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The Possible Racial Contentions of Verra

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Hello everyone. Today I would like to try to broach the topic of fantasy races in video games butting heads and even going so far as to war, steal each other's territory, and a long list of other things.

In my opinion, I believe this can be handled maturely and make a world feel lived in. An avenue that provides political struggles, biases and history in an ever growing cycle.

Overall, I think it is a topic worth talking about.

Why do the races HAVE to get along? Can they? Do they? Have they always? How do they conflict?

I think a great example to approach this subject, especially in writing, is to make everything FAR from clear cut. No real good guys. Just people getting by with their own quirks. Often times screwing each other over in the process.

An example of such a thing being The Elder Scrolls series and the lore and history that you can dig up.

Ultimately, I have found that there are no 'good' people on Nirn. People that are just trying to live? Sure. But everyone to some capacity has been a jerk to another or worse to some extent, one way or another.

And on a surface level, you could say for example the Nords are just isolationist elf haters... Then you start learning about the elves. From the time of the Ayleids to the modern Thalmor and the Dunmer house of Dres. Yeah...

And it makes you wince. Because everyone has motivations. And no party mentioned are totally nice innocent sweethearts. Not the Nords. Not the beast folk. And not the elves.

So what about Verra? Frankly, I could see all of the races having some kind of beef with one another. The Tul'nar seeing everyone as invaders, the Dunir dwarves seeing Empyrean elves as aloof, haughty and unapproachable knife ears. Pig nose orc, arrogant humans, and you name it.

Dirty kidnapping goblins? Check! Demon worshiping minotaurs? Maybe. Flesh eating nuckelavee that ravage the countryside and terrorize all of known civilization at large? One could hope.

There is a countless amount of possibilities for tension, reactions, culture friction and overall dialogue. From civilized races to the more monstrous.

What do you think? Please keep the conversation civil and be mature about it. This subject is about a fictional world that is not our own.

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MY Own NIckle Co-operates with an EYE. -Mīonikoī.
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Comments

  • DepravedDepraved Member, Alpha Two
    shhh don't go there. there are people in this forum who will call you racist for saying something like that!
  • LudulluLudullu Member, Alpha Two
    Lore-based racism is not irl racism :)
  • MionikoiMionikoi Member, Alpha Two
    But it can be lore-based racial contention. ;3
    MY Own NIckle Co-operates with an EYE. -Mīonikoī.
  • DepravedDepraved Member, Alpha Two
    NiKr wrote: »
    Lore-based racism is not irl racism :)

    tell that to some people in this forum xddd
  • CROW3CROW3 Member, Alpha Two
    I love other races. For instance, Tulnar taste amazing when bbq’d with a brown sugar glaze.
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  • MionikoiMionikoi Member, Alpha Two
    edited October 2023
    CROW3 wrote: »
    I love other races. For instance, Tulnar taste amazing when bbq’d with a brown sugar glaze.

    I think you would get along well with the Bosmers. I wonder if that could be a thing where some or one of the other races will eat a fallen player's corpse.

    Edit: 🤔 Maybe that could also be a Py'rai thing. Or not. Or not
    MY Own NIckle Co-operates with an EYE. -Mīonikoī.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    The moderators support players being racist about the Verran playable Races, so that won't really be an issue for the Forums.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I expect the Racial conflicts and alliances will depend on what's happening on the specific server, based on player character interactions.
  • MionikoiMionikoi Member, Alpha Two
    I am curious about the name calling that could be implemented. I know someone who wants to play as an orc barbarian that will happily get in a fight for calling him an ugly pig nose tuskless green sack of mushed potatoes left in the sun too long.

    Role-playing goals.
    MY Own NIckle Co-operates with an EYE. -Mīonikoī.
  • Thoghli RamheartThoghli Ramheart Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Mionikoi wrote: »
    I am curious about the name calling that could be implemented. I know someone who wants to play as an orc barbarian that will happily get in a fight for calling him an ugly pig nose tuskless green sack of mushed potatoes left in the sun too long.

