laws and thus predictable?
    • Is it viewed as mostly orderly with occasional exceptions?
    • Is it viewed as being governed by secret laws that are beyond the common person’s comprehension?
    • Is it viewed as being able to be basically understood by all people?
    • Is it viewed as wholly incomprehensible and mystifying?
  • What are your culture’s basic views about the natural world?
    • What natural forces does your culture view as good/benevolent/helpful?
    • What natural elements does your culture consider reliable/stable/safe?
    • What natural forces does your culture view as harmful/malignant/cumbersome?
    • What natural elements does your culture view as unreliable/unstable/treacherous?
  • What are your culture’s basic views of outsiders?
    • Are those outside your culture generally viewed negatively (i.e. as treacherous/malicious/ignorant)?
    • Are they generally viewed positively?
    • Are they viewed neutrally?
    • Are they viewed indifferently, as not relevant or important to those inside the microcosm?
    • Are they generally welcome or unwelcome?

*archives this thread*