This is the one bug or idea that I haven't seen posted by someone else first, so I'm finally putting it up!
Quoth Frogboy from Understanding The Fallen, Elemental, and Middle Earth:
They’re called “Fallen” because the history books are written by men and have a man-centric bias. [...] Obviously, Elemental takes place in a totally different universe. But hopefully this helps players understand where some of the terminology comes from and how it is relatable.
Speaking of man-centric bias, Tolkein really kinda had one. So it's unsurprising that he, like many folks, called humans "the race of men". But it does surprise me that Elemental is calling it "races of men", given that we've gotten to the point where we realize that the essential characteristics of humanity include women, too. Also, "The (fantasy) Race of Man" been repeated to the point of risking being more tired trope than anything. Given all that, the race option "Men" has stuck out like a hammered thumb that got stuck into a pot of boiling oil and then caught on a rusty nail every time I've started up a new game.
Yeah, yeah, I know "that's just the way humans were called", but while it's not a huge deal, it remains a deal. It won't keep me from playing (I've been off/on since day 1 of beta), but it's the one big scuff on this stellar game, and it's jarring every time.
So! This isn't just a gripe, it's an honest suggestion -- Given the lore, how's this for some ideas on things that might work as a decent replacement for Men/the races of men?
Heh, true, but - if we call "Men" as "Carbon Units" or "Carbon Lifeforms" are we suggesting that Trogs and Wraiths are NOT made from Carbon?
Hmm....might explain why Trogs are grey and Wraiths are paper white. They have a different mineral and chemical makeup.
You're equating women being treated/represented equally to decoration?
What healthy aspects does the gender binary provide? And this is getting off topic, er, so maybe we should just keep the discussion to the language of the game.
Keep the Human look and change the Race name to "Altarian". Nice little tie in to that other Stardock series.
Isn't there already an individual kingdom called Altar?
Fallen (Dragonmen) and Man are both Hominids, and are both Anthropomorphic. (or rather, they both deserve the root word Anthro).
know what I mean Man?
Yep, and Altar are the race of "muts" that accept anybody.
I bet Altar wins, advances their non-magical technology, and become the Altarians.
Edit: In the Campaign/ Lore
All free and intellectual societies have far less young people. Its immigration from less liberal societies that hide this fact.
Aka USA and Japan. USA doesn't have to worry because of its vast immigration. Japan, however, is going to have a lot of Financial problems with a large proportion of old people, unless they start getting immigrants any time soon.
The more both genders start to decide not to have kids in order to further their careers (or by other means decide not to have kids) the less the population growth ... and I don't just mean choosing not to physically have kids, but choosing not to RAISE any kids at all.
For full ability for both genders (and others) to not worry about raising kids you would need to have special "nursery" families that raise everyone's kids.
Depending on how the system evolves, either people will feel less worried about having kids (thus population normalization) OR many of the kids being raised at nurseries will be either from relatively few volunteer mothers and/or grown without a womb.
Several ways they could do this. Either they could replace Abortions with "womb gathering" for the fetus to be collected and raised in an artificial womb ... or given to the volunteer mothers.
Womb gathering would probably be the first step as it allows for genetic diversity (while having a select few mothers homogenizing the bloodline could prove detrimental).
However, a (theoretically) possible alternative would be to simply grow new people from tissue samples collected from STATISTICALLY random applicants.
Alternatively applicants could be selected for a wide array of qualities( X smart people from each race, X strong people from each race, etc)
However, a FURTHER alternative would be to slowly REWORK the economy to not require a continually increasing population. Populations would decline, and the richest might live for much, much longer due to whatever methods we have at the time.
So really, I guess it doesn't matter. Either we will learn how to get along with less people, or we will artificially create more people to be our laborers and soldiers.
// Personally I would prefer that we simply learn how to get along with fewer people ... and this would probably require a lot of technology to keep the elderly working in the economy for longer (in addition to downsizing the economy) which will in the long run mean much longer lives, and less proportional retirement.
As a side note, this would never happen unless every society and every person became quite utterly equal. AKA it's never going to happen. Interesting to ponder on though imho.
Yes, no matter what, Altar will win every game. Damn you just made me think of Alpha Centauri.
All told, more than 1.3 million men and women have been surveyed over the last 40 years, both here in the U.S. and in developed countries around the world. Wherever researchers have been able to collect reliable data on happiness, the finding is always the same: greater educational, political, and employment opportunities have corresponded to decreases in life happiness for women, as compared to men.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcus-buckingham/whats-happening-to-womens_b_289511.html
It's not correct to assume that encouraging women to be quarterbacks and soldiers will make them happier. There are biological reasons why societies have traditionally been structured with binary gender roles the way they are. Whether you're planning a future utopia or a fantasy setting, which should retain some degree of verisimilitude, differences between genders are an important consideration and should be recognized.
Actually, according to that survey ... Women are Happier than men until (on average) age 47 or so.
