RL Racial Analogues.

[magnificentmomo]

What are they in Exalted? I know that the South has Arab the ilk. The Blessed Isle is supposed to be Asians. The North is Norse and Russians. The West is varying types of Pacific Islander. I know there is more variation than the compass rose.

 

[Flagg]

There is only one pure, Northern race. All the others are Wyld mutants.

 

[Jukashi]

You get new races, too. Haltans, for example. People with dark skin and red hair. And so forth.

 

[Persell]

I always got a sort of british empire gone wrong vibe from coral.


What else... not in race but in culture lookshy seems pretty spartan.

 

[magnificentmomo]

I always got a sort of british empire gone wrong vibe from coral.
What else... not in race but in culture lookshy seems pretty spartan.

I can agree with the Coral thing. Also Djala. I am asking mainly to help initiate people, so if they ask "Well who would be like (blank)?". Like I can't think for the life of me where black people are. I have read people being described as darker, but they way they said it always sounded like tanned to me and obviously their is Panther and he has to come from somewhere, just never looked for where.

 

[Flagg]

Like I can't think for the life of me where black people are. I have read people being described as darker, but they way they said it always sounded like tanned to me and obviously their is Panther and he has to come from somewhere, just never looked for where.

Southeast. Harborhead, et al.

 

[Jukashi]

People in the far east have brown skin, but I think that's supposed to make them look the same color as the trees.

 

[cyl]

Hey don't forget funky beastmen population living among humans...


Hawkmen, snakemen...


Damn if there were horsemen and ratmen, I could build a Shining Force setting  :lol:


You can find a bit of every type everywhere, but they do have homelands where large sedentarial communities of the same type live.

 

[Malekith]

I always pictured it in my head like this:


Realm = Byzantium empire like [Rome on the decline]


Lookshy = Spartan chinese samarai on steroids


100 kingdoms = europe in the middle ages


Ang Ten - Imperial Japan


Coral - UK


Varang - Indian/Hindi [especially the caste system]


Chiascuro - Islamic countrys [Tammuz = Timmerlane anyone?]


Nexus - united states


North - Germany/Iceland/Sweden/Danish in the viking days


Harborhead - Africa - ever watch the last prince of scotland?

 

[Decurion]

I always pictured it in my head like this:
Realm = Byzantium empire like [Rome on the decline]


Lookshy = Spartan chinese samarai on steroids


100 kingdoms = europe in the middle ages


Ang Ten - Imperial Japan


Coral - UK


Varang - Indian/Hindi [especially the caste system]


Chiascuro - Islamic countrys [Tammuz = Timmerlane anyone?]


Nexus - united states


North - Germany/Iceland/Sweden/Danish in the viking days


Harborhead - Africa - ever watch the last prince of scotland?

I don't get the Realm/Roman analogy.  It really doesn't seem to fit at all.


But then again, I'm a Roman nut. . .


Besides, that sets the Solars up as Turks, and that's pretty nauseating to me.

 

[Flagg]

The Realm certainly has Roman elements built into it, such as the legions, the Deliberative, and the provincial tax-farming, but the Romans were only one of the more obvious influences.

 

[Decurion]

The Realm certainly has Roman elements built into it, such as the legions, the Deliberative, and the provincial tax-farming, but the Romans were only one of the more obvious influences.

Yeah, but I dislike the use of the term legion for what really isn't a legion in the classical sense. . . 10 cohorts and so forth.  


The provincial tax-farming is obviously Roman-inspired, although not in the form the Realm uses (autonomous and practically independent client kingdoms paying huge quantities of "tax money" and receiving nothing in return).  The mess of Dynastic Great Houses seems more Japanese to me.  And the rigidly unchanging nature of the caste system is another Oriental influence--Rome's greatest emperor was the grandson of a pig farmer, and another dynasty was founded by a peasant who lucked into a job as an Imperial groom.  This would not be possible in the Realm.


I actually think this is a fruitless topic because where White Wolf's setting shines the greatest is in those places where it is not directly analogous to historical cultures.  


There will be some overlap required to a certain degree because it is almost required by similar settings.  For instance, a archipelago of coral atolls will have to look Polynesian-influenced because Polynesian culture was shaped and informed by its setting amongst coral atolls.  So it's really a chicken-or-egg thing.  Icewalkers resemble Siberian tribesmen because they must to survive in the tundra.  Most cultures, especially at a low technological level or in harsh environments where the margin of survival is thin, MUST be organized a certain way to prosper in that environment.

 

[Quchu]

Well, we are not saying that the Realm is Rome or China or Japan or Toyota, but that it's inspired by Rome and China and Japan. And maybe Toyota too.


Though, personally, I always thought that the Realm is more of... Romechina. Chinarome? Well anyways, it's got traits of both that are equally strong and distinct. While it also has heavy Japanese influence, I never thought that it was strong enough to show obviously through the Roman and Chinese themes.


And ethnically, I think the Realm is the United States of America.

 

[Moonsilver]

Looking at race here, not culture ( do realise these terms do not all strictly define races):


Blessed Isle - Oriental


The North – Caucasian


The South – Arabic / Black


The East – A mixture of all types


The West – Pacific oceanic


Threshold – High proportion of Asian in North, East South and West.

 

[Decurion]

Looking at race here, not culture ( do realise these terms do not all strictly define races):
Blessed Isle - Oriental


The North – Caucasian


The South – Arabic / Black


The East – A mixture of all types


The West – Pacific oceanic


Threshold – High proportion of Asian in North, East South and West.

Plus plenty of folks that don't fit into any Real World racial phenotypes.  Lavender hair (without chemical assistance) or green skin aren't terribly common anywhere that I'm familiar with. . .


Outside of anime, of course.

 

[Flagg]

And ethnically' date=' I think the Realm is the United States of America.[/quote']
"American" isn't a particularly distinct ethnicity.

 

[Moonsilver]

I agree Decurion, but thats why I did not list the anime influced types, as they are not RL ones.


""American" isn't a particularly distinct ethnicity." True but a lot of people think they are big bad guys it seems

 

[Quchu]

And ethnically' date=' I think the Realm is the United States of America.[/quote']
"American" isn't a particularly distinct ethnicity.

That was precisely the point.

 

[Ultracog]

I agree with RBRC's assessment of the Realm... it seems to be a jumble of whatever ethnicities developed on their own elsewhere in Creation.


As to certain regions having different native ethnicities, that's a problematic assumption because of all the migration that they say took place after the Contagion and Invasion and all of the trouble surviving and and finding safe places to call home. Although, specific regions like Halta and the Western Isles seem relatively homogeneous...


Culture is something entirely different than "race." Seven hundred years since the apocalyptic Contagion/Invasion episode is plenty of time to found distinct and strong cultures, some entirely new and other based in part upon the memories or foundations of the Shogunate era. And as the esteemed Decurion alluded to, geography plays a vital role in the development of a given society. However, I don't agree that looking for analogues is fruitless. While there are no exact matches, but it is helpful for STs and players to be able to visual what they know from RL when trying to form a mental image of a particular setting/locale.


It's just important to keep in mind that just about every canonical society is a mixture of many diverse aspects from RL history and a hodge-podge of fantastical mish-mash.

 

[Decurion]

And as the esteemed Decurion alluded to, geography plays a vital role in the development of a given society.

Esteemed?  Esteemed?


I also just noticed I'm a Little God.  Hrm. . .


I haz a cult?

 

[Sherwood]

Only a little one.  

 

[Decurion]

Only a little one.  

Every cult starts with one madman.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

How the hell do you think my cult started? Reason? I think not, sir.