Sunday, October 09, 2005

Canon: Testing

10/09/2005

“The selection process for finding priests and magi became the backbone of the Dhe’nar society. Each potential member underwent scrutinizing and occasionally deadly tests in a process to determine who was worthy of the two castes.”

Note this, and note it well – It says “Occasionally deadly.” Not “Often deadly.” Some folks - the Obsidian Tower, for example - confuse these two things.

It makes sense that Dhe’nar training would be very rigorous. It is very likely that their children universally undergo a process similar to military boot camp, although with a great deal of book schooling as well. It would be necessary for their survival to train all children to an extremely high physical and mental standard.

However, it would NOT make sense for these tests to be often deadly, as certain other versions of Dhe’nar culture postulate. The Dhe’nar population is already dangerously low. Combined with the slow birth rate of the elves, regularly killing off their children during their schooling would be entirely insane and self-destructive. The culture would die out, rapidly.

US Special Operations forces all have extremely high standards for entry, and are arguably the top men in their fields worldwide. However, their training is rarely DEADLY. Aside from the occasional lethal accident, everyone who enters training survives (though not everyone who enters the training passes, failure does not equal death). 

Canon: Execution

10/09/2005

“Dhe’nar also have very high expectations for those of their own kind. Members of their Family who fail to meet these expectations may be treated in a very harsh manner, expelled from the Family or murdered.”

Again, this differs in no significant way from the traditions of any other culture. However, using loaded terminology like “Murder” makes them sound like a band of bloodthirsty imbeciles. Culturally sanctioned murder is called execution – and every culture has laws and traditions regarding the exercise of such power. The Dhe’nar would be no different. I seriously doubt the Dhe’nar murder their children just because Little Johnny got a C on his spelling test.

Call it what is is – Execution – and understand that the application of such a sentence is no more arbitrary than it is in any other nation.

Slavery In The Canon

10/09/2005

“Because of their small numbers, they developed the stealth and merciless raiding parties that later became a hallmark of their society. They learned to take slaves to augment the worker caste. Slowly the government was restored to power, this time with a group, the Obsidian Council, to guide the way.”

People enjoy pointing to the tradition of slavery amongst the Dhe’nar as making the culture entirely evil, without ever asking the one important question this begs –

“Would the Dhe’nar own slaves if they didn’t have to?”

We are given no direct answer to this in the official histories, but based on the cause for slavery – dangerously low Dhe’nar population – we can assume that no, they would not, since according to the official documents, they did not practice slavery until after their population was devastated.

They acquire slaves for labor, because they do not have enough people to perform basic jobs such as farming and construction themselves. If the Dhe’nar released all their slaves and devoted a significant proportion of their society to manual labor, their society would collapse.

There is no mention of how slaves are treated, whether manumission (the act of freeing a slave) exists, and if it does, under what conditions, and so on.

It seems likely, however, that slaves are treated well, seeing as they are a vital workforce, and arbitrary mistreatment of them would accomplish nothing but a degradation of the work they do.

And it would seem likely, due to the status of the Khanshael, that manumission does exist, since apparently they were once slaves, but are no longer.

Thus it stands to reason that any slave who shows skill and intelligence is able to free himself from servitude and achieve a higher status in Dhe’nar society.

Also, considering the fact that slaves are acquired from scattered jungle villages, rather than civilized nations, it is not implausible that life as a slave amongst the Dhe’nar is of higher quality than life amongst the primitive jungle tribes. 

Canon: Dhe’nar In Battle

10/09/2005

“To this day the Dhe’nar remain undefeated in battle...”

This statement is a bit silly, since according to their history, they’ve never fought a single battle against the professional army of a civilized nation. Their soldiers may be highly skilled, but it’s unlikely that the Dhe’nar have the population base necessary to win a lengthy campaign, especially if the opponents are willing to win through attrition.

Luckily, living in a mountain surrounded by dense jungle, separated from other nations by a brutal wasteland bordered by desert, it’s unlikely they will ever have to face such a scenario. Who else would want to live there badly enough to send an army?

“The Dhe’nar at battle are a gruesome sight. They seem to want to torture and punish their prey, savoring the pain they inflict which each kill.”

Again, pay attention to the language. “They seem to want…”

Just because something seems a certain way, does not mean that it is that way. Again, based on the grammar, this is clearly some other culture’s impression of the Dhe’nar. There is no way to determine such motivation on a battlefield, unless Dhe’nar actually stop fighting every time they subdue an opponent in order to torture them, which would be truly imbecilic.

