Vor

Yggdrasil Chronicles [A Dystopian Steampunk Resistance RP]

Yeah, I'll try to get something in by tonight. Last few days were crazy, so I didn't have much time, apologies.

Edit: And done!

Which of these 'popular' lablels do you associate with?

I don't like labels, because my mom always told me I'm specuuul. Nah, seriously though - I have a dislike for labels, 'cause usually the people labeling themselves as something portray the worst qualities of that subgroup, becoming little more than a caricature. Besides, I must frequent the wrong places, seeing as I wouldn't call many of these labels popular. Anyway...

Men's Rights Activist (MRA) (Maybe?)
I do agree that "reverse discrimination" is sometimes a thing, but the majority of MRA's are neckbeard virgins, who have trouble talking to women. They pretty much portray the stereotypical male as envisioned by feminists. It's a shame, because some issues they bring up have merit. For example, rape charges, which almost universally cast guilt on men, even without evidence or how about sex with minors? If some 14 year dude fucks his (female) teacher, society isn't THAT impressed. Yes, I've seen teachers sent to prison for that, etc - but just compare that to the uproar if some 50 year old guy was fucking his 14 year old female student.

Anaracho Capatalist (No)
Anything that starts with "anarcho-" is a big no for me. It's an unachievable utopia, even more so than communism. If I absolutely had to choose between one of these, I'd go for anarcho-communism, which at least doesn't have the illusion that a society based on a free market won't try to fuck itself over. Anyway, none of these work - humans have shown time and time again that we need a centralised authority to get shit done. Maybe in 5,000 years when we've reached some new level of development. (yeah right...)

SJW (Social Justice Warrior) (NO)
Fuck SJW's, man. This is what happens when you give voice and a platform to losers, who can't do anything themselves so they constantly have to disparage those that do. What's worse is when companies and politicians cater to them, in order to present themselves as "paragons of diversity". Heck, just look at the shit BioWare has been pushing out recently, their stories have become so derivative because they have to tick off all the checkboxes, unless they want to risk a social media campaign against them. The truly sad thing is that, like MRA's, some of the issues they touch upon are real, but the way in which they present them and the people advocating for them ruin the whole thing.

Feminist(Maybe?)
Real feminism, as in the right to representation, to vote, to have equal chances as men? Fuck yeah, more than half the world needs feminism. Look at how women are treated in lesser developed countries or in Islamic ones. However, "feminist" in the western world usually translates to "sexually unsatisfied female, with self-esteem issues". Personally, I find it hilarious - they are exactly the same as MRA's, the only difference being a pair of tits and a vagina. These two groups feed off the stereotypes they themselves purport.

Brexiter (Hell no)
You have to be a really backward, narrow-minded moron to support Brexit. I don't see how a person living in the 21st century can get behind this idea. I don't even know what to say here, the drawbacks are so obvious. The only chance of Europe being relevant in world politics is by being unified, otherwise we just became a staging ground for dick-measuring contests between the US and Russia. Fuck me, people, did you learn nothing from the Cold War?

Gamergater/Pro Gamergate (No)
Since I already use the phrase "neckbeard virgins" to describe another group, I'll have to be a bit more creative here. "Cowardly neckbeard virgins"? Look, if you harass someone over the internet anonymously, you're a piece of shit. If you truly believe in something, stand behind it with your real name and identity. It's little more than a digital mob and has the IQ of one (in the words of the immortal Terry Pratchett: "The IQ of a mob is the IQ of its most stupid member divided by the number of mobsters")

Race Realist (No)

Bit longer, so it's hidden

I had to look this one up, but don't agree with the premise. Race is by and large a social construct, shaped by centuries and centuries of history and culture. I recently attended a cognitive science summer school, where through a series of well-documented experiments, the lecturers showed that many of the "race" differences are not present in children before they learn how to talk (or prior to "lexical acquisition" to use the proper term). One of the studies that stood out to me the most was how they took some kids ages 1 to 2 and presented them with some made-up objects that served no function, which they had to identify. (for example - a weirdly shaped piece of clay, etc.) They ran the experiment with Japanese, American and German children. As you know, Japanese grammar and sentence structure is vastly different from German and English, so when you ran these tests on adults, they encoded the words differently.

