Developing Naga Culture

This is an essential part of worldbuilding. If you want to make your own world/universe, the main race must run deeper than "this is how they look, this is how they eat. there are many kinds, and they fight these guys over here" seriously.

It's sometimes very unfortunate, but something has to be done about it. You don't just leave a main race with an undeveloped culture, it's simply a bad idea.

However, I think Nagas can run beyond a family home. It's like a home, or a community center. Everyone sleeps together, and spends the evening/night in roughly the same place, but they go out during the day to do their separate things.

But nagas are a wild species. If they lived in cities, and engaged in commerce and politics with other races, and live in ways that weren't "stay alive from day to day", then we'd have an issue. Nagas are, however, not in that position. They don't have a culture that can be described as a unit. Just the countless postcultures and innate behaviors. The fact that this fact has to be repeated so many times is making me sad.

You don't need to live in cities to have a culture. I proved this already with wild animals that run off instinct: see dolphins and chimps links. It's really not that hard a problem to fix.

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the main race

Bael, they aren't the main race. They are just the one karbo has drawn the most because one of his characters is one.

Nagas are likely no more numerous, or important than mermaids or dridders.

Felarya doesn't have a main race.

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"this is how they look, this is how they eat. there are many kinds, and they fight these guys over here" seriously.

Bael. Nagas have no unified culture. They are a race of isolated individuals, many of whom may only meet another naga once in a very long time. Most of their friends and aquaintances are going to be non-nagas. Most giant species are like that. In those kinds of situations all we can really describe is appearance, species specific traits and that there are many kinds of them scattered all over.

As was mentioned, if you want to make a culture for a human-sized naga tribe, or a small group of giants who banded together, or something, that's fine. There would be hundreds, if not thousands, of micro-cultures scattered around Felarya. There is no single unified culture for any giant species. Dryads come the closest, but there are still gaps between the various dryad networks here and there.

Overall, I think aisu pretty much nailed it in his posts.

We aren't saying groups of nagas, or groups of any human-sized or giant preds for that matter, WON'T have a culture. What we are saying is that there will be no single, unified, describable culture for them. Due to the isolated nature of the wilderness, you'd have hundreds, even thousands of smaller, distinct cultures and social groups instead.

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For the iconic race of Felarya,

That's different than saying main race. They represent Felarya out of any other species. We all know that.

Also, if a species is too isolated, like you suggest, they'd die off.

I'm also working on a couple things on my end, it may surprise you.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

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For the iconic race of Felarya,

That's different than saying main race. They represent Felarya out of any other species. We all know that.

Also, if a species is too isolated, like you suggest, they'd die off.

I'm also working on a couple things on my end, it may surprise you.

Maybe to people who haven't actually done any research into the setting.

You don't die of old age on Felarya, Bael. But yes, the giant preds have a much lower birthrate than the other species. It has to be that way to avoid them being everywhere.

Remember, giant preds are not all THAT common. There aren't millions of them filling up the jungle, or nagas lurking behind every tree. They tend to be isolated, with only the nearby giants as friends or aquaintances. If a giant WANTS to have kids, he/she probably has to actively search for and seek out a mate, since there is a very real chance they may not know another one of their own kind, or the ones they do know live further away.

Naga Culture

Naga culture may be different than other cultures in the way they gather and roam. As children, they learn stories and songs from their parents that were passed down family to family. A majority of the Naga families in Felarya tend to stay with a pack or small tribe they sleep with. This is where Nagas come back to after they separate in the morning, going off to hunt or spend their day in a relatively solitary environment. Nagas long ago realized that sleeping by yourself often translated to a free meal by other predators who hunt at night. Thus the tradition of designating a "home" by a small group of nagas began.

Each Naga would protect the other if attacked in this area, often leading to the retreat, or outright refusal for most predators to attack a group. Also, Mother Nagas raising young would stay in this area to teach songs, stories, traditions, hunting habits, among other things orally until the Nagaling and siblings were old enough to hunt and eat prey by themself. Although some Nagas can write, this is rare among the species in general. The Naga parents however, gauge when the children are thrust out into the wilderness to experience the forest for themselves, and to learn and practice their techniques for survival.

This is why, when encountering one Nagaling, another nagaling will probably be close by; the Nagalings tend to stick together for as long as they can manage. When they are older they come back to their home group - and often in less numbers. This is when they decide to stay with the home group, or lead a lone life style by themselves, trying to live by their own merits. A healthy percentage of Nagas choose this lifestyle, or roam from group to group, trading stories, songs, and cultural traditions among the other Naga groups out there. This keeps an overall culture base between each tribe, or group, but each tribe still has specific ways of doing things, certain rites and attitudes that are unique to them.

The few Nagas that live completely on their own lead a lifestyle unique to themselves, deciding to find another roaming Naga of the opposite gender to mate, or finding a family group if they want to find a good partner. Still, Nagas have a wider female to male birth ratio than other species, and during childhood, many Nagalings are killed, further reducing the count of Males some times. Naga culture is barely touched upon and hardly observed by outside eyes, leading to speculated guesses on why Nagas seem to always be alone, yet find no dip in their population or encounter rate by adventurers.

Traditionally, when going into an important fight, Nagas paint their bodies with symbols and designs for enchanted protection or for intimidation. Their paint is thus magical in nature, and there is usually one or two nagas that know how to make this concoction per tribe (though some nagas my be able to work with metal). This is what they use in counter to a Dridder's Heavy armor, a species of whom they share a common hatred and rivalry for. Not much is known about the origins behind their fued with the Dridders beyond that of the stories of Sineria the Dridder Queen two thousand years ago. It is said to exist in stories between Nagas, but this story is never told to other species, even if they are friends. The story of the origins have been passed down orally, similar to most of the Naga culture, and thus over the centuries were changed from fact to legend. Though some Nagas let go of old hatreds, and may not react to a question regarding this topic, others don’t. This creates the ever lasting feud many know of.

