I need some ideas for more cultures/nations in my world, even just basic outlines. Here is a overview of the

continents I have:

I think I would probably base the different cultures upon similar real cultures for a given location. Cold frozen north? Go with Vikings or Eskimos, but be really careful when choosing a race, maybe try doing the unexpected, and go with Gnome Vikings or Elf vikings instead of dwarf or human or orc. I think it would be interesting to see the 'civilized' race of colonial expansionists actually being some of the races that are normally portrayed as 'primitive'. Have your British Empire equivalent actually be made up of Orcs and Ogres (or lizardfolk), with monocles and fancy wigs, and upper crust accents, while your primitive tribes are humans or elves.

I think I would probably base the different cultures upon similar real cultures for a given location. Cold frozen north? Go with Vikings or Eskimos, but be really careful when choosing a race, maybe try doing the unexpected, and go with Gnome Vikings or Elf vikings instead of dwarf or human or orc. I think it would be interesting to see the 'civilized' race of colonial expansionists actually being some of the races that are normally portrayed as 'primitive'. Have your British Empire equivalent actually be made up of Orcs and Ogres (or lizardfolk), with monocles and fancy wigs, and upper crust accents, while your primitive tribes are humans or elves.

There's different cultures of dwarves like rather than them all being vikings and miners theres one group of dwarves that like live in a underwater kingdom and use geothermal energy

Sure, I didn't mean to imply that whatever race you choose for your viking race would then only be a viking race, you could have some elf vikings, and in another continent you could have elves that are modeled after african tribes, or some elves running a version of the Dutch East India Trading Company. The main point was to not shackle yourself to the more straightforward tropes of using the traditional definition of the fantasy race determining what it should be like for all it's societies in your game. (Ie orcs being tribesmen/barbarians, elves being nature lovers, dwarves being technological) -- break some molds and mix things up.

Sure, I didn't mean to imply that whatever race you choose for your viking race would then only be a viking race, you could have some elf vikings, and in another continent you could have elves that are modeled after african tribes, or some elves running a version of the Dutch East India Trading Company. The main point was to not shackle yourself to the more straightforward tropes of using the traditional definition of the fantasy race determining what it should be like for all it's societies in your game. (Ie orcs being tribesmen/barbarians, elves being nature lovers, dwarves being technological) -- break some molds and mix things up.

yeah tropes are what i'm trying to avoid for the most part like for example rather than elves being the typical good nature lovers, a lot of aspects of them are similar to behaviours of folklore and they originally enslaved humans when they first entered the world

I dunno, you ask for cultures and you list biomes and races as examples.

I would think 'cultures' would go more along the lines of these, each as a distribution on a range, some with examples from history.

patrilineal/matrilineal

patriarchal/matriarchal

centralized/distributed (think 17th C. France vs. Roma or Diaspora Jews)

closed/open (think Amish vs. late 19th C. America)

monotheistic/polytheistic (1st C. Jews vs. Romans)

militaristic/peaceful (7th C. Arabs and the spread of Islam vs. the Tang Dynasty under Xuanzong in China)

sedentary/nomadic (Han vs. Mongol)

pastoral/urban

subsistence/abundance (18th C. !Kung vs. Salish)

maritime/agricultural

evangelistic/absorptive

Then there are subcultures. Think of Caribbean pirates of the 18th century or the Church and Thieves subcultures in Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame.

yeah there's alot of inspiration from the golden age of piracy like the first game is planned to be pirate themed

Sure, I didn't mean to imply that whatever race you choose for your viking race would then only be a viking race, you could have some elf vikings, and in another continent you could have elves that are modeled after african tribes, or some elves running a version of the Dutch East India Trading Company. The main point was to not shackle yourself to the more straightforward tropes of using the traditional definition of the fantasy race determining what it should be like for all it's societies in your game. (Ie orcs being tribesmen/barbarians, elves being nature lovers, dwarves being technological) -- break some molds and mix things up.

yeah tropes are what i'm trying to avoid for the most part like for example rather than elves being the typical good nature lovers, a lot of aspects of them are similar to behaviours of folklore and they originally enslaved humans when they first entered the world

Why? It gives the player something familiar, which generally it's a good thing. It's especially useful when there are many cultures, if you have one or two, sure, go for pure uniqueness, but if you have like a dozen it would be overwhelmed to the player, it's easier then for the player to relate to them like "viking elves" :)

Overused tropes are boring. And in this case, if they already base their cultures on existing cultures, they don't need the racial tropes to coincide. IE, the part that will be familiar to players is the culture, the "Viking" part, or "British Empire", the racial component doesn't matter as much, other than to show it's not quite the same as the British Empire, or Vikings. And one can even put a spin on the viking component. IE, Viking Elves who use longships and sport braided beards, but also excel at water magic. (or maybe lightning magic, very Thor-like)

Sure, I didn't mean to imply that whatever race you choose for your viking race would then only be a viking race, you could have some elf vikings, and in another continent you could have elves that are modeled after african tribes, or some elves running a version of the Dutch East India Trading Company. The main point was to not shackle yourself to the more straightforward tropes of using the traditional definition of the fantasy race determining what it should be like for all it's societies in your game. (Ie orcs being tribesmen/barbarians, elves being nature lovers, dwarves being technological) -- break some molds and mix things up.

yeah tropes are what i'm trying to avoid for the most part like for example rather than elves being the typical good nature lovers, a lot of aspects of them are similar to behaviours of folklore and they originally enslaved humans when they first entered the world

Why? It gives the player something familiar, which generally it's a good thing. It's especially useful when there are many cultures, if you have one or two, sure, go for pure uniqueness, but if you have like a dozen it would be overwhelmed to the player, it's easier then for the player to relate to them like "viking elves" :)

Overused tropes are boring. And in this case, if they already base their cultures on existing cultures, they don't need the racial tropes to coincide. IE, the part that will be familiar to players is the culture, the "Viking" part, or "British Empire", the racial component doesn't matter as much, other than to show it's not quite the same as the British Empire, or Vikings. And one can even put a spin on the viking component. IE, Viking Elves who use longships and sport braided beards, but also excel at water magic. (or maybe lightning magic, very Thor-like)

tbh also looking for cultures that could be mixed to make new cultures and would actually go together well