Racial Personalities and Roleplaying

[AbonZel]

Hello all. I'm completely new here. I find the concept of the game quite intriguing, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in game. Unfortunately, I don't think of myself as a skilled roleplayer and while I'll try to do well, I hope people will put up with my mistakes.

Regardless, I have a question. Since I'm new and haven't spent much time looking over all the documentation, I won't pretend to know everything about the game. This is probably a matter of opinion, but are the personalities of the various races definite or somewhat flexible? The site says Diaboli are unreliable and definitely not humble. Is it considered wrong to play a humble and reliable Diabolo? A race that is nomadic or lives in certain situations; is it wrong to play one that wants to run a country or even conquer the world?

I understand that people will expect certain things based on the race of the character, but if I were to play a character that was somewhat or largely different from others of his race, should I expect a lot of people telling me my character is wrong?

[Illysia]

Those are guidelines. You just have to keep in mind that if the character doesn't show those qualities then your character is not the standard. 

[Waylander]

The standard is used loosely here because barely anybody really follows it

I always found it quite refreshing to meet people who fit the 'stereotypes' of their races.

[Gaian]

I agree: what is write on the site is how's the usual personality of the most members of the race... Not ALL the members of the race 

[Peanuts]

I take the racial personalities to be similar to things like national stereotypes.  Those (excluding the obviously slanderous ones like "<Insert nationality here> eats your babies!") sometimes do have some grain of truth, especially when there's some aspect of culture that encourages a certain trait.   Doesn't mean that everyone you meet of that nationality will actually behave that way - although you may be tempted to interpret their actions so they fit your assumptions!   

So it may simply be that Diaboli culture, to use your example, encourages vanity and unreliability or whatnot, not that it's somehow part of their genetic makeup.  There will still be Diaboli who are humble and reliable (especially, I would bet, those who are raised in mixed culture areas) although they may have to work harder to make people believe it.

[Shaman]

Well if it's a "melting pot" of races, and racism "doesn't exist" then what would really keep these races to their stereotypes? Would they not all be the same, and meld their cultures together into said melting pot? I don't see how their customs stay alive through these 700 years or so of being together, without being "lost in the fog of the past".

[Bragan]

From Webster:

Main Entry:
    rac·ism
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination


Main Entry:
    1prej·u·dice
(2): an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge b: an instance of such judgment or opinion c: an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics

Stereotypes aren't only created by a racist attitude. Even racial stereotypes aren't necessarily racist. A stereotype will exist anywhere that a subset of a particular group is taken to represent the entire group. For example, that doctors have bad handwriting. This is probably true for more doctors than not (I certainly have trouble reading my doc's prescriptions) but we can't know it's true for all doctors without obtaining a sample from all of them. Yet the stereotype exists.

Because most Diaboli are vain and unreliable, it becomes a Diaboli stereotype. Despite the "melting pot" effect, cultural behavior and attributes will be maintained because cultural groups tend to congregate due to reasons of familiarity. Chinese don't live in a Chinatown because they are unwelcome anywhere else, but because it is familiar, they don't have to deal with too much culture shock. For at least as long as such groupings exist (Gugrontid, Ojaveda?), such attributes will propagate themselves. Even where they don't, parental rearing has a great effect.

This is all assuming that behavior is learned and not genetic (or racial). If it's the latter, then everything above is quite moot.

[Velh Krome]

I am currently wondering about the different kinds of visions races have, infravision, nightvision or just simple one. Given such distinct physical differences between races, wouldnt it be pretty much unrealistic to assume everyone would treat everyone else the same, "melting pot", no matter of what race? Have those races that can see in the dark, would it be that impossible that they would for instance make fun of races blind in darkness?
Then there's as well physiques. I carefully assume krans are certainly less agile and versatile as, say enkidukai? Taken from the Races descriptions for kran:

Because their skin is made of silicon, the Kran are very resistant to laceration but, lacking flexibility, is more easily damaged by bludgeoning weapons. Silicon still supports oxygen linkages, so Kran breathe much more slowly than other races, enabling them to happily breathe underwater.[..]

Water-breathing, right another point. While some races can walk around underwater, others cant or shouldnt.

..all these very definite and obvious physical differences (not to mention psychological differences caused by the physcial ones) simply have to provide a base on which "stereotypes" (to not call it "racism") have to be created - theres no need to have it end up in pure hate, harrassment or wars.

As for current RP-situations, what sense would it make to have "dwarven-clans" we at least have one, or enki-packs (of which I unfortunately cant think of any existant atm)?


Hm.. I am pondering to move that vision thing over here.. seems like it would fit=P I will just quote me:

I know campfires and mobile lightsources are all fancy and very good for atmosphere and all (not to forget the numerous players' demands for such) .. but still I am wondering:

According to race descriptions every race except for ylian and xacha either has nightvision or infravision.
What are your visions about how to proceed working on that for the future? One day players with ylian and xacha chars having the game appearing like it is today, while players with nightvision chars some green-tinted appearance, ones with infravision-chars some sort of ir-view?

Furthermore: Races with infravision, do they only see infrared-like, or is their normal vision just added by some heat-signature? Or is infravision meaning something complete different?
And finally: RPing chars with nightvision/infravision.. would they see any value in torches for their own benefit? Do they have any need for such at all?

[Peanuts]

From backreading other discussions about racism in Yliakum, I get the impression that it's not that no one acknowledges the obvious differences between the races in terms of specific abilities, or that lightheartedly teasing a friend from another race about lacking some particular ability is a major no-no.  It's more that going around talking about how (to give an example I have seen way too often in-game) "a member of <insert race here> screwed me over and now I hate every single member of that race" is socially unacceptable on a level that most people wouldn't even dream of it, and breaking that taboo is viewed as so offensive that the average person would consider it perfectly acceptable for the government to arrest you for it.   

I also get the impression it's at least partly because every freaking fantasy universe ever has interspecies tension dripping out its ears and the devs are tired of it! 

I'd love to talk about the vision thing, Velk, since I've been wondering about it too.   Maybe it would be better to start a new topic, though?