Aramintai

My favourites are still POE1 companions, even though their presence in POE2 is questionable. New companions are kinda meh. Serafen is such a cookie-cutter pirate that he's boring, Xoti is a crazy yandere in disguise, Maia is less interesting than her bird, and fish boy is annoyingly pompous and self-centered most of the time. All sidekicks seem pretty useless, but Ydwin's backstory is intriguing.

Uh, what evil research are you talking about exactly? Is it Giacolo's about godlike? I wouldn't call that evil after the gods confessed to making them as their emergency batteries or bodies to possess. Or is it about luminous adra in Tikawara? Adra itself wasn't evil, but Vailian research was indeed. Though I didn't see an option to destroy those papers, just to give them to various people. Also, what's that about the Wahaki island? Is it Ori o Koiki? I don't recall them doing anything against VTC, just the slavers at Crookspur.

But it's bugged and gives resistance not only to harmful spells but also beneficial ones, like healing

Didn't see that slide before, but good for them. I usually kill slavers in the game though. Slavers and pirates are a menace.

That's what you have gathered from Sayuka examples, I've gathered something else.

Btw, RDC didn't really care about slavers at Crookspur, what they actually cared about was the fort they were inhabiting, which they wanted to have for their own. They admitted it after you kill the slavers and the Rauataian fleet promptly moving in there. Razing a problematic district to the ground without actually solving the problem why it is problematic just means those problems will appear somewhere else. But I guess they don't really care about those problems either, thinking all the locals will convert into law abiding Rauataian citizens anyway. I think the solution provided by the Huana themselves with the help of Dawnstars is the best one for the Gullet.

POE2 isn't exactly an rpg where there are hundreds of npcs roaming around town. We can only work with what we are given. And those guys give a certain impression.

You're not wrong. She does say she's not one of the officers: https://youtu.be/EG-OICICgqQ?t=135 Looks like she's just a local greeter or somesuch whom RDC guy tries to train being a Rauataian. Her mocking him goes along just fine with those other guys by the longhouse who don't feel like they should be grateful to Rauatains forcing themselves into their island.

Not like that, but it probably means that Deadfire's water and land is controlled by the Rauatai so Huana can't just sail away to some uninhabited island and live without their influence, as pretty soon there won't be any. Atsura made it clear that under them Deadfire's land won't go to waste. And where are you getting these obscene population numbers, btw? Because there is an example in Sayuka. Unlike VTC who prefer to be neighbors with Huana, RDC prefers to dismantle the old and building their new.

I dunno, aren't these slides telling enough? So basically, RDC kills the legitimate ruler of the Huana, then invades in full force with nobody left to oppose them into all settlements and drives Huana away from their old homes into these barrack type "longhouses" to make room for RDC infrastructure. Huana have nowhere else to go, as even the freedom of open sea is cut off for them. And having nothing else to do they either assimilate into Rauataian way of life to prosper or sit around mourning their old way of life taken away from them and don't prosper. How is cultural purity connected to being founded on a flawed caste system? And I didn't fail to mention it, I repeated several times here already that I don't like the caste system and would like it changed. But not by force. Here it seems people were left with no real choice to make.

Those are staple assimilation points. But I guess after several generations of brainwashing everybody's descendant will talk like that. It's gonna be like Sayuka everywhere, just listen to Atsura - he loves to drone about plans how they'll transform Deadfire. They do intend to assimilate it, no doubt about it, examples being all other lands conquered by them, this one is no different. Even ending slides support it. It will be yet another Rauatai appendix.

Well, there are assimilation examples in the game. For example, there was a trader who's ancestor land was conquered by the Rauatai - that land and people are completely assimilated. And that land is just one of many they've conquered. Next there is Sayka - the first thing you see there is RDC employee training a local Huana to wear Rauataian clothes and greet newcomers like a Rauataian would, so bye-bye local culture and language here too. They also moved all local Huana to live in a barrack, disregarding their social status or comfort. It is also mentioned several times in the game that Rauataians view Huana's culture as inferior.

