Tuluk: barbarians?

[Qetesh]

First, this has been an interesting thread and I've enjoyed readinga a good deal of it.

Ac is on point as almost always.

The two big cities are in competition, and they are not good sports about it.

It's that simple. There may be some history on either side that you can pull up to explain it I am sure, but at the base form, it's just name calling and both cities do it. Savages, Barbarians, infidels.. Anything that makes the other city seem crass, ill educated, Brutal and unsavory.

[Selie]

I was asking from an OOC perspective. I can't get a good view of Tuluki culture in-game because even my character will have a bias. I was expecting to find unbiased OOC opinions, but it seems like people get "colored" by whichever city they prefer to play in. Which, in itself, is an answer.

Thanks, AC, for taking IC and OOC and putting them together so that I feel like I have a pretty complete answer.

[sacac]

Damn, lost a bet. Couldn't hold out one more day AC?
J/k

Great insights AC. You have changed my views. And thanks for siding eith me on the spice part.

[Cuusardo]

It's rather hypocritcal of Nakkis to call Tuluki nobles barbarians because they associate with commoners, when Nakki nobles sleep with them.  But then again, no one said that it's fair.

[Dracul]

Of course it doesn't have to be fair, they're barbarians afterall.

Err, wait. Whos side am I on?

[spawnloser]

Selie:  Um...one thing I saw and thought I would touch on, the word barbarian when used to describe someone is a bit misleading.  It is a word heavy with emotional connotation, calling up images of vikings (mentioned) or only partially cured leather and fur covered, slobbering psychos out to rape and pillage.

There isn't any tribe/organization that you could play in that is quite that bad.  Those sorts of people are relatively one-dimensional and not very interesting to interact with, and I'd also say play.

Tamarin: It doesn't matter how good you are, or even if you're the most brillian musician of all time.  In Tuluk, you're still not as good (in a broader sense, don't take this use of 'good' to mean skilled) as a member of the Poet's Circle.  Going to your earlier post, how can you tell if something is 'harmonically very simple' in a text-based media like a MUD?  I would also like to mention that there are older civilizations than Allanak still in existance.  Have fun figuring out who/where it/they are.

[Selie]

The thing is, the general perception abuot the vikings is, as far as I can tell from what I've studied, a misconception. The ultimate viking hero was a warrior-poet. They created great and lengthy poems, composed with careful attention to meter and rhyme and including very elaborate alliteration and other literary devices. If you've ever heard a musically-performed presentation of one of the old "eddas" (I hope I'm not getting this wrong), it's amazing how "civilized" it sounds. The musical accompaniment and melodic line is simple and stirring, and the words flow so that even if you don't understand the original tongue, you can still tell that the diction is intentional and very carefully chosen. It's beautiful. They also valued crafters and were very interested in beautifully-made jewelry and weaponry. They liked practicality, but that practicality could and would be made beautiful. I'm fascinated by how barbaric they were (pillage and burn) and yet how beautiful and artistic their creations were. Really, when you think of a real viking warrior, do you picture a man who can enter and win an improvisational verbal battle of poetry before he even lifts his sword? No? And yet that is what they did.

I wanted to make a post discussing the importance of the spoken word in Zalanthas, since oral-based cultures tended to value the spoken word much more seriously than written cultures. If you give your word, or make an oral vow, that becomes a representation of you. If someone tells lies about you, you have to correct them and you have to do it eloquently, because the words that are spoken about you become your character. Spoken words almost take on a magical property. It's fascinating. But that's a tangent.

Anyway, I am now convinced that I can have a very dim understanding of Tuluk if I think of the viking poetry, so that I might be able to make a Tuluk character that will fit in well enough for me to experience the rest firsthand. ^_^

[spawnloser]

Yes, I wasn't intending for viking and the slobbering psychos to be all in one group.  You are right.  They popular image of vikings IS a misconception.  They were still barbaric, though, in that they performed sacrifices (including human) and did rape and pillage.  They were more civilized than that would lead most to think, in that they were artistic, as you have said.  I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't popular image that Tuluk would have something in common with, and nor would Tuluk have much more than the 'warrior/poet' concept that you brought up, ie they don't rape and pillage much.

[O]

Did you know the Vikings used to take Flyagarics (magic mushrooms) to go Beserk before going into battle?

Quite a scary image really - a tripping Viking with an axe hurtling towards you.

If rape and pillage are the pre-requisites for being a barbarian - so were the Greeks, Romans, English, French, Americans...in fact, sooo many conquering forces. I think most early cultures used human sacrifice too.  I wouldn't really disagree with calling this a barbaric act, but I believe it's more a subjective term of propaganda used to instill fear and diminish their cultures and justify and bolster the other side.

I've heard both cities called barbaric - which I think is about right.