Mizahar, Race Relations, and Projecting
I'm going to talk about something today that's been on my mind for a while, and the more I see it, the more I want to shake my head, roll my eyes, and not bother explaining why. I've explained it until I'm blue in the face and fingers, but I'll try again.
Mizahar is not a nice place.
Mind you, I'm not talking about the community here, I'm talking about the actual game setting and environment. It is a post-apocalyptic mess. Sure, some cities are beautiful, secure, with fancy architecture and things like that, but even inside of those cities, life is harsh. Travel is brutal (and should be even more so now after that massive Djed storm), fraught with danger, cutthroats, killers, and thieves looking to make an easy miza. When I develop, when my character(s) get an itch to travel, I keep that in mind. Life ain't a cakewalk for anyone in Mizahar. If it is, you may be doing it wrong.
Travel is difficult. Books aren't really anywhere near as common as people like to pretend they are. All these big fancy libraries I see with any information you could possibly expect make me roll my eyes. They're not realistic in terms of game setting. Black Rock's library is interesting in that it's not anywhere like Zeltiva's university, but it has a lot of information in it... because most of it is simply the recorded experiences of ghosts. But my point being, here, is that information isn't easy to get your mitts on, and when you combine that with the natural scarcity of resources, the harshness of survival, the barely livable existence the general populace experiences, people get suspicious of folks showing up.
Despite that scarcity of information, there are stories. That's usually what you see in uninformed and uneducated circles, is gossip, nightmare stories whispered to scare children and unruly teenagers into obedience. In other words, if you're not one of them, you are different. And in this setting, 'different' often means 'feared'. Or, at least, it should, especially if it's unrealistic for people to know better. Things that look different have a bad name, guaranteed, outside their own home circles. People see a dark-skinned Myrian warrior with their tattoos and weapons and usually go, "that's trouble. Keep an eye on it." People see a Dhani in their human form, and may not know what to think about it until they know for certain what they are. And then they know that they're maneaters. People see a Charoda and go, "What the PETCH is that? LOOK AT ITS TEETH! IT'S COMING TO EAT US!"
People are going to stop me right there, I know, and go, "but Cay, why can't we all just get along? The bad things about our races are secret! No one should be able to discriminate against my character because of it!"
If that is your instinctive answer, if ANY part of that is your instinctive answer, I have a clue-by-four to introduce you to.
Let's use Myrians for example. I'm used to people thinking they're the bad guys. What the general public knows about them is the stories. That they are vicious cannibals who kill for fun and collect your bones. If you chose to play a Myrian, and you chose to travel, then you are going to have to deal with the racial biases that have been established. Myrians aren't nice people, really. They think pretty much everyone makes an amazing meal if you just cook them right. They're probably the biggest perpetrators of genocide in Mizaharian history - they've wiped out six races SINCE the Valterrian, think Charodae are the chicken of the sea (and taste much better) simply because they are available if they can catch one. They think that Dhani, every male, female, and hatchling, should die, no matter what subrace they are, and in the case of the Constrictors, they are incredibly close to wiping them out as well. And you know what? By and large, they're damn proud of it. This is their culture. This is who they are. This is what they stand for.
They hate Nuit, even if it's not fault of their own that they are what they are. Why do they hate Nuit? Because Myri is very buddy-buddy with Dira, and Dira does not like the Nuit. As such, Myri ensures that her people hate them and will kill them.
They think Zith are rats with wings.
They hate Symenestra because they know what the pale, pasty spider-freaks do with women. They know about the harvest. They know that when they see one in the jungle, it is a K-O-S. Kill on sight. Else someone's mother, sister, daughter, is going to go missing, and they're not coming back. They will be, in fact, used to produce Symenestra babies. And because Myri is trying very hard to get her Myrian numbers up again (remember the life is hard thing? The jungle will kill you if you're not careful, and even if you are, all it takes is one wrong move to ensure you're not going back to Taloba alive), anything that contradicts that goal... such as Myrians becoming wombs for any other race... is discouraged. Really discouraged. Discouraged to the point of "see a pale spider thing? KILL IT!" I think most people have forgotten this line from the Symenestra lore page:
They call themselves the Symenestra, but most derisively refer to them as "Widows".
