DF World: Do non-humans have their own countries?

Varyon · 04-18-2017, 03:37 PM

My preference is for something more cosmopolitan, with most of the races present in each country. In the setting I'm (sort of) currently working on, Eru, most countries follow more-or-less the same political system, in which there are rules about which races can be in certain political stations, and this varies between countries. This is basically the best classification they can get - even in a country run by humans, a human could get classified as a monster if he were horrible enough*. The best you can be is royalty, and most countries only allow one race to be such. All royals in a given country are related by blood, marriage, or (rarely) adoption of various flavors. Next down the line are the nobles, which usually allows for any race that is sufficiently similar to the royals - a human-ruled country would probably allow for elves of various flavors, maybe dwarves and/or halflings**, and so forth. Next down are citizens, which most "civilized" races qualify for. The lowest rung that still count as people are the serfs, which are generally the monstrous races that aren't overly dangerous. Anything that doesn't fit into the previous categories is automatically considered a monster, and not only lacks any legal protection but may well have a general bounty on its head. Mixed-race creatures are typically treated as the lower-ranked of the parent races, but there are exceptions - a half-elf might be ranked lower than a human in elf-ruled lands, a half-orc might be ranked between human and orc in human-ruled lands, and so forth. While I've no plans for such, in theory you could have a situation where, say, a half-elf is actually ranked higher than either humans or elves (a possibility in a country founded by a half-elf, for example). Specific mixed-race individuals may end up officially recognized as only being of a single race as well (in fact, it's possible for anyone to end up officially recognized as being a member of a race they don't even share blood with, but this is exceedingly rare).

*To the rulers, anyway - a tyranny might classify an honorable freedom fighter as a monster.
**If both existed in my setting, anyway. Dwarves do, halflings don't.

04-18-2017, 03:37 PM	#10
Varyon Join Date: Jun 2013	Re: DF World: Do non-humans have their own countries? My preference is for something more cosmopolitan, with most of the races present in each country. In the setting I'm (sort of) currently working on, Eru, most countries follow more-or-less the same political system, in which there are rules about which races can be in certain political stations, and this varies between countries. This is basically the best classification they can get - even in a country run by humans, a human could get classified as a monster if he were horrible enough. The best you can be is royalty, and most countries only allow one race to be such. All royals in a given country are related by blood, marriage, or (rarely) adoption of various flavors. Next down the line are the nobles, which usually allows for any race that is sufficiently similar to the royals - a human-ruled country would probably allow for elves of various flavors, maybe* dwarves and/or halflings*, and so forth. Next down are citizens, which most "civilized" races qualify for. The lowest rung that still count as people are the serfs, which are generally the monstrous races that aren't overly dangerous. Anything that doesn't fit into the previous categories is automatically considered a monster, and not only lacks any legal protection but may well have a general bounty on its head. Mixed-race creatures are typically treated as the lower-ranked of the parent races, but there are exceptions - a half-elf might be ranked lower than a human in elf-ruled lands, a half-orc might be ranked between human and orc in human-ruled lands, and so forth. While I've no plans for such, in theory you could have a situation where, say, a half-elf is actually ranked higher than either humans or elves (a possibility in a country founded by a half-elf, for example). Specific mixed-race individuals may end up officially recognized as only being of a single race as well (in fact, it's possible for anyone to end up officially recognized as being a member of a race they don't even share blood with, but this is exceedingly rare). To the rulers, anyway - a tyranny might classify an honorable freedom fighter as a monster. **If both existed in my setting, anyway. Dwarves do, halflings don't. __________________ GURPS Overhaul