A reminder on racial roleplay re: Half Elves...

[Armaddict]

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Depends the role, the stakes, and the character.  For some people and some situations, that's exactly what it means.

[HavokBlue]

My point is that just because you CAN create a character who murders breeds purely for existing and justify it by saying "zalanthans can be mentally unhinged too!!" does not mean you should. You can produce shitty, flimsy justification for a lot of pkills in Arm, but they are dumb and anti-fun and can generally be reduced to someone wanting to pk for the sake of pk.

[Rokal]

I'm all for hostility towards those the docs say are undesirables, but I hate that to so many people hostility = +10 on the PK meter.

Equally, I hate that insults so quickly escalate to murder plots.  PKing someone ends the conflict.  It makes the game less fun, not more fun.  I'm not saying PKing shouldn't happen, but it should happen for better reasons than "so and so called my merchant assistant a stinky butt!".  

If someone is a thieving elf, or insults your mom, try and come up with more creative ways to liven up the conflict with them than trying to kill them.   Try and get them fired.  Steal their shit.  Frame them for stealing someone elses shit.  Spread false rumors about them.  Bang their GF.  Bang their BF.  Whatever it is, PK should be step 5 on the conflict chart escalation chart, not step 1.

I agree with this, from what i've seen in my experience so far, the undesirables on the documentation seems to translate into this intense ,seething hatred and bloodlust in many a cases  - My main experience of that is in seeing the reaction to magickers.

The documentation states that people -fear- magick, want nothing to do with it, and would basically only accept help from such a person if they were deseperate enough, or had enough exposure..ect. what not to it, but they'd always be a magicker.

it fits for certain characters, yes.. but my view so far has been (From a mundane perspective watching other mundanes - and not just tulukis). "Oh. Magicker making spelll. Kill it kill it whocares what magick its using that if I touch it I could curse my first born and second born or myself for years to come.

Its as if somewhere down the line a lot of the players have translated "I see a magicker" to "Compelete reason to PK.' .. sure, that fits. but wheres the -fear?-

Not meaning to go off topic here - but what if instead of trying to go to stab that gick in the neck, you go and report it to authorties? or maybe you let that gick whos probably starved for interaction (And yes, take a risk) have some RP. Scare the shit out of your poor little mundane. Or weird them out. Or any sort of little thing.

I like to see the documentations as a guideline.

Not a strict ruleset

For the bolded part - all my yes, yes. Doing things to get back at someone doesnt need to be killing! Shoot, theres so many awesome things that can be done  to stir up plot without even coming close to typing 'kill amos'

And when it comes down to the point you type 'kill amos?' .. Maybe you leave them near dead. Mistake them for dead IC! ect.  Let them crawl away and cling to their life and live through that. Maybe even on PURPOSE have your character make a mistake, due to maybe the emotional build up of the conflict. they slip up, they lost focus. That gives the 'opponent' an opportunity. Remember that characters aren't perfect. Make mistakes on purpose, remember that your OOC knowledge or skill with the game  =/= that of the character. All such things can make better RP.
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As for half elves.. I haven't really had enough interaction with breeds (or maybe I have.. secret breeds are ninjas) and I have never played one. But breeds are as diverse as any other race. You could meet a actual pretty stable, level headed breed whos pretty amiable with people and is happy to help,  but just goes off into a 'hermit mode' to indulge in their own personal accomplishments - maybe for something new to brag about, or lament about.

To some of the more aggressive examples i've seen stated, or a mix inbetween. A big thing would be to think of personality clashes. Even between two breeds, I could imagine some of the -best- conflicts for a half-elf happening with another half-elf whos personalities clash - or are stubbornly similar.

That said, since theyre -so diverse-, you can never expect what you see from one ... So, i personally think the reaction to a breed (knowing theyre one or not) should be a mixture, depending on the personality. People will always see them as a breed if they know they're one, sure - but that one human might just like that one breed more then the other.

In short, I don't think there a legitimate way to say theres an 'expected' way to treat a or roleplay a breed. They're a disgrace or disgust amoungst society but they DO have a place there. They haven't died out or been mass killed.

[Beethoven]

If I jump straight to murder on what appears to be a whim, it's probably a good bet that the person in question knows something about my character that my character doesn't want to get out. Most conflicts can be resolved without death, but killing someone is the only sure way to shut them up, what with the Way and all.

[Revenant]

If I jump straight to murder on what appears to be a whim, it's probably a good bet that the person in question knows something about my character that my character doesn't want to get out. Most conflicts can be resolved without death, but killing someone is the only sure way to shut them up, what with the Way and all.

THIS. Keep your blackmail reasonable and have a reputation for being trustworthy, as well as some background with the other character, and maybe they won't try to shut you up, beyond, you know, meeting your reasonable demands. When the demands and threats of other PCs are just too much, yeah, that's a problem my character will feel the need to be rid of at any cost, mindless, one-sided escalation included. Also, don't get caught murdering my character's family, friends, or employees and there are other ways around it.

[Jingo]

I'd say Elves have some issues with people being overly aggressive for no reason, but that is not the crux of their problems or even the worst part of it. It's not something docs can fix. The worst of their problem is people knowing they have no back-up.  Nobody is afraid of fucking with elves for little to no reason because they know they will never be held accountable for their actions. When the reality is they should expect a beat-down in middle of the night by that elf's tribe, or for their apartment to be broken into have all their valuables stolen, and then shit smeared on their walls and rug and elf piss in their cot.

More or less what I've been saying for the last eight years.

[musashi]

(I went many years playing almost nothing but half-elves, and I still love playing them.)

I also, have played almost exclusively half-elves in my time here, and for much the same reasons your mentioned.
I love starting out at below the bottom of the barrel and having to claw and scrabble my way up from there one painful step at a time.