Shiney Happy- waitaminute

[Rubio]

There's an old saying about the relatively direct proportion to the brightness of a flame and the darkness of the shadow it casts, or something like that.

Has anyone run a game that deals with some of the less savory aspects of the BR setting (and Aldis in particular)? Has anyone run into any social ills that are not addressed. I'm not talking about corruption away from the Ideals of Light (tm) but just addressing some things about Aldean society that just aren't as rosy as the Sovereign would have us beleive?

[Nick]

My Blue Rose campaign dealt with a cell of assassins hidden in the city of Aldis right under the nose of the Soveriegn. It was vicious .

[Rubio]

That's all well and good, but were the assassins part of Aldean society (like maybe a politically expedient way to handle unruly Jarzoni diplomats, cuz they're all a bunch of narrow-minded homophobes, which is the worst crime possible in aldean society, so they don't really count as human) or were they just the dirty little secret of an Evil Noble Who Started Good But Strayed From The Path Of Light(tm)? If they were a criminal element, then I'm happy that you've got a good game going, but that doesn't exactly answer the question.

For refernce, here is a little rant that I posted when I first got the book, and after the rant, I ask a few questions about stuff that (hopefully) would be decent story seeds.

Political Incorrectness

[Stareyes]

Abouit the only real consensus on Aldin behavior my group got was that their PCs thought the Aldins were too soft on criminals. But, most of my game took place near the Eastern borders, with later missions into Kern and Jarzon. (It helped that half the party was not Aldin -- Jarzoni and Roamers are both much more harsh to sorcerers than Aldins are.)

[nephandi]

I got a little bit of paranoia in my game, where the envoys do unsavory secret missions to 'ensure the peace' in Aldis.

I also try to throw in a little regionalism. Jarzoni expatriate communities in Aldis are just as homophobic as the Theocracy (and sometimes even moreso), and I've had Islanders and rhydan NPC's who believe that they should separate from the Aldin government.

For the most part, though, I run the game as an adventure comedy. Aldis as magical happy-land works pretty well for that.

[Dragonspawn]

WARNING, the following post deals with adult matters.

I can't take credit for this one, but someone on the old Blue Rose boards had suggested this idea...

Aldis is supposed to be completely egalitarian... particularly with respect to gender and sexual orientation. So men, women, straight, gay and even bisexual, everyone is on pretty equal footing. Nobody got left out, right?

Right?

Think again. What of the transgenders... those born physically as one gender but believe they are mentally/spiritually the other, and want to change their bodies to match their identity. Or what about hermaphrodites that long to be a 'normal' member of one gender or the other? The only place for them to turn in the Flesh Shaping power. No problem, right?

Oh, wait. Flesh Shaping is illegal, because it is sorcery!

Suddenly we have what could be an inadvertently (or advertently if you prefer) oppressed minority in a land that is supposed to be about equality. Sounds like a scandal to me.

Throw in a bunch of cover-up, conspiracy theory and you have an ugly blemish on Aldis's otherwise flawless society.

[reverend keith]

Think again. What of the transgenders... those born physically as one gender but believe they are mentally/spiritually the other, and want to change their bodies to match their identity. Or what about hermaphrodites that long to be a 'normal' member of one gender or the other? The only place for them to turn in the Flesh Shaping power. No problem, right?

Oh, wait. Flesh Shaping is illegal, because it is sorcery!

Suddenly we have what could be an inadvertently (or advertently if you prefer) oppressed minority in a land that is supposed to be about equality. Sounds like a scandal to me.

I don't get this. Let's say that I know in my heart that I'm really a dragon (or a deer, or a giant six-armed blue skinned dude, or whatever). Because the Soverign denies me access to sorcery in order to Flesh Shape myself into my true form, I'm an oppressed minority?

IMO, the main reason transgenders are an issue for contemporary society is because we can perform surgery to safely transform someone's gender. The only way Aldean transgenders are changing are via Self-Shaping, Flesh Shaping, or researching a new arcanum to sink a feat on to switch genders. Given that Flesh Shaping will corrupt your heart and soul, I can see why it's not allowed. If the byproduct of changing genders here in the modern world was to give yourself some sociopathic condition, we'd outlaw it as well.

I mean, changing your gender isn't the issue in Aldis. It's using Flesh Shaping that is the problem.

I'd recommend that potential hermaphrodites in Aldis should be encouraged to become contemplatives, and excel at it. That way, they could go the Self-Shaping route and be a respected and valued Aldin hermaphrodite, rather than a sorcerous hermaphrodite with Flesh Shaping.


I guess the only option with Flesh Shaping would be getting involved in a unique story with a forgiving Narrator: "At the Narrator’s discretion, an absolutely selfless and harmless use of Flesh Shaping might provide a bonus on the check to avoid Corruption, or even no check at all, but these instances should be rare"

[Stareyes]

I would allow Flesh Shaping a willing target as a non-Corrupting use of the arcana*, but that's more to do with my own personal call of What Is Corruption, rather than game core. (I ought to post that up here -- we had some pretty good discussion on Corruption on the old board, and might be nice to see how other gamers deal with it. I'll add it to 'essays I should write up on gaming'.)

