As Avaria is a fantasy world centered on Africa and the Middle East, it was probably inevitable that at one point we would need to confront some real-life perceptions of how this world operates. We don't plan to argue about flawed or otherwise unfair framing of the global south on this forum for a fantasy game, but we will make a general policy when it comes to this kind of situation.
Song of Avaria is a game emphasizing tolerance and appreciation for all cultures, and we don't want to see a lot of negative appraisals of any culture or people expressed through forum posts, roleplay, or any other means.
For anyone who may feel a little uncertain about what we mean by negative appraisals, here are a couple of links that provide an explanation of some of the sorts of stereotypes and framing we're looking to avoid.
- We would really encourage anyone else raised in the global north to watch this, as it may open people's eyes to a lot of social messaging that happens entirely under the notice of a lot of us: "Reel Bad Arabs" Documentary
- Some more context for the documentary: "Another Rule for the Arabs" Guardian Article
One might optimistically assume that any decent people are long past this sort of racism, seeing as how the linked media is 20 years old. But sadly, we're not past it. Just as racism against darker-skinned human beings didn't end with the advent of Civil Rights in the United States, racism against Arabs is still alive and well too. Ethnic and cultural prejudice is also alive in the game world of Avaria, and exists as a conflict, flaw, or struggle that people can roleplay about. But we are not here to validate harmful stereotypes in any way, and we especially are not here to confirm them. This applies to racist tropes and one-sided negative portrayals of ALL peoples and cultures.
Your character might passionately hate corrupt Sirdabi governors and tax collectors whom you firmly believe are draining Irzal dry, or despise those horrid furreners who bring strange demonic tongues and weird fashion to your virtuous and perfect Ensorian world -- but you as a player should, first off, be well aware that your character is painting with an overly broad and negative brush, and also secondly be just as well aware that these negative assessments don't at all apply to any peoples in real life.
This is the same way we would address any other form of bigotry that exists in the game world as a story element, but which we do not wish to strengthen in real life. These exist as realistic flaws, and oppressive forces to fight against, but the idea is that these negative stereotypes and bigotries are both morally wrong and factually incorrect. We actively want to deflate bigotries in the minds of ourselves as players and as game designers too.
Pomeroy Macteroy might run around saying lines just as racist as the poem in the beginning of the Guardian article, but the moral reality of the game world is that he is wrong, and a racist. His ideology exists in-game as a force to be fought against by PCs, not as something that any of us will accept as a fair depiction of reality either in game or in real life.