Give Zhan-Khazaan a second language again

[SierraKomodo]

As it stands, Zhan-Hazaan tajara only get one 'custom' language - I put 'custom' in quotations because it basically has] to be Siik'maas or the lore masters are going to be coming down on you for playing a taj that can't speak the common tajaran language. Prior to the baymerge that made Zhan a separate subspecies that only get the one language, one of my zhan used to know gutter. There's another character that's half zhan, half m'sai whom I want to have more Zhan dominant traits but with the way I've built that character and played her in the past (It's Zakiya) she basically has to know Tradeband or I have to do a /lot/ of retconning and change how fluent she is in basic.

Plz give 2 languages back.

[Mofo1995]

The decision to give Zhan-Khazan only one language was made by me, and it was done with deliberate thematic and mechanical purposes. When coming up with the full repertoire of features Zhan-Khazan and M'sai would have different than a baseline Tajara, language quickly hit the table as a prime opportunity to use mechanics to reinforce lore. I always thought it was absolutely ridiculous how nearly everyone on the station was trilingual, my own characters included. I thought about how much I struggle to become bilingual, and realized that I have a wealth of educational assets available to me that most people do not. That's when it hit me, given their lackluster education system which only emphasizes their own languages and Tau Ceti Basic, why would knowing foreign languages other than the implanted NT-sponsored Tau Ceti basic be common?

For every benefit I gave the Zhan, I made sure it fit into the narrative and lore behind the race, and for every detraction likewise. The restriction to being only able to know one extra language is a reflection not only of the poor education available on Adhomai, but also of the racism and obstruction of opportunities presented to them on their homeplanet by a media that paints them out to be violent thugs and an establishment which only wants them to be big dumb strong workers.

However, there is another item at play here, and that is the inverse relationship between Zhan and M'sai in mechanics. For every positive effect given to the Zhan, a negative effect was given to the M'sai. The converse is also true. When hammering out the plans, I was unaware of the custom language system and instead wanted to lock in the M'sai and Zhan languages. Zhan were going to be locked into Siik'maas and Tau Ceti Basic while M'sai were going to be locked into those in addition to Nal'rasan, but instead I was told languages are handled by number of custom languages conferred to a race. As a result, M'sai ended up getting Nal'rasan as an option while Zhan were dwindled down in the number of languages afforded to them.

So, in summary: Zhan were balanced to be physically stronger and slower but intellectually given less opportunities in order to fit in with established lore. This balance is also equal and opposite to the M'sai who are physically weaker and faster, but have more avenues open to them in the way of learning. If it were possible, I would have divorced Hharar and Njarir'Ahkran as well, but language was the only way to reflect education lore in mechanics and I could not come up with a suitable list of differences to justify making them a different option on the species selection screen.

As a side note: You do not have to choose Siik'mas as your secondary language as a Tajara. Though more on that later. My plan is to have more lore in the way of Tau Ceti Basic slowly working its way into becoming a Lingua Franca of sorts on Adhomai due to pressure by NanoTrasen and due to most higher education facilities being NanoTrasen funded and even operated. In the past eight years of large amounts of Tajara performing off-planet labor for NT as a result of Njadrasanukii Hadii assuming power, the language is on its way to being comparable to how modern English is in many foreign countries.

I was aware this would create inconveniences with pre-existing characters, but I felt that the benefits to adhering to pre-existing narrative by providing an interesting set of balanced positive and negative mechanics and dynamics in options for Tajara players out-weighed the negative. After a few months passed and my subspecies feedback request thread in General went by completely unmolested, I thought the community felt the same way.

[LordFowl]

As Mofo, the lore developer for Tajara, has commented on this, I think it is safe to bin.