Korthos, Endless war

I stole or developed all my tribes & cultures from other sources, so I have no qualms passing them on to you.
Grist for the mill:

Magic worshipers who first received the gift of the arcane from a divine patron. The nation is magocratic and meritocratic, with the most talented given rule & command. They train exceptional sages, viziers, and hermits who have found high position within the academic and government structures of many other nations. They operate a whisper network of intelligence between these agents using a type of cant and cipher hidden within written works.

A halfling culture grown out of a generational circus. Originally bred as labor and side-show features, the people rose up and seized the royal wagons. They reproduce more rapidly than humans and have evolved into a mutualistic relationship with the captive circus animals. Now closer to feral naturalistic culture, every halfling child is paired at birth with a fierce dire bear, tiger, wolf, or other creature that it is pair-bonded with for life.

Remnants of a religious-warrior culture. Effectively, the culture was raptured into another plain to escape the eternal warfare. The remainers were either insufficiently faithful, or blasphemed so they could see the ritual of rapture to completion. These remnants were entrusted with the secret of bringing the nation back from the hidden realm, either a pocket dimension or quasi-plane maintained by their chief deity. When the situation is favorable, the remnants will summon their countrymen back.

A vampire aristocracy. Very few in number, the undead rulers maintain a strict hierarchy of feudalism. Their interior politics are purely bent towards the increase of their human subject's population, urging them to produce as many workers/warriors/blood bags as possible. Their foreign policy is isolationist, but they are poor neighbors. All conflicts are purely numeric exercises- attacks will only go forward if captives taken outnumber losses. The rulers are rarely seen, or met twice.

A confederacy of monstrous humanoids. Orcs, goblins, kobolds, lizardmen, etc. This is not a true tribe or culture, but a representative body of the diverse monstrous species. Each constituent species is fully autonomous, but the confederacy is maintained and represented by intelligent members of each. This compact was made by necessity, as no single species had the diplomatic heft or influence to affect geopolitics. By combining strength, these monstrous species are a force.

Humans of sub-arctic stock who have been gradually corrupted by proximity to an obscene deity of cold and mutation buried in the arctic region. The culture of these people is being gradually forgotten as each generation succumbs further to the profane. Goliaths and sub-intelligent offspring are borne with increasing frequency since the first children were abandoned by the proud original culture; these survivors are getting revenge, wearing away the buffer of civilization year by year.

Guardians of lost and eldritch secrets. This tribe is made up from hermits of other nations and species; they are a culture that perpetuates itself solely through oral tradition and teaching. Each aphorism, parable, tale and yarn told by these learned people is rife with historical allusion and potent lore. These people keep very few strongholds, and to a one those cities or outposts are established to protect or observe dangerous or supernatural sites from disruption.

A liberal society of religious protestants. Originally this culture sprang from 'heretics' of the religious-warrior nation mentioned previously. Learned and philosophical thinkers were rooted out by the religious order inquisition for crimes against dogma. Many scholars fled before they could be committed and re-educated. They formed a new nation with a belief in self-actualization and tenets of democracy, so much that they were passed over when their families and neighbors were raptured.

Horse mercenaries. I just use Dothraki.

Arctic cultists. The goliath culture above has a curious practice of trepanning. By drilling a hole in the skull, the operation recipient is open to cosmic and supernatural communications. Their 3rd eye opened / equipped with an extra hole in the head, these mental cases wander their way northwards. Eventually all succumb to frigid icy chrysalis or entombment in snow. There they become arctic mummies, held in stasis until a worthy avatar of the profane deity can reach the pole and awaken the horde.

Dwarven armorers and weaponsmiths. This kingdom of dwarves values craft and weaponry as valuable above all (save gold). They delve deep into mountains and caverns to tease out exotic metals and ores. Their metallurgists are next to none, and they make trade on all facets of war; material extraction, equipment construction, mercenary forces, battlefield reclamation and salvage. They are assiduous record keepers and never forget a debt owed or paid.

