Arelith

“Orientalism” is largely described as the West’s patronizing view of “the East” – whether that is the Middle East, Arab countries, North Africa, India, East Asia, etc. Much of it is rooted in Western depictions of the former Ottoman Empire, and the term itself was coined by a Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said.

I’ve sat on this awhile, and maybe I’m ach waily waily, but I finally have to voice my concern.

Sibayad is largely orientalist in its design. If the server was pointedly not-“white” Faerun, it would be less jarring – but because Arelith follows much of the Sword Coast in its creation, Sibayad’s issues are glaring.

A part of Sibayad is unavoidable because of how Ed Greenwood designed the Forgotten Realms to have much inspiration from real-world history. There’s a lot of racist and oriental depictions in Faerun, but I think it’s more important to *advance* the setting rather than toe-the-line for the sake of “lore.”
Here are a few of the problems with Sibayad:

1. The only Surface settlement/quasi-settlement designed to support “shadiness”, or interplay between Surface-Andunor. Whether it was intentional design to have Sibayad entertain moral ambiguity or not - it certainly as over the years, and it's now certainly known to be so. And it's an area that most closely resembles the Middle East. It’s in a desert, has a bazaar, and has NPCs with names that are largely inspired by Arabic/Farsi.

This is deeply rooted in orientalist views, where “the East” was seen as amoral, ambiguous, suggestive, exotic, and filled with strangeness.

2. Sibayad is the most sexually explicit Surface city. Between the scantily-clad in the tents, and the direct suggestion in the oasis, Sibayad’s identity is significantly defined by backdrop set pieces that are evocative of the harem – which has always been a fascination of the Western male viewing the Middle East.

3. Sibayad’s slavery also is a problematic, again being the only Surface area that seemingly normalizes it, but instead reduces its depiction to a kind of chattel slavery. This is confusing, because it problematizes Middle Eastern depictions of slavery (which weren’t like the Roman chattel) but does fall in line with other depictions of Faerun slavery (like in Mulanese cultures).

It’s still not a positive or interesting depiction. And it leads to the third strike of, “of course the token desert/Arab settlement has slaves.”
Here’s my feedback to reinforce a positive depiction and enhance the server:

1. Remove all sanctily-clad and harem-suggestions. Instead, have philosophers and scientists drunk and debating astrology, or a makeshift hospital filled with pious clerics, or a group of rowdy textile merchants.

2. Include a contingent of fervent Zakharan warriors who shout cries to Hajama (the Zakharan god of bravery) who operate as muscle for the Merchant League. Or, have crystalline Turmish knights patrolling the streets in search of new gems. Or a group of Mulanese mercenaries who miss home but love the Merchant League’s coins.

Each of these can still uphold design ideas of neutrality but be focused on more law-and-order enforcement of peace and properness.

3. Remove slavery. Keep it to Andunor. Or if you must, have a few Ruathym-orphans-turned-military-elite who guard the water wells and make explicit they were bought by the Merchant League when they were young.

This is not directed at any single developer, and maybe I’m alone on this one, but I think Sibayad is a problem. And it needs to be fixed.

I maintain that if someone is not able to separate the game from reality in this regard, then they are largely not prepared to separate the game from reality where imaginary murder, slavery, infernalism, and theft are concerned, either.

If one was going to complain about anything IG, being "triggery" I would far sooner argue that alcohol usage should not be rewarded, and another consumable made to govern decreasing sleep counter like "mage juice". Arelith is an escape for many from their personal demons, and having alcohol consumption be a near mandatory thing seems like a cruel thing for anyone who struggles with alcoholism.

But even there, I would argue that a key component, and requirement to enter a fictional fantasy world with a fictional pc, is the ability to separate the real, from the unreal.

But lets say we cannot seperate the real from the unreal? Where next? On towards removing or altering orcs ig, because some might see how they are portrayed and spoken of as a form of western colonial oppression like the recent 5th edition twitter and forum frenzy alleged?

Do we remove drow because it portrays black individuals (Mostly matriarcial as well) as evil, and monsters? Are those that play drow guilty of racism, and sexism?

I argue it is best we simply accept that Arelith is not real, that it is a game, and treat it as a game, not a front of the ongoing social, and culture wars that are waged online.

We're just going to lock this due to the expected flood of memes, negative contributions, etc.

Sibayad improvements are a WIP. However, we will keep it in the vision of server design that Irongron has proposed.

Thanks.