All in all, most Nagas live solitary lives by day, and sleep together for protection during night. Cultures vary between tribes, being rites of marriage or process of going through adulthood, but Nagas traveling from group to group keep each other vaguely similar. They raise their young in the tribal home, some times decorated by others Nagas, trade stories with traveling Nagas, and use a special paint instead of bulking armor.

I hope you're talking about human-sized nagas. Giant nagas, and really most giants, are not going to be grouped together in the numbers you could consider a "tribe".

This would probably work fine for a single naga tribe, but for the whole species? It seems a bit selfish and restrictive to go "All nagas are like this. This is naga culture"

rcs619 wrote:

I hope you're talking about human-sized nagas. Giant nagas, and really most giants, are not going to be grouped together in the numbers you could consider a "tribe".

This would probably work fine for a single naga tribe, but for the whole species? It seems a bit selfish and restrictive to go "All nagas are like this. This is naga culture"

Numbers vary in a tribe, man. A lot. Besides, I said small tribes. Except the smaller ones might have a larger population in their groups.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

rcs619 wrote:

I hope you're talking about human-sized nagas. Giant nagas, and really most giants, are not going to be grouped together in the numbers you could consider a "tribe".

This would probably work fine for a single naga tribe, but for the whole species? It seems a bit selfish and restrictive to go "All nagas are like this. This is naga culture"

Numbers vary in a tribe, man. A lot. Besides, I said small tribes. Except the smaller ones might have a larger population in their groups.

I couldn't imagine more than two or three giants living together. That ain't exactly a tribe, man.

Well, since he's still on his forum strike and won't post, here's an idea Jeatte Troll wrote up. I think he did a fairly good job, personally.

Social Structure of Giant Nagas

Giant Nagas are individual, solitary creatures. Due to their large size, they consume a lot of food, mostly in the form of fruits, other vegetation and larger prey animals, with occasional supplementation from smaller animals. As they consume a lot of food, Giant Nagas are highly territorial, even if they are not of an aggressive disposition, simply because they require a large territory. Thus, Nagas are solitary in that there will be one naga with a territory of variable size, depending on how territorial said Naga is and how proactive they are about staking their territory.

Though nagas do appreciate having their own territory, they are not neccessarily asocial creatures. Most of a naga’s social interactions with other nagas involve communication with other nagas who have adjoining territories. A good example of this is Crisis and her relationships with nearby nagas and predators, such as Vivian. These nagas can visit or interact with each other while still keeping close to their territory. Occaisonally more than one naga will live in a territory. This is usually a mother raising children until they are large enough to go stake their own claim. It could also be two or a few growing nagas sharing a territory until they become fully grown and able to handle themselves better.

Naga relationships are based upon this territorial expansion. Female nagas will sometimes engage in sexual activities. This is often developed as part of a close friendship, or used as way to relieve tensions between nagas that may have difficulties. (A good example of these sexual relationships can be found with the naga Vivian). Male nagas tend to have much larger territories than females, though this can vary as well. Male nagas, during a time when they feel the need to mate, are prone to wandering over larger tracts of land. It is during this time that males nagas will seek out mates. Most male nagas will only stay with females for a short time before continuing their journey. However, it is not unheard of for a pair of nagas to form a more permenant bond and for the male to settle down for a more protracted period of time. It is these journeys by the males that allows the nagas to effective make use of their large female-to-male ration in order to have a wide number of female nagas giving birth to keep populations stable - many younger nagas will not survive into adulthood.

Cliff talking again:

Basically, no one has a problem with your ideas Bael, as applied to a tribe of human-sized nagas. The only issues we have are:

1: Applying them to all nagas.

and

2: Applying them to giant nagas, who do not really group together all that much.

Nothing you have proposed is necissarily bad, it is just how you are trying to apply it that is rubbing people the wrong way.

Well as I see it, nagas - including giants ones - were organized in tribes in the past.
It was a pretty primitive system but that worked under strong and charismatic leaders like Chani, Ran or Shuaskalan. Nowadays most nagas live mostly solitary though, but some vestiges of that tribalistic background still remains here and there.
To me it's clear Nagas were very far from reaching the level of sophistication od the dridder civilization - at least in what is known of Felarya - but they still had some accomplishments behind their belt like items crafting, writings, or recording for example, that can be qualified as culture. In general they relied more on magic than dridders to get things done though, and din't really developed any kind of science.

Also let's keep in mind the word "Culture" is quite wide I think and can include things as different as making decorated tapestries or having its personal and unique way to navigate the sea for example.

Ah, that cleared things up. Thanks Karbo.

Personally, when I think of culture that nagas would have, I would imagine them in just hunter/gatherer groups. They don't really seem like a species to utilize machines or make their own little villages.

Keep in mind, no matter how small a group, if they have social relations, songs, stories, and any sorts of traditions it is culture.

Like Karbo said, the word "culture" is quite wide.

I don't mind if JT's edition is what is canonized for Giant Nagas, after all, the reason for this thread in the first place is to develop Naga culture so despite what others may think about me wanting to staunchly defend my ideas for all Nagas, I'm in fact much happier now that other people are going with the flow and helping to post their own ideas.

Thank you, Karbo! Hopefully the Wiki will be updated so that there will be no more threads like this in the future.

im getting confused as fuck!

DuskTheNaga wrote:

im getting confused as fuck!

You're probably confused because this is an old thread (last post 2011).

Yeah its old alright.

What are you confused about DuskTheNaga? Any sort of topic here I can help clarify for you?