There is a possibility of revolt, yes, but nothing even begins in the game. I'd personally love for them to revolt, but as I've said before - the caste system makes lower castes submissive, because it is deeply ingrained in their culture through religion and belief in preferential reincarnation.

So, back to the earlier discussion. What about you? Given the lore info you've read, are you ok with RDC completely assimilating Huana into Rauataian culture by force? Or them facing current realities, do you think Huana'd better evolve their political system on their own by seeing other cultures as examples?

I've already expressed my opinion about that on the previous page: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/100754-factions-of-death-aka-why-do-pirates-have-the-moral-high-ground/?p=2039538 And on this one: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/100754-factions-of-death-aka-why-do-pirates-have-the-moral-high-ground/?p=2039558

I dunno about Dutch, but RDC in particular already passes most of the fascism checklist.

Doesn't fill me with much confidence. Come back to me on this when you have a degree in the field. if i new more about how the RDC was organized, and how it functioned i might have an easier time labeling it a fascist regime. they are militaristic, though it doesn't seem like a police state, nor do i know for sure it's an actual dictatorship, however, i assume it is, i'd just like to know more. There's some lore available: https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Rauatai https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Royal_Deadfire_Company

Doesn't fill me with much confidence. Come back to me on this when you have a degree in the field.

If you wanna find fascists in the game better look at RDC, I've seen people throwing that label at them already.

Clearly my definition of fascism differs from yours. But I see this word being thrown at most factions here without much thought. And also, before accusing anybody of oppression you should check out Indian Hinduism and its relation to their caste system to get a clearer impression of how Huana people view their life. ...you are aware that the Indian caste system is generally regarded as a great evil that even India is desperately trying to get rid of? That discrimination based on caste is officially outlawed in India and it's only maintained through an informal system of social expectations and taboos? And that the caste system as we know it today traces it's origin to British Colonial rule and isn't actually a historical facet of India? Because all these things are important to know. Did I say I view Indian caste system as good? I said look it up for reference. Because then a person can get a better understanding why the Huana people are accepting to live within this system and not revolting. Though I think it was pretty well explained even within the game.

Doesn't really sound like Huana and you forgot other major definitions - mass mobilization of civilians, being pro-militaristic and politically aggressive towards other nations. If you wanna put a label on them I'd say Huana are actually more communist in nature than anything else.

Again, I'm not defending their flawed caste system. So you don't have to prove anything. It is bad, it should be changed because it can no longer work in current realities of life in the region. But this whole argument started with an opinion that it is not for Huana to change it themselves but by foreigners, namely RDC.

Clearly my definition of fascism differs from yours. But I see this word being thrown at most factions here without much thought. And also, before accusing anybody of oppression you should check out Indian Hinduism and its relation to their caste system to get a clearer impression of how Huana people view their life.

I was referring to Rauatains, more than anything else, if you couldn't tell.

An oversight by the ruling caste that is not defendable, sure, but this situation in the Gullet is not normal and wasn't like that before. It was caused by a recent influx of region's population gathering in the city, which clearly is unable to accommodate so many new people. It is clearly a major problem, which locals are unable to solve without outside help, and will continue to be so, because the influx does not stop. Funny thing is, the influx itself is caused by foreigners invading the region and now only with foreigners help this situation can be resolved. But I'm not gonna make any statements that the Roparu there are being mistreated out of malice or need to oppress them. On the contrary, generally it is expected that the Roparu are provided for by the ruling caste. Similar problem happened in Tikawara when the tribe was forced to relocate there, a barren island, where it is hard to grow food. For them there is also no other way but to scatter and leave the island or stay by accepting outside help. So yeah, these abnormal situations clearly show how the caste system is flawed and given more of these situations it's not hard to imagine something revolutionary could have happened on its own. Alas, with all the factions crap going on and discovery of Ukaizo it's probably not meant to be even if Huana are up top, as they probably will improve food shortage problem by making themselves rich and influential by ruling Ukaizo, while keeping the caste system as is.