Unpopular Take: Fantasy gaming tends toward integration of populations rather than diaspora or closed subcultures. On some level, it’s to prevent problematic roleplay or setting depiction but it also feels overhomogenized and artificial.

I want to know about the small communities of elves living among other folk in the Realms who never participated in the Retreat and what customs they retained or developed as part of that.

Tell me about Thayan diaspora who fled the oppression of the zulkirs but who held onto their cultural identity settling in Cormyr or Serbia.

Like, generations-old halfling who are diaspora from Luiren, and how their small subculture sets them apart from their more typical halfling neighbors in the shires they’ve settled.

I think the best diasporic depiction in the Realms to date has been the shield dwarves of the North, descendants of long-lost empires who lived among other folk keeping a lot of those traditions alive.