D&D General Creating a Pride Flag for my D&D setting

[Bayushi_seikuro]

First, I find this to be some amazing world-building, so kudos to the amount of thought you've put into it.

I liked your comments on Norse elves and genderfluidity. How many beasts alone is Loki the mother and/or father of?

I understand what you're going for, but maybe as an outsider here (I totally support LBGQTIA+ <hope I missed nothing> as a straight old man), but maybe what this time for the culture, especially with Feywild influence, is a time to REJECT any notion of identity. A time to be moved to emotion by appearance, or someone's musical or magical prowess, a time for people to have absolutely fluid relationships.

I don't feel it would be some hedonistic event - especially because of reasons related to Real World people's lived experiences - but it might be a time where two enemies may become true best friends, or two friends may decide they'd be excellent lovers. I feel like, from what you wrote, the event would follow the great Lazarus Long quote of: "Everything in big bites - moderation is for monks."

 

[Spohedus]

Since when is sexuality and gender discussion acceptable for a thread on this message board?

Some of this is quite offensive.

Goodbye.

 

[Umbran]

Since when is sexuality and gender discussion acceptable for a thread on this message board?

Mod Note:
Since when? Since we realized that lack of representation was a real issue for many of our users. EN World aims to be an inclusive community, in which nobody feels alienated based upon who they are.
We do not allow sexually explicit discussion or language, but you can talk about romance or relationships between any consenting adults.

If you feel a post is an issue, we expect you to use our post-reporting feature (there's a "Report" link on every post) rather than make a public display about how a thing exists that perhaps nobody has bothered to tell moderators about.

 

[CleverNickName]

I'm chiming in because this actually came up in my D&D campaign recently. Well, tangentially...

In the PC's hometown, one of the local taverns is run by an elven woman and her three spouses (they are a polycule). Now, my notes for these four NPCs were intentionally vague--I wasn't sure which tavern the party would end up being regulars at, and I didn't want to dedicate pages and pages of worldbuilding to something that wouldn't end up being used. So when the PCs visited this tavern, I ended up having to improv most of the scene and now the following lore has been added to my game world:

While chatting up the tavern owner, the subject of her three spouses came up. The artificer in the group politely asked about her spouses. "May I ask a delicate question about your marriage?" he began, and when permission was granted, he asked, "How did you come to have two husbands and a wife? This seems strange to me, because where I come from it's illegal to have more than one spouse."

"It's only strange to the shorter-lived folk," she replied. "A human lifetime is a century at best, but we of elven blood live for thousands of years. With so many years of life to fill, it isn't unusual for someone to fall in love more than once, or to marry more than once. And in my happy example, a married couple happened to fall in love with another married couple, and here we are."

I'm very proud of my players, they carried that delicate conversation carefully and seriously and it ended up contributing greatly to the lore of my game world. No bawdy jokes or giggle-fits, no obnoxious spiral of increasingly-offensive questions. They were like "Ah, thanks for sharing. That's pretty cool." and the scene moved on without derailing anything.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I like how Ed Greenwood (creator of the Forgotten Realms) said something like that of course Trans, Non, and Gay etc exist. It's a world of dragons, Orcs, Cat People, fairies, and magic etc etc. Everything is accepted and normal.

 

[Spohedus]

Mod Note:
Since when? Since we realized that lack of representation was a real issue for many of our users. EN World aims to be an inclusive community, in which nobody feels alienated based upon who they are.
We do not allow sexually explicit discussion or language, but you can talk about romance or relationships between any consenting adults.

If you feel a post is an issue, we expect you to use our post-reporting feature (there's a "Report" link on every post) rather than make a public display about how a thing exists that perhaps nobody has bothered to tell moderators about.

Thank you for the prompt response and sharing the rules. I will report in the future instead of posting, which I simply wasn’t aware of. That said, since I am a follower of Abrahamic religion (as Tolkien was), which includes Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, I am one of the alienated people your statement is supposed to protect.

The boards policy still seems to be inherently biased to alienate those that revere God.

 

[Ondath]

Thank you for the prompt response and sharing the rules. I will report in the future instead of posting, which I simply wasn’t aware of. That said, since I am a follower of Abrahamic religion (as Tolkien was), which includes Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, I am one of the alienated people your statement is supposed to protect.

The boards policy still seems to be inherently biased to alienate those that revere God.

People existing as they wish to cannot alienate you as it is specifically not about you. While everyone is entitled to their opinion on people of different sexual orientations and gender expressions, arguing that discussing these topics somehow alienates you makes it sound like you just want these people to be hidden and oppressed.

