8. Analogues Aren't.
Don't be afraid to name your analogues. Steal widely. Read deeply. Analogues are a tremendous help in summarising a culture, but there's a tendency to take them much too literally. Make sure that people understand what an analogue means. (Oh that a definition could be writ large across the top of every Digest.) As a rule of thumb, I'd suggest that a cultural analogue might describe something like 60% of the technology and society of a given group, and perhaps 20% of its historical development. Nothing more.
Cultural evolution is non-deterministic. Ideational realms can branch in a multitude of different directions. So your analogue culture is vaguely Anglo-Saxon. Should this preclude you introducing say, individualistic Amerindian type spirituality? No! - especially if it's an isolated frontier area with few temples or priests. Just make sure you visualise and follow through the consequences into other areas of everyday life.
And once in a while, dump the analogies completely and just do the whole damn thing from scratch. Analogues can turn you into a researcher rather than a creator. That's not what it's all about.
http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/trickster.html
Cheers
John
Aussie Zen: The Ten Noble Precepts
Not to cadge; not to dob; not to big note yourself; not to bung it on; not to put the bite on; not to cause problems; not to whinge; not to crawl; not to have tickets on yourself; and not to buzz around like a blue-arsed fly.
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