Do's and Don'ts

[Lilia Lia]

It's a little disheartening when one's favoured race(s) end up being portrayed in the majority of cases as little more than humans with different shaped ears - which is essentially what they become when all ties with their culture/racial traits are cut away.

 

[...]

 

Then there's the 'controversial' aspect of miqo'te life that many claim to find off-putting. I see a lot of people complaining that they loathe the Nunh/Tia system and how the females are expected to breed but oddly enough I don't see the same complaints aimed at the matriarchal themes associated with Keepers or the fact that a large portion of non-tribal female miqo'te are portrayed as courtesans/wenches...

 

In defense of the idea of distancing oneself from the tribal lifestyle, there is the problem of having to explain why it is that your character is no longer living in the tribe and is now traveling the realm and meeting new people and whatnot.  But you can do this without being Moses in the bullrushes.  I've read some really interesting miqo'te backstories about escaping their clans, usurping Nunhs, and so on.

 

Really I think a lot of players also remove the tribal background because they simply didn't start developing their character until after they created them, and therefore they don't have a lore-friendly name in the first place.  I was reading a few wiki pages yesterday out of curiousity and a few of the adopted miqo'tes even include a note like "and that is why his name does not follow the racial conventions."

[OttoVann]

I'm doing my catboys out there the biggest favor I can by becoming a proper Hyur Nunh. Two wives, couple of side-chicks, and counting mates, I got your backs.

 

We going to make these nerds accept poly-life.

 

Also Keeper cats are demonstrably the best. Matrons are love/life :love:. They can't marry you, and since your a Hyur they won't likely be making long term relationshit plans with you so you get to swing by on occasion with little to no strings attached - and who doesn't like a strong independent woman type?

[Caspar]

I don't think it's too cliched to be adopted if you actually engage with the reasons why and make it relevant in the character's development, rather than conveniently using it as an excuse to not have to rp family.

 

Anyway, I definitely agree with the whole paranoia. Yeah it's kind of a drag that I've met a lot of people whose characters have similar backstories, but I still think that snowflaking a bit was worth it because I get to play off my particular angle on the same concept. Besides, I always think heroes should be heroic; they do crazy stuff, they come from crazy backgrounds. Sometimes that stuff makes them seem larger than life or improbable. Do what comes natural, within reason of course.

[FreelanceWizard]

Bit of a tangent here:

 

I see a lot of people complaining that they loathe the Nunh/Tia system and how the females are expected to breed but oddly enough I don't see the same complaints aimed at the matriarchal themes associated with Keepers or the fact that a large portion of non-tribal female miqo'te are portrayed as courtesans/wenches...

 

You haven't seen L'yhta complain about how Keeper men are all abused and oppressed, how both clans' traditions are barbaric and uncivilized, and how miqo'te women should stop being "kittens" who work on their backs instead of on their feet.

 

In all seriousness, though, it's true that most of backlash is aimed at Seekers, since the potential squick factor of their society is higher than that of Keepers (to those of us in Western culture). I've only run into one other miqo'te IC who opposed all tribal culture; most seem to just have no opinion on it while knowing about it, which I think is a little off. IMO, once a miqo'te is familiar with their culture, I can't really see them being purely indifferent to it.