[elvy stuff] You know, I think of all three of my characters, weirdly?
0n3574rkwr3n
[elvy stuff] You know, I think of all three of my characters, weirdly?
[elvy stuff] You know, I think of all three of my characters, weirdly?
0n3574rkwr3n
Katniss would be the only one who would actively say something mean about the shem thing. And that's only because her father was human, he was there for her when her mother abandoned her and Prim for her clan.
0n3574rkwr3n
Bethany would just shut down and disappear.
0n3574rkwr3n
Norrington would LOVE to say something about the shem thing but he's a templar and he has to be a good example but one of these days ... man, full on 'racism goes both ways.'
0n3574rkwr3n
But both the humans agree -- the elves have legitimate reasons to hate humans. No question about it.
moira stan
beleth would definitely argue about racism going both ways
moira stan
racism is punching down
0n3574rkwr3n
Norrington would argue that racism is just punching.
Belle
zev begs to differ. Elves having issues with humans is pattern recognition
moira stan
also true
0n3574rkwr3n
Norrington ... cannot argue that point, because it is also true.
moira stan
beleth would probably say that racism is like that nasty scar on her face, not someone saying things that hurt your feelings
Belle
it's a useful prejudice sometimes. more than once he was ignored as a suspect on account of elves 'not being smart enough/strong enough' to do thing X.
0n3574rkwr3n
And he's not arguing white man privilege, that's just stupid. He's a templar, he's human, and both of those have bad reputations.
0n3574rkwr3n
He just ... doesn't believe all the prejudices about elves, not by a long shot. He just wishes things were different and he was being judged on who he was, not his race or his armor. But this is a full bottle
0n3574rkwr3n
of morose wine discussion.
moira stan
beleth wouldn't argue that there isn't discrimination against humans, she'd just argue it isn't racism, and that there are reasons for elves to feel frustrated enough to discriminate
Belle
#notallshems if only skyhold had twitter
0n3574rkwr3n
Snicker.
0n3574rkwr3n
Well, he won't call her all the offensive things that humans call elves if she will stop calling him a shem.
0n3574rkwr3n
Just call him a human and glower. That's fine.
moira stan
i'll be real if beleth had access to social media she'd be a sjw and run a super anonymous blog (her personal blog being completely separate and full of flower pictures)
0n3574rkwr3n
LOL.
Belle
call 'em babmirapi's.
Belle
...it's antivan for shemlen
0n3574rkwr3n
... gee thanks zevran appreciate the help there. ;p
Belle
he's a helper
0n3574rkwr3n
Then he can help Norrington polish off some wine when he's on his feet because Norrington is gonna want get ... morose tipsy.
Belle
He'll do what he can. ^_^
0n3574rkwr3n
/thumbs up/
bennybinks
at the risk of directly equating fictional race relations to real world ones, which is ridiculous coming from what is ostensibly a group of white people (sorry if I'm mistaken)
bennybinks
I see 'shem' as more or less 'cracker'
0n3574rkwr3n
Yeah that seems about accurate.
moira stan
basically
bennybinks
it's not a nice thing to call someone but isn't associated with the violence and oppression that would come with slurs directed from humans to elves
bennybinks
knife-ear is said to put them in their place, shem is said as a means of regaining some lost power
bennybinks
but that's projecting real world stuff onto a fantasy setting and that's not entirely fair or appropriate
moira stan
i think that some amount of equating is...alright, i mean, we're relating to a world that doesn't actually exist, and the writers obviously pulled from influences in the real world
bennybinks
I think it's just the best equation I can find atm
bennybinks
yeah
bennybinks
well and it's also tricky because the majority of depicted elves are white
bennybinks
but I think in some ways the dynamics in that world are similar
moira stan
and the writers admitted they drew inspiration for the way elves are treated from real life minorities :|a
bennybinks
except tha tbioware kind of ignores race lol
bennybinks
yeah
moira stan
yeah...
moira stan
i think it's okay to have a bit of it to help make sense of a world that's different than ours, but you shouldn't...cross a line
bennybinks
yeah basically
0n3574rkwr3n
Am I crossing a line?
moira stan
(like that whole #magelivesmatter thing was crossing a line bc it was taking current and serious real world issues and making it about fictional people)
moira stan
nah
bennybinks
oh no!! we're just jawing
bennybinks
oh my god yeah I was thinking about that
moira stan
yeah sorry i got distracted by rambling about other stuff
bennybinks
like I don't think anyone here is ready to die on a hill for our fictional elves and their rights
moira stan
maybe i am 
moira stan
(no)
bennybinks
hahah
0n3574rkwr3n
No no, there's the real world and then there is game world.
0n3574rkwr3n
I was just like - have I just crossed the invisible line between and went 'woah, I am so sorry!'
bennybinks
I think the thing I'm getting at, and for all I know you already know this and just Norrington ICly doesn't which is legit
0n3574rkwr3n
YES.
bennybinks
but basically all slurs aren't created equal
moira stan
yeah
0n3574rkwr3n
He would never call an elf an knife-ear or a rabbit or anything else but you know, an elf.
0n3574rkwr3n
And let's face it - IC right now he is Ultra Sensitive.
0n3574rkwr3n
He doesn't want to piss off anyone. ANYONE.
0n3574rkwr3n
...except blood mages. the murdery ones.
bennybinks
haha yeah
0n3574rkwr3n
Fuck those guys.
moira stan
okay aaron burr
0n3574rkwr3n
.....You know.
0n3574rkwr3n
That is an accurate statement of how I am playing Norrington right now.
moira stan
no one challenge norrington to a duel rn
0n3574rkwr3n
Fuck no he'll stab your ass and feel bad about it after he's killed you.
0n3574rkwr3n
His cause is the Templars and the only way they are gonna survive right now is to just -- not start shit.