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Hmm... come to think of it, I suppose high class women in Taldor (and possibly Cheliax as well) would tend to keep their hair shaved or very short, since they wouldn't want it to interfere with the elaborate wigs they're said to fancy. Paints a somewhat different mental image of the adventuring noblewoman...
Never considered that before...and that does seem to fit the image of Taldor's upper class. While in Osirion it might be a matter of hygiene and religion, in Taldor it's a nother form of self-alteration to keep up with the crowd in terms of their social circle's expectations of beauty, maybe?
Honestly, along with the positive portrayals of people of varying sexualities, it's nice to see "alt" fashions, be it hairstyles, piercings, or whatever else, not being solely the domain of "deviant badguy" types.
I know it sounds like a minor thing, but honestly, Sarenrae having a nose piercing did mean something to somebody. :)
I wonder if Tiresias made a hawt chick...
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And I've often thought that in a world (such as RPG worlds) where you have the ability to magically switch someone's physical sex, it made sense that at least one deity -- assuming that his/her clergy have a counseling role similar to that often taken on by clergy in the real world -- would require that, say, the highest levels of his/her priesthood spend time physically as both sexes so that they had full understanding of both and could counsel them accordingly, or that some order of monks seeking transcendent understanding would do so in order to ensure that they had access to both men's and women's wisdom.Suddenly reminded that Korada, who is all about transcendence, is alignment-neighbors with Arshea. Maybe there's something to mine there?
Also, tangentally, reminds me of that topic an age ago where it was suggested that Shield Other (or a variant thereof) could be used to 'share' the pain of childbirth between two parents, with goodly dieties encouraging it for goodly reasons, and a few evil dieties having their own reasons to encourage that sort of thing (Lamashtu seeing it as right and proper for the male to share in the pain of childbirth, whereas Zon-Kuthonite fathers-to-be might eagerly *want* to share the pain of childbirth as a religious experience).
Historically, men have always been fascinated with / mystified by / a little bit frightened of a woman's ability to create and embody life through childbirth, with the tantrics going so far as to come up with a BS worldview that the woman is just the vessel and that the divine energy that creates life coming into the world through the man (and, by withholding release, he can keep that divine creative energy for himself to use for other purposes).
In a world where a simple alter self spell can allow a man or woman to spend some time in the body of the opposite gender, such barriers between the male and female experience, or what is or is not 'gender appropriate' could be rendered increasingly meaningless. (Or, perhaps be seen as yet another way in which magic is 'unnatural' or flouts physical or natural law, leading to all magic-users being regarded as 'a little bit odd,' like the cross-dressing shaman of certain cultures, who advertise their magical nature by engaging in deliberately taboo behaviors.)
In a fantasy world, where magic does exist, it could be neat to have a culture whose magical practitioners gain real power from engaging in 'forbidden' or 'inappropriate' behavior. If their culture has very strict guidelines on what can be eaten, or who can be dated, or how one wears their hair, or what sort of jobs are suitable for Caste X or Gender Y, then the shaman would break all these rules, and draw some sort of power from their acts of cultural disobedience, drawing a parallel between breaking the rules of society and gaining the magical power to break the laws of nature. The shaman might speak backwards, or treat the lowest status people like kings and speak disrespectfully to the tribal chief, dress warmly during the summer and lightly during the winter, eat things that are otherwise inedible (like rocks or dirt), wear a woman's clothing (if a man) or take a 'wife' (if a woman), etc. and through these 'contrary' acts, build up spiritual energy to empower their spellcasting.
By intentionally ostracizing / distancing themselves from the 'real world' and scandalizing their fellow tribesmen with their non-comformist behavior, they'd be putting a foot into the world of the trickster fey and the capricious spirits, gaining magical 'status' instead.
Hmm... come to think of it, I suppose high class women in Taldor (and possibly Cheliax as well) would tend to keep their hair shaved or very short, since they wouldn't want it to interfere with the elaborate wigs they're said to fancy. Paints a somewhat different mental image of the adventuring noblewoman...Never considered that before...and that does seem to fit the image of Taldor's upper class. While in Osirion it might be a matter of hygiene and religion, in Taldor it's a nother form of self-alteration to keep up with the crowd in terms of their social circle's expectations of beauty, maybe?
