Many players take elves or dwarves or halflings,
and some even go as far as taking teeflings from Planescape, or Half Giants
from Dark Sun, and the DM's sigh and let them. That's rediculous.
What happened to Lavanus would happen to anything that walked into a medieval
town looking like him. Long, thin fingers, pointed ears, pale skin,
or a humungous beast with rude features would all strike terror into villagers.
A player can expect stoning, beatings, a lynching, refusal to barter or trade,
or any prejudice from these simple people. Hardly any of them do, and
I have heard more than one complaint when an elven wizard, dressed in robes
and carrying a sword was greeted with a barrage of stone when he tried to
enter a village that had been plaqued by a werewolf.
Gothic peasants are superstitious to the core.
Remember, half of these people still think thunder sours milk. The
following legends work against a demi-human character....
The faerie and
trolls steal children and replace them with hideous changelings.
Any of the following is a sign of lycanthropy,
the more they have, the more likely the person is a werebeast: ring fingers
longer than index fingers, brows that meet in the middle to form one eyebrow,
overabundance of body hair, pointed ears, excessively long canines.
A vampire has the following traits: Long,
delicate fingers, pale skin, sometimes pointed ears, and some vampires who
are well fed can go about in the daylight. At night, their eyes sometimes
glow with the fires of hell.
A troll is a large, misshapen man, with rough
features, long, greasy hair, and huge hands. Halflings have human skin,
but true trolls have greenish skin, both have dark, deep set eyes.
Gnomes are small, good hearted creatures four
inches tall that dress in blue and wear conical red felt hats. They
are the sworn enemies of trolls and evil beings, and do thier best to protect
humans they have secretly befriended.
Elves are small fairies that live beneath mounds
that have a circle of mushrooms growing on them. They may be seen dancing,
and the music of thier pipes drawn unwary travellers into thier circles,
where they never return. Elves jealously guard their worlds, and dislike
humans as a general rule, but will defend humans, silently and unseen, from
evil creatures of the woods.
Dwarves, also known as knockers, are small creatures,
the size of a toddler, with massive musculature, who are clothed only in
thier long, tangled beards. They inhabit mines, prying loose the best
gems, and stealing the thickest part of the viens. They also ambush
lone miners, bashing in the back of thier skulls with the small, heavy mallets
they carry. They often lure travellers into caves to kill them by knocking
on the walls with thier hammers. During lean winters, they sometimes
inhabit wells or basements. They eat thier victims.
As you can see, these lead to the demi-human
PC being at a major social disadvantage. Using infravision at night
will start rumors, thier features can get them hung, and thier fellow party
members will be under suspicion because of them. The prices of goods
will rise, and some services will be tottally unavailable.
Any demi-human's who partake in violence against
a townsman can expect to be hung, impaled, or burned at the stake. Only
long association and helping the villagers can erase some of the stigma the
demi-human will have. Even then, they will be the first suspected when
anything goes wrong, from a baby becoming colicy to a werwolf eating Rolf
the baker.
ELVES: Will
be considered lycanthropes or worse at first. If he is in the company
of humans, he will be distrusted, and may be forced to sleep outside, or
in the woodshed, or in the barn. In some cases, a LOT of silver or
even gold may secure the elf a room for the night. He can expect
his meals to be spit in, and service to be indifferent at best, downright
rude often, and many times, some loud mouthed bully will try to belittile
the elf. Thier innate feeling of superiority will be unrecognised,
and more than one elf has committed suicide.
DWARVES: Small
and hairy, most of them will be looked on pityingly, as misshapen midgets,
but people will still make the sign of the evil eye, cross the street, move
away from, and refuse service to the dwarf. Of all the demi-humans,
dwarves and halflings have it easiest. At the most, they possess some
of the signs of lycanthropy, and only a village who has recently (read last
5-20 years) been preyed on by a lycanthrope will be overtly hostile to the
dwarf.
HALFLINGS:
Small, with hairy feet and hands. Once again, lycanthropic midgets.
GNOMES: These
guys are truly in trouble. They will be mistaken for knockers or elves,
and will treated with fear and respect, often villagers will act as if they
do not see the gnome or his actions. Gnomish thieves need to tread
carefully here......
HALF-GIANTS: Will
be greated with fear and apprehension, but thier simple minds will soon win
them trust, providing they keep thier tempers and control thier strength.
They will be considered some poor soul who was gotten on a human captive
by trolls, and some of the more soft-hearted villagers will try to teach
the Half-Giant about 'thier peoples' ways.
MULS: For
once, things go right for this dwarven crossbreed. Many will view his
fanaticism about water as a bedoiun native of Har-Akir, and will assume he
is merely a well-built, although bald, human. Only his Infravision
may get him in trouble.
THRI-KREEN:
Expect a barrage of rocks and a bonfire buddy......
FERAL HALFLINGS:
Will be treated with terror, and any of them carrying a blunt object can expect
people to run screaming. Nobody wants to meet a knocker who has become
maddened and now stalks his victims in the streets.
MAGIC: Read:
Witchcraft in Salem...... Hope you took the subtlety proficency or
are fireproof or perhaps can breathe water....
THIEVES: Learn
to be ambidexterous, if your caught, you can expect to be hung, put in the
stocks, or have one of your hands cut off......
WARRIORS:
Soldiers are everywhere, expect the daughters to be locked away and the alk
to be watered.
PRIESTS: Expect
fear at first, then near worship as the villagers hear about your 'miracles"
(even a cure lt. wounds would seem miraculous). Your treading on dangerous
ground here, pride cometh before the fall.....
PSIONISTS:
As long as no visible power is used, no one will blame you for anything.
Be very carefull here...any visible change will have your former friends trying
to burn you alive! Remember that neat little scene in Highlander
where ol' Kevin McCloud (Or whatever the hell his name was) was stoned out
of his village after recovering from his wound!
HUMANS: Different
color skin will recieve the racism Blacks, Chinese, Indians and Mexicans
did during the American West sometimes, but often, people will ignore it.
Of course, in some of the villages where fire is viewed with suspicion, and
people who use it are often thrown on it for being a witch, a black man in
is mortal danger of becoming kindling.
Geez, what's the use in playing a demi-human?
Well, they do have those cool abilities, and now you have to pay for them.
Not in game mechanics, a longer climb in experience, or lowered stats, but
in social discrimination. Ask the elves of Sithicus how it feels.
Humans can help. A demi-human travelling
with humans who vouch for him won't be stoned, burned or killed outright,
but will only suffer the social stigma of sleeping in the barn or woodshed,
being fed scraps, having their drinks and meals spit in, getting sold inferior
goods, but hey, it beats a rock in the forehead any day, just ask Lavanus,
if you can find his skeleton where it rests at the bottom of the river, wrapped
in leather and weighted with rocks. Hope you memorized Speak with
Stupidily Arrogant Elven Thief.
Of course, the above rules are mainly for isolated
or small towns and villages, but every community is different.
Only in Darkon is it any different, since many
demi-humans reside there. In Falkonovia, any demi-humans are considered
sub-human property of the state. In Sithicus, elves better have thier
spirits prepared, because Death hates them personally, and wears the Kingfisher,
the Crown, and the Rose.