Defining culture

[LS-Jebus]

I try to develop architecture, clothing, lifestyle, religion, and language.

The biggest part is the environment. For example, with a desert people, there are some things to note:

Sun protection - clothing covers the whole body, and is light to keep people cool (like traditional Arab dress)

Horse or camel culture (especially if nomadic in origin) - pants, especially for men (from cavalry soldiers) like traditional Steppe, Persian dress

Little water and food supply - smaller villages, nomads, large population centres are around any lakes, rivers (especially deltas) and seasides

Natural vegetation - likely few trees, most available plants are reeds and such by rivers, therefor housing would be primarily mud walls, wicker, leather, and stone (mostly the wealthy or for military structures)

Architecture - smaller buildings, close together - most people don't have plots of farmland separating the houses
Walls - none, open landscape makes for far vision, distant villages, only walls are made to keep livestock or mounts together - except for forts/castles

Climate - relating to earth, people often worship the sun when it is a powerful force, and pray to the gods for rain when they live in areas that lack it. With most boating having to do with fishing, and the area not having lots of islands, water gods like Neptune would be unpopular. So we develop our religion true to that

Then;

Religion - for a people like Muslims, where idoltry has been forbidden, architectural design goes away from the statues, gargoyles, paintings, and mosaics that we see in France. Rather, their buildings would rely on unique architectural elements, such as domes, fanciful edges, towers, ornamental pools and gardens, and colourful stones for mosaics of abstract design.

Language is really random - there doesn't seem to be an environmental connection for this; languages are more about the migration patterns and dominance of certain civilizations

So just from analyzing the environment and a few other things, we can draw a bunch of ideas for the culture that seem very reasonable to the reader.

We probably shouldn't have a Sun-worshipping clan of half-naked people living in stone houses in a remote wooded area with a climate like Norway.

[Ghostman]

Horse or camel culture (especially if nomadic in origin) - pants, especially for men (from cavalry soldiers) like traditional Steppe, Persian dress

A great deal depends on what kind of domesticable animals are available in the region. Camels for example where not originally found in northern Africa, they were imported from Arabia.

Little water and food supply - smaller villages, nomads, large population centres are around any lakes, rivers (especially deltas) and seasides

Not to mention oases!

Walls - none, open landscape makes for far vision, distant villages, only walls are made to keep livestock or mounts together - except for forts/castles

So long as they have reasonable access to stone, you can bet there'll be walls to any settlement of importance. It's no good when bandits can just ride into your town...

[njordys]

I realise this is an old thread but this is still interesting, and hopefully this topic can be revived.

Language is really random - there doesn't seem to be an environmental connection for this; languages are more about the migration patterns and dominance of certain civilizations

There is some patterns connected to language. In places where alot of different cultures meet and trade are plentiful there is usually a simplification of the language (like the ancient middle east, where west, east and south met). People tend to shorten words, simplify grammer and exchange new words when they meet foreigners. Isolated people are more prone to develop complex and difficult languages

An example are the Scandinavian languages. Before the viking age the Norse where isolated in fjords and there where big distances to travel, which resulted in a very complex grammer system, and very long winded words. With the increasing connection to the continent during the middle age and afterwards centuries (with new boat technology and economic growth), the scandinavian languages are now grown more simple and more similar to continential languages. However, the isolated Iceland has kept their Norse heritage and they are quite difficult to understand (and a hard language to learn, have I heard).

Geography and climate might also influence temperament in humans. I belive there are more introverted behavior in northern-lying places in Europe (Russia, Scandinavia), where people are (or at least historically have been) inclined to be a bit more silent, perhaps more thoughtful but also more restrained in showing intentions and emotions, then their more southernly european brethren. I speculate that this might be because of longer, darker winters, and therefor less social stimulation. Small population numbers because of harsh growing conditions might also contribute to this culture of less socialization.