Overall, Japanese adults showed a bias to the material, disregarding the shape of the object, while English and German speakers focused on the shape (function) and not the material. Naturally, this means that the way you describe these words in a sentence is different. However, and this is what really got my attention, when you ran these tests on kids that hadn't yet learned to talk, there was NO bias. The split between kids identifying object vs shape was exactly the same across the board, regardless of nationality (or "race").

So, long story short - I believe that the concept of "race" is something belonging to the past. Now, nationalities and cultures, that's a whole new ball game. That said, there IS some difference among the races that doesn't feat my neat theory. A big chunk of East Asians, I think about 35%, have alcohol intolerance (alcohol flush), which is genetic. If you look at sports, sprinting disciples are universally dominated by black athletes. Why? How much of this is "race" and how much of it the human body adapting to outside conditions? Anyway, this is a huge topic, so I'll stop here, I've already went on long enough.

Libertarian (No, Indifferent)
I'm kinda indifferent on this subject and don't have all that much to say, which is strange for me because I can ramble about politics for days. I assume it's something that's more widespread in the States, but in my corner of the world there's not really much discussion on Libertarianism. Personally, I find the concept of "liberty" to be naive. When you live in an organised society, you have to give up certain liberties - there's no true freedom. Damn, that sounds kinda edgy, but it's true when you think about it. In most cases, people who whine about wanting more freedom will be the first to cry out that the government isn't defending their rights when things don't go their way.

Tales of the Path [The Darklight Project & Vor]

Awesome post, love it! It seems like your guy is pursuing an...interesting foe, should be fun to see what that is all about.

I must admit that I only briefly read up on Higher Vampires. I was afraid I'd spoil too much of Blood & Wine and, as one of the few good stories in games these days, I didn't want to take that chance! :P So, I've got some general info, but not all the details, which I guess works perfectly from an in-story perspective, seeing as my character would never have gone up against such a fearsome creature before.

I've got some scribbles written down for my next post, will begin working on it and hopefully I'll have it up sometime before the end of the week or during the weekend at the latest.

Tales of the Path [The Darklight Project & Vor]

Indeed, that kind of longevity is a testament to the quality of a RP, I'd say. Plus, I'm a sucker for long posts, which is definitely not something you see every day. In fact, I kept the opening post for this RP relatively short by my standards, because I've found that I have a tendency to scare people away with walls of text :P

Anyhow, if we manage to reach even 50% of the quality that "The Origin" has, I'll be one happy camper!

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire; Convicted.

While I don't have the time to devote to this, as someone who has participated in two tabletop EoTE campaigns, I can testify that their approach to dice rolling is ingenious. "Narrative dice" are, in my opinion, the best dice-based gameplay system I've ever seen. The flexibility it provides is second to none and very RP friendly. I feel like it's a perfect fit for a forum-based RP - it gives you freedom to play as you want, but at the same time the various advantages/threats that come with the results provide some nice narrative constraints that help the players get creative with their writing.

I wish you all the best for this RP and hope you garner enough interest to get it going!

Ardacia

Personally, I'm happy with the group we've got here, we're all on the same page when it comes to RP'ing so I don't think we need any more people. Also, I see why new applicants are hard to come by: we've already got an established setting, detailed sheets and in-depth posts, it can be daunting for a person to read all that and come up with something that fits with what we've already got.

If all of us are seriously considering going through with this, I suggest we re-structure stuff a bit. You say the northeastern chunk of Ardacia is cursed? Well, why don't we have it as some failed kingdom that actually IS cursed? Maybe rulers and Houses have come and gone, but nobody has managed to lay claim to it. It's a desolate region, filled with squabbling warlords and petty kingdoms. This can provide incentive for neighbouring kingdoms (I guess in this case it would be Kedoren and Aaldorenfeald) to feud over it. Let it be an unclaimed region, like the Sylvain Forest.

