Thank you so much Obsidian for the Vallians

[Diogenes]

Elagabalus wasn't black, and neither were any of the Roman Emperors. Don't equate African with black. Also, your notion that nobody in Europe cares, and that only Americans obsess over race is really ridiculous. 

 

Septimius Severus?

Edited March 25, 2015 by Diogenes

[Fiaryn]

Americans are the only ones who obsess over this race stuff tbh. Nobody in Europe gives a toss. Skin color doesn`t determine who you are. Your actions do. And the Romans were that way too which was why they had black generals and even one or two black emperors. Nobody cared because it doesn`t matter. Only in the USA does it matter for some weird reason. And apparently it matters to everyone, whether they`re black or white. Weird people...

Emperor Eliogabalus. Third most useless emperor in Roman history and black. Who cares!?! He was a perv and a moron so that`s why nobody likes him.

 

You're giving Europe a little too much credit. The reason why the ethnocentric and racist dogmas of the 19th and early 20th century had little domestic impact is that most of Europe was fairly racially homogenous. They did not have an enormous underclass of enslaved/impoverished-due-to-recent-slavery Others to foist their troubles on. As Europe becomes more heterogeneous in the modern day, one finds them acting

 

Well, no less xenophobic than Americans.

 

 

 

 

Also as Flaryn said, people who lived back in the day didn't feel the same way as we did. [..] overall the idea that people of different races or skin colour being the enemy is very recent, it was all about hating on the different countries/tribes/city-states etc.

Considering that I started by noting that the original RPGs Race theme, which akin to Ethnics (a definition which include "common ancestral, social, cultural or national experience"), works well.

 

I can only assume that you narrowly interpreted physical difference as skin color... Surely you can understand why your example falls short when we consider fluffy bunny ears vs hulk twice your size with shark teeth.. and how it would effect interaction between the two species during primitive tribal stage...

 

Consider the reputation that Orlans gained in Dyrwood in just a decade. I'd expect FAR bigger animosities between the species, rooted in ages long culture, religion etc other, not equal rights and co-existence.

 

Back in the Roman Empire for example people of lots of different skin colours lived together, being all chill. It didn't matter if you were born in Africa or right in Rome, if you were a Roman citizen and followed the ideals of society then you were cool. Being culturally/legally Roman was what was important, not being Italian/born in Rome.

Arguably Alexander the Great is the better example of cultural assimilation, he who first conquered most of the known western world and figured how to hold to it. Although those example are both grounded in our own world, where there is only one specie and such assimilation is possible...

 

FYI on Earth several different variations on what loosely called the human species have co-existed in the past, but only we survived past the tribal stage. And while in theory it is possible that two or more intelligent species would develop at the same time, in the same region competing for the same resources, and each develop the tools to coexist. All we known suggest that eventually one will dominate and lead to the extinction of the other.

 

Which is why I said that on the authenticity side, i'd need more than just a little ritual and low key squabbling to understand how we got different SPECIES that not only coexist, but completely entwined.

 

 

Alexander the Great is an incredibly poor choice for an example of "figuring out how to hold on to it" because that is precisely the opposite of what he did. Nor is the extinction of Homo Neanderthalensis particularly strong proof of the impossibility of racial co-existence, given how little (read: nothing. We have informed guesses) we know of the particulars of their extinction. It is entirely possible that, to be blunt, they were not eradicated so much as ****ed into the fold.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Fiaryn

[Lychnidos]

 

Elagabalus wasn't black, and neither were any of the Roman Emperors. Don't equate African with black. Also, your notion that nobody in Europe cares, and that only Americans obsess over race is really ridiculous. 

 

Septimius Severus?

 

[Diogenes]

Alexander the Great is an incredibly poor choice for an example of "figuring out how to hold on to it" because that is precisely the opposite of what he did. Nor is the extinction of Homo Neanderthalensis particularly strong proof of the impossibility of racial co-existence, given how little (read: nothing. We have informed guesses) we know of the particulars of their extinction. It is entirely possible that, to be blunt, they were not eradicated so much as ****ed into the fold.

 

 

Thats actually one of the theories. We have evidence that we lived together with them on occasion and that there was interbreeding. Maybe we just had too many babies for them to keep up.

 

Actually thats a good reason for the reason we have so many races living together in this setting. Sex is a pretty gigantic drive, you could argue that a large percentage of human achievement is based on the desire for sex. There is no limit to the amount of things that people will do to get laid, climb mountains, build skyscrapers, pretend to enjoy club music etc etc. Imagine you are a human dude or dudette just trying to live your life, blacksmithing it up or whatever. You're busy with your career and don't have time for kids. But hey, theres this whole town of elf cuties just down the road who you can bang as much as you like with no risk of pregnancy. That's pretty huge!

[Fiaryn]

 

Alexander the Great is an incredibly poor choice for an example of "figuring out how to hold on to it" because that is precisely the opposite of what he did. Nor is the extinction of Homo Neanderthalensis particularly strong proof of the impossibility of racial co-existence, given how little (read: nothing. We have informed guesses) we know of the particulars of their extinction. It is entirely possible that, to be blunt, they were not eradicated so much as ****ed into the fold.

 

 

Thats actually one of the theories. We have evidence that we lived together with them on occasion and that there was interbreeding. Maybe we just had too many babies for them to keep up.

 

Actually thats a good reason for the reason we have so many races living together in this setting. Sex is a pretty gigantic drive, you could argue that a large percentage of human achievement is based on the desire for sex. There is no limit to the amount of things that people will do to get laid, climb mountains, build skyscrapers, pretend to enjoy club music etc etc. Imagine you are a human dude or dudette just trying to live your life, blacksmithing it up or whatever. You're busy with your career and don't have time for kids. But hey, theres this whole town of elf cuties just down the road who you can bang as much as you like with no risk of pregnancy. That's pretty huge!

 

 

Right. With Homo Neanderthalensis, the question is one of degrees. Was their extinction primarily because of warfare, or interbreeding? We can never know and it hardly matters because the most likely answer is "yes".

Edited March 26, 2015 by Fiaryn