So, given the Olmecs have been confirmed by Polygon's preview article on the game, I've since been considering what other Native American cultures could work besides simply the Inca, Aztecs, and Maya. As a result I've come up with two that can work as a trading medieval and possibly a diplomacy or cooperation-focused Early Modern culture: The Mississipians AKA Mound-builders of the southern and midwestern United States (the mounds, given around 8000 have been discovered so far, can be their special non-wonder district), with their capital as Cahokia (which is a historical site across the river from St Louis). The Mississipians are also the ancestors to at least a dozen known Native American tribes and nations, such as the Kansa, Alabama, Missouria, and quite a few others, several of which are still alive. As to in-game representation besides the mounds that revealed their existence, they were able to spread their culture far across what are today the American South and Midwest primarily through trade, with numerous urban centers composed of mounds and surrounded by suburban villages having been found by archaeologists from Florida to Missouri. So, their bonus as a culture can be trade-based, with mounds as a repeatable district acting as a bonus in a number of categories. (So far, according to archaeology, the mounds were used as foundations for homes, temples, and as cemetaries, as well as for trade and to establish superiority over smaller settlements.) The city of Cahokia was inhabited from the 11th century AD to the 14th, had over 120 confirmed mounds (hence why in my opinion restricting it to wonder status instead of district is a terrible idea), and is believed to have at once point been more populous than London in the same period, making Cahokia a metropolis of the Great Plains region.

The Early Modern one would be the Haudenosaunee, more commonly known in the US and Canada as the Iroquois/Five Nations, were a major power in the region of Ontario-Philadelphia for almost two full centuries, despite French and British conflict. It consisted of five, now six, allied nations based in the Great Lakes and New York areas sharing mostly the same language and culture, which also existed outside their confederation under the umbrella term "Iroquoian". As such, the tribes still exist and can be consulted as to their depiction in the game, and can suggest elements of their culture that can be referenced in-game, as the Celtic culture is referenced by the Druids event quest. Given their history, an in-game Iroquoian/Haudenosaunee culture could have a more diplomatic bonus given their cooperative nature, and their recorded assimilation of prisoners of war into their villages and culture in order to restore their numbers from those lost in combat. (Defeated units in-game could heal your infantry, perhaps?) The Haudenosaunee were established in either the 12th or 15th centuries, but were, as stated above, a major player in the 17th and 18th centuries' Anglo-French colonization of northeastern North America, making them a plausible Early Modern culture instead of Medieval.

I understand if this may be rather difficult to implement, but I hope at least one of these two cultures I've presented can one day be in Humankind. And, sorry about the relatively rough information, I'm relying on Wikipedia for much of this information.

Thank you for taking the time to read all this, and have a good day.

Sounds interesting. What would be some options for earlier and later era civs in the same region, besides the USA? I'm actually wondering whether Mexico would be an appropriate culture for a later era? What about the Pueblo peoples, or the Inuit?

Dinode wrote:

Sounds interesting. What would be some options for earlier and later era civs in the same region, besides the USA? I'm actually wondering whether Mexico would be an appropriate culture for a later era? What about the Pueblo peoples, or the Inuit?

That'll depend on if they have potential gameplay-appliable elements; Mexico in the first half of the 19th century was a capable opponent of the United States, so they could work as an Industrial culture for DLC of some sort. The Inuit could perhaps have a coastal food and arctic terrain bonus of some kind, or a unique unit that's a dogsled-using cavalry unit that performs best in tundra and arctic terrain. The Cree, Lakota/Dakota, and Shoshone come to mind, as do the Cherokee. However, I don't know much about South American native cultures besides the increasingly-referenced Inca and their mountainside terrace farms that still mark the Andes mountain range today.

There are a lot of possibilities for american cultures, but I agree that Mound people and Iroquois are probably among the safest ones in Northern America. I would probably add the Pueblo and/or the Navajo who are rather well documented, and the Haïda who have a very distinct culture still alive today. But saying this there are also many others that come to mind... The hard part is really to make a choice.

The unique thing about Mound people I would say is prosperity, but not just through trade. Maybe a bonus to food or pop growth would represent their success in that area, especially since it was not a common thing for that time. This enabled them to build a complex society that wasn't as dependant on seasonal changes as their neighbours.

Ezumiyr wrote:

The unique thing about Mound people I would say is prosperity, but not just through trade. Maybe a bonus to food or pop growth would represent their success in that area, especially since it was not a common thing for that time. This enabled them to build a complex society that wasn't as dependant on seasonal changes as their neighbours.

Yeah, that could work too; they'd be chosen for those who want tall new Medieval cities, I bet. And at the end of the announcement trailer (in that final group shot) there was, it turns out, an Iroquois-looking infantry unit holding guns, so they might be in the game already as an Early Modern culture.

Love all of this, any ability to continue Native American cultures beyond the early ages is a welcome one.

Xefjord wrote:

Love all of this, any ability to continue Native American cultures beyond the early ages is a welcome one.

Agreed! I've never been happy with Civ's natives always losing their uniqueness (units, mostly) once guns come around. And it looks like the Iroquois are an Early Modern culture already, as the trailer's final shot shows what looks a lot like a musket-holding unit in their traditional war dress, so they're around until the Industrial era so far. I don't know what they'll continue as besides modern American countries like the US, Mexico, etc, but Native Americans with their own guns is a great sign.

By watching carefully the video of the Gamescon 2019, we can see a couple of time this city with curvy wood houses and long houses of wood, typically Haudenosaunee style! (BTW, Haudenosaunee meens "People of the Longhouse"  so....)

Sorry to rain on your parade, but those are definitely Nordic longhouses.

Ananashi wrote:

Sorry to rain on your parade, but those are definitely Nordic longhouses.

Yeaps!! You're right! It's more viking than iroquois.. Nevertheless I hope to see them in the game .