FInally, while I believe some of you may disagree, I feel like we need to, I dunno, slim things down a bit. The way you guys set up the RP initially is good, but aimed towards more players. With five kingdoms, we need to play to our strengths (less people - easier to manage), focus more on an overreaching storyline to tie us all together, as opposed to worrying about getting the history of irrelevant regions in our kingdoms just right and coming up with plot hooks nobody picks up on. (I'll be the first to admit I'm guilty of this) We should get together, brainstorm and decide on two or three plotlines that are going to drive the story and get to the actual RP'ing. We spent far too much time world-building the first time around and eventually stalled when it was time to tell a story, which is what the point of the RP is in the first place, right?

A Tolkien based RP: Out of the Past

Well, as a guy who loves beer, I feel for Eorl. Even if you drink one pint, you still end up stinking like an ale barrel.

As for how armoured Saptheth, even though I'm obviously neither the GM nor the character's owner, I feel like he wouldn't be brought before the king with his mask on? I thought Eorl basically cut him at the neck a bit, which would be exposed due to the lack of a a helmet. At least that's how I imagined the scene anyway.

On LGBT+, homophobia, country-perspective (EU vs US), democracy, and free speech.

Ok well, I'm going to ramble a lot and get into some history and stuff, but I feel like you need to really dig deep and examine these issues across the centuries to get an understanding as to why the modern world is set up the way it is. I'm also going on a lot of tangents and philosophising here, so consider yourselves warned.

As someone living in Bulgaria, ex-eastern bloc country, now part of the EU, I've always found this subject somewhat strange. Much like Buddha explained about Russia, the sentiment in the rest of Eastern Europe is pretty much the same - homosexuality is just something that's not talked about, but not actively prosecuted. Yes, people here have a reputation for being homophobic and it's warranted, but honestly it's nowhere near the sort of shit that goes down in the US. Or rather, it's just as worse, but in a different sort of way. One of the most common insults thrown around here is...*drumroll*..."faggot" or "pederast" to use the local language, which gets its roots from the Greek word pederasty. Pederasty itself implies sex between an adult male and a pubscent male, though the usage has shifted over the centuries. However, fathers beating their sons, chasing them out of their homes, shit like that? Incredibly uncommon.

My country was under Ottoman rule for about 5 centuries, so while there's been a lot of cultural exchange, a lot of things perceived as stemming from the Ottomans are deeply hated. Prostitution of young boys is one such thing - in the average Ottoman whorehouse you were likely to find as many boys as girls. Note, I'm not saying women or men, these were usually teenagers, hence why I believe "pederasty" is the term that was adopted and not "homosexuality". I find it hilariously ironic that nowadays hardline Islamic countries are severely anti-homosexual, when in fact one of the greatest Islamic empires was not. In a warrior, male-dominated society such as the Ottoman Empire, it's not hard to imagine that masculinity was held in high regard. Strength, bravery, physical beauty, you know the drill....these things were to be admired, by liking these traits in young men, you affirmed your own adherence to these virtues.

Ok, long story short - homosexuality was common in Ottoman society. Also take into account that rebellion among the non-Islamic subjects of the Empire, such as those on the Balkans, were brutally put down. Despite what some revisionists may claim, if you do some research it's appalling - Game of Thrones has nothing on this shit. After the men were killed, rape followed, but it wasn't just confined to females - boys were often taken as well. Now, fast forward 500 years and you can see why these events have created a very skewed view of homosexuality in pretty much the entire Balkans. By the way, I'd wager much of the stigma in Russia is rooted in the same thing as well, only in their case it was the Mongols.