Honestly, along with the positive portrayals of people of varying sexualities, it's nice to see "alt" fashions, be it hairstyles, piercings, or whatever else, not being solely the domain of "deviant badguy" types.
I know it sounds like a minor thing, but honestly, Sarenrae having a nose piercing did mean something to somebody. :)
To a few people. Those who know me in Seattle know me for being one of the guys in guyliner and having the nose chain. I always appreciate seeing alt fashion in a standard setting and no one saying anything bad about it.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Psylocke. So pretty, so kind, so tough... And what a romance! Cypher falls head over heels in love with her despite a ten or twenty year age difference. She is quite attracted to him as well. Then he dies. She is replaced by asian ninja girl with huge bazongas. Ahhhh, young love.
Gods you've hit the needle on the head why I *love* X-factor, but not so much any other book.
I understand characters being 'jaded' about death and resurrection, but there's SO MUCH they miss in the current 'event' driven situation.
Doug comes back from the dead, no one says much (outside of the book he came back in).
Kitty comes back from the bullet, again, not much said. etc. etc.
Doug and Betsy *should* have a 'wow, you've changed' moment (Doug seems to have been 'aged up' in the Necrosha storyline.) Same thing with Doug and Kitty, they were best friends.
(And don't get me started on Madison Jeffreys' character assassination)
Back to Golarion.
I wonder if there's a sect of contempt for 'breeders' like I've encountered in the real world*. Or if gay couple might turn to Lamashtu to 'bless their union'
Hmm.. I just got an idea for a cult...
*
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...Historically, men have always been fascinated with / mystified by / a little bit frightened of a woman's ability to create and embody life through childbirth, with the tantrics going so far as to come up with a BS worldview that the woman is just the vessel and that the divine energy that creates life coming into the world through the man (and, by withholding release, he can keep that divine creative energy for himself to use for other purposes).
That ain't tantric belief, or at least can't be generalised as such. It was medieval European and Renaissance European and sometimes Taoist belief. Tantric yogi in some famous traditions is male-focused, but the notion of shakti central to its cosmology is ultimately female and creative; in Kaula yoga the Shakti (woman-figure) is the source of all magical and fertile power while the male (Shiva-shava- dead Shiva) is a passive ground. Keeping one's "fluids" static is a traditional part of ascetic practice throughout Asia in as much as it conserves tapas, or inner heat (alias Ki), the magical power center. But tantra throws that out the window. Almost all tantra embraces either/or rather than this and that.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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...Historically, men have always been fascinated with / mystified by / a little bit frightened of a woman's ability to create and embody life through childbirth, with the tantrics going so far as to come up with a BS worldview that the woman is just the vessel and that the divine energy that creates life coming into the world through the man (and, by withholding release, he can keep that divine creative energy for himself to use for other purposes).
That ain't tantric belief, or at least can't be generalised as such. It was medieval European and Renaissance European and sometimes Taoist belief. Tantric yogi in some famous traditions is male-focused, but the notion of shakti central to its cosmology is ultimately female and creative; in Kaula yoga the Shakti (woman-figure) is the source of all magical and fertile power while the male (Shiva-shava- dead Shiva) is a passive ground. Keeping one's "fluids" static is a traditional part of ascetic practice throughout Asia in as much as it conserves tapas, or inner heat (alias Ki), the magical power center. But tantra throws that out the window. Almost all tantra embraces either/or rather than this and that.
That sounds more like how I read Wild Cards as a kid. Fortunato was not only containing the rasa, but was drawing the shakti from his partner.
Of course I was a teen when I read that...
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Fortunato, from Wild Cards, and the nutjob general from Dr. Strangelove who was concerned that women were trying to sleep with him to steal his precious bodily fluids probably warped my already sketchy view of Tantrism.
