Ask HN: Reading materials on simulating world/populations for game

My question comes from pure curiosity and I do not intend to make an actual game, so I am not asking for engine suggestions.

I am thinking on how could I do a simple world simulation(like a town/village) where each character would be simulated but it would not be coded with imperative code but maybe something like prolog rules making it simple to add new rules to improve the fidelity.

Any book or similar material is appreciated.