Apart from all of that, you have Orthodox Christianity which is the emanation of the "The Patriarchy". Unlike Catholicism, for Orthodox priests it's not forbidden to marry. In fact, in the older days, priests usually couldn't be ordained if they weren't married in the first place. The pact between man and woman is both a religious and a social norm which has been passed on through the generations. And since religion was one of the main reasons Bulgaria and the other Balkan countries weren't assimilated by the Ottomans, you can see why it has this enormous, long-reaching effect.

Also, I just want to say something about Russia, for the American's.

@Buddha

By the way, did you know that in Lenin's USSR homosexuality was legalised? (along with abortion and divorce) That was back in the 1920's! Afterwards, Stalin clamped down on them hard, but we know how that story goes so I won't get into it.

Anyway, soviet times. My grandmother, who was born in 1930, spent the majority of her youth in rural areas that were REALLY backwards. She's told me stories of homosexuals who were well-known to the locals even back in those times. I mean, when you live in a small, secluded place with 2000 other people it's hard to keep secrets. These men had wives and families usually to keep up appearance, but engaged in relations with other men. And you know what? Nobody prosectued them. People just didn't touch upon the topic, like you wouldn't remark on someone's scar or birth mark. Not ideal, I know, but better than being stoned to death just because you don't like fucking the opposite sex, yes?

In fact, there are a number of famous singers and actors (both male and female) from those times that were known to be homosexual, but again - no active prosecution. (that is not to say that there was NO prosecution, but it was political, not based on sexuality) Keep in mind that we're talking about the fucking Eastern Bloc for God's sake! The "evil empire" as Ronald Reagan so "eloquently" put it. Heck, even the most famous club in Bulgaria for electronic music - Yalta club - started out as a gay bar in the 1980's. And it's not tucked away in some corner either, it's smack in the middle of the city centre - 10 minutes away from the Presidency and the Parliament (and five minutes away from the biggest Orthodox church in town, lol).

And you know what really grinds my gears? When "the West" (sorry to use this politically-charged term, I feel it fits here) points their finger at us and says "Yep, those commies in Eastern Europe are all homophobes".

Right, enough with the history lessons. My stance on the subject? Live and let live. I don't care what your sexual preference is, I care if you are a decent person. However, I feel like pride protests are not only useless, but actively harming the LGBT community. I'm not too familiar with how it goes down in the States, but in my corner of the world these rallies are used as nothing more than PR boosters for politicians. You'll hear them brag on how "progressive" and "accepting" they are, but then look at their lawmaking and it does absolutely nothing to benefit the LGBT community. Of course, on the other end of the spectrum, you have would-be Hitlers rallying deluded teenage skinheads against them, but again - this is all politics.

For all their slogans and promises, I don't see these protests changing anything. Every year it's the same - lots of talk in the media before the actual LGBT pride, promises of politicians to attend, threats by radicals. Then when it happens you have half the town's police there to guard the LGBT community from a pathetically small group of skinheads, usually football hooligans, and it all blows over. It annoys me that many LGBT people get caught up in this and essentially become marionettes for someone else. Like the fucking Sochi Olympics, remember that? You think all these politicians cared about "anti-gay laws" and the like in Russia? Of course not, it was just another round of the usual shit-slinging between the US and Russia, nothing more. I'll reiterate: while the idea behind these protests is admirable, they are "usurped" by politicians and used solely for their own gains, such as putting pressure on opponents and securing more votes for their next election. Sorry for being so cynical, but that's the truth of it, either way you look at it.

Which brings me to my point - politics ain't gonna change shit. Thousands of protests and LGBT prides aren't going to change shit. Going into politics thinking you can do something isn't going to change shit. Even if we imagine a perfect world for a second, where progressive, open-minded people were in charge and wanted to really make things better for the LGBT community...it's not going to change shit. Why?

Because homophobia isn't a political problem, it's a sociological one!

