Void wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:17 am
Wings of Peace wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:54 am
I was going through some of the DM Reminders and I feel like the reminder about politically charged language would benefit from some sort of elaboration or reformatting. The main reason being that it's unintuitive that Racism (the homophone being a key part of political dynamics in the setting) is considered 'charged' even though the server makes a conscious decision to heavily encourage the 3.x drow paradigm which was deviated from in 5e for being literally racist. On the other hand, 'bigotry' a term that only occasionally shows up in setting material is considered 'not charged' even though it's a /very/ common concern of contemporary groups such as the lgbt community. It would at least be beneficial imo if the list was presented in a fashion that simply listed the discouraged topics without giving any counter examples.
When I saw this reminder, I was under impression that the reminder is there, because in forgotten realms such terms simply -would not exist. FR maps to real life medieval period, which ends at 1450. All the listed concepts are very modern.
Forgotten Realms is not medieval.
It's probably more progressive than even Denmark or Sweden.
Look at the values of Harpers. Look at the values of Silverymoon. Look at the values of Waterdeep, Duke Eltan of Baldur's Gate and so forth.
Look at the values of Candlekeep.
What "racism" that exists in the setting is not racially motivated. It is faith motivated.
Orcs are evil not because they are orcs. Orcs are evil because they follow Gruumsh, and Gruumsh makes sure orcs follow Gruumsh. And Gruumsh wants orcs to dominate everything, and if they cannot, destroy what refuses to be dominated.
Even before 5E, orcs who did not follow Gruumsh existed and were supported. Consider - the Ondonti. Ondonti were Eldathyns, and Tempurans are obligated to protect Eldatyhn. Alas, Ondonti got enslaved by Zhents because they were pacifists.
Drow are similar. Drow are hated and reviled for their pact with Wenduag and worship of Lolth, Vhaerun and the rest of the Dark Seldarine.
However, in Elves of Evermeet, released 1994, IG date 1367, an Eilistraeen visits Evermeet and meets with Queen Amlauril, overqueen/coronal of all elves. The queen accepts her, and welcomes her. This marks the beginning of Eilistraeen support from the elven people, albeit limited to things like "Black Archers spare Eilistraeens, but don't trust them."
And for bigotry. LGBT bigotry.
Have you read books from Ed Greenwood, have you read
http://www.candlekeep.com/library/artic ... scroll.htm , have you read elven myths?
One old Elven myth describes Hanali literally coming down and smiting elves for being bigoted against an elf falling in love with a Treant, and then blessing the elf so that she can be physically with said Treant (Jhansail? Something like that.
Corellon and Sehanine are described to casually change their physical manifestation between male and female.
In Forgotten Realms, love is love. Barring Evil societies and certain Lawful societies that consider individual freedom irrelevant in face of "greater good" (bearing children), same-sex love is accepted and endorsed.
And for matters of gender identity... The whole Girdle of Masculinity and Feminity, Elminster's own escapades getting punished by Mystra and so forth are setting staples. Magic exists to allow for "medical" (magical) gender transition, and while not accessible to commoners... If you're a moderately wealthy adventurer, you can do it just fine through some form of transmutation magic.
And if you're an eilistraeen, you can just go and pray to Eilistraee, and she'll transform you into a woman on her holy days (Changedance).
tl:dr:
Homo/transphobia in Forgotten Realms only exists for Evil and Lawful societies.
Gender equality is the norm, with Calimshan, Drow and Orcs being noted exceptions that still practice sexism.
Racial bigotry does not exist. In almost all cases, it's based on religion/belief.
The only case it's not religion/belief are tieflings. But, it's sorta still fits since tieflings are produced by evil outsiders, who people worship. So, the fear is that tieflings will act the way of their evil outsider heritage, maybe outright serve it.
There is ethnic conflict, like Ffolk vs Northlander. But, that can also be understood as a war of belief (Chauntean ffolk vs Aurilite/Umberlite/Tempuran Northlanders) too.
And wars of belief are justified. If people worship a god in a given region, that god can influence the material world there. Umberlee is powerless around Evermeet, because the Seldarine hold almost exclusive worship (almost, because 1372 seen Umberlee infiltrate for a short while). Faerunian Pantheon worshippers (humans) may be bigoted against good aligned non-humans (halflings, elves, dwarves) because their churches recognize that non-Faerunian pantheons getting powerful in human lands will mean their power will dwindle. Why would you worship Malar, if you can worship Solonor and actually be loved and cherished by your god rather than seen as a piece of meat to hunt once you go to your afterlife? Siamorphites' power weakens if people hear about halfling organizations of governance and so forth.
As for personal liberty/class issues? Refer to Harpers. Or the Dukes of Baldur's Gate who were democratically elected, and named themselves "Dukes" to annoy real nobles (then proceeded to fund wars/Flaming Fist detachments to empower small city states to rebel from big empires/kingdoms.)
