Ascendant Dawn has around 20 cultures most of which are playable. Most are very roughly based on a real culture from Afro-Eurasia. Most of the cultures are fairly similar having only stat differences though some do have access to unique mechanics that others may be able to get access to via unlocking it.

There are 3 unplayable cultures each one is fully controlled by settled AI these are the Samna, Zenhou and Orentees. The Samna are the largest and more powerful faction at game start however they cannot research new technology such as advancing to the iron age. This ensures they will eventually fall apart. They are roughly based on ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and other bronze age powers. The Zenhou are a culture based on ancient China, unlike the Samna they are not a single nation but rather two. They are the main culture on the eastern side of the map and have a good potential for growth. The Orentees are pseudo Greek city states that each start of as powerful single cities that specialize in trade. They largely require the Samna and tribes to prosper and will generally stay static.

Each culture uses a few different graphical “sets” for their units and buildings. These graphical sets help distinguish between different cultures and in general add more flavor to the game. There are four different architectural sets: desert, Mediterranean, wooden and eastern. Wooden is the most common with cultures from many different parts of the map using it while the other sets are used in a more localized area. An example of eastern architecture can be found in the attached files.

In addition to different unit and building sets each culture also has a unique flag. These flags are colored for each individual tribe or state which allows you to differentiate between each one.