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 Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:52 pm
Sweden - Snowland
Snowland is a harsh place. The cold never really lets up, and if always turns even the gentlest babe into a wolf. With the snow and the battering ocean wind against the rocky land; everyone grows tough or dies. Snowland often has tall, pale inhabitants, hair often blond or a startling mix of browns. Eyes are very commonly blue and at times brown. Clothing choice is leathers and fur, anything less leads to death.
Growing edible plant life consists of;
In tree's; Green apples often small and sour, pears small, plums, small and sour.
Berries; Blueberries, Raspberries, Lingonberries and Cloudberries. Strawberries. (Note, these are small and are not the normal strawberries seen in stores that have been bred/genetically altered to grow bigger.) Bog Bilberries, Arctic bramble, Dewberries, Rowanberries, and Rose hips.
Mushrooms; Chantarelle, both brown and gold variates, Penny bun, Yellowfoot, Hedgehog(Yes its a mushroom)
Edible plants; Rhubarb, Nettle, Meat under Birch tree's bark.
Animals
Eaten mammals; Moose, Reindeer, Roedeer, Forest Bird, Hare (No, not a rabbit!), Pheasants, Canadian geese, Many duck breeds, Horse. (Yes Swedish people really eat horses), Bear is eaten at times.
Horses; Coldblooded trotter, Gotland pony, North Swedish horse, Swedish Ardennes, Swedish Warmblood
Predators; Wolves, Eurasian lynx, Wolverine, Brown Bears, Pole cats, Red fox, Arctic fox, Cross fox, Badger, Least weasel, Common seal, Gray seal, Common otter, Ermine
Fish; Bass, Salmon, Atlantic sturgeon, Eel fish, Garfish, Clupeiformes, Carp bream, Pike, Atlantic cod, Zander, European perch, Atlantic halibut, Ocean perch, The Caplin, Brown trout, Wels catfish, John Dory (All eaten)
Sharks; Green shark, Ghost shark, basking shark(Whale shark I think)
Whales etc; Common porpoise, Common minke whale, False killer whale, Devil fish, Long-finned pilot whale, Grey dolphin, Atlantic white-sided dolphin, White-beaked dolphin
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:11 pm
I just made a character from a made-up place in Ireland
Jeralan(sounds like bear-a-lin with a G instead of B)
A city in the Wardwood equivalent of Ireland.
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 7:40 am
Since I just won that one Doe, and I have in mind an Indian-ish character, I'm going to be making this one. It's going to be a mix of basically india and the middle east, with a religious divide down the middle and some crazy 'heathens' who believe in 'one god'. half the country is very arid desert. The other will be rainforest/wild growth, and people in Sunderland from Nipoor will be known for spices, produce, and drugs.
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 9:13 am
Antoine is from Wardwood's equivalent of France, but I haven't figured out a name for it yet OTL
I assume it will be comparable to France in the same time that Sunderland is comparable to England, but I haven't figured out much else.
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 1:22 pm
Hey guys, I've recently received some concerns about offensive stereotyping going on in this thread. Although I'm certain this has never been intentional on anyone's part, please make sure -- especially if you're basing a fictional country heavily on a real one -- that you are avoiding making sweeping generalizations about countries/people (ex, Americans are huge jerks) when writing about them OOC. While it's true that Sunderland is a very prejudiced place, and it's often important to mention stereotypes, they should be confined to an IC context only (ex, Sunderlanders often perceive Americans as huge jerks due to that one time America got drunk and thought it would be funny to cut Sunderland's hair while she was sleeping). Thank you!
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 7:39 pm
Wardwood Mule Hey guys, I've recently received some concerns about offensive stereotyping going on in this thread. Although I'm certain this has never been intentional on anyone's part, please make sure -- especially if you're basing a fictional country heavily on a real one -- that you are avoiding making sweeping generalizations about countries/people (ex, Americans are huge jerks) when writing about them OOC. While it's true that Sunderland is a very prejudiced place, and it's often important to mention stereotypes, they should be confined to an IC context only (ex, Sunderlanders often perceive Americans as huge jerks due to that one time America got drunk and thought it would be funny to cut Sunderland's hair while she was sleeping). Thank you! Hey, Umbro, do you think maybe you could be specific about what was offensive? I ask because, other than Aireland having a reputation for drinking [something which Chrys said was only a reputation, not all chars actually followed] and my obviously-facetious use of the word 'heathen', I'm not sure what was so offensive it got someone up in arms, and I fear now people will be paranoid to make their own contributions.... It would be decidedly more helpful to have specifics in this case than a global staff announcement that's going to make people paranoid. ^^;
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:44 pm
As Macaire himself pointed out in play (his first encounter with Warwick, I think) what's considered a stereotype isn't necessarily true -- the stereotype, as I'd imagine would be believed by the common Sunderland person, would be that Airelanders basically drink and fight with occasional pauses to make more babies. Just because it's the common perception doesn't make it any truer in Wardwood than it would have been in real life; people have believed utterly irrational things about other human beings before.
Acknowledging the misconceptions that would have existed in this time period allows me to give my characters a greater depth by giving them a history and a background to work against.
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:49 pm
Hey, Blue and LBL! I think my prior post may have come off as way more harsh than I intended it to and it definitely merits a clarification. I'm not trying to put anyone on the spot, and this is not a big deal at all, just something for people to put into consideration as they contribute stuff in the future. Everyone, please don't be paranoid! You don't need to be super PC with your entries -- I'm not asking you to water down the conflicts, prejudices and stereotypes that exist in this setting in character. I just want to make sure that people who are coming in here for the first time don't see an offensive RL-derived stereotype quoted out of context on the front page. While we might not see a difference between "Native Americans are barbaric savages" and "Sunderlanders perceive Native Americans as barbaric savages" because for us the IC perspective is pretty much always implied, it would really suck if a Cherokee user popped in, saw "Native Americans are barbaric savages" and it made them feel like crap. I'm really sorry if I made anyone feel bad or called out, that definitely wasn't my intention! Please keep contributing your awesome worldbuilding and let me know if you have any questions.