    Role-playing goals.

    I look forward to experiencing an insult to dwarves that is not generic ie: Short comment, smelly bc of digging in dirt, or booze related. So rare to find someone that can come up with a new insult and it is rather boring.
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  • CawwCaww Member, Alpha Two
    There will be plenty of "faction-based" fighting, just based on nodes and guilds. Any hard-coded racial conflicts will restrict choices for players that want a certain race but also be free to join other dis-associated racial groups and not have problems. Of course, anyone is free to do racial-based combat as their play style but it shouldn't be a mandatory part of AoC.
  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Will be interesting to see which races gain the most corrupted players across a server. Not sure if we'll get server stats revealed though.
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  • TheDarkSorcererTheDarkSorcerer Member, Alpha Two
    edited October 2023
    As an Empyrean, why would I get along with those dirty Kaelar''s? Didn't you guys see their muddy roads on the monthly showcase a few months ago? Hard pass.

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  • MionikoiMionikoi Member, Alpha Two
    Another idea that came to mind is if a player's reputation becomes low enough that NPCs might begin to have negative dialog. Some might even refuse to to business if it gets low enough. But I would hope such a case is caused by player or group actions rather than lack of.

    It would be something if dwarves tell a tul'nar player to 'tuck their tail between your legs and go back to the underdark where you belong!'

    ...

    Tul'nar will have tails, right? Right?
    MY Own NIckle Co-operates with an EYE. -Mīonikoī.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Some Tulnar will have tails. I'm not aware that it's a requirement for all.
    I'm pretty sure the AI is not going to be so robust that the NPC reaction states change enough to refuse to do business based on reputation - except while characters have Corruption.
  • Having tensions between different groups of people is the core of any interesting setting. Obviously, each race has their own culture, architecture, language, etc. Large enough differences tend to lead to conflict. Frankly it would be jarring if everyone had a super tolerant metropolitan mindset.
  • TyranthraxusTyranthraxus Member, Alpha Two
    NiKr wrote: »
    Lore-based racism is not irl racism :)

    Thank you! Correct; It does NOT equate to IRL racism, as some of our resident snowflakes would like to believe.

    CROW3 wrote: »
    I love other races. For instance, Tulnar taste amazing when bbq’d with a brown sugar glaze.

    As someone who hopes to run for a Mayorship one day, I approve this message....


    In all seriousness? SS and IS have been purposefully tight-lipped about a LOT of the lore-to-be, thus far; They want us to experience it for the first time, in-game. Yours truly suspects that we really won't the the races' disposition of each other until we login to Sanctus (or the Underrealm, for Tulnar).

    I'm presently suspecting that the hardship of the Exodus will have at least initially made the races quite interracially tolerant, having undergone unspeakable disaster, together.

    However?

    Enough millenia have passed on Sanctus for some of the races to split into sub-races, from the ones that initially left Verra. We also don't know the conditions they found, upon arrival; You can only live for so long on the natural, un-cultivated resources of the land. There may well have been tensions and wars and conflicts between the people of Sanctus that we will have no inkling about, pre-launch.

    I suspect there will probably have been both secular cities/nations that will have formed, as well as mixed-race civilizations/cities on Sanctus. Probably there won't be a lot of racial tensions, though, given that we're sharing the Divine Gateway to Verra.



  • MionikoiMionikoi Member, Alpha Two
    Hey you blunt-eared-flat-toothed-dome-headed humans, stop hogging all of the ponds or I'll stick you with an antler where the sun doesn't shine.