That, to me, seems to mean that the Feminism movement has worked. Women are happier when they are young, loud, and pursuing their dreams.
Asides from that, possible reasons could be from some women feeling "forced into a male paradigm" in order to be successful at a carreer, etc.
I feel there is en error in mistaking Parity for being Identical. People should not have to be Identically equal in order to have Parity ... however much of the Contemporary feminist movement seems to be arguing over small details, and pushing for an Identical gender identity. That's my opinion anyhow.
which, I suppose, is why I am somewhat aligned against people that are against gender binary ... or rather why I am slightly aligned towards gender binary.
All free and intellectual societies have far less young people. Its immigration from less liberal societies that hide this fact.Aka USA and Japan. USA doesn't have to worry because of its vast immigration. Japan, however, is going to have a lot of Financial problems with a large proportion of old people, unless they start getting immigrants any time soon.The more both genders start to decide not to have kids in order to further their careers (or by other means decide not to have kids) the less the population growth ... and I don't just mean choosing not to physically have kids, but choosing not to RAISE any kids at all.For full ability for both genders (and others) to not worry about raising kids you would need to have special "nursery" families that raise everyone's kids.Depending on how the system evolves, either people will feel less worried about having kids (thus population normalization) OR many of the kids being raised at nurseries will be either from relatively few volunteer mothers and/or grown without a womb.
........
Women fromadvanced countries are too busy with their "rights" to care about the species right to survive. The fact that "advanced" societies don't make it easy for women to be mothers and still be able to be successful in the working enviroment*, doesn't help.
* some actually do, being great examples for not just women. A pity that "advanced" societies seem to generate a huge number of dumbs and lazies (of both genders/sex). I really need to watch Idiocracy.
Yes Wintersong, watch Idiocracy
aaaaand ... the reason why Modern societies have so many dumb and lazy people is because we have specialists who can do all the work for us. So we only need be specialized at one particular task (and it doesn't need to be useful, just something that can make money).
Therefore, the smartest people are usually from Hunter/Gatherer societies ... or rather I should say that the AVERAGE hunter/gatherer citizen is FAR more competent than the AVERAGE modern citizen.
This is primarily due to the lack of selection (for survival) in modern societies. If you want more information just read Guns Germs and Steel.
also, Hunter/ Gatherer societies are far more egalitarian, since there isn't much extra food for "specialist" lords and rulers.
Of course, everyone present in such a society generally "earns" their equality by being competent and surviving.
// As for raw brainpower, the citizens of contemporary hunter/ gatherer societies are at least slightly more intelligent than citizens of more "advanced" nations. (debatable, but likely.) //
Ok now you're just trying to piss me off.
what do you mean? everyone has their preferences.
At least the Dune series and the Sword of Truth series don't have any books missing.
Actually ....
Race of Humans
or
Human Races
sounds pretty good
"we are here to exterminate the human race"- Pissed off Fallen guy
Alternatively we could have the American Races.
-Superhero race
-Villain race
-Christian race
-Jarhead race
-Producer race
"The Producers are invading!!" Egads! what are we to do!? I know, send in the scout/snipers and then send a Helicopter to the Christians. Ask them to bring Diplomats skilled in the languages of the Jarhead and Producer kingdoms.
Cause, maybe the Christian diplomats can convince these producers that WE, the races of AMERICA!! should be fighting against the FALLEN instead of amongst each other."
Real American Heroes ... FUCK YEA!!!
The rate of evolution is increasing, not decreasing. Medicine, trams, stress(glands), welfare, all of it just increases the biodiversity and rate of mutation.
The problem with idiocy is the mentality of the people and not the world itself. All the problems not involving your work or house is for someone else to fix. When the neighbourhood reports more crime you blame the police for being bad at policing, not the neighbours who forgot to lock the door. Responsibility is wildly misunderstood in todays society and democracy doesn't work like it should without responsibilty. Instead we get these celebrity scandals and pr events yet no open public and serious debate about how to finally solve the middle east crisis or other actual world problems.
And to the subject itself, what in the world is wrong with Races of Man? The game and the lore clearly don't discriminate women in and if you have a problem with the english language switch the game language, not that all of those would help.
The Variety is there, but its there in all possible variations ... thus there is no NET movement towards any one particular direction ... which means Evolution has STOPPED (this should not be surprising to anyone really).
That being said, there is a good bit of selection ... but its more on the level of sexual selection than skill based selection. One possible reason why our intelligence has not increased yet we are far more "hairless" than we once were.
The race of "Men" also seems to imply that the other races don't have men.
Nothing stopping someone from making a races of women.
And their tech tree will allow them to build the Hut of Snoo-Snoo!
With a special victory condition of "Death by Snoo-Snoo!".
Or instead there could be more of a focus on ranged weaponry, diplomacy, architecture, and espionage.
"Man" has nothing to do with gender in this regard, so please don't shove this feminist newspeak down our throats.
*pout*
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