Non-human characters?

[Lumera]

I'm not sure if this counts as a capital breach or not, but I just wanted to know what the policy is on "inventive" character backgrounds. I've been talking to this guy in the Reniov Mountains who keeps insisting he's an Ork. I don't want to sound like I'm ratting him out or anything because he's not really bothering anyone, he's funny, I love the way he talks and he seems like a good roleplayer...but I'm pretty sure everyone is supposed to be human. A couple of other players and I have been trying to handle the conversation in an IC manner, and I act like I'm misunderstanding him when he says he has green skin, but I'm wondering if I should talk to him OOC or something just in case he's breaking a rule and doesn't realize it.

[kroner]

I think it's been established that everyone starts as a twenty year old of some cantr species which may not necessarily be human but is at least consistent. so no orcs. but, it's perfectly legal to tell people in game that you're an orc. you would of course be lying and people would think you were crazy, but rping someone crazy is allowed. it is important that they understand that too. "look, i've got green skin!" is allowed, but "*has green skin*" is not.

i don't represent an official opinion, but based on cantr law, past rulings and discussions, this is my understanding of the extent of this character's legality.

[west]

it's been established that somebody *could* rp that their character THINKS they're _____ species-that-exists-in-Cantr, like a sheep or a pelican. But not something (like a gnome, a dog, or an orc) that doesn't. Because the character would have no conception of them.

Plus, you know, cantr's just not an orc game.

[Oasis]

Kroner and West are both right. Lumera, if you could pm me with the characters name, I can discuss this with the player. Much better than you having to in game.

[Stan]

Not that I necessarily disagree that Cantr is not an "Orc game" but it makes no sense to say that because something doesn't exist in Cantr means a character couldn't concieve it.

Gnomes and orcs don't exist in real life either but we've concieved them. Likewise, I see people RP that ghosts are following them, or that they belong to a spiritual faith, etc and those were concieved by characters without "existing" in game.

I think there's a vehicle named hover craft and buildings named brothel and cigars and a character that acts like a dog and people with fake accents need I go on?

A character that says he has green skin and is an "orc" is no different than someone who says that people from Lad are superior to other people, in that, they are essentially saying they have different characteristics, though undefined, from other people.

[The Industriallist]

A lot of that list are really low intensity CR breaches (cigars), or breaches from a day when cantr was much more unformed (many stupidly named vehicles, like the Hover Craft). A character imagining orcs is mostly troublesome because it's clear import of OOC culture.

Inventing non-existant, humanlike creatures with green skin and even believing in them is ok. Calling them orks is like naming someone's fake accent as "french" or "irish" or whatever. You can claim they're just 'random' words for the things, but it imports a whole set of OOC assumptions with the word.

[SekoETC]

Orc in English is spelled with a c right? So if it's ork, it's a different word. How about Fookium Dervinium's story about a gun then? He said it was only imagination but...

[Lumera]

Orks are from Warhammer, I assume that's what he's going for as he talks just like them. (a sci-fi tabletop game, but I assume it's just as innapropriate for Cantr as a Tolkienese orc would be)

Anyway, I'm PMing Oasis now.

[formerly known as hf]

I play a character, named Little Bunny Foo Foo - this was the name I registered. I am not playing her as a bunny - but as whatever species lives in a Cantr. She is (a little) mad, and repetedly claims that her name is little bunny foo foo - which it is.

I didn't think there were rabbits is cantr anyway(?) she might as well be called little gizwoz foo foo for all the difference it makes - this isn't a CR breach is it?

[west]

I think there are rabbits in cantr. I should know this. I can't remember.


And anything that calls itself "orc" or "ork" is a low-grade "CR Breach" IRL--ripping something off of Tolkien rather shamelessly.

The exception is the propeller-winged Orks found in L. Frank Baum's Oz books.

[trage]

Yes, there are rabbits, I thought the exact same thing, but I wasn't sure so I didn't post anything. Even if there aren't there should be rabbits.

[Lumera]

There are. I saw somebody shoot one yesterday.

[myst]

Well, an "orc" is also the family name for Dolphins (from the Latin Orca I believe). But as a) they don't exist in Cantr and b) they don't have green skin, it seems unlikely that (s)he is RPing one. Also, c) they'd die if out of the sea for more than a couple of hours. Not such good mountainous roleplaying material, on reflection.

Has anything been decided about "orkiness"? Is there anything wrong with having slightly green skin (hey, it could have been painted, or due to a genetic trait like albinoism or from malnutrition) and claiming to come from a tribe that doesn't think they are like other humans? I'd say its a tough one...

[Junesun]

Is there anything wrong with having slightly green skin (hey, it could have been painted, or due to a genetic trait like albinoism or from malnutrition) and claiming to come from a tribe that doesn't think they are like other humans? I'd say its a tough one...

How'bout claiming that you are human but all the others aren't? That was actually rather common in human history, e. g. the Aztecs thought that all humans before them were just cheap imitations made of pottery.

Judith

[Agar]

The Dog is Dead.



I was chasing a thief when he arrived, but aside from him sounding like a moron, he's all right.