More tajaran restrictions on command positions

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Representing systemic problems within the culture of our alien cultures is difficult to portray through the systems we have (station jobs) without seeming ham fisted.

The main conceit of Tau Ceti is that is the land of opportunity where you can succeed based on your own merit and plucky entrepreneurship - the American Dream - which is used as both a narrative device and a justification as to why there is such a huge amount of diversity on the Aurora.

One of the things I don't want to do is have aliens legitimately, within-lore, "dumber" than humans. It's not their capacity for intellect, but the systems within their factions that hold them back. It gets really gross since alien cultures are usually based on irl communities.............................................

A total ban, with no exceptions, stifles stories as much as it provides new ones. A Zhan-khazan breaking out of the systemic, oppressive chains of PRA society and forging a new future in Tau Ceti is just as valid as story as one who is stuck as a shaft miner all his life.

A ban on captainhood for xeno species that isn't IC'ly written down anywhere shows systemic xenophobia. It is the hard glass ceiling that tajara can't reach. The inability to become a captain no matter how hard they work forms a foundation for one of my main tajara characters, who is lowkey vying for the acting captain slot at every moment to "prove" himself to NanoTrasen through hard work and merit.

Having a terrorist attack lead to a ban of these tajara from jobs is too hamfisted to be done with any sort of tact or sense of being believable.

The best course of action, if we do decide to ban these ethnicities of tajara from certain jobs, is to just lock down any future characters. Let the current Zhan HoP's remain in their job. Do it like the Vaurca, and have an avowel. Make a test they have to pass or some legal technicality designed to exclude as many of them as they can. We unfortunately have a breadth of IRL systems put in place to marginalize communities and deny them advancement. We have had enough rp-rev rounds with mass demotion as a gimmick that I had hoped we'd all have learned how lame it is as a plot point.

There is also the problem of narrative consistency. The ideology of the People's Republic of Adhomai that uses inter-tajara racism as a power tool is clearly an antagonistic force. The Adhomai Liberation Army disagrees vehemently with the idea of banning tajara from command. They believe in pan-tajaraism where zany's and m'soys and hairyrawrs can all be whatever they want. The New Kingdom is the one that wants Njarir to remain within the traditional power structures.

SO basically what I realized writing that last paragraph is that the possibilities are basically choosing which faction in the civil war is "right".

i guess we could experiment by having a rather obtuse system where what command job you can be depends on your faction AND ethnicity, if we really want.

[Mofo1995]

i guess we could experiment by having a rather obtuse system where what command job you can be depends on your faction AND ethnicity, if we really want.

 

Too much to keep track of, and would probably just wind up unenforceable.

As far as glass ceilings, I see what you're saying. Old characters that were already above and beyond shouldn't be downgraded randomly, and it would be far more compelling to have it technically possible but not done. One thing I would like to reiterate is that Tajara have far less access to education, they're not inherently dull, they're just inherently uninformed. I actually thought the ban on non-human and non-skrell captains was IC, so you'll have to understand that's where I was coming from.

Now, I have to say, I think that things like the avowal form were ultimately a big failure. At least while I had spent time handling them, pretty much everyone ignored them and any time a Vaurca was confronted about it they usually fabricated being enabled. "Oh yeah so and so or such and such filed my form, don't remember exactly their name." A system like that, I believe, will be shot with so many holes it'd be swiss cheese. An exclusionary test or some off-station exclusionary thing would be a neat idea. I think it's important to remember that, as far as Adhomai is concerned, NT is in bed with the PRA. It's not like there was official government anti-Zhan propaganda flying out of the PRA before Al-Mari bit the dust and a proper NT puppet came in. I don't think it's a good fit to think of NT as a noble champion of multiculturalism. So really, I don't see why the ALA or NKA's onions would really affect NT's staffing decisions, since only the PRA is giving them goodies.

[Snoopy11]

My choice is with option two.

Admittedly I'm a long term player in regards to Tajara and I've got to say the most compelling reason to play them originally all those years ago was due how under the thumb they were meant to be, don't be seen, be silent, do what you're told. Being a head of staff wasn't even a thought, which was great, the general speciesism is what made it fun. You had to disobey people subtly, if you got angry at someone, nod your head and mutter while walking off; admittedly this is where cliques started becoming horribly evident which isn't great.

It'd be nice to have some inner-racism go on, but how could we pull this off considering who NT is currently in bed with?

[Guest Menown]

The majority of Tajara players won't be affected by this. The majority of Tajara that are heads are Njarir and Hharar, with most M'sai being HoS. So, nothing would be changed, really.