I totally blame my intellectual / philosophical dilettantism on them! :)
It's OK... I got a little heated there. Tantra and Bhakti are the main female-empowerment beliefs in South Asian religion (along with some forms of Sufiism), and hence, while they are not without problems in terms of feminism or queer theory, they were major counters to the profoundly patriarchal orthodox religions (including the pre-Tantric Buddhists and Brahminical Hinduism). Bhakti has its problems in as much as it makes the worshipper subservient and utter obedient to a loving god, but it does have the remarkable consequence of male worshippers taking on a female persona (Radha, in particular) in erotic love with the god. It also allowed women to refuse marriage and traditional household life because they were the god's lover. Radha is Krishna's adulterous lover, not his wife, though she is his Shakti. Tantra went further because it embodied the universe as female, and disarmed caste rules.
Gotta go... Now how Korada fits in all this (or Irori) needs thinkin'.
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I... I really don't understand something.
I simply can't make sense of it.
Sex is a private matter, right? When I think about it, and in the most inclusive way possible, the people whose sexuality actually matter to me: my parents, obviously. Those I am intimately involved with. My exes mattered at one point. Those I have had crushes on or will in the future. One day I expect it will matter to me what my kids want, in the sense of grandkids.
Why, oh why, would the sexual preferences of precisely anyone else matter to me?
Or why the sexual preferences of a fictional character should matter either...
You know what this topic has done. It has inspired me to try out different characters. I am definitely going to make a gay character. I am undoubtedly going to make a gender switching character (I had planned on making one for Skull and Shackles- an Undine worshiper of Gozreh that took male form on land and female form on the sea- but the game feel through before it started).
The game is about playing something different, exotic, heroic. People play elves, dwarves, gnomes, clerics, wizards, paladins... why NOT play a gay character or gender bender? Just as interesting as any other option.
Who said I'm not doing that right now? Oh how little does the party truly know about my character.
Wow. This thread got a lot better while I was at work.
Good job!
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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The game is about playing something different, exotic, heroic. People play elves, dwarves, gnomes, clerics, wizards, paladins... why NOT play a gay character or gender bender? Just as interesting as any other option.
Because it goes too far outside their mindset?
I've had a hard time playing elves, because they are so (literally) alien to my mindset now with their non-terrestial origins. Likewise, Shadrach took me to a place I wasn't comfortable with.
Fellow player: Where did the character of Shadrach come from? He's a bastard.
Me: Shad is me, with all the safeties off.*
There's also the possibility (in PFS) of offending other players. My female characters sometimes freak out male players because I'm a very, exuberant, player. I'd hate to show up playing a gay character and offend someone for example.
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The character I play most often in Pathfinder Society (Reed Starling, a halfling bard) has a personality not too far removed from my own (well, when I'm in a good mood, at least), and that's intentional. When role-playing gets condensed the way it so often does in PFS, it's much easier for me to bring a character to life if I know them well enough to come up with appropriate spur-of-the-moment quips.
That being said, I'm gay (more or less), but I haven't given much thought to Reed's sexuality. He grew up in a fairly traditional halfling family in rural Andoran, so I think that, in his mind, a serious relationship means settling down, which is the last thing he wants to do right now. It also doesn't help that he moves around so much, and he's actually spent almost no time with fellow halflings in his travels so far. Actually, the closest thing he's had to a romantic interest was a goblin that he charmed (perhaps a bit too successfully) while on a mission in Magnimar. :P
Of course, that's not to say that he hasn't had a few flings "off screen," in between adventures, but I figure that what he does during his down time is his own business.
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This is actually a real world thing. Not in the sense of it actually gaining anyone fantasy level magic powers in the real world, but in the sense of the 'contrary shaman' as you describe it being a pretty well established cultural archetype in more than one geographically disparate group.
It's been a little too long since I seriously studied comparative religion for me to give specific cites, but what you're saying is actually pretty textbook for how shamans work in some cultures. They are supposed to break taboos and exist liminally between states, including gender, and gain power in the spirit world by doing so.
Sometimes I wonder if what they say about there only being X number of stories in the world is true, and everyone who writes anything is just riffing on the theme. It certainly seems to be true in religion.
That being said, like shamans in many cultures, magic-users with access to spells like Alter Self are probably (relatively) rare and mysterious individuals in many parts of Golarion. While highly magical cultures like Nex and possibly Osirion (most of the Garundi nations, actually) might seem positively jaded about that sort of thing to the inhabitants of other parts of the inner sea, in many places bards and wizards and the like might be expected to break taboos that the rest of the community holds sacred. This, of course, may or may not lead to the stigmatization of those who study magic.
