Gary Gygax’s Living Fantasy
If you are in process of constructing a fantasy world, then
the choice of how to build it is open. As non-human races
add to the diversity of the milieu, likely they will be in-
cluded. It seems a good idea to have no less that 10% of
the total population be of humanoid racial - more in a large
urban community. If non-human races live in relative har-
mony with humans, then so much the better. Thus, a city
can have a human slum, a humanoid one, a human foreign
quarter, and one or more “humanoid quarters” too - dwarves
and gnomes in one, perhaps brownies and kobolds in an-
other. In such a place, there will be exclusive human gangs,
mixed human-humanoid ones, and exclusive non-human
groups. Other than the obvious racial differences, though,
the contrariety between the lot will be negligible.
Assimliation
Many campaigns assume that the various non-human ra-
cial groups living in human civilizations keep most of their
cultural attributes intact. This is not an unreasonable as-
sumption, especially if you consider that, unlike human
“races” which are basically defined by genetic traits, dif-
ferent humanoids are actually different genetic types, and
one would logically expect for them to keep many of their
core personality traits.
Even so, the concept of assimilation is ignored by many
campaigns. Basically, if one cultural group becomes a part
of or interacts with a larger group, the cultures tend to
merge. This isn’t universal, of course, but historically it
has happened—except when the smaller cultural group has
a very strong ethnic identity or uncompromising religious
or social trait. Please also note that modern democratic
cultures are much more tolerant and accepting of multi-
pluralistic subcultures than they were in ancient and feu-
dalistic Middle Ages.
When developing campaign worlds with a well-defined
history, one should at least consider the possibilities. You
can have your dwarves in the mountain kingdoms and elves
in their forest clans, but there will likely be groups who
have accepted and melded with humans (or other human-
oid kingdoms). If one human city has a huge population
of dwarves living in a major city (say refuge from a war
800 years ago—now making up 20% of the population),
one should expect at least some assimilation. It would be
very likely that such a population would keep their dwarven
traits, but likely adapt to the culture of the overall king-
dom, worship the regional human pantheon and so forth.
It would also depend on the race. Elves usually have very
long life spans and an exotic culture and are more resistant
to assimilation than, for example, halflings. Of course, to
be accepted into the community, some amount of assimila-
tion would be necessary, or else there would be continual
conflict, and the different group would not only be shunned
and persecuted, but eventually driven out or even killed.
BANKING
There is no question that the advanced societies in the fan-
tasy world will have developed a relatively sophisticated
system of banking, including systems for moving money
from one bank to another and from state to state.
The main instrument used to accomplish transfer of funds
between banks will be documents of some sort, paper or
otherwise, that indicate funds from Bank A are due to Bank
B. Of course, various banks will be exchanging such docu-
ments, so that in actuality, actual money might never need
to be moved, as one note of transfer cancels out another.
Otherwise, actual transfer of funds, in gold or gems, will
be made. Gems are included in the asset transfer because
they are used today as a form of money in some places. In
the fantasy milieu they would be used extensively because
paper currency is not employed. Even at $500 per ounce,
gold transfer is bulky, while diamonds at an average of
$5,000 per carat is compact. As the assumption is that gold,
and collaterally gems, are universally accepted and values
fixed in many states, the inter-bank transfers between these
institutions in such states will not be difficult.
Banks will be located in larger communities, towns and
cities. They will hold money for persons, make loans, pay
and collect interest. When a person wishes to have a large
sum of money available, but not actually have to carry it, a
letter of credit will be issued by the bank holding the
individual’s money. The sum of money indicated on the
letter of credit can be drawn from any other bank or banks,
the amount drawn down in whole or in part, and the hold-
ing bank will make good the sum or sums to the total value
indicated in the letter of credit. Meanwhile, the issuing bank
will not pay interest on the sum indicated in the letter of
reference. Banks will also change metal coin currency of
other states into the coin of the realm, change gold into
gems and vice versa, for a relatively small fee—5% or less.
Money changers typically charge a higher fee. Such es-
tablishments are smaller, operate in smaller communities,
and offer fewer services. A money changer charges a fee
higher than that of a bank, likely 6% or more, but such
establishments ask few questions.