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iStoleYurVamps
iStoleYurVamps
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 9:01 pm
I gave my boy a rough French based BG but at most I've just written that he was a slave- but, slavery was a common thing anyway. I've tried to just used same rough geography @ Mediterranean south
/all I got
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 9:07 pm
as someone who's about 40% cherokee, a stereotype of a fictional country's nationality, even if based off the real one, IN A ROLEPLAY FORUM, does not bother me. maybe it should, but it doesn't.
also: this is a fictional country, yes, but it is based in a HEAVILY HEAVILY stereotyped era -- see australia, for example -- and you cannot pretend that isn't true. I have roleplayed Ayle with others who immediately pegged him for a felon or an ex-con without bothering to take a second breath.
the distinction between IC and OOC should be made clear, yes; with that I agree. but people also need to keep that in mind. I as a person know that not all people from Ireland are drunks or fighters. I as a person know that is a stereotype. my characters, however, only know what Sunderlanders would know, and according to the timeframe, they have a bigoted worldview.
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 3:18 am
Yeah, just, because I'm pretty sure that 'barbarian' comment is directly addressing my use of the word 'heathen' I do wish the concerned person had PMed me DIRECTLY instead of going to staff. I would have clarified than I'm using it 100% sarcastically and when it's written up proper, that'll be more clear.
Honestly, my assumption was that, in the 21st century, people would assume it wasn't being used in a serious manner before all else. Or, well, no, I didn't even assume that, I never even thought about the possibility of it being taken the wrong way because I don't know anyone who WOULD. xP In either case, a simple PM could have cleared up that concern much more effectively! It was not meant to be any kind of offensive
In truth, in its way the religion I have planned for Veer is gunna be pretty CIVILIZED since it requires writing prayers down on paper to burn to a central figure -- which means, in turn, all children have to be taught to read/write from a young age, at least enough to do the prayers. Not that it'll change Sunderland's opinion, much.
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2012 12:08 pm
So here! If this wasn't what you wanted for Nipoor, I can make it another country, maybe? (: It's just roughly what I had in mind for Tanvir's background. Quote: Nipoor - A shockingly large country with a shockingly large coastline, Nipoor is a major source of luxury goods for Sunderland, offering strange new spices, dyes, fine bolts of cloth, and exotic produce/pelts. The land itself is a strange split. Toward the northeast, it is mostly overgrown with wild forests, where unexpected produce grows, strange animals live, and much of which has never been explored. To the west, extending into nearby nations, is an arid desert pocketed with rare oases. The south west and middle, most of the country, is hot and humid and green. The people are darker skinned than those from Sunderland, ranging from a pale/middling brown to a rich cocoa, generally with dark hair or hair touched with a reddish tinge. Culturally, the Nipoor wear a lot of bright colors with bright patterns, and a lot of jewelry, for dressing up. Every day clothing is more muted but looser and less layered/structured than that in Sunderland. Religiously, most people in the country follow a religion similar to that of Sunderland, even including some stories about wolves that are wilder but surprisingly similar to some the average person may have heard about the Wardwood. Here, though, the stories are said to be about their wild rainforests, and some people may even believe the wolves are there. Another large group of people follow a monotheistic religion that will seem strange to those from Sunderland, ignoring stories of wolves in favor of one greater force. Their religion is more rigid and focused on punishment for wrong doing/atoning for one's sins. To atone, they write prayers appropriate to their mistakes down on slips of rice paper and burn them. Sunderlanders sometimes refer to these people as "Unners" in a vaguely-derogatory manner.
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:30 am
Just noticed. You put Bel estrana as the Russian country. It is Bel astrana. Not a huge deal. Just thought I'd point it out. ^_^ This really is a cool idea, though. Compiling all these countries. There are more than I thought already in existence!
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:00 am
Nyx Argyros Just noticed. You put Bel estrana as the Russian country. It is Bel astrana. Not a huge deal. Just thought I'd point it out. ^_^ This really is a cool idea, though. Compiling all these countries. There are more than I thought already in existence! I'll fix it ^^ btw, did you have anything written up about the wardwood version of the Roma, or a name for them? I know Rajani's got some blood in her, and reese/Warwick do too...maybe just 'the people' or something along those lines?
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:17 am
and be blue [I'll fix it ^^ btw, did you have anything written up about the wardwood version of the Roma, or a name for them? I know Rajani's got some blood in her, and reese/Warwick do too...maybe just 'the people' or something along those lines? Thank you. <3 Now that you mention it, no. I haven't actually gotten around to it. :/ Shame on me. XD But yeah. "The People" or something like that would work. I suppose we ought to come up with something proper for them. I know they're (usually) drifters. They have a reputation of, well, ill-repute. They tend to be on the lower end of the income bracket. They often perform (music, tumbling, etc.) or practice hedge-witchery for a living. They sometimes travel in caravans. They have a strong oral tradition, often passing down stories in the form of song. Some of them are very superstitious, and as a culture, they are more likely to accept strange happenings than your average person. I've also hedged around the idea of them having "stations" or something like that scattered about. Sanctuaries for drifting Roma in each of the major cities. Maybe there is more to those sanctuaries than meets the eye, or maybe not. Haven't really delved into it, but I like the idea. That's about the extent to which I've thought about them. I suppose a fair amount of info is there, I just haven't really organized it. >_>
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