    Maybe hundreds of years in Sanctus might have also made the peoples more ornery due to crowding and lack of resources. Or fun. Or loud music. Or any number of reasons that could compound over time making it a place to desperately want to escape...
    MY Own NIckle Co-operates with an EYE. -Mīonikoī.
  • TyranthraxusTyranthraxus Member, Alpha Two
    I look forward to experiencing an insult to dwarves that is not generic ie: Short comment, smelly bc of digging in dirt, or booze related. So rare to find someone that can come up with a new insult and it is rather boring.

    Walking ale-barrels,

    Ore-hogs,

    Ore-meisers,

    Stone-bedders,

    Dust-breathers,

    Waist-high stone-splitters



    Hard not to relate them to height or mining.

    For the TULNAR? Well, that's a little easier....



    Un-bathed gophers,

    Hole-digging in-breeders,

    Cavern-trash,

    Animal-humpers,

    Fur-faces,

    Tail-waggers,

    Cat-eyed monstrosities,

    Hide-covered mutants,

    Mushroom-housers,

    Scale-skinned weirdos,

    Claw-fingered untermensch,

    Portal-dodgers,

    Whisker-faced freaks,

    Ground-scum,

    Were-people,

    Fungi-feeders,

    Horn-ed rats,

    Sunless under-dwellers,

    Root-fed pests,

    Up-right stripe-ed beasts,

    Wing-ed creeps,

    Mole-people,

    Cage-free fowl,

    Dog-toothed fuglies,

    Worm-eating belly-crawlers,

    Dung-structure builders,

    Leash-less pet-store escapees,

    Hoof-ed (hooved?) dirt-miners,

    Beak-mouthed insect-peckers,

    Soil vampires,

    ....and last but not least? Snake-hole squatters - because you know they didn't dig all those tunnels and caverns by themselves!



  • DepravedDepraved Member, Alpha Two
    someone has RPG'ed way too much...
  • @Tyranthraxus lol :smile: that's the spirit
  • Dont forget about the most offensive one to this date

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  • SolvrynSolvryn Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I think racism from people who are directly responsible for an extinction level event is fucking hilarious.

    I’m gonna find it funnier when I loot your skulls and mount them on my wall.

  • VeeshanVeeshan Member, Alpha Two
    TBH tulnars shouldnt relay get along with the other races :p as far as they would be concerned all the other races would be invaders of their land since they just reapeared out of no where after hundred or thousands of years, tbh they should tots get a slight reduction on corruption penalty when kiling a race other than tulnar haha :P
  • MionikoiMionikoi Member, Alpha Two
    Veeshan wrote: »
    TBH tulnars shouldnt relay get along with the other races :p as far as they would be concerned all the other races would be invaders of their land since they just reapeared out of no where after hundred or thousands of years, tbh they should tots get a slight reduction on corruption penalty when kiling a race other than tulnar haha :P

    Encourage griefers to make a Tul'nar character. Encourage justification against the races that fled to Sanctus. Write it all off as roleplaying. Also war against nodes tsken over by other races.

    Race wars achieved. It is still all roleplay in a fantasy MMORPG.

    Tell them that their mothers look like hamsters,
    And their fathers smell of elderberry.
    And their food tastes of oatmeal mixed with tofu.
    MY Own NIckle Co-operates with an EYE. -Mīonikoī.
  • TyranthraxusTyranthraxus Member, Alpha Two
    Veeshan wrote: »
    TBH tulnars shouldnt relay get along with the other races :p as far as they would be concerned all the other races would be invaders of their land since they just reapeared out of no where after hundred or thousands of years, tbh they should tots get a slight reduction on corruption penalty when kiling a race other than tulnar haha :P

    One of the *VERY* few bits of lore that we have on the Tulnar (or the game, for that matter), is that immediately after the cataclysm, the Tulnar were sealed away in the depths of the Underrealm. Only very recently did the ground shift, un-sealing their caverns; their return to the surface-world of Verra happens to coincide with *our* return. It's unclear yet if that happened during the 1st group of settlers/explorers through the portal, or with ours - but they have NOT had access to the surface, while our people have been gone.



