Desert Tribes - Please Give Your Input

[halfbreed]

It seems I've gotten myself into a bit of an RP pickle, and I'd love to hear people's thoughts on it.

The inspiration for my current character came from reading the info here at http://www.armageddon.org/ic/tribal.html - not wanting to give away too much IC, but let's say some of these descriptions form the basis for my new character.

However, as you can see... there's not terribly much detail on these tribes, and my big worry is... will my RP conflict with other people's views on these people?  I've already ran across some in-game who are obviously familiar with some of these tribes, and OOC, I'm having massive stage-fright on what to say about my background...

Should I just wing it and play along?  Or are there deeper tales regarding these tribes anywhere?  Should I just try to flesh out my background as best as I could?  Even if it means arbitrarily fleshing out what these tribes are like, beyond the short descriptions given on the site?

If anyone else has extensive knowledge about these tribes, please feel free to Private Message or email me...  would love to discuss more without giving out too much here on these public boards.

Thanks!

[Callisto]

Asking players for information like that isn't going to help you, since with players its all opinion based on personal interpretation - if you want to be sure you're getting the straight information on it, then you should e-mail the account.

[John]

My advice is if your playing someone from one of these tribes then to e-mail the mud account.

However if your playing a tribe that splintered off from one of the main groups then I wouldn't worry _too_ much. You can have it so that your tribe didn't really keep much info on the original tribe. Yes they'll have some similar customs, however depending on what has happened certain customs may have changed greatly.

Also depending on the reason for the group to splinter off into another tribe (which IMO would almost always be conflict) don't worry about misrepresenting the tribe as to be worse then they actually are. It would make sense for your tribe to see them as bad, because you split off from them and conflict arose.

Me? I'd personally be inclined to wing it (and I could possibly be doing the wrong thing by trying to wing it) But whether or not you do is up to you.

[jmordetsky]

I'm not sure if this is the best solution but when faced with the same problem I just made one up. I basically came up with a name, a set of loose tribal societal rules and a background claiming the tribe was small and a distant ancestor to one of the known tribes, but had long since evolved into it's own entity with it's own culture.

A good idea is to maybe email the imms about it, or include it in your background.

[The Lonely Hunter]

Well, the tribes on that page are not for PC use -unless- cleared by the Imms. I found this out the hard way about a year back when I had my PC stored and was informed about this rule.

[halfbreed]

Well, the tribes on that page are not for PC use -unless- cleared by the Imms. I found this out the hard way about a year back when I had my PC stored and was informed about this rule.

Err... doh!  Well, the char was cleared by the Imms... but mebbe someone was just on an approval spree that day?  I'd best write the account then...

[Angela Christine]

I think those tribes are best used to be a tribal socio-political framework rather than your own tribe.  Like if your tribe is from a certain area you should be familar with the other tribes in that area.  The tribal doc tells you who some of your neighbours were.  Did you trade with them?  Raid eachother?  Inter-marry with them?

AC

[Malifaxis]

Honestly, I had a situation happen to me *very* similar to this, halfbreed

Without going in to too much detail (those famous words) I had no freaking clue about what any tribes really were, I did the splinter tribe thing and just went with it.  In my first day I ran in to a PC who realized, luckily, the reason I was acting the way I was.  They took me under the wing  :twisted: and kinda told me about the various tribes in an IC manner.  By the end of my rather short life, I had a rather good grasp on what was going on and I have some great ideas that are brewing.

My suggestion is to just jump in with both feet.  You'll meet people swimming around in the same pool down below, who've all made the same jump.

Have fun dude, it's an *amazing* society, if it's anywhere near what I was in.

[naatok]

I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of emailing the mud account in order to get questions like this answered.

What I would do, in this case, is email the account to inform staff that you're considering creating a pc with a human desert tribe background, and ask for input in addition to the brief information included in the docs.

I've submitted a human desert tribal for approval and had no problems with it, but the background for the pc was fairly detailed, and I also sent an email to mud explaining more.

