tantric
Traveler
i'm a big fan of bantu africa since i took swahili in college. when Nyambe, unlike everyone else, i was appalled. why? it's hollywood Africa, a distortion based on nothing real designed to cater to people who know nothing about the real Africa and don't want to learn. so i set out to do something about it. i'm at the tail end of my project, creating a setting based on bantu Africa that is anthropologically accurate. in the beginning i decided to ditch the Dark Continent trope in favor of a technologically progressive society on par with Renaissance europe, but with magic and science.
i've received some criticism based on racial issues. specifically, i included a race of sapient baboons, simple because in most of Africa baboons are considered to be intelligent and to have their own language. then i was told that having a race of talking monkeys in an African setting was offensive…? also, at least one person was hugely offended by how i present the pygmy peoples (the Twa and !Kung). one of the issues in the real world with the Twa is that historically, Bantus kidnapped their women and turned them into slave-brides, so that they did not have to pay bride price for a Bantu wife. this practice has exterminated many entire tribes. my thought was this: make them incapable of breeding with bantus, a different species of humanity, and problem solved, but in the end that seemed a bit touchy. now i'm not sure where to go with it.
at this stage i'm looking for a partner to help me adapt this to a specific system and move forward, along with input and reviews. i'll talk about racial issues if the talk is calm and rational - i will NOT respond to flames or baiting.
salama,
tantric
i've received some criticism based on racial issues. specifically, i included a race of sapient baboons, simple because in most of Africa baboons are considered to be intelligent and to have their own language. then i was told that having a race of talking monkeys in an African setting was offensive…? also, at least one person was hugely offended by how i present the pygmy peoples (the Twa and !Kung). one of the issues in the real world with the Twa is that historically, Bantus kidnapped their women and turned them into slave-brides, so that they did not have to pay bride price for a Bantu wife. this practice has exterminated many entire tribes. my thought was this: make them incapable of breeding with bantus, a different species of humanity, and problem solved, but in the end that seemed a bit touchy. now i'm not sure where to go with it.
at this stage i'm looking for a partner to help me adapt this to a specific system and move forward, along with input and reviews. i'll talk about racial issues if the talk is calm and rational - i will NOT respond to flames or baiting.
salama,
tantric