  • SolvrynSolvryn Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Veeshan wrote: »
    TBH tulnars shouldnt relay get along with the other races :p as far as they would be concerned all the other races would be invaders of their land since they just reapeared out of no where after hundred or thousands of years, tbh they should tots get a slight reduction on corruption penalty when kiling a race other than tulnar haha :P

    One of the *VERY* few bits of lore that we have on the Tulnar (or the game, for that matter), is that immediately after the cataclysm, the Tulnar were sealed away in the depths of the Underrealm. Only very recently did the ground shift, un-sealing their caverns; their return to the surface-world of Verra happens to coincide with *our* return. It's unclear yet if that happened during the 1st group of settlers/explorers through the portal, or with ours - but they have NOT had access to the surface, while our people have been gone.




    You're not gone, you're an entirely different group.

    The four main races split into either two sub ethnic groups or stayed on Verra with the rest of the sentient races and became Tulnar.

    One is either native to Sanctus or native to Verra.

    And only Tulnar are native to Verra.
  • SolvrynSolvryn Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Veeshan wrote: »
    TBH tulnars shouldnt relay get along with the other races :p as far as they would be concerned all the other races would be invaders of their land since they just reapeared out of no where after hundred or thousands of years, tbh they should tots get a slight reduction on corruption penalty when kiling a race other than tulnar haha :P

    I'm not really into the racey roleplay stuff others are, I'm just into respect. You either respect Verra and respect the fact Tulnar never left or you do not.

    Verra is big enough for many different peoples, that's the Tulnars lineage. What Verra isn't big enough for, is some Sanctus native, born on Sanctus walking through the portal, "AH FINALLY WE'VE RETURNED." No, no you haven't.

    It should be, "Hopefully I can make Verra the home and hold a greater respect than my ancestors ever could."



  • MionikoiMionikoi Member, Alpha Two
    Solvryn wrote: »
    Veeshan wrote: »
    TBH tulnars shouldnt relay get along with the other races :p as far as they would be concerned all the other races would be invaders of their land since they just reapeared out of no where after hundred or thousands of years, tbh they should tots get a slight reduction on corruption penalty when kiling a race other than tulnar haha :P

    I'm not really into the racey roleplay stuff others are, I'm just into respect. You either respect Verra and respect the fact Tulnar never left or you do not.

    Verra is big enough for many different peoples, that's the Tulnars lineage. What Verra isn't big enough for, is some Sanctus native, born on Sanctus walking through the portal, "AH FINALLY WE'VE RETURNED." No, no you haven't.

    It should be, "Hopefully I can make Verra the home and hold a greater respect than my ancestors ever could."


    Empyrean elves: We have come back to reclaim our birthright!
    Tul'nar: You defaulted on that when you left.
    Dunir: Beer and whiskey!
    MY Own NIckle Co-operates with an EYE. -Mīonikoī.
  • SolvrynSolvryn Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Mionikoi wrote: »
    Solvryn wrote: »
    Veeshan wrote: »
    TBH tulnars shouldnt relay get along with the other races :p as far as they would be concerned all the other races would be invaders of their land since they just reapeared out of no where after hundred or thousands of years, tbh they should tots get a slight reduction on corruption penalty when kiling a race other than tulnar haha :P

    I'm not really into the racey roleplay stuff others are, I'm just into respect. You either respect Verra and respect the fact Tulnar never left or you do not.

    Verra is big enough for many different peoples, that's the Tulnars lineage. What Verra isn't big enough for, is some Sanctus native, born on Sanctus walking through the portal, "AH FINALLY WE'VE RETURNED." No, no you haven't.

    It should be, "Hopefully I can make Verra the home and hold a greater respect than my ancestors ever could."


    Empyrean elves: We have come back to reclaim our birthright!
    Tul'nar: You defaulted on that when you left.
    Dunir: Beer and whiskey!

    This seems fairly accurate
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