"Sim cultures" or "Heimlichbourger shamelessly milks his fellow simmers for ideas."

Every previous version of my prehistoric hood I've played has had five tribes, but playing around with genetics more has convinced me that five is extreme overkill, so I've cut it down to three; Karo, Wa, and Hamlek. A synthesis will emerge when they make contact with each other, but I want to have three distinct starting cultures. In my planning and brainstorming process, I'm trying to define a series of cultural categories and assign each tribe a characteristic. I'll show you my notes bellow, and I'd like to hear your comments, especially if you shout out a category I've overlooked that you think is important The traits in each category are divided by slashes, one for each of the three.

Primary food source: Gathering/fishing/hunting
Real world influences: Mediterranean/British/Slavic+Eurasian
Supernaturals: Plantsim matriarchs/none/werewolves
Shaman is: Good/neutral/evil
Gender roles: Matriarchal/egalitarian/patriarchal
Male homosexuality: Persecuted/tolerated/respected
Female homosexuality: Respected/tolerated/persecuted
Religion: Nature worship/ polytheism/ ancestor worship
Mating customs: Matriarchs with harems/ panmixia/ patriarchs with harems
Military posture: Defensive/ passive/ aggressive
Diplomatic posture: Xenophobic/ friendly/ hostile
Decision-making: Each matriarch's grove is sovereign/consensus/one absolute leader
Dominant personality traits: Neat+Playful/Nice+outgoing/Active+outgoing
Dominant aspiration: Romance+knowledge/popularity+pleasure/family+romance
Amusement: Games of skill/drugs/games of chance
First advances in: Medicine/commerce/science

Sounds like fun - I like the balance you've struck between different types of society. If the ruling class of the society is gendered, are there going to be distinct roles for men and women?

Sure will! A variety of flavors of privilege and oppression- in the Karo tribe, the women are a leisure class that are free to pursue art and culture while the men compete for their favor (the matriarchs are plantsims that can reproduce asexually, meaning that they don't need the men, meaning all the cards are in their hands... and they know it), in the Wa tribe the genders basically play the same role (the climate is mild and food is plentiful), in the Hamlek tribe the men hunt and raid the other tribes while the women make them babies and sandwiches and don't talk back to them...

Ugh, why am I suddenly getting updated posts not showing the new posts?

Yeah, I was having that same issue last night, not sure what to make of it

That sounds so cool

I'm interested in how this works - does each tribe has their own neighborhood, all 3 tribes lives in one or is it just Pleasantview and all of that? In what time does the tribes unfold? Are you using empty clean neighborhoods and create members of tribes yourself so that regular looking townies don't walk by? Just curious

I like it! Very well done!

Yeah, I'm using completely empty templates and intend to introduce townies as a story element (they will only be unlocked once my sims have advanced enough to have exports). Once they appear, I'll use the visitor controlled to keep them confined to specific lots. I plan on unlocking townies in a process that paralells unlocking vacation hoods. First they have to build a castle (huge, expensive vacation home) in the mountain destination to subdue the nearby barbarians and open up their market. Once that happens "traders" (townies) will be created to represent exports to the nearby tribes. Once technology advances to the point that simple ships are available, they have to build a "port" lot in Heimlichbourg where sea traders (downtownies) will be allowed to appear, as well as an "embassy" (large, expensive vacation home) in the island hood, then another in the far east hood to unlock another set of sea traders.

In terms of hoods- each tribe will have their own. The matriarchal Karo live in Chthonia, a warm, fertile island near the coast (desert terrain, Moon Islands template). The egalitarian Wa live in the area with the mildest climate, which will eventually become the city of Heimlichbourg itself (dirt+Belladonna Cove). The patriarchal Hamlek live in Umberwold, a colder, mountainous area to the north of Heimlichbourg (lush+Sedona).

I'll be playing the hood rotation-style, but technological advancements won't be a function of time, they'll have to be unlocked through actual work (i.e. collecting a complete bug box unlocks a nature-related advancement, stargazing long enough to max out your science enthusiasm unlocks the telescope, etc.)

If you're interested, check out my simblr, I'll be documenting the whole project there!

Great thread! I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who does this kind of thing!
I have attached a copy of my Cultural & Ethnic Diversity chart which I use in my game. Please be aware that I am not intending to offend anyone in any way nor attempting any sort of accuracy; in my game I play sims as a parallel world, so exact accuracy would be contrary to that idea.

I love this idea so much! I always try to do this type of thing but I just never get detailed enough and then everything falls apart and then I just end up playing normal everyday values. I also have an issue forcing my sims to live in ways that are morally abhorrent to me, but would add balance and realism to the game. (You gotta take the good with the bad!)

