F'yoz'kai Ishe's page

W E Ray wrote:

Taja the Barbarian wrote:

Honestly, I'd be shocked if a lawful evil human society didn't have a bunch of laws/customs set up to preserve the position of humans from 'outsiders' (in any sense of the word) that might have the gall to try to get ahead in 'their' society...

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This is what I did for Molthune -- in order to separate Molthune from Cheliax or other 'evil' societies. I decided to make Molthune this Nazi or aryan-like bad-guy state that was equally against Orcs from Belkzin and human ethnicities other than their own. They war against Kyonin and 5-Kings-Mts and push a pogrom of ethnic cleansing from all 'non-Molthuni' humans. .... Back in the day when the campaign setting was brand new, it was my way of really telling the difference between Molthune and Cheliax. So for me, in Molthune they'd be very racist against any Tiefling, Orc, Ratfolk, Halfling, Half-Elf, Ifrit, even an Aasimar if the Human-side wasn't Molthuni. .... So far I've only run one game in Molthune, where the PCs are tasked with liberating a 'concentration camp' to rescue Nirmathi, Druman, and Elven people from the Molthuni.

Ultimately, the Molthuni for me are kinda like the Zhentarim in FR (at least how I see the Zhents.)

Interesting, my favourite aspect of Molthune in the canon is that they're almost the opposite of this interpretation! The two-tier system of residency where those who serve in the military can go from labourers/foreigners to the well-supported citizen category, as well as the roman aesthetics in some of the art giving some direction as to where the citizenship inspiration is drawing from, gives rise to a very interesting society to me. There's a core of old-money citizens who are very prejudiced, but also an increasing influx of newer citizens from very diverse backgrounds - they just had to be willing to serve for years in an imperialistic military to join. I think it justifies the old position of Molthune being LN rather than LE, and sets up an interesting...

And then you have the Meritocracy aspect of the rivalling nation Nirmanthas, that speaks to me personally because its the freer of the two. You have this sense of very self-determining nations who value competency, but done in radically different ways & with tension & historical hostility to each other. Yet they both manage better than Cheliax in terms of worldview!

F'yoz'kai Ishe wrote:

Infernally-Touched Nephilim (P2E terminology, don't judge me)

Hellspawn is generally the more used term in publication and for brevity.

Ah, yes, my apologies, they can speak Infernal when they're touched by Hell, that was where I was caught up.

It is no real mystery to me, though this discussion is years old, we know how Authoritarian Societies flare against the notions that the ideas that are core to their culture can be based on some of the most arbitrary things. Everyone will immediately think that Nationalism as a concept is the Go-To, & Authoritarianism has emerged many times under such contexts.

But I wish to go DEEPER with this subject as to why Cheliax despises Tieflings & characterises them in THEIR context, as the "People who were not smart enough to gain Mastery over the Devils, like WE did." In many ways, it is an exaggeration of the profound dislike that Authoritarian societies, but in this Fantasy Context of the Lawful Evil Society of Cheliax, is that it establishes someone different from their pre-conceived vision of Order, their kind of World with their Kind of Law. And that which is different, has the potential to be exceptional. That's a terrifying prospect for some brute or noble or brutish noble in Cheliax.

Another possible quality - besides looking at the Tiefling that is the product of a household, besides losing a bargain - is Jealousy. If not Envy. Here's someone who is from a lineage that may have failed the Chelaxian Test for Conformity, but this individual also has something they by their attachment to the mores of the culture they live in shall never have; a connection to Hell itself, written into their blood. Greater Social Charisma, because who doesn't want to touch those horns or get a taste of those honeyed words? Greater Magical Potential, that eschews the amount of work that needs to be put in as a human Wizard or more intellectually-inclined facet of wielding Magic.

And the Greatest social Faux Pas that they could ever make; to suggest the notion that that Individual may, because of the sheer amount of brutality & rage required to be a Tiefling in Cheliax & stay there, but to also carve out one's place in that hostile society, well what if that individual succeeds there or gains the favour of Hell by other means? They take that bargain after a life of struggling despite their competency, with flashpoints of beating their superiority into those who would try to strike them down?

This kind of cultural dynamic, to me, suggests the potential for some of the best writing for the Infernally-Touched Nephilim (P2E terminology, don't judge me) that GMs & also players could ever make upon the subject. I've gotten Freudian enough already describing Chelaxian humans, but I must go further. It also implies an intentional design from a storytelling perspective, as a gambit from Asmodeus himself. The Monster of Cheliax Society, that isn't straight from the Abyss itself, is one that is best equipped to subjugate the nation's humans after a life of broken hope, tragedy, unmitigated rage against his or her despots unleashed, & a full understanding of all of their twisted, sick aspects of pathological thinking. Thus their Monster, their hated, spurned & then feared enemy, is their newfound Ruler. And a worthy servant of the King of Hell himself, if not a fond 'Son' or 'Daughter.'