Normal races in abnormal worlds give people a "base point" to view the world from. Essentially.
Yes...and that can be a very useful tool when
writing fantasy literature, for public consumption, but by now, don't the majority of us view elves and dwarfs and goblins as pretty much "normal races" when talking about a work of fantasy?
We know what a dwarf is, and does, and stands for, and many of us relate to them, and I imagine I'm not the only one who enjoys this game more
because of that feeling of connection.
The others as well, if perhaps slightly less so, but by eliminating "average" humans, that gives more of an opportunity to expand on reasons why someone might connect to the world-view of a kobold, a goblin, or even *rolls eyes* an...elf...(yeah, so atleast it's a good indicator of who not to invite to parties).
Nobody's special anymore *just* by being a "demi-human".
Do we really need a big bland average "does everything ok but nothing really great" empire in the game? Does that really add something vital to the experience, when you're playing an ASCII computer strategy game? How much more do you sympathise with those human-pixels than with your dwarf-pixels?
By eliminating the humans, I instead am able to specifically concentrate on making animalmen more interesting (by giving them a handful of diverse civilizations, knightly orders, political alliances and enemies, roughly human-level technology, and incorporating variety even among various separate species--to the point where a civilization can be formed out of everything from normal animals, to highly intelligent beings of megabeast power.), and atleast in many of the most valuable ways, using them to fill the role of an otherwise blah human presence.
This allows me to keep the interesting facets of a large, neutral political power, and give it a vibe that's more "Europe" than "America", while at the same time, injecting life and creativity into quite a few tired old cliches. And I daresay that atleast a lot of us do sympathise, or have sympathised with, and attached ourselves to, one or various animal species, on atleast some emotional level, atleast as a pet.
If you never have, you really might want to consult a good psychiatrist...
It also allows me more "room" to work on more important dwarf/kobold/goblin/elf...dragon/sasquatch/yeti/dark gnome/minotaur/gneiss man roles in the world-at-large.
In many fantasy works, dwarfs are isolationists, and often surrounded by other species, while goblins are one-dimensional "enemies", with little role in the world, other than as aggressors/destroyers. Elves, knowing their time is over and simply not caring, are leaving, fading away, "too good for this world", or just too apathetic, to have a future that's more than a pretty fairytale. Kobolds, while still fairly undefined as a steriotype, generally just remain more or less undefined and directionless. And the rest are just there for atmosphere.
No humans forced all of that to shift.
There's no "America" for the dwarfs to hide away from, to be surrounded by. There's no "America" for the goblins to menace as terrorists, or commies, or mongols, or whatever the Western World is afraid of this week. There's noone to replace the elves, or to be deeded the world from, or even to miss them. And there's a whole lot more for kobolds to accomplish, to become. Every intelligent species must now be examined. These species suddenly have a reason to live, and ambitions, and a future that's their own, not ours.
In this single removal, the possibility of another inferior Tolkien rehash is eliminated (who's going to inherit the fourth age now? the badgermen? ...maybe...). Fantasy suddenly has
options.
Finally, this isn't a bad move for the humans, either. Removing them from fantasy cleans the slate of all manner of admittedly important, but by now endlessly tedious, moral and environmental lessons, as well as cliched allusions to real-world history/culture, and the entire sense of "America vs Evil".
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Topic: Considering Races' Roles (Read 17042 times)