The Most Overlooked Detail in World building

Immigration is a key part in realistic world-building, so how can you add it to your story’s settings?

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A world without immigrants is one riddled with ignorance, disease, and static. Without imigration, your fictional location cannot go from being an amalgamation of ideas on some paper to living, breathing spaces. Immigration and migration is an overlooked subject that leads to worlds that are unrealistic and disinteresting. This is a key detail that even advanced writers may sometimes forget. No matter the setting, whether modern or fantasy, immigration is a necessary norm that has to be implemented. Adding immigration into your world building allows you to know the appeal and issues within your location, understand the cultural values of your location, and know how this changes the professions and lifestyles of your everyday civilians.

Knowing the push and pull factors of the countries, factions, cities, etc. in your world are important, and immigration plays a key role in figuring out what those factors are. Why do people want to come to this place? Why would they leave the comforts of their home to travel all the way to this new and unknown place? They’re leaving their family, jobs, home, and history for what? Some common pull factors are more job opportunities or better government and law, and some push factors are lack of rights or declining economy. Having this information helps your world appear more fluid and alive, especially as we see these push and pull factors change over time. Even if we never see this immigration happen, people are still moving in and out and around. This brings a new sense of life and history to your world, and it makes your cities appear stabler and more realistic.

With new people brings new culture. How has this culture been integrated into your home? Has it amalgamated with the original culture of the city, or are new people assimilating into the city? Are their practices even allowed, or is there a stigma surrounding them? Identity, as we all know, is incredibly important, and it's crucial to know how people treat new and foreign identities. This can give a clear view of the social, religious, etc. systems of your city. With change comes instability. How would people react to this culture that may not fit neatly into their system of beliefs and ideals? Do they integrate peacefully with the help of government officials, or does it end in rampages, martyrdom, and the death of many innocent lives?

The immigrant’s experience differs from person to person. However, no matter what it was, it’s important to tell. Often, many immigrants take on labor jobs because those types of jobs are the most attainable for someone with limited vocabulary and money. How does that affect your world? Does that lead to a certain guild, club, or space being predominantly composed of immigrants? Adventuring does not require many intellectual skills, and is mostly composed of charismatic, strong, and quick people. It’s also a job that pays well and offers lots of credibility. Do you think many immigrants would go into that profession as a way to quickly make money and earn a reputation for their family? A heroes’ job can sometimes simply be a form of labor that nobody else wants to partake in, and we often see immigrants take up labor jobs because that may be the only job available for them.

Immigration isn’t something you’ll find in the DM’s manual, but it's key to making a fluid and interesting world because it provides crucial information about your world's benefits and detriments, religious and cultural values, and its labor and economy. Immigration is crucial in an evolving world because it allows for technology and information to be shared, which allows for the evolution process to rapidly increase. Often, the immigrant is looked over and perceived as less of a citizen because of where they are from. Even though they travel miles and miles to find a new home, they have been denied the credit that they deserve. Though we can’t solve that issue in real life as easily, you can add it into your writing and world building. We all have jobs as people to share our stories, and this is a story in dire need of telling.

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DnD with a Z is a DnD blog that writes about the next generation's relationship with roleplay, writing, and DnD. To get regular updates about when articles go live, follow the author's twitter.

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