Thinking along those lines, and considering what is known of the different human ethnicities in the Inner Sea region, we might be able to make some guesses as to how certain gender identities and sexual orientations might be viewed.
Garundi society is oriented around clans consisting of allied groups of families, so it seems likely that they would view marriage as a largely political matter to be arranged by the leaders of a family or clan. These marriages would probably be strictly opposite-sex, as producing children would be the most concrete way of bringing families together.
On the other hand, the Garundi are no strangers to magic, and commonly revere Nethys who, although consistently depicted as male, has a dualistic creator/destroyer thing going on that could easily lend itself to some priests switching gender roles on a regular basis. If Garundi in general are accepting of relatively fluid gender boundaries, it might be acceptable for a member of the clan to decide to live as a gender unrelated to the sex he or she was born into. Androgyny might even be considered a highly attractive trait.
Within arranged marriages, I could also see it being a relatively accepted practice for either partner to take lovers besides their spouse, and same-sex lovers have the additional benefit of never producing illegitimate offspring.
Upper class Taldan men, on the other hand, place particular social importance on their beards, which to me suggests that they likely adhere to a kind of cult of masculinity. While they may be viewed as decadent and effete by other societies, I could easily see Taldan men, or at least Taldan noblemen, being somewhat obsessed with maintaining a certain machismo, albiet one that incorporates elaborate fashions that some other cultures might consider effeminate.
On the other hand, wizards are very highly regarded in Taldan society (even their kings study magic), so they might allow those known to be skilled in the magical arts to transgress any number of social boundaries by virtue of their status.
Keleshite families are explicitly matrilineal, and even lowborn Keleshite women are reportedly treated like princesses. On the one hand, this gives them the upper hand when it comes to choosing a lover, but on the other it means that Keleshite parents are probably somewhat overprotective of their daughters and try to guard them against getting into relationships with unsuitable partners.
Due to their prominent social positions, Keleshite noblewomen are described as engaging in a great deal of political intrigue and backstabbing, which means that they have a great motivation to form close relationships with their political allies. I could see very close friendships or even romantic relationships between Keleshite women being expected and celebrated within the culture. On the other hand, becoming a father is considered a great honor among Keleshite men, so I could see relationships between gay men being viewed with some disdain.
Likewise, since the rise of House Thrune it appears that women have occupied the highest positions in Chelaxian society, and the royal family, at least, is organized matrilineally. On the other hand, I believe that in at least a few cases Asmodeus himself has shown some disdain for women, viewing them as weak. However, he, like at least some types of devils, is capable of taking on any form to carry out his plans, and I doubt he has any aversion to appearing as a woman when it suits his needs.
Therefore, I could easily see gender being perhaps the *least* important factor in a Chelaxian relationship. Since Cheliax seems to operate as a more-or-less feudal kingdom, marriages are probably strictly opposite-sex, arranged, and explicitly for the purpose of producing heirs, at least among the upper class and those who try to emulate them. However, considering their obsession with hierarchy and domination, it is probably the norm for every Chelaxian relationship, whether marital, romantic, or even just friendly, to have strictly defined dominant and submissive parties that have nothing to do with gender. Likewise, as in ancient Rome, it's probably perfectly acceptable for a citizen of Cheliax to do more or less whatever they want with their slaves or other low-status members of society, as long as they're "on top," so to speak.
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Doug and Betsy *should* have a 'wow, you've changed' moment (Doug seems to have been 'aged up' in the Necrosha storyline.) Same thing with Doug and Kitty, they were best friends.
(And don't get me started on Madison Jeffreys' character assassination)
[tangent]
This, and preferring Nightcrawlers original speculative origin of having been the child of Mystique and Destiny, makes me wish you wrote for Marvel Comics. :)[/tangent]
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...If female me's hair turned out like my sisters' I'd be thrilled, cause it is fabulous.
Keep in mind that some women in both Golarion and throughout RL Earth's history have rocked the bald look and are/were considered both beautiful and the "norm"...
