Building My World (part three)

Another part of my world I need or want to build is background on the different supernatural cultures, any history that will affect my world of supernatural, and the politics and power structures of each of my supernatural societies. 

Each culture will have a history.  Again mythology is a great help here, a great base for my preternatural.  But poetic license will let me twist old myths and make new ones to mold the supernatural cultures to what I need to make my stories work.  Some of these histories and cultures will play prominently in my series later if my plots all follow the path I have laid out for them.   

Let’s continue to use the ever-convenient vampires for example:Okay so now I have vampires that have rules of what powers and weaknesses they have, I have given them life amongst the humans, now I have to figure out their history.  Are all vampires bitten?  Are there born vampires and turned vampires?  If there are different types of vampires then there will definitely be a hierarchy of power.  Wouldn’t pure bloods be more powerful?  Wouldn’t they feel that bitten vampires are inferior?  Possibly the pure bloods use the bitten vampires fore slaves?  Perhaps there is a split, an uprising of the turned vampires against the pure bloods.  If so then are they still warring quietly behind the humans’ backs?  Or have the bitten vampires perhaps larger in numbers desecrated the pure bloods?  If they did then what are the consequences?  Did they grow weaker without the vampire heads?  Do turned vampires turned by a turned vampire become weaker as the vampire “power” is diluted?  Or did the purebloods win because they’re more powerful.  Did they lay waste to all the bitten vampires?  Is there a change in the laws where you have to go through a process, red tape before you are allowed to turn a human in to a vampire? Or perhaps a rule that stops bitten vampires from being made at all?  All of this will shape the vampire culture.  It will be important in how vampires react in my series.   

Also there will be politics.  Wherever there is power to be had there will be those who seek it.  Supernatural beings would be no exception.  There would those who would rise up and unite their kind.  The strongest would rule over the weaker.  Since they are handy let’s use vampires again.  There would be vampires all over the world.  If there are pure bloods and turned vampires – then the pure bloods would be the governing class and the bitten vampires working class.  Would there be a single governing vampire body with smaller factions all over the world?  Or would there be vampire “countries” each with their own ruling body?  How are the vampire “countries” divided?  If the area is wide enough, say they actually use human government boundaries, there would have to be smaller governing bodies with each “country” much like our states.  And on it goes to counties and cities.  And how do these governing bodies relate to each other.  What are the rules for visiting another area?  Even in the vampire “city” there would be politics and rules of behavior.  How do vampires punish other vampires?  What do the vampires call their leaders?  Can anyone turn a vampire or do you have to get permission from your vampire leader?  Is there a way that weaker vampires must greet the stronger vampires?  What is the etiquette for a vampire that is turned?  Does he always owe his allegiance to that vampire?   Are there customs that vampires must follow?   

So in trying to make my world stable and believable I have to set up the subcultures inside the supernatural societies.  Make rules.  These rules will affect how the supernatural react in different situations to different people.  It’s another layer of building my world…