Native American Campaign Setting?

[blackshirt5]

Iroquis

If the Iroquis are chosen instead we need to decide first on the historical period. Will we deal with the Iroquis of the Huron Wars, the Iroquis of the early colonial period, or the Iroquis of the American Revolution? In addition, what about the practice of torture among the Iroquis and the ritual cannibalism practiced by the Mohawk? How would that be handled?

Alright, well thanks for the advice, now that I've got a bit of a handle on things, I'll start working on this with Angcuru(as well as hopefully RakeRon and our 4th, the aptly named Chris "Not appearing on this Board" Villaneuvos). What's the etiquette on publishing and advice given by other people, like say, on a message board(I'd love to be able to get this published, hopefully as a hardcover, since it'll be huge).

The Iroquois, I will address now. It's always been my personal belief that brutality is a fact of life. Torture, ritual cannibalism, while these to us may seem extreme and a bit unpleasant, they were a part of life for the Iroquois. Ritual cannibalism was actually a sign of respect, because they respected a person's strength enough to drink of his blood and consume his heart in hopes of aquiring his strength. I'd probably work out a system of bonuses for the ritual cannibalism, but I wouldn't think of cutting it from them. To do so would be to destroy part of what they are, and that, I will not do.

 

[mythusmage]

Etiquette

Where advice is concerned I believe the practice is to list the names of those who gave advice in the book. Though I wouldn't mind a contributor's copy.

Sounds like you're going with the Iroquois (I keep forgetting that second 'o'.). A rough, tough ,imperialistic bunch by most any account. (Think Klingons having a bad hair day.)

Agree re torture and cannibalism. The torture itself was in part entertainment, and in part a test. The prisoner could gain honor by how he dealt with the pain and humiliation. Those who did especially well would be adopted by the nation that had captured them. (This for those folks reading this post, not just you, Blackshirt5.)

Lest folks get the impression the Iroquois were somehow subhuman because they used torture, let me remind folks that Europeans were using torture as well at that time. So we have no claim to moral superiority.

 

[blackshirt5]

Not to mention the fact that as far as is known, the Iroquois never took to using primitive germ warfare as the colonists did, in the form of smallpox victims blankets being handed out to the indians.

Ever wonder what the world would have been like if everything were the same, except that the Native Americans had gotten fed up, hijacked some boats, and decided to not only take back North America, but push across the Atlantic and take Europe and England?

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Ever wonder what the world would have been like if everything were the same, except that the Native Americans had gotten fed up, hijacked some boats, and decided to not only take back North America, but push across the Atlantic and take Europe and England?

No, but's that's usually because I usually go further back, like "What if Rome was never rebuilt after the Celts sacked it?"

 

[Tonguez]

Etiquette

Where advice is concerned I believe the practice is to list the names of those who gave advice in the book. Though I wouldn't mind a contributor's copy.

Sounds like you're going with the Iroquois (I keep forgetting that second 'o'.). A rough, tough ,imperialistic bunch by most any account. (Think Klingons having a bad hair day.)

Agree re torture and cannibalism. The torture itself was in part entertainment, and in part a test. The prisoner could gain honor by how he dealt with the pain and humiliation. Those who did especially well would be adopted by the nation that had captured them. (This for those folks reading this post, not just you, Blackshirt5.)

Lest folks get the impression the Iroquois were somehow subhuman because they used torture, let me remind folks that Europeans were using torture as well at that time. So we have no claim to moral superiority.

IMC - Mythic Polynesia- it is accepted that cannibalism happens, not a problem overall. What is problematic however is those who go out and hunt humans for meat - which is how the Maohi o Tahiti use to view the Hiva (Marquesas). I explained this by making Barbarians 'cannibal Savages' (afterall Barbarian is a bit of a misnomer in a 'Barbarian' culture). The Savage gains their rage ability because of the Bloodlust they engender.

Also anyone remember the Comic Arak Son of Thunder? About a Mohawk warrior taken to Europe by Erik the Red who had a Satyr sidekick!

 

[blackshirt5]

If I ever get it published, you'll get a comp copy if you post a review here on it.

 

[Angcuru]

BAGGATAWAY! YEEAAAHHH!!!

thankfully, the frenchies kept the original name for SOME part of the sport...The Baggataway cup. (I think, they DID butcher the spelling of the word)

 

[fusangite]

Blackshirt5, my advice is this:

You need to actually read a hell of a lot or take a course if you want to produce a decent document. In my opinion, the last thing you should be doing is deciding which aboriginal group to focus on before you know enough about any of them.

You should go to the library and ask for a text that is used for survey courses about aboriginal history and prehistory that deals with the broadest possible range of cultures and groups. In the course of reading this, you will naturally develop an interest in a particular group or culture and can zero in on that.

No doubt if you've borrowed a decent text, there will be a solid bibliography which will direct you to more specific sources.

Maybe I'm wrong about your current level of knowledge but it sounds to me like the question of writing a supplement is at least six months away. Once you've educated yourself better, you can make informed decisions about what you want to write about. No amount of advice from the rest of us will be helpful until you've got some basic foundational knowledge.

In addition, you might want to check out my posts related to this topic in the "original campaign worlds" thread: http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?threadid=44959

 

[Angcuru]

Well, I don't know how much help I'll be in terms of Native American history. I plan on going into Medieval Studies and eventually become a Metallurgist/Swordsmith(if things go well).

But, I do have a WHOLE lotta miscellaneous factoids stuck up in my head concerning various cultures, so I might prove useful.

 

[blackshirt5]

Good Idea Fusangite. I was a bit Amer-Indian obsessed all the way through school, even into College(which I just recently dropped out of), where I dropped a history class after a teacher told me "nobody gives a damn about primitive American cultures, they haven't contributed anything to history" after I handed in a report on the Pontiac Rebellion, so I can get into the literature pretty easily.