Cantr II Discussion Forum

Okay, this just came to mind from a posting concerning American foods. I feel like there's an extreme lack of culture in Cantr. Not talking about regional foods obviously but just general terms. The fact is that everyone seems far too pacifist and now in the real world that would be great. But that's not how society works and it's kind of sad that the only 'bad guys' are raiders or whatever. I kind of wish there was more propaganda and rival "tribes" for lack of better words, with deep seeded bigotry towards each other. Now I've found a few groups like this but the majority of Cantr just feels under-developed culturally speaking.

I have however seen characters that seem to be attempting to change it. They are implementing more societal concepts into their way of thinking. Developing their own ideologies which thankfully go against most of said regions ideology. But let me break it down for you just in case you still don't understand what I'm saying. I'm horrible at explaining things.

In the real world there's ideologies like Socialism, Capitalism, then any number of ideologies that would fall under those two. Likewise, government form is another example. Democracies, Monarchies, Oligarchies, Theocracies. All of these with sub categories that can fall under one of these government forms yet all directly oppose each other. But the problem with Cantr in my opinion is there may be differing ideologies but they're far too separated to make any kind of hostilities and as you know hostility creates drama and drama creates entertainment. You see where I'm going with this?

I just feel like Cantrians aren't going against the grain enough and if they do it's banditry or raiding. So I would really really really like some feed back. I want to hear your thoughts on this topic because I'm extremely curious. Do you think we need more 'warlord' type characters bent on spreading their ideologies to foreign lands? Or maybe just some ideological growth that is out of the ordinary in the particular region someone might be in?

I think that establishing a "culture" has to happen naturally. In little ways, not big ways. Changing a towns culture in a drastic way usually causes a backlash. something would have to organically happen during some role play. Then it would take a lot of finesse to get the other folks in town go along with it. I doubt I'd have the patience to try on my own, but if there was a good rper around to help it could work. Good topic, something to try and do in game. Having regionally diverse cultures would certainly make things more interesting imo.

I made a language based off Ceaser cipher and german grammar, and i'm writing a bookof myths about why I'm doing stuff.

It's a different sort of 'culture' than I usually think of, but I see your point. Differences in ideologies, I guess? I think part of the reason why so many towns are made up of peaceful, good people is because those who cause trouble and drama just don't survive. We've seen an evolution in behaviors, as newspawns are 'raised' in friendly societies, or chased out of town when they're combative. We've all heard of a few small groups who have, in the past, been confrontational towards others, and 4000 days later they're still described as 'evil' by those who have never met them. I like to imagine that Cantr society is simulating our own, just at an incredibly fast rate... After all, the amount of violence in the world, while still quite high, has been argued (*) that it's the lowest it ever has been, globally, when things like population is taken into account.




*"by who?" Wikipedia editors ask me. "I don't remember," I respond, "But I think it was during a Ted Talk."

It is about the sole objective of nearly all of my characters to create different, interesting cultural/ideological groups in their respective areas.

I've found the lack of culture annoying as well, and it makes me feel so happy when a little bit of my hand-crafted culture shows through in a group's identity or etc.

I agree. I've seen some interesting things happening though in some areas. People that burn their dead instead of bury them. Warrior tribes starting to rise up in some other locations as well based around tribal society.

I had several chars with cultural event ideas , but they have grown lazy. Still one can make a seasonal celebration as soon as she returns her home.

You all make some very good points and yeah, I wasn't suggesting that it should happen rapidly. But just that they close the distance. In other words the ideological perspectives are close enough to cause tension but not close enough for one or the other to be wiped out due to a war. Because obviously completely wiping out a separate culture would defeat the purpose of the culture existing in the first place. But I've always found the clash of cultures fascinating in the world and you see that real well in some places of Cantr. One place in particular I can't remember but anyway it was really good RP and the historical relevance was there, all groups were still alive and had some sort of ties with each other. But there was some definite anger towards each other and concern and to some extent fear of the unknown and the future. Anyway, thank you all for replying and I agree with most if not everything that was posted here.

You made me to remember a story that one of my characters listened from the older ones when she was younger. It happened real years ago (before I started to play), a considerable big war, the Dutch-Spanish war (with a real ideology behind).
A lot of towns from both sides razed and a bunch of dead characters... (I didn't live it, so I just know what my character heard).
But, whatever that war was, or whoever won, the stories still remain into the memories and the culture, and my character (now old) who lives in one of the rebuilt towns, still tells that story to the others, to make sure that the distrust remains from generation to generation (even when the ones that lived that war, are already dead).

