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Would you allow this paladin in your game? (new fiction added 11/11/08)
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<blockquote data-quote="Jeremy Ackerman-Yost" data-source="post: 2392551" data-attributes="member: 4720"><p><img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/nervous.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":heh:" title="Nervous Laugh :heh:" data-shortname=":heh:" /> Well, this one isn't very biological, unlike the rest. It came from two things. First, I honestly believe women are attracted to confidence (it's a defensible position and it would explain why my attractiveness has varied the way it has throughout my life). Fearlessness would breed confidence, and if it didn't, it would fake it real well. Second, women ARE attracted to social status (a fact that I can back up with about a dozen psychology studies if anyone disputes it). That part is solid, but here's the total opinion part: Fear is the primary determinant of male social status. The less fearful of the other males you are (whether said fear is of getting beat up or of being socially disgraced) the higher you end up in the hierarchy. This is my theory of male human social hierarchies, but it's a work in progress, so I readily accept that it might be total crap. If there's any truth to it. The paladin will instantly own any room he walks into.</p><p></p><p>Of course, the whole "no fear of social disgrace" thing doesn't line up with the literature paladins are based on. Those knights were <em>deathly</em> afraid of social discomfiture.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Basically, yeah. Stress hormones (and testosterone, which is also released in higher ammounts under stress) are actually really, REALLY bad for some parts of your body. Especially the kidneys, arteries, immune system, and hippocampus (a brain region that primarily has to do with spatial memory). Higher testosterone levels and stronger stress responses are considered the primary reasons why male life expectancy is so much shorter than female life expectancy. Partially because it makes us stupid, but also because some of our systems simply suffer more wear and tear.</p><p></p><p>High testosterone levels are actually the human equivalent of a peacock's tail. Females dig them (at least part of every month), but they require the male to have an incredible immune system. If you can put out that much testosterone, but you're still pretty symmetrical and not dying of disease, you must have <em>rockin'</em> genes.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Possibly. I didn't really think deeply on this. It's actually really hard to model, not least because we don't know everything going on in the brain that relates to all this. Immediate reaction time is really neurally mediated, though, not hormonally, so I haven't a clue.</p><p></p><p>However, that makes me realize that if the fight or flight response really is turned down, that would be really, really bad for him in a protracted fight. He wouldn't have all the peripheral blood vessel constriction that slows bleeding, he wouldn't stop wasting energy on digestion, he wouldn't mobilze sugar as effectively. Without a fear response, I think he might actually react BETTER in the first few seconds, but his body wouldn't be preparing itself properly for what it had to do.</p><p></p><p>Given that, I have to assume that immunity to fear is a mystic/psychological effect that leave all the normal biological responses functioning. Otherwise, very few paladins would make it to level 4.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jeremy Ackerman-Yost, post: 2392551, member: 4720"] :heh: Well, this one isn't very biological, unlike the rest. It came from two things. First, I honestly believe women are attracted to confidence (it's a defensible position and it would explain why my attractiveness has varied the way it has throughout my life). Fearlessness would breed confidence, and if it didn't, it would fake it real well. Second, women ARE attracted to social status (a fact that I can back up with about a dozen psychology studies if anyone disputes it). That part is solid, but here's the total opinion part: Fear is the primary determinant of male social status. The less fearful of the other males you are (whether said fear is of getting beat up or of being socially disgraced) the higher you end up in the hierarchy. This is my theory of male human social hierarchies, but it's a work in progress, so I readily accept that it might be total crap. If there's any truth to it. The paladin will instantly own any room he walks into. Of course, the whole "no fear of social disgrace" thing doesn't line up with the literature paladins are based on. Those knights were [i]deathly[/i] afraid of social discomfiture. Basically, yeah. Stress hormones (and testosterone, which is also released in higher ammounts under stress) are actually really, REALLY bad for some parts of your body. Especially the kidneys, arteries, immune system, and hippocampus (a brain region that primarily has to do with spatial memory). Higher testosterone levels and stronger stress responses are considered the primary reasons why male life expectancy is so much shorter than female life expectancy. Partially because it makes us stupid, but also because some of our systems simply suffer more wear and tear. High testosterone levels are actually the human equivalent of a peacock's tail. Females dig them (at least part of every month), but they require the male to have an incredible immune system. If you can put out that much testosterone, but you're still pretty symmetrical and not dying of disease, you must have [i]rockin'[/i] genes. Possibly. I didn't really think deeply on this. It's actually really hard to model, not least because we don't know everything going on in the brain that relates to all this. Immediate reaction time is really neurally mediated, though, not hormonally, so I haven't a clue. However, that makes me realize that if the fight or flight response really is turned down, that would be really, really bad for him in a protracted fight. He wouldn't have all the peripheral blood vessel constriction that slows bleeding, he wouldn't stop wasting energy on digestion, he wouldn't mobilze sugar as effectively. Without a fear response, I think he might actually react BETTER in the first few seconds, but his body wouldn't be preparing itself properly for what it had to do. Given that, I have to assume that immunity to fear is a mystic/psychological effect that leave all the normal biological responses functioning. Otherwise, very few paladins would make it to level 4. [/QUOTE]
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