And furthermore, beside reputation, at the right side of the info bar on the same page:
Approach with caution and armed
What part of this is so hard to understand?
And this obviously isn't a big deal since most people don't look at nor read anything about Falyndar. But when someone puts some race restrictions on a more... accessible... city, you have a certain group of people who can always be counted on to protest anything less than the red-carpet treatment for their pet races. I understand this to a point. They love their races (I love mine, flaws and all, be it races I made or am playing), but the thing is is that when you choose to play a race and then take that race out of their home turf, you must accept the consequences of doing so. Every race is flawed in some way, and many have bloodstained and nasty reputations. It's not fair to demand that storytellers change their settings to accommodate those who do not want to deal with the consequences.
And then butthurt abounds.
Using Riverfall for example. Riverfall hoards women. HOARDS. They're generally worth their weight in gold, several times over, especially if they're a race that can usually produce Akalak sons no problem and repeatedly. They are a valued, treasured resource. Syms have a reputation that precedes them when it comes to women. If you think that Akalak are going to let Syms just up and walk away with the most valuable thing (I use 'thing' loosely, since there is a view about women as chattel) they have, I don't know what I can do for you to make it any clearer. It is the storyteller's right to decide what is and is not welcome in their city. It is THEIR choice. Will that maybe cost them players? So be it. I don't lose sleep at night over it; if anything, I sleep better because I defend my domain's integrity and character and stay true to the vision of what it is supposed to be. I'd probably give them the Butthurt form to fill out as well.
I think what happens is that in our writing, we genuinely do reflect some aspect of ourselves. I know I do - I wrote a monstrous sized scrap some time ago about why I wrote the way I did and why I designed things the way I did. I am very much for women's rights, and that comes across in a lot of what I write. I like strong females who aren't stomped on (and wouldn't tolerate it!) or scared little kittens up trees, or the perpetually helpless damsel in distress. My point being, I project in my writing. And so too does everyone else.
People want to see improved gay rights, the total end of racism, and so on and so forth, and I think this leads to an inability to separate OOC from IC, and it comes across in their writing. So when they feel their character is being discriminated against (for very legitimate reasons, even if they don't see it that way because they're their babies), they see it as a personal attack on them and their character. People, you gotta learn that it's not personal. It is IC.
In character actions have in character consequences. I cannot stress this enough. If you want to take your Sym from Kalinor and go somewhere, like Lhavit, to go find females for the greater glory of your race, you cannot expect to be welcomed with open arms. It's one of the closest settlements to their home base. The general populace of NPCs is not stupid, though people love to pretend that they are. How do people not notice a pale pasty spidey-thing showing up and then they leave, and someone's wife, daughter, mother, sister, is missing, just like that? Do you think no one notices or cares?
Get real. Stories spread. Reputations get dirtier. The pushback gets stronger and stronger.
I have an old PC, a really, really old one, who lost her mother to a Sym harvest when she was a baby. End result? She hates Syms. She really does. And she's not afraid of telling anyone why she hates them, and telling everyone that the harvest is still going. Heck, if she could (and if she knew where to find it, or had enough like-minded people), she would take a leaf from the Myrian playbook and surround their hole and kill anything going in and out. What about her father, who lost his wife? What about her many siblings, who also lost their mother? Do you think no one notices or grieves for these losses, just up and accept it? People aren't stupid. Please be realistic about it.
But this is my point. This is a fantasy game. While women's rights, gay rights, stopping racism, ending stereotyping and racial profiling, and so on and so forth are noble goals, are causes that resonate strongly with many people, and are laudable, you have to keep in mind the setting and be prepared to leave your own biases and projections at the door.
by Cayenne on March 2nd, 2012, 6:52 pm 
You have my deepest sympathies. You had the unconditional love and acceptance of another living creature and it's only natural to mourn his passing. To quote a movie to make you smile a little, "He was some pig!"
