RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

Deirdre · **03-22-2013, 07:08 PM**

(03-22-2013, 05:54 PM)Lilszee Wrote: I don't think wealth classes are an appropriate measure of -anything- in a pre-industrial city-state based society. Most people here are putting lower class because they aren't begging, but they aren't particularly pained for money either. Well, in our current society, that would be considered middle class. In a pre-industrial society, that means you're affluent and have stable, well paying work that isn't manual labor. Realize, the lower class is defined -- at least in our and most societies throughout history -- as either serfs, slaves, or those who struggle and toil just to make due and could greatly need assistance.

In a rich, frontier like world like Haiderin -- at least most likely -- and Eorzea specifically, we all qualify, almost inherently, as mercenaries, adventures, gathers, or craftsmen.

If you're a Thaumaturge or Conjurer, you're educated and powerful. If you're a gladiator, lancer (and possiblyÂ marauder) you're trained and have a way of maintaining your equipment. Trained soldiers were -not- part of the lower class in history. Military men are generally paid well or have a tangible service to sell, keeping them firmly in at least a middle class. Pugilists, archers, andÂ marauder can be a bit different depending on a few things, like being bandits, but bandits aren't really part of a class system, are they? We don't really have to go over craftsmen and gatherers, do we?

I think it would be more apt to ask on degrees of wealth at the start. Class is lifestyle, it's made of your residence, your job, and your future outlooks, and it requires a society based around class, whereas, at least in 1.0 and Gridinia, most places seem to be a heavily socialized, union based society that would mitigate most ideas of class altogether.

So where would I put my character? Well, Winter Dawn -- assuming the name isn't taken, in which case I'll have to be more creative -- will likely be affluent seeing as the aim is to be a learned arcanist and weaver and is capable of taking care of herself in the wilderness.

tl;dr:Â I (pretentiously) explain why (I think) class is a poor descriptor and doesn't make sense in Eorzea. (IMO) Instead, (I believe) we should be more concerned about how to integrate ourselves into the world economically in a reasonable fashion.

Of course, your character can always just be dreadful with money and gambles/spends it away.

(Not to derail the thread...but-)

1st thing, Haiderin -> Hydaelyn. It's on the top of the website.

While I would agree you're correct on certain points, the guilds themselves and the world of Hydaelyn is different than a per-industrial world we know. You are equating player characters more with regular citizens, but the extreme percentage of us are playing characters as 'adventurers' who are regarded as the lowest class and expendable, almost akin to a slave. So that's not a great starting point, even with wealth, family or legacy behind you.

Those characters in the military- in the focus of the Grand Companies, and not military forces like The Brass Blades or The Stone Torches- get paid in seals and not gil. Seals are only valuable to redeem for equipment, basically to prolong your life in the field and not for padding your pockets.
The Yellow Jackets, The Brass Blades, The Stone Torches, The Wood Wailers and all the rest of the personal forces (police/military forces) are more equivalent to your description of a military, and I do not believe many characters are actually in those forces.

Conjurers and Thaumaturges are not necessarily educated and powerful either, barely more learned than the marauder swinging the axe. In Gridania, perhaps, hearing the whispers of the elementals like conjurers are apt to do, you would receive more respect. Conjurers can be poor like the rest of us if they can't find work, or believe in things not necessarily accepted by others, and therefore cast out. Education is really a perception, you could be book smart or field smart, but because you know one does not mean you are necessarily educated.

Class is a lifestyle,my character for example makes gil on jobs she can, but she does not spend that gil, instead sending it to another family. If she needs food she hunts and cooks herself, costing her no gil. If she needs equipment, perhaps then she would spend any small amount she can make for that purpose, or do a favour for a friend who could provide her with the gear in exchange for a service. In that case, spending no gil. Deirdre could be wandering around for moons without any gil in her pocket, and be just fine.
Yes, she is a lower class of society because of her decisions, and because of her end of the year total income.

Basically the point I am getting at is the use of 'class' in this case is merely a broad term for the various lifestyles of the characters being played. This thread really has no place getting in to social vs wealth classes, it's just for fun and to get a measure of what the RP community is doing, without really dwelling on the specifics.

Cactuar

Poll: At his/her most stable economic point entering ARR, how wealthy is your character? You do not have permission to vote in this poll.
Upper-class	15.07%	11	15.07%
Middle-class	42.47%	31	42.47%
Lower-class	42.47%	31	42.47%
Total		73 vote(s)	100%

RPC Census, Part II (Wealth-CLOSED)

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