Whilst racial traits make general limits, its not to say that a Tae'Dae can't be intelligent, just because his intelligence is low, fine their ineptitude for magic would show through but they could be a genius or a master tactician. But to say you have a low intelligence therefore you are stupid is metagame thinking. To say you are a Tae'Dae therefore you are stupid is racism.

In the other IRE games people would argue that fact with me because I played an intelligent troll...but here we have one thing that stands out to stop the meta-game thinking...A faeling has an insane charisma, does that mean yo ucant hate a faeling because they are too charming? Or would the actions of that individual faeling dictate how you felt towards them.

In conclusion, Metagame thinking = bad, Racism = massive possibility for roleplay



EDIT: Not to say that I dont agree with Arithax with his IRL perception, but the thing is that IRL Racism is just incorrectly named. Since two cats of the same species, the same family even, show 50 times more genetic variation than humans of different "races".

Perhaps we should call IC racism 'specism' instead? I know Terry Pratchet had a different name for that kind of intolerance, yet not having read his books in English, I don't know the English name for it .

I perfer just to think of everyone as a race of the spcies "sentient being" and leave it at that.
Giving a new name to its not gunna change anything other than make me confuse

Racism and speciesism are the same...except one is an accepted term which people use all the time, and another is a made up term never used.

And now that you've mentioned Terry Pratchett, I'm going to have to go look through my collection for the word.

Xenophobia. Simple.

For one thing, I'm thoroughly impressed with the way a lot of tae'daes and less intelligent characters have actually been played to the role. It was sad to note in other IRE games, it was such a practical matter of combat applications that virtually every race showed the same level of intelligence and speech function.

I love the use of rascism for RP - though completely against it in a real-world sense. It strengthens the identity of both individuals and groups. I love the way Magnagora is shaping up with the Viscanti, and I was hoping the Serenwilde population would follow the same steps.

It's already mostly populated by elfen, faelings, furrikin, tae'dae and igasho, but it would be nice to see some more negative attitude towards other races.

Gelthrae is most definitely at Home in the Serenwilde, and his intelligence shows through in his speech patterns and some of his simple thinking - ie There is a problem, "O-kay, well, I crush his skull then, so he not able to get in the way no more." . I don't believe it is his low intelligence so much that gives him his view of the world, though - whereby he is rather suspicious of most any other race - particularly 'blue-skins' (merians), and he hates the Demon-men or Taint-men (viscanti). To Gelthrae, most everyone other than Serens are at the very least suspicious folk, and Magnagorans particularly, and the viscanti, are personal, innate enemies - especially given his fondness of the furrikins of Estelbar, hence the tension what with the Acknor enslaving.

This all comes from the fact that he is a simple thinker and to Gelthrae, Serenwilde is Home. Not just home, its Home. Note the very important capital Home is Home, and is always deserving of loyalty simply because it's Home - same goes for the guild and his guildmates. Gelthrae's Home and Guild are as much a part of him as his nose, or little yeti-horns. If a guildmate or commune-mate is of a race he finds suspicious, he will be appropriately caught in a moral conflict, which involves much knitting of shaggy eyebrows But loyalties to the Commune and Guard will win out. As with Stagar, a dracnari guildmate - he has even grown to quite like him. He hasn't had to face this problem with Viscanti yet though, I don't know what he'd do then.

I think extreme perspectives and loyalties, and logic that only makes sense to that character and others similar to him are the bread and butter of strong RP.

Unfortunately, I find there is a number of soft players, as I term them - ie, people who treat the MUD as a sort of in-depth MSN with a spatial dimension and skills, and treat every other player as a player or 'equal' with no regard to the race/guild/city/commune, not a character. Yes, there is RP, but there is a lot of RP focused around equality and 'sensible' wisdom. Pssh. Boring. Go watch Judge Judy. Sure, there's bound to be a few people like this a fantasy world, but surely not the droves of equal-rights advocates that seem to want to voice their humanitarian views on the public boards.

That is to say, very often you see someone posting on a city/commune or public board, spouting forth their logical, rational perspective of a situation? Sure, its logical from a real-life point of view, and if it was an arguement you were making in a real-life law or philosophy paper, you'd get great marks for a tight arguement. But is that appropriate, or even interesting in a roleplay sense? I don't think so.
For instance, in the Celest/fae killing matter - nothing irritates me more than when I see a Seren state, "Oh, but I can understand why they did it. The supernals are like our fae, they had to do it if they thought it would weaken Gorgulu." I don't believe that's how it SHOULD be from a Seren perspective, or if so, only in a very, very small minority.

Whenever a big issue comes up in public posts, there is a long string of posts giving good, well-thought out arguements.
Whatever happened to good ol' "You're wrong, and we're right. Why? Just because. Nothing is more important than the Serenwilde forest! or Nothing is more important than... !

Real-world rationality is a fantasy realm is boring. Bring on the racism, elitism, and narrow-mindedness!

Part of the reason you don't see so many "You're wrong, we're right." responses is because that person then gets bashed by all the meta-gamers and its just better to either post logically or keep your more direct opinions to direct meetings.

When people start acting 'racist' and become passionate about certain stances within the game I think that make things a lot more interesting and brings a whole new dynamic to gameplay.

I'd really like to see more of it. I'm really impressed with how quickly a lot of people have adapted to the history and existing hatred between certain races/villages/beliefs.

This is one aspect of Lusternia that makes it so superior to other realms.

