Where are the civilians and working people?

[Puppet Pal Clem]

There are queens, lords, and gods, but they have no one to rule over. You need normal people to feel special too.

[zero]

that would be the humanoids you meet

[nfinite.recursion]

They are the piles of corpses you'll come across.

[Fineous🔥]

Originally posted by nfinite.recursion:

They are the piles of corpses you'll come across.

Also crazy people consumed by the flame of frenzy. There you have your answer OP.

[An Irate Walrus]

The footsoldiers, half-mad peasants, and enslaved creatures don't count, in your book?

[Lapu]

Well, even if we're talking only about the non-insane/broken people, Kenneth Height is still there for example. Gostoc is a normal dude too.

[Sabaithal]

You don't see them because they don't oppose you. Anything that neither helps nor hinders you is beyond your perception and isn't represented in the game.

Unless you count the sites of grace, which some of them could be considered, in effect, places where people are willing to help tarnished, provide shelter and rest, etc.

[Puppet Pal Clem]

where are the normal people who are laborers, and families? I know there are humanoids, but they still have armor or powers.

[Fineous🔥]

I guess the nobles also counts as workers.....they are all around the Lands Between searching for something in various ruins. And a bunch of them "praising" the dragon Agheel near the trap chest (go there and just listen to them).

[zero]

Originally posted by Puppet Pal Clem:

where are the normal people who are laborers, and families? I know there are humanoids, but they still have armor or powers.

the misbegotten are slave labor, for starters.
the world is ruined, we're seeing the remains, but your answer is literally everywhere, every humanoid you meet, and the pile of corpses.

[nfinite.recursion]

Laborers? Do you see anything newly-built?

Families? The answer is long-winded and is part of the underlying lore of the Lands Between. TLDR version is Mamma Erdtree birthed everyone in the Lands Between. While these local denizens look human, they are not. The Tarnished are about as human as can be and presumably had families "beyond the fog".

[CourtesyFlush09]

George RR Martin was recently on the Colbert Show and said that he was told by the devs to write a story that takes place 5000 years after the Shattering.

I'm assuming everything kinda fell to ruin since then, people included.

https://screenrant.com/elden-ring-shattered-timeline-george-rr-martin-canon/

They’re literally all over the place … and if you get too close they try to kill you and offer your head to their overlords … just like society :D

[Norm Macdonald's Ghost]

Originally posted by Puppet Pal Clem:

Where are the civilians and working people?

Busy working at Amaradahn, delivering your bourgie packages of pickled dog necks. And there you are, traipsing around the countryside like a lazy hippie. Shame. Shame.

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by Norm Macdonald's Ghost:

And there you are, traipsing around the countryside like a lazy hippie. Shame. Shame.

More like psychotic murder hobo.

[Clail]

Souls-like genre

Not skyrim