A mix of both. I think this heavily depends on two things: how culturally similar the races are and whether or not they can have fertile offspring (as similar traditions and family ties are both good reasons to share a communal space).
So, taking humans and elves as an example: on one hand, they can have children together, but on the other hand, elvish culture should by all rights be very different because of their much longer lifespan, and so most elves probably wouldn't be interested in living in human society and vice versa.
But as another example: humans and tieflings have similar lifespans, they can have children together, and their cultures are similar (if it can even be said tieflings even have a distinct culture of their own), so it makes sense they would live together in most cases. Though the stigma against tieflings would mean they may be treated poorly in some places.
In cases where the answer to one or both of these questions is "no," then you might have a few individuals from the first race living in the other race's cities, but I wouldn't expect it to be the norm.
I really dislike the idea. It seems to me that a city might begin as a "human city" but given any amount of time you're bound to have population movement and mixing.
In a fantasy setting that you create, there is little stopping you from creating whatever “internal” logic you want as a “why” cities or nations are what they are. It’s ultimately a question of flavour and what you and those you play with prefer.
The traditional fantasy setting is more or less homogenous nations or towns, be that based on culture or race. You have the elven and dwarf kingdoms, human lands, perhaps a halfling realm and so on. Following suit means the “easy way”, in my way. Simply presenting what most expect. Going in a completely different direction, mixing race however, and perhaps using other cultural factors to set cities or kingdoms apart can work great, but I would say the task is more challenging. Both in terms of consistency and flavour to the world, but also making sure that a group of players that have their expectations of what fantasy is, are happy with the setting.
Some quitetraditional fantasy settings have one or a few towns or kingdoms that stand out, where the traditional division is gone and everyone mixes as equals. The “free town of X where all live together”.
My personal preference is the traditional setting, as it in my view allows more room to both present the expected (a dwarf city, an elven kingdom etc) but do so with a twist. The exceptional great city or so where everyone mixes is also a nice change, but if I wanted a campaign focused on that, I would probably keep it within such a place, showing how odd and special it was relative to the rest of the setting.
In my setting I use Matt Coleville's idea that 1000 years ago a powerful emperor, in an attempt to break ties to lands, took children from all over the world and relocated them. I feel that makes settlements of any size more dynamic. There may still be racial prejudices left because of ancestral actions but anyone can be from anywhere.
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In your world do you have a mix and mingle of races in your cities? Do you have Dwarf, Elf, Tiefling cities? Something in-between?
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A mix of both. I think this heavily depends on two things: how culturally similar the races are and whether or not they can have fertile offspring (as similar traditions and family ties are both good reasons to share a communal space).
So, taking humans and elves as an example: on one hand, they can have children together, but on the other hand, elvish culture should by all rights be very different because of their much longer lifespan, and so most elves probably wouldn't be interested in living in human society and vice versa.
But as another example: humans and tieflings have similar lifespans, they can have children together, and their cultures are similar (if it can even be said tieflings even have a distinct culture of their own), so it makes sense they would live together in most cases. Though the stigma against tieflings would mean they may be treated poorly in some places.
In cases where the answer to one or both of these questions is "no," then you might have a few individuals from the first race living in the other race's cities, but I wouldn't expect it to be the norm.
I really dislike the idea. It seems to me that a city might begin as a "human city" but given any amount of time you're bound to have population movement and mixing.
In a fantasy setting that you create, there is little stopping you from creating whatever “internal” logic you want as a “why” cities or nations are what they are. It’s ultimately a question of flavour and what you and those you play with prefer.
The traditional fantasy setting is more or less homogenous nations or towns, be that based on culture or race. You have the elven and dwarf kingdoms, human lands, perhaps a halfling realm and so on. Following suit means the “easy way”, in my way. Simply presenting what most expect. Going in a completely different direction, mixing race however, and perhaps using other cultural factors to set cities or kingdoms apart can work great, but I would say the task is more challenging. Both in terms of consistency and flavour to the world, but also making sure that a group of players that have their expectations of what fantasy is, are happy with the setting.
Some quite traditional fantasy settings have one or a few towns or kingdoms that stand out, where the traditional division is gone and everyone mixes as equals. The “free town of X where all live together”.
My personal preference is the traditional setting, as it in my view allows more room to both present the expected (a dwarf city, an elven kingdom etc) but do so with a twist. The exceptional great city or so where everyone mixes is also a nice change, but if I wanted a campaign focused on that, I would probably keep it within such a place, showing how odd and special it was relative to the rest of the setting.
In my setting I use Matt Coleville's idea that 1000 years ago a powerful emperor, in an attempt to break ties to lands, took children from all over the world and relocated them. I feel that makes settlements of any size more dynamic. There may still be racial prejudices left because of ancestral actions but anyone can be from anywhere.