I feel like a lot of people can't grasp this distinction. "Homophobe", "pro-homosexual", "anti-gay" get thrown around on a daily basis between politicians, but do you really think they care what those things mean? What they ACTUALLY mean? It's all smoke an mirrors, people.

As long as homosexuality continues being a social stigma, nothing is ever going to change. You can't force people into liking something they don't, regardless of what the politicians want. Case in point - TTIP. Does the EU leadership want it? Yes. Does the US want it? Hell yes. Does the average European citizen want it? No. And that's why it's stalled and hasn't happened yet, people don't accept it. Not convinced? Look at the Middle-East, the US has tried time and time again to impose democracy on it, but that hasn't happened. The society there doesn't accept it.

Just like people don't accept homosexuality on the whole. That's the problem, not the country or the lawmakers, it's the average Joe out in the streets. You have to peel layers and layers of prejudice and ignorance to reach out to people. That can't happen overnight and I doubt a single generation is enough.

Finally, we get to what I really wanted to talk about - ignorance. Ignorance is the root of most problems in modern society. Racism, xenophobia, homophobia, terrorism, sleazy politicians doing whatever the fuck they want. There's this huge disparity, a knowledge-gap that's widening every year. You have people who know four languages, have travelled over the world, experienced many cultures, etc. and then you have people who've can't read and have never left heir hometown, have been taught that foreigners are bad and that "queer" stuff are wrong. Friction between these two groups is inevitable, as evidenced by the refugee crisis in Europe currently.

The only way to change people is through education. That's the only hope humanity has of transcending our petty struggles and going forward - wide-scale education for everybody, regardless of social status. Stamp out ignorance, raise the education level of the average adult and you'll see things vastly improving for everybody, not just the LGBT community.

To finish off, I'll just say that literature is where this needs to start. I assume that as you are RP'ers, most of you know the value of reading. I can quite comfortably say that books have changed my life...more than once. That's why schools should seriously start teaching some modern literature and move away from these antiques they've shoved down our throats for decades. Kids need to read sci-fi, seriously. All these subjects have been discussed by various writers in detail over the years, starting as far back as the 1950's. (you know, back in the decade in which Alan Turing was sentenced to hormonal treatment for being gay...)

Asimov writes about love between humans and robots. Ursuala Le Guin has an entire society composed of hermaphrodites. Lois McMaster Bujold has transgender ship captains and a nation that prides itself on complete sexual freedom. Heinlein has a story in which a guy does some weird time-travel shit and ends up fucking his own mother. OK, maybe that last example wasn't that good, but you get my idea - taboos and social prejudices need to be broken down. Children need to enter adulthood with a completely open mind, unmarred by stigmas. In my experience, literature is the best tool for that.

Obviously, I'm slightly joking about sci-fi, fantasy is just as good in that regard, as are many other contemporary authors. The school system needs a massive overhaul. I can only speak for my own country, but the raunchiest novels kids have to read here are stuff like The Decameron and Bel Ami, which strictly feature heterosexual sexual relations. When young people grow up in an environment that doesn't accept homosexuality, doesn't discuss homosexuality an doesn't even let them read about homosexuality, how do you expect them NOT to be at least slightly homophobic when they come of age?

My 2 (euro) cents.

B!tchfest: a healthy release for our non-roleplay annoyances.

You know what really grinds my gears? Those graphics you see shared on facebook that look like quotes about mysterious women from books people apply to themselves, that aren't actually passages from books...-snip-

@DeadBeatWalking

On that note, one of the worst things is people posting quotes from books they've never read, usually taking them completely out of context. I'm like bruh, you don't even know who the person you're quoting is or what their work is about, how the fuck do you know that this applies to you?

The current trend in my corner of the world is for edgy teens to post stuff from Paulo Coelho, thinking they're ultra deep and philosophical. Meh.

Tales of the Path [The Darklight Project & Vor]

Glad to hear from you man, as I said I'm in absolutely no rush - I don't mind waiting for however long.

Checked on your group RP by the by, you guys are doing some great writing there, much respect!