Then again I grew up with "Mohawk" Storm, so my standards were probably skewed a bit outside the mainstream norm pretty early on. ;)
I wasn't born when it was in theaters, but I vividly remember two parts of the first time I saw Star Trek: The Motion Picture when it aired on network TV. One of those was the stunning (and bald) Ilia, who was mesmerizing.
The other was when the two crew members died horribly in the transporter mishap. Pure nightmare fuel for my elementary-school sponge-like brain.
Also, tangentally, reminds me of that topic an age ago where it was suggested that Shield Other (or a variant thereof) could be used to 'share' the pain of childbirth between two parents, with goodly dieties encouraging it for goodly reasons, and a few evil dieties having their own reasons to encourage that sort of thing (Lamashtu seeing it as right and proper for the male to share in the pain of childbirth, whereas Zon-Kuthonite fathers-to-be might eagerly *want* to share the pain of childbirth as a religious experience).
Ah, that was explored for one of the two protagonists in Judith Tarr's A Fall of Princes. Can't say more for fear of spoiling it, other than there are are other LGBT elements/themes explored too.
It has inspired me to try out different characters.... I am undoubtedly going to make a gender switching character (I had planned on making one for Skull and Shackles- an Undine worshiper of Gozreh that took male form on land and female form on the sea- but the game feel through before it started).
If it isn't for PFS and your GM allows races like aasimars & tieflings, you might look up the skindancer race (pg. 59) in Wayfinder 7 (free!) as a possibility for your gender-bender. Note to self: Must finally finish writing up all the background info on them.
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Curious about people's insight on a slight tangent.
My sister (who as I mentioned before is a transperson) was very pro me adding hijra (or pseudo-hijra) to my fantasy India setting. I'm thinking witch archetype (at one time I had it as a prestige class, but that's not really what they are, considering teens are initiated into the group). Or is using a fantasy version of an oppressed group inappropriate when gender/sexuality politics are involved?
I'd be careful about importing any group wholesale into a fantasy setting, but I don't see anything wrong with doing a group inspired by the hijra, assuming that they're not portrayed in a derogatory way, and there are enough original ideas there that it's not simply a straight port.
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...If female me's hair turned out like my sisters' I'd be thrilled, cause it is fabulous.
Keep in mind that some women in both Golarion and throughout RL Earth's history have rocked the bald look and are/were considered both beautiful and the "norm"...
Then again I grew up with "Mohawk" Storm, so my standards were probably skewed a bit outside the mainstream norm pretty early on. ;)
I wasn't born when it was in theaters, but I vividly remember two parts of the first time I saw Star Trek: The Motion Picture when it aired on network TV. One of those was the stunning (and bald) Ilia, who was mesmerizing.
The other was when the two crew members died horribly in the transporter mishap. Pure nightmare fuel for my elementary-school sponge-like brain.
Same exact experience on both counts. Put me off Star Trek-style teleportation forever.
But Ilia, Henry Kuttner's Mutant, and Marvel's Xavier and Moondragon probably hardwired that look into my head as what "super-advanced psionic types" were supposed to look like early on.
Doug and Betsy *should* have a 'wow, you've changed' moment (Doug seems to have been 'aged up' in the Necrosha storyline.) Same thing with Doug and Kitty, they were best friends.
(And don't get me started on Madison Jeffreys' character assassination)
[tangent]
This, and preferring Nightcrawlers original speculative origin of having been the child of Mystique and Destiny, makes me wish you wrote for Marvel Comics. :)
[/tangent]
Same'd as well. Also have to back MM's distaste for Chuck Austen's X-work.
The man could not write female characters. Or gay characters. Or religious characters.
I can only imagine what would happen if he ever got his hands on any "triple threat" characters...
....
This is still Golarion related! Tieflings, skindancers, and diviners exist in the setting!
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I wasn't born when it was in theaters,
And now I feel ancient...
but I vividly remember two parts of the first time I saw Star Trek: The Motion Picture when it aired on network TV. One of those was the stunning (and bald) Ilia, who was mesmerizing.
Persis Khambatta, IIRC. And yeah, she was rocking the bald look.
