Quote:
Originally Posted by Canology
Yes, please! I'd appreciate any feedback and ideas.
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Fantastic. So, regarding the Antenté:
I get that you were trying to start off with something simple, but these guys strike me as an excessively-minimalist interpretation of the descriptive text you posted. The first paragraph states that they are, "a culture devoted to beauty and entertainment," and then we don't really see anything in the stats that establishes that. Why did Rianté create them? Did he just want there to be more good-looking people who can't read in the world (totally valid, if he's maybe a little simple-minded), or did he want there to be more people who appreciate and try to fill the world with beauty? If the latter, these guys need some touch-ups.
Bare minimum, I'd give them a Quirk along the lines of: Devoted to Beauty and Entertainment [-1]. This would conveniently bring the racial total to [0] if you like that sort of thing. Even a Quirk can make a huge difference in flavoring a culture, if it's nearly-universal. For example, you state that, "Unfortunately only the aristocracy has the time and money available to fully enjoy this way of life." So what do the rest of them do to less-than-fully enjoy this way of life? I would imagine that visual and performing arts are extraordinarily widespread among the middle class (where they are a means of entry) and the peasantry (especially free things like junk art, river clay sculpting, storytelling, poetry, acapela singing, group dance, etc, and attempts to beautify all practical tools and objects). This line of thinking could also lead to logical subcultures that stem from differing answers to the question, "What
is beauty?"
For a more radical redesign, I'd start off by giving them the quirk suggested above, and then lowering ST and IQ by 1 each, both to free up some points, and because I think it fits the description better. 5'7" / 130# is not impossible with tremendous muscle-density, but small for an average ST of 10, and a disinclination toward education and intellectual pursuits counts for quite a bit when it comes to GURPS IQ, which is not all about a surplus or lack of brainpower. I'd use that 30 points to buy Willpower +1 [5] (so they have the Willpower of a normal human), Perception +2 [10] (better Perception than a human on average), and 15 points split any way between Perception, the Fashion Sense Advantage, and Artistic and/or Musical Talent [15]. These people were created by a god to do a specific job; they ought to be good at it, right? The Doctors and Architects you mention will probably have to be smarter (or obsessively-dedicated) to make it professionally, but that just means they're more likely to hire people from other races to do that stuff if there's a shortage, not a super-premium on their own professionals, unless they also have Intolerance (Racial). The few brass-tacks professionals that they
do produce still retain a tendency to exhibit a signature aesthetic style that distinguishes their work from that of others, eg: a certain angle or pattern to roofing or stitching up injuries to an extent that impressive buildings and scars are analyzed by Antenté art critics. While many individuals have a positive Reputation as artists or musicians, the race as a whole does not, though it
is a popular target of a 1-point "Best Artists/Musicians Ever!" Delusion on the part of all races, especially themselves, and occasionally even 5-point if the person in question will just not shut up about it even when it's irrelevant or clearly contradicted.
Character Idea: Rene Soireé, Antenté Architect / Musician: Internationally famous for designing structures that make certain tones, melodies, or harmonies when interacting with prevailing local wind patterns, but a little slow in conversations and tends to lose his keys a lot.