The story of Planeshift, or the Histories, is a document full of trite ideas and lauguage. The writer of the story is familiar with English. He attempts to sound elegant and RPG-ish. Some passages include words and phrases that were choosen for their apparent stylishness rather than clarity. For the most part, the story is boring but not difficult to understand. The story is also quite sexist.
Official human history is the story of men oppressing women, and highlights of important football matches. The official record, produced and owned by men since a record was first kept, is supposed to be the unbiased story of all the people, not one gender\'s view of it. Nevertheless, the discriminatory and abusive behavior of men towards women throughout time can be found in the official history if you look carefully and illuminate its passages with the a strong light. The scribes and guardians of the official record never intended for us to find this information but it\'s in there, in between the lines. All members of society are deeply influenced by the official record, it is the default lens through which all events are viewed.
Yliakum History is written from a male sexist point of view. It didn\'t have to be written that way to make the story work but the writer sees the world through the male sexist lens of official human history, so he wrote a story that makes sense from that perspective. This should not prevent people who choose to play as female characters in Planeshift from partcipating in the game as equals with those who play as male character. As far as I know, if you choose to play as a female character the game will function for you the same as for male characters. However, women are reduced to second class citizens by the fact that only male gods exist in the Planeshift story. It\'s a passive form discrimination by men against women.
Women are used to this kind of crap in video games. Many have learned to work around it or to ignore it. But resistent as women can be, they are still subjected to male sexism in the Planeshift story and it\'s wrong. The sexism doesn\'t even advance the story line. It\'s just sexist because the writer is. Whether the writer realizes that his story is sexist, I don\'t know. He could be unaware that anything is amiss; lots of guys don\'t understand how insensitive they can be until you explain it to them. That, however, does not make it ok. The Planeshift story should be changed so that there are male and female gods who are equals. Similar changes should be made in hundreds of other game stories.
Let\'s look at parts of the Histories to get aquainted with the sexism I\'m complainig about.
In First Epoch: Laanx and Talad, the two gods are described in physical terms: Laanx, the female, is a vision of beauty straight out of a straight guy\'s idea of what female beauty should be. She\'s young, she\'s sexy, she alluring, she\'s ready to make love to men, especially Talad. Talad is described as a very macho-looking, ageless dude. We don\'t know if he has any desire for sexual relations with Lannx but if he does he will certainly find Laanx the ideal partner. The snapshots of both gods are familiar and unchallenging, and exactly what most men are programmed to expect. Women, too. Men have been promoting this picture of themselves and women for thousands of years so it\'s not as shocking an example of male sexism as, say, date rape. But it\'s still male sexism and still wrong.
In Second Epoch we also meet Vod?l. I assume that Vod?l is a male god based on his priorities: He agrees to help Talad and Laanx lure races away from other gods to worship them. In exchange for this Talad becomes one of his servants, and Laanx one of his lover.
So far in Yliakum History we have two male gods and one female god. The older gods refered to in the document could be female gods but there is no idication of this so I assume they are males.
In Second Epoch: The Division, Laanx, lover of Vod?l, gets her face blown off when Talad makes some sort of a mistake while creating a race of beings. Laanx suddenly looks ugly, and the Kran race is born at the same moment as if to underscore just how ugly. (This is the most sophisticated writing in the whole story!)
The history states: Laanx was not beautiful anymore and she fell down into a deep depression that shattered her heart like a mirror...
Now, Laanx isn\'t a women anymore, at least not an ideal one in the male sexist sense. The former bombshell babe is some kind of horrible shell of her former self.
In the Third Epoch: The Realm of Lannx, it becomes very clear that Laanx has transformed into a male. She is now a he, no doubt about it.
The Fourth and Fifth Epochs are devoted to a lot of flowery details that don\'t directly affect the male sexist perspective of the story. Something happens in the Fifth Epoch that is very telling, though. Laanx, now a male god, finds a a handsome mortal male to help him make a come back to rival Talad, and it works.
Conclusion: The story of Planeshift is told from a male sexist point of view. The writer might be unaware of his own male sexist views and simply set out to cobble together any story he could, not one that discriminates against women. But, that doesn\'t make the story acceptable and it should be changed without delay to promote a positive image of women. Throughout Yliakum History Laanx, the only female god in the story, is cast as an petty, confused and coniving being who rejects her femininity in order regain her former high statue as a god. She transforms into a male god and in the final chapters of Yliakum History , and Laanx, the male god, recruits a \"handsome young man\" mortal to help her (him?) regain power and influence. Only by becoming a man and seeking the help of a male mortal is she able to be a god equal to the male Talad.