Now, using "revering God" as an excuse to demand people's existence be erased from our discussions, that might be against board policy.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thank you for the prompt response and sharing the rules. I will report in the future instead of posting, which I simply wasn’t aware of. That said, since I am a follower of Abrahamic religion (as Tolkien was), which includes Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, I am one of the alienated people your statement is supposed to protect.

The boards policy still seems to be inherently biased to alienate those that revere God.

Mod Note:

1) Red text moderation posts are not exceptions to the “Do not comment on moderation in thread.” rule. Unless you’re apologizing for your behavior, take commentary to PMs.

2) The policy in question is for EVERYONE’S benefit.

3) The followers of Abrahamic faiths are NOT monolithic in their patterns of beliefs and their attitudes, including the respect for LGBTQ+ people, or even members of other Abrahamic faiths. I’m a cradle Roman Catholic who goes to church regularly, and am enjoying abstaining from meat this Lent. Not only do I NOT feel alienated here on ENWorld, you might have noticed I’m part of the moderation staff.

If you genuinely believe this site is hostile towards “those who revere God”, perhaps ENWorld isn’t the place for you. That decision will be made by you, one way or the other.

 

[Yaarel]

Regarding Abrahamic faiths, many traditions endorse LGBTQ.

For example, the national Church of Norway is Lutheran Christian, and performs samesex marriages, including gay priests who are in samesex marriages.

There is a name change ceremony for transgender Christians.

And of course, there are many other examples of Abrahamic faiths who love LGBTQ humans.

 

[Yaarel]

First, I find this to be some amazing world-building, so kudos to the amount of thought you've put into it.

I appreciate your kind words.

I liked your comments on Norse elves and genderfluidity. How many beasts alone is Loki the mother and/or father of?

Yeah. Shapeshifting is a central concept in Norse traditions, sometimes including gender swapping.

I understand what you're going for, but maybe as an outsider here (I totally support LBGQTIA+ <hope I missed nothing> as a straight old man), but maybe what this time for the culture, especially with Feywild influence, is a time to REJECT any notion of identity. A time to be moved to emotion by appearance, or someone's musical or magical prowess, a time for people to have absolutely fluid relationships.

This might well be the sacred values of Corellon themself: "to be moved to emotion by appearance, or musical or magical prowess, and to have absolutely fluid relationships."

For me, the family members of the House of Corellon strive to express this ideal of fluidity beyond any single identity. The rest of the elven cultures understand the value of this, and uphold it as a sacred status.

At the same time, not all elves are genderfluid. Some are "vanilla" cisgender, some are transgender, some pronouncedly masculine, some pronouncedly feminine, some androgynous, some agendered, and so on. Likewise, some are straight, some are gay, some are bi, some are hypersexual, some are asexual, and so on.

In Tashas, I appreciate the image of the Psi Warrior because I think it is the first time I saw an official image of what I consider to be a masculine Elf. D&D history has a long tradition of feminine "elf babes" and also often leans into the elf as androgynous. Between the tropes of thinness, beardless, invariably long hair, and often "pretty", a manly Elf seems scarce in D&D art. I am happy with the new art direction to include any normal human body type for Humanoids − all are possible, masculine, feminine, androgynous, fat, thin, muscular, wiry, tall, short, and so on. For me, this diversity is breath of fresh air. It makes building a character concept to roleplay fit in better within the various official settings.

Conceptually, the Elf is a nature being (and for Norse-like a manifestation of actual sunlight). So when nature beings adopt a Human-like form, it makes sense to resemble Human diversity, appearances, and customs. I view Elves as having the full range of Human diversity. At the same time, in light of their ancestor, those forms who happen to be genderfluid enjoy sacred status because elven traditions hold genderfluidity in high regard.

For players who want to roleplay a genderfluid character, the House of Corellon is an excellent background to utilize for the character concept. Maybe as a mechanical Background, House of Corellon can grant the Blessing of shapeshifting as part of the Background features.

I don't feel it would be some hedonistic event - especially because of reasons related to Real World people's lived experiences - but it might be a time where two enemies may become true best friends, or two friends may decide they'd be excellent lovers. I feel like, from what you wrote, the event would follow the great Lazarus Long quote of: "Everything in big bites - moderation is for monks."

The reallife folkbeliefs about Elves center around tropes relating to: sunlight, success, fate, magic, sex, beauty, and charm. So the Revelry includes all kind of sensuality, including sex, magic, art, and wealthy status symbols. It seems inherently hedonistic to me, in the senses of magic entwining success, beauty, fate, and love.

The elven Revelry celebrates every form of love, including family and friends, as well as new romances. "Two enemies may become true best friends." "Two friends may be lovers". Two lovers may decide to have kids together and start a family.