Something to keep in mind, I think, is that the desert human tribes are similar to (but not completely modeled on) desert tribes of planet earth.  Kurds, Seiks, Dervish, Bhedoun, etc. are fine examples of cultures you can study up on (easy on the internet!) and learn a bit more about nomadic desert tribal cultures in general.

And, if you're looking for pictures of sexy olive-skinned desert beauties with deep green eyes and hypnotic stares,
may I suggest National Geographic magazine?
:twisted:

[Nen]

When I wrote the tribal thing, I intended to lend players a few ideas for their own tribes, and provide loose frameworks for some NPC tribes for players to join (and, mayhaps, offer to create additional docs for) at whim.  At that time -- pre-Nomad subclass -- non-code-clanned PC human tribals were nearly nonexistent, and I wanted to build a stronger sense of their presence in the world.  I added a buncha NPC nomads in Luirs and the Tablelands, mostly members of those tribes, to help things along.

I hesitated to give a lot of info about open tribes to preserve the mystery thing, but also to leave some freedom to future creative souls.  Restricted tribes I noted with email addresses or clan section references, though I think the separation coulda been more clear.  Anyways, there was/is the problem of different players making characters in the same open tribe with conflicting visions of the tribe's details.  No easy answer for it, though it could be systemized and dealt with a la the hard way.  It was a starting point.  I think it is best used for ideas, since tribals are a little more common now.  At least, that's the safe and easy way to use it.

I continued in building one tribe, the Sun Runners, to the point of docs and camp; but they never saw full implementation due to time crunches.

Something to keep in mind, I think, is that the desert human tribes are similar to (but not completely modeled on) desert tribes of planet earth.  Kurds, Seiks, Dervish, Bhedoun, etc. are fine examples of cultures you can study up on (easy on the internet!) and learn a bit more about nomadic desert tribal cultures in general.

The Seiks are fabricated, actually from the backgrounds of old chars of mine.  If they're real, I think I'll check them out.  I wonder how close they are.  The Bedouin, of the Empty Quarter (Rub-al-Khali) of Saudi Arabia, are an awesome inspiration.  If anyone's looking, I recommend a search on the Berbers and Tuareg of Northern Africa as well.

And, if you're looking for pictures of sexy olive-skinned desert beauties with deep green eyes and hypnotic stares,
may I suggest National Geographic magazine?
:twisted:

Heh, NG Explorer just aired a show on the search for that girl (the photo was taken in '82 or '84).  Didn't stay to see if they found her, though.

Nen

[Malifaxis]

*in a bad carnival gypsy fortune teller accent*

I see tings in da fushca for you lands... I see many people, many clicks... and numbas on a counta going upwads quickly... I see people dying, many many people dying... and the tribes of the savage lands sweellink.

I see de nomads takink over, and the cities beink silent.

[gfair]

Heh, NG Explorer just aired a show on the search for that girl (the photo was taken in '82 or '84).  Didn't stay to see if they found her, though.
Nen

While this is off topic, NG Explorer did eventually find the woman.  She had the same vivid green eyes, but on a woman distinctly older, and more sullen due to the events that have plagued Afghanistan since that time.  She had never seen the original picture on the NG magazine cover, either, if I recall corectly.

[halfbreed]

Very good input, thank you so much!

[Quirk]

... but one of the best books for me for an Arm player, particularly one considering tribal RP, is T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an autobiographical segment of just a few years in length. Lawrence lived and fought as an Arab through the First World War, acting as one of the Arab leaders in their battles against the Turks and eventually being one of those who captured Damascus. As an introduction to a very alien mindset it can hardly be bettered; it is a book full of the brutal desert, of conflicts between barely allied tribes, of treacherous cowards and flawed heroes. Added to this is the narrator himself, one of the strangest and most reluctant military geniuses of the past millenium, simultaneously indomitable and torn by the demands of an honour he could not surrender to.

It really ought to make the Arm recommended reading list...

Quirk