Different countries, different philosophies

Another in the "Things I learned in Europe" series of blog posts. This one courtesy of my friend Chelsea's Uncle Ricardo in Rome.

He was kind enough to act as our tour guide to the city for a day, which was amazing in a number of ways. Rome was just as full of fodder for my writing as I expected, but I got a little tidbit from Ricardo that I hadn't expected.

He paused in the middle of explaining one set of ruins to explain that the ancient Romans had built everything to last for thousands of years, fully expecting their Empire to continue for that long. This was an interesting enough facet of a civilization in and of itself to merit "chalked away for further use" status, but what he said next was even more interesting.

He told me that the modern Romans, having grown up surrounded by the evidence of the fall of ancient Rome despite all its careful planning, had evolved a very cynical approach to claims of Empire, or permanence. This in turn, I think, has a great deal to do with the open, free-wheeling reputation of the city and its people.

So when he told me a this a lightbulb went off in my head--not only did that particular aspect of a civilization fit perfectly for my dwarves (yes, I shamelessly pull from history and my experience, but every writer does...deal with it ;-p), but the realization that a people's past is inextricably linked to its present mentality was a very important one for me. It is yet another thing that must be taken into account to build a full and three dimensional world, which takes much, much more work than I ever imagined when I started creating mine seven years ago. More on that later this week.