Lineage Update
Lineage and Species Prejudice
We are going to update the setting and the rules to try to reduce the unwanted parallels between prejudice and discrimination in the setting and real world racism. We have implemented changes to ongoing plot lines and to the rules for language use in the game. In the coming months, we are going to carry out a full review of all the lineage and species pages on the wiki, with the goal of reducing direct parallels with harmful experiences in the real world.
Reasoning
Although Empire is a fantasy setting, it is deliberately intended to have a more realistic feel to it, it's a game of politics and messy compromises - more like Game of Thrones than the heroic ideals of Lord of the Rings. It is also, by its nature, a game of imperialism. As a consequence, the game includes many elements that mirror prejudice and conflict in the real world. We've tried to be open about the fact that the game includes ideas that some people will find uncomfortable, but we've also tried to create an imaginative world to set those conflicts in, so that they don't directly mirror real world problems.
One of the elements we did include in the original setting was widespread prejudice against briars and orcs. This was an explicit design choice - we wanted to create character choices that people could take that would allow them to encounter discrimination and prejudice in the game. It's clear that some people have leaned into that element of the setting and enjoyed the roleplaying that comes from it. However, after several years of running the game, it's increasingly clear that the overt presence of this prejudice makes the game less enjoyable for players who have real world experience with racism, and that we need to address that.
As designers, we thought the distinctions between race in the real world and lineage in our fantasy setting were distinct enough that the comparisons (and there are clear comparisons) didn't matter. That was a mistake on our part. There are important elements of lineage that are fundamentally different to racism in the real world, but the similarities are still too close. Given our design decisions to exclude elements like misogyny or homophobia, it makes no sense to include a theme that is acting as a translation of real world racism. It's not a defence to say "that wasn't what we intended" when it is increasingly clear that it is what we ended up with.
These problems have been exacerbated by plots that we've created and run recently. These brought the issue of prejudice against briars and orcs to the fore in 2019, and made it increasingly difficult for people to ignore those elements of the game. The problems have also been compounded when people adopt language used for racist epithets in the real world and transplant them into equivalent phrases in the setting, making it harder for participants to divorce what is happening in the game from parallels with real world racism.
Key Changes
We've shifted the focus with a number of plots we've identified that had elements where the parallels with real world racism were a problem. Some of those plots will continue with a different tone, approach and direction going forwards. With others, we will quickly conclude whatever story was playing out and create something new from there. Some plots, like the one involving flowers growing from briar bark, will continue, but we've taken steps to clear up confusion on what was happening in that plot. Going forward, we will make more effort to be aware of the potential impact that these plots can have and try to ensure that we stay further away from expressions of conflict that too closely parallel recent experiences with racism.
We've updated the language section of the wiki to make explicit that players must not use phrases that echo real world racism, like "a briar in the woodpile", Neither briars nor orcs are meant to be exact parallels of real world race and it's not a appropriate to create in-character equivalents to those phrases in the game.
The next step we are going to take is to update each of the lineage and species pages for the nations. The current pages are often clumsily written and in a few cases contain sweeping requirements to be prejudiced in-character. We are going to review these pages and make changes to the material as well as the way it is presented. All these pages have now been stubbed, to show that the page is under review. The pages currently represent what many characters from that setting believe, but such views are being contested and characters are free to make their own choices.
IC Reasoning
The in-character reason that the setting is changing is an Empire-wide response to a number of important statements of principle passed at the last event by the Imperial Synod. As a consequence of that, many inhabitants of the Empire are re-examining old prejudices, and reconsidering previous views. We would encourage any player who wants their character to have been part of this response to adapt their characterisation accordingly.
Normally we would respond to a statement in the general assembly that achieved a greater majority with a Wind of Fortune, some plot and some possible mandates. On this occasion we've skipped those steps and gone straight to the in-character consequences. This should be understood to be an out-of-character decision that Profound Decisions have taken - it's not appropriate to criticise the characters involved for starting these changes in any way. Nor is this something that could be reversed by in-character action.
Because this is an out-of-character change to the game, it is not acceptable for players to deliberately push an agenda to preserve prejudice against orcs or briars. We're not requiring anyone to change their character at this stage, but we do not want an "increase in conflict" around these issues in the game - that would violate the spirit of these changes to the game. The appropriate in-character response is to allow these issues to become less prominent as the Empire embraces wider perspectives.
Feedback
We have stopped short of making major changes to the lineage and species pages precisely because we want to get feedback and input from as many PoC players as possible before we take the final step to enact definitive changes to the game. We are also keen to hear from LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse players, because we know that elements of lineage in particular have resonance for real life experiences they have. We want to hear from any player whose real life identity is relevant to the way they have experienced lineage and species in Empire, whether that experience has been positive or negative.
Our goal is to look at that feedback and then finalise changes to the lineage and species pages as quickly as possible. Such changes may take time, depending on the number of conversations that we are able to have with players about these issues. We want to make sure that we have heard from as many people as possible before we go ahead and change the setting.