I may have to take reference (read: steal ideas ) from this thread!

That's an issue, to be sure, and one I've thought about. There are, indeed, a few moments when I look at what's happening in my game and say to myself "what the hell is wrong with you?" But I find it's impossible to paint and interesting picture without the darker shades being involved. It also raises the stakes for my characters, which makes their stories more compelling.

That's been my problem in the past as well, so I ended up with pretty egalitarian households, most couples got married, all very middle-of-the-road 'normal'. Now, though, I'm deliberately adding different lifestyles. I've got a lesbian who's probably never gonna have kids, is content to be a player for now, although she might want a longer relationship eventually. I'm starting a commune that's all about self-sufficiency (without isolation from the outside world) and getting closer to nature and away from the hectic life. That might eventually turn into a creepy cult, not sure yet I've got a couple who has an open relationship - it's okay to have sex with other people, but they're together and will stay together (provided the relationship survives the man moving in and mooching off of the woman's hard work on the farm, that is).

And now I'm adding a family from the Far East, who just moved to the Western-like culture of River State. Although, there doesn't seem to be a real oriental-looking face, so I just grabbed two FE townies and made them playable. Did change their names but am not so good at outside looks, so they're gonna look a little more Western; ah well, it's the sims, not real life. It's in the culture, not the looks that they'll be different. The father is the head of the family, it's definitely patriarchal. The mother is stay-at-home and takes care of her husband and children. They've got a daughter and a son, both of whom are under pressure to perform - high grades, good education, good jobs (doctor or lawyer or business preferred) and a good marriage with grandchildren. I rolled traits for the kids, and the daughter is a vegan (from uni onwards), brave, and disciplined. She'll be a dutiful daughter who conforms to her parents' wishes, despite getting a lot of Western culture from the outside world. The son rolled the traits gambler, snob and manipulative. Basically, he's the only male child of the family (for now) and a spoiled little prince, as he'll keep the family name alive. He'll be evil, spoilt, and get into a lot of trouble, I think. Could be fun to play, but it's very, very different than what I'd be happy with in my own life.

I might eventually play difficult story lines, like terminal or chronic disease, cheating (never really did that either), abuse (domestic, child?), suicide, murder, or other subjects I'd rather not see in my own life (but unfortunately do due to it being real life). I'll let it grow organically, but I am paying more attention to diversity in storylines and cultures I play. It makes for a much more interesting mix than everyone starting out (relatively) poor and working their way up.

Edited to add:

And in my Test of Time hood, I'll be playing patriarchal and matriarchal clans in the prehistory. In the Roman Era, the norm will be either patriarchal or matriarchal depending on the clan that comes out on top. Faith starts out as non-believing at the start, to ancestor worship, and eventually split into a nature-based faith and a science-based faith.

Hmmm. You seem to have thought about almost everything already. I'm going to assume that they also have differences in appearances - clothes, hair - and climate, so the only thing I'll point to is that your real-world influences seem (mostly) limited to Europe. Why not borrow a bit from other parts of the world as well?

(Also, I personally would hesitate to put so many traits commonly considered negative with the same group. Patriarchal, aggressive, hostile, dictatorship, and evil shaman? Why not have the matriarchs be the hostile dictators, or the communally ruled fisherfolk have the evil shaman? Mix and match!)

@Felicia1066 you raise some very good points. When it comes to the real-world influences, I'm trying to interpret them more broadly. For example, my "Mediteranian tribe" is going to draw influences from ALL the cultures on the Mediterranean, including those in northern Africa, while my Slavic/Eurasian tribe will be influenced by both the european part of Russia and the Mongolian/Siberian cultures.

When it comes to making the patriarchal Hamlek the across-the-board villans, that isn't really my intention. The matriarchs are dictators to a certain extent: each of them is the absolute ruler of her grove and everyone who lives there, and the men are treated as completely disposable and subject to the whims of the high status women. So the matriarchal society won't be sweet and cuddly at all, and I actually intend for them to be the last region to join the Grand Duchy; the first couple of times the Hamlek try to project their power to Chthonia, they'll get thrown back into the sea rather humiliatingly

You're absolutely right about the shamans, though. I still want the Hamlek to have the evil shaman, but I think I'll take your advice and switch the Karo and Wa shamans. The Wa are benevolent and community-oriented, it makes much more sense for their shaman to be a healer and helper. Since each tribe can only have one shaman, the Karo actually desperately need her to be neutral in every sense; if she took sides in a conflict between matriarchs, the balance of power would be destroyed and Chtonia along with it

So thanks for making me rethink this, you just make Heimlichbourg better!