Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl
Of course, my conception of Shadowgun is Shadowrun set in the Old West, which means dragons, magic, metahumans, steampunk, and the shattered remnants of Western power. It would actually be a more horrific setting than the default Shadowrun setting because technology would be playing catch up with magic, with certain disciplines becoming completely stagnant. After all, why go to a Western doctor for weeks of questionable treatment when you can go to the local Native American medicine man to be cured in a few minutes?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by copeab
Why should the medicine man help anyone not in his tribe or allied to it?
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The concept of 'Native American' seems out of place in a 19th century world. It's a 20th century political construct that hasn't emerged in that world yet.
It's very contrary to actual anthropology, history, linguistics, politics and sociology to pretend that all indigenous people are some kind of monolithic bloc. Just because a century later people would artificially create a concept of 'Native American' ethnicity, that doesn't mean that a rich Cree trader in Quebec or a prosperous Cherokee slave owner in Georgia would necessarily turn on their neighbors and trade partners to take the part of distant, unknown people with whom they share neither language nor culture.
In fact, the idea that different families, clans, tribes or nations with nothing in common would all instinctively bond together under an ethnic umbrella of 'Native American Nations' is a very racist idea. I'm not against featuring racism in my games but only when it's a reflection of real-world ugliness in some ways. I don't see a need to import racist ideas from other games when doing so would go against historical evidence.