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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 3564918" data-attributes="member: 4937">Ahhh... yes.&nbsp; Of course.&nbsp; When in doubt, or most especially when you aren't in doubt but don't want to say it, bring out the old ad hominem attack.&nbsp;I suspect the poster was pointing out that dwarves and elves and fairies and fauns and centaurs and the rest are products of European culture and myth, and that people who want to explore that specifically aren't being supported.&nbsp; Because they aren't non-human races.&nbsp; None of the core PC races are non-human.&nbsp; They are all basically human, right down to the presumed ability to interbreed, with only the slightest variation.&nbsp; Biologically and culturally, they are basically human.&nbsp; And they are all descendent from a particular set of myths.&nbsp; To get something that isn't human, it needs to be distinctively different from humanity in its biology and mythic tradtion.&nbsp; Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, not so much.&nbsp; Well, I suppose that the mythic races of non-European cultures would likely have non-Eurocentric histories.A celebrated sci-fi author once said of JRRT's works, than within them a single man had created the equivalent of an entire nation's body of work.&nbsp;&nbsp; The problem with creating aliens that have a culture that isn't just in fact a particular human cultural tradition scaled up to become a racial trait of an entire species is that it involves an act of creativity that is equivalent to that of an entire history of a people.&nbsp; In fact, to feel truly authentic, it would have to be equivalent to the entire history of many peoples.&nbsp; And moreover, it would have to be an act of primary creativity which even JRRT's works could not claim, since they were clearly deriative of a particular European culture.&nbsp;&nbsp; So, yes, it is ridiculous that an entire race should be portrayed by a single narrow cultural mold that is within the range of human cultural possibilities, and it is even more ridiculous for a race to be portrayed by a single personality type that is within the range of human possibilities.&nbsp; Classic examples of this would be Klingons and Kender.&nbsp; But, they you have it.&nbsp; It is never going to be any other way.&nbsp; Every race in science fiction and fantasy is guilty of this unreality, for the good reason that its impossible to do enough work to create a race which is not (and likely incomprehensible except by a lifetime of study even if it were).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 3564918, member: 4937"] Ahhh... yes. Of course. When in doubt, or most especially when you aren't in doubt but don't want to say it, bring out the old ad hominem attack. I suspect the poster was pointing out that dwarves and elves and fairies and fauns and centaurs and the rest are products of European culture and myth, and that people who want to explore that specifically aren't being supported. Because they aren't non-human races. None of the core PC races are non-human. They are all basically human, right down to the presumed ability to interbreed, with only the slightest variation. Biologically and culturally, they are basically human. And they are all descendent from a particular set of myths. To get something that isn't human, it needs to be distinctively different from humanity in its biology and mythic tradtion. Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, not so much. Well, I suppose that the mythic races of non-European cultures would likely have non-Eurocentric histories. A celebrated sci-fi author once said of JRRT's works, than within them a single man had created the equivalent of an entire nation's body of work. The problem with creating aliens that have a culture that isn't just in fact a particular human cultural tradition scaled up to become a racial trait of an entire species is that it involves an act of creativity that is equivalent to that of an entire history of a people. In fact, to feel truly authentic, it would have to be equivalent to the entire history of many peoples. And moreover, it would have to be an act of primary creativity which even JRRT's works could not claim, since they were clearly deriative of a particular European culture. So, yes, it is ridiculous that an entire race should be portrayed by a single narrow cultural mold that is within the range of human cultural possibilities, and it is even more ridiculous for a race to be portrayed by a single personality type that is within the range of human possibilities. Classic examples of this would be Klingons and Kender. But, they you have it. It is never going to be any other way. Every race in science fiction and fantasy is guilty of this unreality, for the good reason that its impossible to do enough work to create a race which is not (and likely incomprehensible except by a lifetime of study even if it were). [/QUOTE]

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