* It hasn't come up in game yet, but one of the characters knows this arcana. However, so far all of his uses of it have been the sort where it's pretty obvious they cause Corruption.

[Dragonspawn]

I mean, changing your gender isn't the issue in Aldis. It's using Flesh Shaping that is the problem.

Looks like you understood it just fine to me. The point was "what if there are people who would need to use sorcery in order to achieve the ends that they desired." If they did use sorcery to achieve those ends they would be in violation of the law because they were using sorcery (maybe opression was too strong a word, but you get the idea).

As I said before, it wasn't my idea, I was just re-posting it in the hopes it might spark some people's imaginations.

It works less well after the publication of the Blue Rose companion, and the resulting availability of Self Shaping, but you still have to be fairly high level to be able to use self shaping.

[Stareyes]

Which brings up the question -- how does Aldis define Sorcery, legally speaking? Using Sorcery is a crime, seemingly above and beyond the normal 'hurting people' = 'crime'.

To use a mundane example, if Bob was to punch people in the nose, Bob would probably be brought up on assault charges. However, if Bob was only to punch people in the nose that gave him permission to punch them in the nose, he could do it as much as he wanted, with no legal reprocussions.

However, if instead, Bob was jabbing people with needles full of (illegal) drugs, it's a bit different. Bob wouldd still get arrested for assault if he did that to a stranger. However, even if the person in question is 100% okay with him sticking a needle in them, Bob would still get arrested for using illegal drugs (if he was caught).

Now, if Aldis defines Sorcery by the list of 'stuff that can give you Corruption under some or all circumstances'*, then some things are going to be illegal uses of powers that won't gain Corruption or count as a crime outside of the use of a banned power (i. e. Mind Shaping a willing target). It would actually make a nice 'shade of grey' campaign to get the PCs involved in the debate on Sorcery -- how do you legally define it, is it okay to know/use and under what circumstance, is it worth making illegal above and beyond normal Aldin law**? Espeically since both sides can easily be made up of mostly Light-aligned people that could well start to think the other side is the corrupt one. (You'd probably have to throw in some action there somewhere -- philosophy is fun, but my group at least asked for at least one chance to blast things per session)

*Dominate, Dominate Beast, Drain Vitality, Flesh Shaping, Harm, the fear/despair/hatred/rage uses of Heart Shaping (or possibly all of Heart Shaping), Mind Probe, Mind Shaping, Pain, Psychic Blast, Shadow Shaping, Sorcerer's Grasp, Suffocate. Yes, I looked.

** I. e., Is using Sorcerer's Grasp or Harm to assault someone worse than using Fire Shaping or a sword or poison.

[The Shadow]

Hmmm. Bear in mind I don't own BR... but I find it interesting that Mind Shaping is regarded as automatically vile in the setting, as I can see *many* legitiimate and noble uses of it. (Healing people of mental disorders, for one; dealing with traumatic memories, and so on.)

If you want a campaign revolving around debates about what's sorcery and what isn't, Mind Shaping would be a great choice, more so than Flesh Shaping IMHO. Haul in those innocuous psychic healers and make them pay the price for their crimes!!

[Rubio]

"Okay, I'm placing you in a trance with Mind Shaping..."
"hmmm"
"Say 'zugga-zugga-woot-woot'"
"Zugga-zugga-woot-woot"
"Good, now when I snap my fingers, you will no longer feel compelled to drink yourself into a stupor every night"
"I don't feel like drinking anymore"
"You're so pleased with my performance that you want to pay me twice my stated fee"
"..."
"Come on, you don't want to be a useless alkie anymore, do ya?"

I think it has something to do with the fact that in the BR setting Being In Control In A Patriarchal Fashion(tm) is a sin.

[The Shadow]

Heh. Well, I go with the classic "Lord Darcy" definition of black magic: "Black magic is a matter of symbolism and intent." Mind Shaping, as such, is a tool. It can be used in good ways and in bad ways.

Not that the BR setting is *wrong* for doing things differently - and it certainly does raise some interesting questions - but in most campaigns I would not do the same.

P.S. Is Being In Control In A Matriarchal Fashion okay? :)

[reverend keith]

The point was "what if there are people who would need to use sorcery in order to achieve the ends that they desired." If they did use sorcery to achieve those ends they would be in violation of the law because they were using sorcery (maybe opression was too strong a word, but you get the idea).

"In my heart I know that I want to be a Lich, but you denying me access to sorcery only shows how hypocritical your laws really are."

Aldis is open... but it ain't that open.

[Stareyes]

Actually, a lot of it is intent (at least in the actual mechanics (cosmology?) -- Mind Shaping would be Sorcery on a unwilling target, and not on a willing target) -- sorry if my comment came off wrong. Which leads into a sticky situation -- what if the caster said things were willing, and the victim says things weren't? I could see a lot of lawmakers just wanting to shove the whole thing under the rug by liscencing/outlawing dangerous arcana. (Heck, in a sense Jarzon does that by making all arcana illegal outside of the Jarzoni government/clergy, with limited exceptions for healers) The core book already alludes to this by pointing out the opposition to the Queen's policy of not banning the study of Sorcery (even the 'hard stuff', like Harm and Pain, that has no use outside of hurting people), just the use.