The Great Snake (3.5e Campaign Setting)/Societies

Societies
The Great Snake is a big place, and listing all of the countries in it would be basically impossible. Instead, I have chosen to list broad categories of countries that one can find on the Great Snake, as well as a few countries that are significant due to their placement. Almost all countries have an ample supply of food and water due to the ready supply of Decanters.

Countries
Imperial: An imperial country aims to run like a well-oiled machine, for the good of the people or the leader. Lyres of Building allow for the rapid construction of impressive structures. If the country is oppressive, it's likely to be patrolled by thought police. Elite troops are incredibly powerful, so almost every imperial country has some sort of well-equipped army of elite shock troops, probably transported via teleportation circle.

Post-Apocalyptic: For a brief period after an oppressive imperial country's leadership is deposed, the government's wealth is first come, first serve. This might mean that items end up being used sufficiently well by the people that no real government needs to be formed again for a while, possibly even long enough to become an idyllic country, but it usually means that squabbling warlords struggle to hoard all the items until the rest of the country has no choice but to accept them as their new emperor.

Idyllic: Who needs a military, or even a functioning economy, when you have the protection and support of one or more Wish characters? Sending or other spells let people call for help, something which Scry-and-Die can most certainly provide. Against a large scattered military of low-level soldiers, however, one or two Wish characters take too long to save everyone, and if they try, they leave theirselves open to the military's Scry-and-Die department. The idyllic country's Wish characters can attempt to improve things by arming the towns, which works reasonably well, but the Wish characters then need to establish harsh punishments for people who try to use those weapons to break away and form an empire.

Rampage: An ample supply of lootable items makes the murder hobo occupation more profitable than ever, and conflict is known to forge great heroes. A rampage country is really more of a mob of militants armed with a plethora of weapons and ammunition. The largest fraction of Wish characters come from rampage countries, but those Wish characters are also the most likely to leave the Great Snake in favor of practicing their murder hobo occupation on other planes.

Punching Bag: Sometimes, for whatever reason, neighboring countries or Wish characters find it suitable to keep these people down. Unlike all other countries, people regularly starve to death in punching bag countries, since they have been deprived of their magic items by paranoid casters or recent rampage visitations. Punching bag countries are almost never racist, because any race where its Wish characters convert their own countries into punching bag countries is probably already extinct.

Populations
Racist: Not all cultures are big on racial tolerance, and people who gain great power don't automatically forget all their cultural norms in favor of more tolerant ones.

Diverse: People have a tendency to migrate and mingle with their neighbors. When it happens enough, being racist becomes counterproductive, so cultural norms can adjust to favor tolerance over its opposite. This happens least often when races have vastly different generation lengths: short-lived races often reproduce quickly and outnumber their fellows until the other races all become "minorities", and thus discriminatable; while long-lived races can remember the "good old days" hundreds of years ago, when the others weren't around, crowding up the place.

Constructed: Rather than deal with the personality quirks of existing beings, some Wishers choose to create their own people. Such places tend to be themed, and filled with golems, clockwork, undead, or talking animals and trees.

Immigrant: The Great Snake is a really vibrant place, and villains are known for their maniacal plots to make gates to distant planes in order to call forth an army of ferocious monsters. Not all villains are failures. Demons, devils, and aberrations are the most typical otherworldly immigrants.

Leadership
Immortals: Whether they be undead, dragons, elans, or simply people who are willing to use reincarnation, the leaders of this country refuse to die and stay dead.

Caster Hierarchy: Strong cultural traditions and hierarchies mean that when the last master caster dies, a new one will be ready to take their place. For this reason, caster hierarchy countries are usually the least affected by the successful assassination of their current Wish economy characters, and have a large amount of lower level magical might.

Humble Kings: Sometimes the leader of a country isn't a being capable of extreme deeds. Unless there are high-level characters guarding the country and possibly providing economic assistance, the country is almost certainly post-apocalyptic or a punching bag.

Specific Examples
Caves of Self Reflection: Deep under the waters where the seas of Nihilla and Solip mix, there lives a community of hundreds of self-centered individuals, who spend their time relaxing in quiet contemplation, researching powerful magics, artifacts, or creatures, and holding insanely wild parties, in which partygoers frequently die, occasionally multiple times. Entry is quite restrictive: in order to be accepted, you must have four Efreet, who you bind yourself, carry you through the gates on a palanquin, underwater, without getting the carpet wet. While there are many who have stayed there for hundreds of years, others prefer to visit only for vacations or research.

Pommelstone: This hundred mile red gem, which grants the Vorpal property to all objects and unarmed or natural attacks within a mile of it, is inhabited by a variety of headless creatures, including oozes, aberrations, and constructs. The crystal Pommelstone is made out of is lighter than air (and has hardness 15 and 5 HP per inch), so it floats gently near the top of the atmosphere, drifting from place to place. Pommelstone's naturally defensible nature means that it doesn't need powerful characters for protection, but that same nature makes headless Wish characters find it a good spot to build their homes. For this reason, political power is held by the Eldritch Council, a collection of high-level aberrations, with a few token oozes and constructs, who require that all other citizens of Pommelstone spend thirty hours a week working on projects chosen by the Eldritch Council. The ability to produce a steady supply of gate scrolls makes this the most popular entry spot for visitors from the Far Realms.

&rarr; The Great Snake