Also, since I don’t remember any mention of mind-readers in GemStone, I imagine that what Dhe’nar savor or don’t savor on the battlefield remains unknown. Might as well say that, “They seem to want to eat marshmallow peeps with their prey”, for all the weight this statement has. It’s clearly a comment made to elicit a “Dhe’nar are dark and evil!” response from the reader, without actually providing any information as to why they seem this way to the anonymous non-Dhe’nar battle-watcher.

Certainly, the Dhe’nar would act without mercy on the battlefield. Perhaps this would offend a more naive observer, used to tales of glory and chivalry, making him confuse cold Dhe’nar efficiency with willful cruelty.

Egotism in the Canon

10/09/2005

According to GSIV:

“They are viewed as self-centered egotists who have little compassion for the thoughts, rights or feelings of other cultures and races. Even the Khanshael, with whom they have developed a close relationship, are little more than slaves in their society. These views are likely to make a Dhe’nar unpopular wherever he travels in the company of persons outside of his own culture.”

Key to this passage is the phrase “They are viewed as.” This is -entirely- different from saying “They are.”

The phrasing of this sentence means that other cultures view them this way, not that they absolutely are this way. Dhe’nar culture is alien to the mainstream cultures of Elanthia, so it is entirely natural that they would take a Dhe’nar’s opinions regarding his own culture to be egotistical, and without compassion for others. It’s the nature of cultural conflict. There’s no reason for Dhe’nar to be huggy-cutesy-touchy-feely about other cultures’ feelings, as cultural relativism is an entirely modern, and hotly debated, intellectual practice.

In fact, Dhe’nar in the above paragraph could be interchanged with any typical elf from the Elven Nations, and it would still apply perfectly. The only substitution would have to be “Dwarves in their cities” for “Khanshael”.

Not only have the Dhe’nar only very recently come in contact with other nations (namely, cultures other than the scattered bands of primitive societies near Sharath), and therefore have had little experience with them diplomatically, but they come from a very harsh environment that demands they be harsh in turn in order to survive. If in the past they had worried about offending other cultures, the Dhe’nar would likely be extinct by now. Just because they are viewed as egotistical, does not mean it is true. It just means they don’t act like bouncy halfling empaths when dealing with strangers.

And if they do lack compassion compared to the overly emotional residents of the other nations… Well, so what?

“Pride grew stronger than ever in the Dhe’nar people, and the belief that the other races were inferior took a stronger hold among the Dhe’nar.”

It is a fact that no other race has endured what the Dhe’nar have, nor do they deal with the problems that the Dhe’nar continue to endure to this day.

Dangerously low population, inhospitable environment, etc. Naturally the Dhe’nar would consider the other races as pampered and soft - since they are - thus resulting in a feeling of superiority.

The Turamzzyrian Empire and the Elven Nations both share the above quality of pride, so the Dhe’nar are hardly alone in thinking that other cultures are inferior.

“The Dhe’nar view the split of the elves into the seven separate Houses to be the downfall of the elves from the very beginning. To them, unity and the practice of Arkati self-enlightenment are the goals to which everyone must strive to achieve. They believe the bickering and quarreling among the elven houses is petty, and refuse to take any part in it or the political games it creates.”

So why would they wander around arrogantly claiming their culture is better to every stranger they see? If they want no part of political bickering, and their whole goal is :self-enlightenment”, then there is no reason at all to be acting in such a manner. Do the Arkati act like that? Then why would the Dhe’nar act that way, if trying to emulate them?

The Dhe’nar belief in the supremacy of their culture is likely held close, rather than thrown around as a challenge to every non-Dhe’nar they meet. To use a real-world analogy, I imagine Buddhist monks seeking enlightenment believe very firmly they’re on the right path, but do they go strutting around yelling “In your FACE, moron!” to every non-Buddhist monk they see?

It’s the difference between a culture of warrior monks seeking godhood, and a bunch of adolescent punks with a chip on their shoulder.

Comments On GSIV’s Dhe’nar Canon

10/09/2005

I feel that in order to provide my own take on Dhe’nar culture, I must first comment on the official Simutronics canon regarding the Dhe’nar peoples.

The official history and cultural notes for the Dhe’nar are available at these addresses:

http://www.play.net/gs4/info/races/cultures/darkelf.asp

http://www.play.net/gs4/info/tomes/dhenar1.asp

Take the time to read these if you’re at all interested in the Dhe’nar. This is pretty much the entirety of the official cultural background provided to the players by the powers-that-be in GemStone IV. Anything not listed here is player-created, and there is absolutely no reason one should feel pressured to play one’s character by some arbitrary player-created guidelines, such as might be found on websites like this one.

In the following posts, I’ll be commenting on select passages from the official text. I have no problem at all with the official work, I simply want to do a little explaining about my take on it, as it bears on the aspects of Dhe’nar culture that I have created.