EDIT: I initially thought it appropriate to 'snarl' instead of 'say' everything, because that was the only way I thought I could be verbally identified as an Aslaran. It does tend to make people think I'm snappy and aggressive, but that's not entirely untrue - so it seems to work out.

Heh. Insanity is fun to play as well. A racist, insane, hermeit. Who can't love such a role.

Personally, the racism in Magnagora almost made me start a character there instead of Serenwilde... Of course, my mind was in the gutter, cause I wanted to find a cute, timid little Elven woman.. Because Elves look so great in collars.. aaaaaanyway.. In the end I decided to play in Serenwilde instead, and be the outspoken Faeling instead of the Dominating.. some other race in Mag.

"Since two cats of the same species, the same family even, show 50 times more genetic variation than humans of different "races"."

First off, that was my point. Secondly, meta-gamer? Here's my thought process in deciding to take each stat literally. To me, there's a choice you have to make. If you don't take the stats literally, then you're confronted with races that mean near to nothing. If all stats only apply to numbers, be they damage or pool amounts, then the stats don't matter anyway and shouldn't be a factor in roleplay, like you're saying Alyssandra. However, then the races only differ in their outward appearance and whatever minimal cultural background they might have. That's not enough for me. If each race had an extensive background, belief system, or even religion, then I would play this way. But, Lusternia takes a different direction. The only way I would play as you do in Iron Realm's games, Alyssandra, is if you could roll your stats. Say trolls received bonuses to strength and penalties to intelligence. You want to make a smart troll? Then you have to devote more stats to intelligence than other races just to overcome troll's shortcomings. You'd have a smart troll, but at great detriment to yourself, which is great if you're there to roleplay and not out to make a power character.

Main point: I don't have this point of view because I'm obsessed with stat tables. I do it as a self-imposed roleplay challenge. I think if any race could be anything they ever wanted to be, then appearance would be the only difference. Then, racism would be like it is in real life. Want to make an atypical member of the troll race? Play one who aspires to be a scholar. Doesn't mean he'll make a good one, doesn't mean he'll be the best, or will compose great theories on the nature of the universe itself, but it would be an excellent, solid roleplay opportunity.

Hrmm, stopped being about racism there, and more about roleplay itself.

But they two are intertwined. Without good RP, they're can't be Racism. And likewise, Racism promotes more RP.

Artihax my point wasnt to say that you couldn't personally in character say you believed all tae'dae were stupid, I encourage that, but you shouldnt be suprised if there is an intelligent Tae'Dae because there is ALWAYS an exception to the rule with a race....if every Tae'Dae was really that stupid....they wouldnt have survived as a race. So any person who wanted to treat their intelligence disadvantage the same way a trolls in Achaea is stated (i.e. and ineptitude for magical arts) then they are still suffering the consequences of their races disadvantage, without having every Tae'Dae being a carbon copy, "dumb" person. I like that people play the dumb Tae'Dae its refreshing, but its just makes no sense that EVERY Tae'Dae is stupid, so from a racist point of view, you can quite happily call all Tae'Dae stupid from generalising about those you knew, but its only truly interesting when there are things to stand against you Racist point of view. Racism is about conflict, saying all Tae'Dae are dumb, if they ARE all dumb isn't Racism, its a fact. If however there are that handful of intelligent Tae'Dae that can argue back to make there actually be a conflict of opinions THEN its interesting.

Racism within the realms creates an atmospheres more realistic rather then everybody living togather in perfect harmony. Racism and low-Intelligence cross Rp-wise. A race with low intelligence tend not to be as open minded and understand of the world around them. Loboshigaru, Tae'dae, Igasho, Orclach all would fall under this catagorey. Taurian are culturly racist, they have a burning hatered for Merian and Elfen and only tolerate their allies of other races. I also dislike how those of the above said low-int races speak perfectly and know everything, you aren't a compleate moron, but you aren't as quick or have as much eloquence as some other races...it would be nice to see more of the low-int race players to RP it...I know I do


I give racism a thumbs up

Art ants smart? are Lemmings smart? No but they still exist as a race. No one factor determines the continuning existance of a race. So yes. every tae'dae is stupid in comparison to the average human. But they are also self proclaimed wise. Stupid does not mean you have a speach impedement. Look up the RP differences between Intelegence and Wisdom.

As for some comment about cats having large genetic variance. Yes this is true, but Genetic variance does not normally mean diffferent inate strengths, as to the limits of how much they can carry or push, or how fast they can run. It normally only affects what they look like. Black fur vs White fur.

Question: when I human increases strength does this mean that they have gone from being a normal human to a buff human or that they are now super buff and can lift more than the some 500 lbss weightlifters can lift to like 1K lbs.

While exceptions to races may exist, they shouldnt be the norm. For Example (OOC): Einstine. He apparently had a larger brain than the normal person. Thus, he would have a higher intelegance in game. Does this mean that there is anyone else like him? No.
Yes, exceptions to the races exist. However, I think they should be rare enough that only one person in the game should be playing such a character at once, if anyone.
It would just be easier for noone to play such a character.

Also, how come no one ever talks about playing a paticularly stupid merian? That would be better RP IMHO than playing a smart Tae'Dae.

Daganev, you are awesome. That is all.

And actually low intelligence doesn't mean you're stupid. It just means it's harder for you to learn and carry out more complex tasks.

Stu-pid adj. (L. stupidus) 1. Lacking normal intelligence. 2. Showing or resulting from a lack of normal intelligence.