Imho that is what builds the "culture" of a society, its history...but unfortunately, there are very few players with the patience to pass (or ask about) the history of their towns.
So, my advice, if you want to encourage (or create) a "culture", try to ask with your characters (the ones that have a fixed place to live) about the history of your town; you will discover that, even hidden, there is a social pattern and some developed ideologies behind.

I never thought about that and that is extremely interesting. Faith you're awesome. I'll do that!

I have a character rather invovled in one of these nice, pleasant towns that you seem to consider to be lacking in culture, but they have their reasons for being the way they are, and those reasons might not be what you expect.

A lot of the time, people don't really bother asking about these things, but I consider this peaceful town to have just as much culture as the hostile location I have a character in.

Reaction wrote:I have a character rather invovled in one of these nice, pleasant towns that you seem to consider to be lacking in culture, but they have their reasons for being the way they are, and those reasons might not be what you expect.

A lot of the time, people don't really bother asking about these things, but I consider this peaceful town to have just as much culture as the hostile location I have a character in.

I'm sorry, I didn't intend to offend you. I didn't intend to offend anyone if I have then I apologize. I wasn't really trying to suggest it was the players fault but rather how could we spice things up a bit is all. To try to bring a bit more individuality to regions and or towns, villages, etc. So anyway, I apologize if you took anything I've said offensively.

In short, I'm not suggesting hostility. I'm saying that with more cultures and individual beliefs and ways of thinking naturally brings about hostility. Not always violent hostility either. Just enough to make things interesting. Granted that's not always the case and I wouldn't dare suggest that it should be forced if it doesn't. Just that it would naturally in some cases bring about hostility and that would make the game a bit more interesting and make cultures feel a bit more lively.

Yeah, I'm not that easily offended, I just disagree with some of what you have to say.

I don't think the lack of culture is so extreme as you have made it out to be. I think there is an implication there is less culture now than there used to be in part because there are less people preserving history. There used to characters who wrote and distributed notes for the purpose of educating people on the cultural differences and historical events of regions, now there are less of those characters. Now we have the ability to destroy notes, and more have been lost or buried over time.

If you really want to appreciate culture in Cantr, I suggest playing a character who does. Try playing a historian who wants to learn these things, conduct interviews and research, write updated interpretations of history and distribute them.

And I don't think it is entirely fair to say that areas are under developed for being calm little settlements. Sure, some of them are, but some of them have already been through wars, clans, dictators and raids and are recovered, or recovering from those times, and I would consider that an evolution of culture rather than a lack of one.

In short, I think there's more culture in the game than you're giving it credit for, it just isn't as diverse as you would like.

Diversity is just as important however. But I also feel like my previous statement still holds some validity due to the fact that if historical records were destroyed and people don't know them then the culture was destroyed. I believe it was someone in my family that said this regarding our Cherokee ancestry.

"If our language is destroyed then our culture is destroyed. That's why it's important for you to learn Cherokee because without it then we have nothing."

This is basically the same thing but regarding history rather than language. Because the point was that the language was tied to literally everything else. So by learning the language you learn the history and the ties to other tribes like the Iroquois and you understand the relevance. You also understand the rival tribes that tried to destroy our people. But without the history the culture is pretty much gone and everyone is kind of either stuck in limbo or forced to reform their own culture.

But back on topic, diversity is important. without diversity then it's just one culture all over the Cantrian universe and that's still culture but you have to agree that it does make the game a lot less interesting. However, as previously discussed and as you mentioned there can be ways to revive those old cultures and I do intend to attempt such a feat, although, I doubt I'll be very successful on my own. But perhaps there are other characters that exist doing the same thing? I've never seen them, but I would certainly like to if they do.

Or maybe I can form a coalition in game to revive history and have some kind of enlightenment era in Cantr... That sounds really really really cool. You people are amazing, everything you say is so thought provoking. I seriously love this forum and all of you.

The number one death cause of Cantr culture is people's incessant need to make their own culture, mostly based on ooc values (murder is wrong, magic doesn't exist, corpses need to be buried). Adapt and adopt, and culture happens.

I love seeing other characters build forth on my characters' ideals, and vice-versa.