Sci-fi is good for that. Babylon 5 had Delenn (before she grew hair) and later it seemed that all Centauri women were bald (in sharp contrast to the occasionally big overstyled 'hairdos their men had!). Farscape had Pau Zan.
And yeah, Moondragon. Alien martial arts training allowing her to throw down with Captain America. Telekinesis sufficient to block a blow from Thor's hammer. Super-science able to create a trio of super-powered villains out of some dudes she ran into. Enough telepathy to *read the mind of Galactus* (and Michael Korvac, for that matter), and to mind control *an entire planet.* Occasionally has her own spaceship. That woman's no joke. Right there with Sersi for 'most powerful Avenger.'
Oh, and, by way of the topic, Moondragon's also in a relationship with another woman!
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Curious about people's insight on a slight tangent.
My sister (who as I mentioned before is a transperson) was very pro me adding hijra (or pseudo-hijra) to my fantasy India setting. I'm thinking witch archetype (at one time I had it as a prestige class, but that's not really what they are, considering teens are initiated into the group). Or is using a fantasy version of an oppressed group inappropriate when gender/sexuality politics are involved?
I'd have to agree with the others. As long as its approached carefully and respectfully, you could avoid the biggest pitfalls. One real danger of being overly cautioius and second-guessing too much is that some groups never get any representation at all.
But I really doubt you're at risk of making any White Wolf's Gypsies-style mistakes. :)
I think Jessica's suggestion is probably what most would be comfortable with. Not a copy-paste, but something evocative of a real group of people and how they might exist in a fantasy setting. As long as they're portrayed as people first(that is, not presented derogatorily or put on a pedestal(which can be dehumanizing in its own way)), you'll probably make a lot of folks really happy.
Go for it dude. :)
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I wasn't born when it was in theaters,And now I feel ancient...
Don't feel bad man. I wasn't born then either!
(but yeah, I got hit by that feeling when FreeholdDM mentioned that a videogame series we both played is about to turn 20. Yeesh. It just doesn't seem like it was that long...)
Oh, and, by way of the topic, Moondragon's also in a relationship with another woman!
From what I've seen and heard, that relationship also made her the happiest(and nicest) she's ever been. :)
If you go with the common trope that there are less dwarven women than men, homosexuality could easily be more common, at least among male dwarves.
In general I like the idea of playing with different innate behaviors in the different races. In this case, different proportions of homosexuality between races, but also different balances between male and female. Different mating and child rearing patterns. Different levels of sexual dimorphism. etc.
I can see why a publisher doesn't want to go too far into that, but it's fun to play around with in home games.
That is pretty much exactly how at least some cultures of dwarves behave in a book setting I have been working on. For every 1 female dwarf born, 3 male dwarves are born. Women are so valued for that they are kept cloistered deep within Dwarven holds, and both overprotected and spoiled. Any eligible woman is going to have potentially dozens of suitors, with only the most successful and well off having a realistic chance of marrying, and most male dwarves don't marry until well into middle age. It's EXPECTED that a dwarves first sexual encounter will probably be with another dwarf, and gay marriage is actually encouraged, since it reduces competition for marriages
That ain't tantric belief, or at least can't be generalized as such. It was medieval European and Renaissance European and sometimes Taoist belief. -snip-...Historically, men have always been fascinated with / mystified by / a little bit frightened of a woman's ability to create and embody life through childbirth, with the tantrics going so far as to come up with a BS worldview that the woman is just the vessel and that the divine energy that creates life coming into the world through the man (and, by withholding release, he can keep that divine creative energy for himself to use for other purposes).
I believe it predates that. I may be getting my myths mixed up, it has been a number of years, but I am pretty certain this whole "vessel and true seed idea" was a pretty big deal argument in the greek myth of Orestes when he was trying to decide what to do with his mother after she killed his father.
That is pretty much exactly how at least some cultures of dwarves behave in a book setting I have been working on. For every 1 female dwarf born, 3 male dwarves are born. Women are so valued for that they are kept cloistered deep within Dwarven holds, and both overprotected and spoiled. Any eligible woman is going to have potentially dozens of suitors, with only the most successful and well off having a realistic chance of marrying, and most male dwarves don't marry until well into middle age. It's EXPECTED that a dwarves first sexual encounter will probably be with another dwarf, and gay marriage is actually encouraged, since it reduces competition for marriagesIf you go with the common trope that there are less dwarven women than men, homosexuality could easily be more common, at least among male dwarves.