A powerful walled city-state with a pythonic oracle at its center. The oracle is the medium for all civic decisions, actually a conduit of communication with a monstrous patron. The original occupants of the state were nomadic horsemen, and the influence of the patron caused man and beast to cross and become centaurs. They rarely serve the city outside of agriculture, ranging and emissary roles and seldom enter the city. Within the city, the influence of the patron is fully felt. Monstrous races and humanoids combine and reproduce in all imaginable shapes and combinations. The splendors of architecture, art, and thought are as varied and unique as the people. The ready combination of person, science and craft has driven the oracle to wide renown for craftsmen, artificers and magi.

A maritime federation that is an economic co-operative of port towns spanning a huge range of ocean or archipelago. The harbor master is the ultimate authority and center of decision making in each port. The true economic & government actors are truly the confederation of ship captains, the economic engine of the nation. All captains are elected from among the ship crew therefore any ship within the federation becomes a voting member, provided tax & duty to the parent union is in good standing. The government is a mix of a melange of shipping ventures: cargo carriers, human transport, privateers & adventurer charters can all maintain good standing so long as their ventures are profitable. The ship federation sees to the harbors protection and resourcing, freely moving federation resources to those strategic locations or way-points that best serve shipping interests.

The Fae court is an extradimensional realm that projects into reality in many places. The court is made of two main factions (borrowed from Celtic) Seelie and Unseelie. Decisions and authority are determined by strange calculations of 'clout', 'prestige', and 'renown' as agreed by courtly heralds. The court has passages to the prime material plane in copses, bogs, and dales at times of particular celestial alignment and energizing of ley lines. If the rules of etiquette and courtly manner can be learned, players my travel rapidly through the fantastic demesnes of the Fairy Queen (whoever that may be this week).

Dwarven golem crafters. This dwarf tribe is an offshoot of the other dwarf culture but more focused on artifice, craft, and sculpture. They co-developed with the gnomic culture-- gnomes became gnomadic and seafaring, a diaspora after they were displaced from their homeland. The gnomes brought craft, materials, arts from distant traveled lands and inspired the dwarves. The synthesis of exotic arts and metallic strength spawned an army of golems, workers and warriors to serve both dwarf and gnome.

(Eventually the golems achieve sentience. It doesn't end well for either dwarven nation, and there is a Battlestar Galactica arc.)

Desert nomads. A massive desert is seemingly populated only sparingly by dusty vagabonds and animal herders. The desert is fenced by a massive 'fence' of obelisk, towered wall, or massive statue. These structures observe and appraise all who pass into the desert, and are manned by the young people of the tribe. Without significant assistance from these outriders and guardians, one would never find the glittering desert metropolises at the heart of the culture, deep in the shimmering wastes.

Intelligent consorts of the demonic. Sages made contact with demonic presence generations ago, and that otherworldly taint has manifested itself in the tribe more and more. Now, demons are summoned regularly for roles in the tribe. Offspring of the original people are more and more affected, and a majority are now tiefling. Many work as clerks, engineers, and architects- the ultimate goal of this cultural work is a gate to the demonic plane, through which allies can pour and bring about Armageddon.

Forgotten and faded culture of shades. In a continent of constant warfare, it took a great work to remain hidden and unnoticed. A ritual meant to conceal a small nation from powerful neighbors worked too well, and pushed its cities and people into a strange existence between prime and shadow planes. The people are gradually becoming shades in every sense. They operate as agents freely in many lands now, always seamless blending into the dark, the fog, the grey.

Aarakokra of the skies. The clouds above and spires of mountaintops are the domain of the winged race. They dominate the aerial and know much from their travels. They know the locations of secret islands in the sky and much of strange aerieal phenomenon and astronomy. It is from the floating islands that they extract aereolite, a potent ore that can be used to elevate other islands, cities, even mountains into the air to create further regions accessibly only by the sky.

Business wizards. The board controls a world-spanning network of portals used for trade, travel, and strategy. New portals can be established only with great expense and investment of material, time, and resource. The magi maintain a powerful mercenary force of peacekeepers to secure the areas local to their portals and interests, recruiting many adventurers to secure the setting or do the arduous work of physically carrying the valuable portal seed to the new site (it cannot be magically transported).

Well, that's enough for here. Enjoy!