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valtmy replied to the topic Worldbuilding races/ethnicities in the forum Research and Worldbuilding 6 years, 9 months ago
Sounds like you’ve got quite an interesting setup. I am not sure if this is completely applicable but I live in a multiracial society where people tend to conduct themselves professionally in a Western secular manner but may adhere to cultural and religious traditions at home. Here are my thoughts:
#1: Distinguishing characteristics
Since it’s a fantasy world, you certainly can have such unique features to distinguish the races though I imagine there will be some ambiguity since there’s been a lot of intermarrying. Maybe you can use other aspects such as accents, language, fashion, food and beliefs to highlight the differences. Maybe the people will borrow words and terms from their own language or dialect when speaking, or will retain certain mindsets even after acclimatizing (some examples from the real world: emphasis on academic success by East Asians, adherence to the caste system by Indian families).Another point I think can be considered is beauty standards. Even though no one may really care what hair or skin colour a person may have, societies do tend to have preferences (e.g. fair skin was considered beautiful because it was associated with wealth until tanned skin became fashionable because it was associated with glamorous seaside holidays that the rich could afford).
#2: Dlinaati hate
Other than the Dlinaati trying to take over the continent, are there any other reasons why this group is disliked? Because I personally think that this is quite a cliche and there are many other interesting reasons as to why a certain ethnic group are disliked in real life societies without necessarily involving conquest or war.#3: Reverse racism
I admit, this reverse racism thing bothers me. Not because I am a racial purist or anything but because I find it unrealistic and it sounds like something from a parody of the pro-diversity movement. Humans, like it not, tend towards tribalism and conservatism and will generally stick to the status quo and things that they are familiar with. While I have seen negative reactions about intermarriage, I have never in my life heard of anyone accusing another of being ‘stuck up’ or ‘against diversity’ just because they are marrying someone from their own ethnic group. Frankly, marrying within your own social group is still the norm even in a multiracial society. The only way I can think for it to be otherwise is if, say, the government wants to dilute the cultures (because they want to prevent one group from having too much power or something) and so encourages intermarriages by giving tax benefits to mixed couples and produces propaganda that glamorizes intermarriage and derides couples from the same ethnicity, saying that the children born from those unions would be horribly inbred or something.#4: Acclimatization
I think it is realistic that the society expects immigrants to learn and adhere to the society’s customs, language and standards. It’s the great irony of the diversity movement, saying that you accept people from anywhere… so long as those people behave just like you.