In general I like the idea of playing with different innate behaviors in the different races. In this case, different proportions of homosexuality between races, but also different balances between male and female. Different mating and child rearing patterns. Different levels of sexual dimorphism. etc.
I can see why a publisher doesn't want to go too far into that, but it's fun to play around with in home games.
You can look at modern chinese society for an example of that^^
India is said to have a unhealthy male/female relation in it´s population too.There are actually no dwarf women! Dwarfes mate with Snow Whites and one Snow White may have up to seven dwarfs. More or less are also common. Also dwarfes are reported to show heavily kinky behaviour with gems, coins and gold. Beards, axes, armor and stones were rumored about too. Wether Snow Whites are actually female dwarfes or of human origin is unkown till the day, since they are heavily protected and dwarfen mating rituals among their best protected secrets.
I believe it predates that. I may be getting my myths mixed up, it has been a number of years, but I am pretty certain this whole "vessel and true seed idea" was a pretty big deal argument in the greek myth of Orestes when he was trying to decide what to do with his mother after she killed his father.That ain't tantric belief, or at least can't be generalized as such. It was medieval European and Renaissance European and sometimes Taoist belief. -snip-...Historically, men have always been fascinated with / mystified by / a little bit frightened of a woman's ability to create and embody life through childbirth, with the tantrics going so far as to come up with a BS worldview that the woman is just the vessel and that the divine energy that creates life coming into the world through the man (and, by withholding release, he can keep that divine creative energy for himself to use for other purposes).
As far as i know, the european thing is more seed like plant seeds, seing the women as acre. That´s also biblical in fact.
The energy thing is chinese/taoist and shamanic, believing that by ejaculating you waste your qi energy, so they applied certain techniques to withhold ejaculation while orgasming. At the same time they believe you can "harvest" a womens ying (like in ying-yang) qi energy by bringing her to climax and looking in her eyes simultaniously. Since chinese culture was and is so patriarchal, no thoughts about women there. Most popular stuff is about men, but i do know there is some stuff about women and for women, but you have to dig deep for that.
I may well get chastised for asking, but do you think there's room between pro-gay and pro-straight? Speaking for myself, I never saw it as a us-or-them situation.So you're bi on the topic. :)
Bi is far too limiting. Think of goblins as tribbles, only with a much higher movement rate and even less picky. {munches on another of "Arne Darvin's Famous Whole-Grain Muffins"}
AMBARBARIANGOBLINs do it on the run!
AMMONKGOBLINS finish with a stunning blow!
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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guys, I'm flattered.
Amusingly sexuality is one of the things I'm afraid of touching on in my "Wonder Woman" blogs (I need to do another one.)
On topic: I do wish we had am (Eberron) changeling chase. The Odmieniec race I've been kicking about is sound mechanically (per the ARG rules) but I can't quite fluff it right. The concept of a race with a fludity of gender (but a default gender) interests me.*
*
Well, well, that is one reason i really like Kitsune with high CHA.
I point to this:
When you are in human form, you can take the shape of a specific individual.Prerequisites: Kitsune.
Benefit: You can precisely mimic the physical features of any individual you have encountered. When you use your racial change shape ability, you can attempt to take the form of an individual, granting you a +10 circumstance bonus on Disguise checks made to fool others with your impersonation.
Kitsune ARE shape changers and with this feat you can obviously change your gender too. You physically become that other person, or any other person. But to fool people who know that person you still need the disguise check and it seems to be limited to humans. Probably humanoid would be ok too, as long as it´s humanlike player races. I think that´s supercool. So cool that i considered taking it on level 1 with my Kitsune bard.
Soooooooo.... Pathfinder (comic) #5 came out today... and with it... ** spoiler omitted **
Yelp... Now I am going to have to get the Comics.
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Soooooooo.... Pathfinder (comic) #5 came out today... and with it... ** spoiler omitted **
:D
not just yeah.
My desire for her has just doubled.
Very well-chosen, Paizo. Congratulations.