Enkidukai couples

[Velh Krome]

Since its to read in one of those books in Jayose's, Enkidukai are generally divided into six packs, easily to recognize by the fur's patterns. It is also said that members of the different packs "do not like to intermarry too much".

If they dont like to intermarry among packs, would an Enki even marry one of another race?
Besides one could wonder if "not too much" would not automatically mean there already have to exist many Enkidukai apparently not belonging to a certain pack (by interbreeding in advance) or if such "Mixeds" would get killed or at least get disowned - does it make sense then at all, when for instance an Enki-lady is about to marry, lets say, an Ylian, settingwise?

[Marqsaynt]

I was asking myself the same questions, Velh. Glad you posted this.

One thought I had about the whole interspecies marriage thing was that if, for example, a fenki and a Ylian married and had a baby enkidukai... wouldn't the baby inherit it's race traits exclusively from it's enkiduaki mother? So, if any enki offspring that would result from this type of marriage would yield a enki with the same clan markings as it's enki parent, it seems to me that there may not be any problem at all. *shrugs*

Anyway, hopefully a kind-hearted settings dev will come along and set the whole matter straight.

[Mordraugion]

It is also said that members of the different packs "do not like to intermarry too much".

Methinks "too much" is the operative phrase

[Velh Krome]

So can I assume if an Enkidukai would marry members of other packs or even races, that one is to be considered unusual, and looked at with frowns (or even contempt by very conservative pack members) by his own pack and/or whole race?

And:
Is it the same thing with interbreedings of packs, that offsprings would never show mixed traits but are resulting in one pure one (aiming for the fur-pattern here)?

[bilbous]

How does this reluctance square with the whole no racism thing in PS? It would seem to go against the grain. Is it really only between species discrimination that is outlawed and within a species anything goes?

[Phinehas]

Well, you can't really outlaw reluctance to marry another race/clan. You can outlaw direct discrimination, but you can't say, "Hey, not enough of your clan have intermarried with other clans... get to it." Unless of course, you're running a totalitarian regime... in which case you do whatever you want.

It seems to me that while I'm interested in finding out the answer to this question as well, it will, unfortunately, have little effect on people who RP. One problem of less experienced RPers is that they feel the need to always be the "exception." So even if you said "most people don't do such-and-such," you'd still have tons of people going out there saying, "Well, I'm the exception." That would be fine, except so many people do it that it becomes the rule. Case in point, even though Enkidukai aren't supposed to be thrilled about intermarriage if you ask anyone about it, they'll tell you their case is "special" for some reason or other.

[Lolitra, Celorrim Purrty Twins]

it is one thing to want to marry like with like, and another to go into racism.  Racism is not an issue when one is looking soley at mating.  I have always felt that each race has its genital differences that kind of make for difficulties in inter racial children - hence why there are no half-breed races backed by the Settings Team.

I would say there will always be acceptions in love.

My character for instance, is not attracted to anything other than Enkidukai, and when she speaks of Pure Blood, she speaks really of closest to her original clan...

But, I am not about to burst other's bubbles who like to RP relationships across races in game - which is odd in Lolitra's eyes... but understandable as love is something she does have an understanding of.


Racism is nothing to do with compatability, it is to do with how one acts on ones preconceived ideals about that compatability, i.e. taking a nasty stance against another, just because they are different.

[bilbous]

As far as the law goes I would suspect it is a broad inter-species thing as the average person would likely not realize there was any real difference between branches of another race. If a Kran grew up in Ojaveda he would likely be well aware of the significance of the different clans of Enkidukai but he might not be aware that a Stonebreaker was different from a Hammerweilder. If he was really bright and thoughtful he might consider it a possibility but would not know for sure unless someone who knew told him definitively.

This brings another consideration to mind and that is whether the octarchal classes, being hereditary, are heterogeneous between the races or if they belong to a sub-section of the possible races. I do not recall seeing anything about this but it might shed light on the nature of the racism laws. I suppose that is a topic for another thread as it bears only passing relevance to the subject at hand.

[Jeraphon]

Is it the same thing with interbreedings of packs, that offsprings would never show mixed traits but are resulting in one pure one (aiming for the fur-pattern here)?

Yes.

[Velh Krome]

Racism or not.. assuming Enkis to be, think and behave like that sort of gives them a feature, and to be honest it just make them more interesting to me. In contrast, every race being quite much equal in everything to any other race.. erm, so why to choose different races again? Kran marry Ynnwn and being the wisemen, Klyros the brute, super-muscled double-handed axe wielders? Ok, the latter goes offtopic, but it should clear up what I think about it:
Have your char have weak spots and by that make him interesting and attractive! Enkidukai usually not intermarry would also give the apparently only eye-candy purpose of their different furs a real reason. It would make their whole story and background interesting.
Racism or not, to ban all intolerance would lead to nothing but a completely homogen soup: races only differentiate in their appearance.

Why having apparently different races if one must not state with defined things that they ARE different? Or is it racism already? Hope that no-racism-rule will soften and provide more sense by that.

[Zan]

Racism:

- A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

- Hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.


... now where do you see a sexual preference of one species over another fit into this definition? I'm not particularly attracted to black or oriental women ... does that mean I hate them or think they're inferior as a race? Nope, it just means my sexual preferences tend to stay closer to home ... though I have to say women with some exotic and caucasian heritage can be pretty dang sexy. Anyway, sexual or romantic preferences are not a cause of racism, they can be a result but don't need to be related at all. It's more likely a result of biology and culture.

[Raa]

Since its to read in one of those books in Jayose's, Enkidukai are generally divided into six packs, easily to recognize by the fur's patterns. It is also said that members of the different packs "do not like to intermarry too much".

If they dont like to intermarry among packs, would an Enki even marry one of another race?
Besides one could wonder if "not too much" would not automatically mean there already have to exist many Enkidukai apparently not belonging to a certain pack (by interbreeding in advance) or if such "Mixeds" would get killed or at least get disowned - does it make sense then at all, when for instance an Enki-lady is about to marry, lets say, an Ylian, settingwise?

I guess this is because packs like to stay pure. Naturally animals do that. You won't often see two different packs of wolves interbreeding, which is due to competition for food and such things. If all the wolves roamed together without separating themselves, they'd run out of resources, overpopulate, and quickly die off.

That does not apply for interspecie marriage since other races probably did not develop like Enkidukais did. Enkis have a more tribal culture since they may have had to compete for resources in their desert-like surrounding, which led to different packs. With different histories and cultures for each pack, they could like to stay pure to their packs to preserve those.

I'm just taking a scientifical/culturalistic approach to this.

[Velh Krome]

I'd say Amen to that.

What I wonder concerning the topic though is: Okay, enkis intermarry now and then (ingame: probably most players dont care), hence they arent rascist (or thus). Now, if no one else cares, or must care, that attribute is without sense and can be dropped anyway. If one does care, like he reacts with despise on an interracially mixed enki couple, that would be rascism, no? You could flip pennies now and say, that despise wouldnt necessarily have to be based on feelings of superiority but for instance on some odd fear of having his own race to be vanished.
However, the latter one probably would be considered a rascist - but whats worth the play and the whole feature, if one must not react on it consequently and in all facets?

Add to Raas:
Scientifical approach is a bit vague I daresay, as in nature interracial couples are more of the .. rare case, no? And if a pack-member leaves that 'tribe', the traditions and the whole lifestyle, quitting to transport it to offsprings, wouldnt one consider that a threat to the entire pack, having the pack surrendering in the end that is?

[Illysia]

I took the whole thing to mean that Enkis generally don't marry those of other races. I missed the part about the packs not even intermarrying too much but this will make RP more interesting since Illysia's parents are from two different packs.  But I think that this goes along with the somewhat distrustful nature of Enkis. I interpret this as Enkis believing that others won't understand their way of life and that even applies to other Enki packs. After all, whenever people interact there is always the potential for the other person to look at you like you grew another head because they just don't get you or something about you. Maybe Enkis have less patience for explaining themselves.

[Izzabella]

* Izzabella coughs "hey Velh are you saying there is an enki you have your eye on, and you want to know if this will be accepted by the community?'

*ducks* haha sorry had to