Vexik said:
LostAlone said:
Surely you mean 'I'm not speciesist but...' ?
Seconded. This is something I always wondered about, especially in fantasy settings. Is there racism in D&D? Is the Man keeping down fellow humans while also hating orcs because they're too green and keeping elves out of his schools? Is it okay to be speciesist because the other guy is physically different and maybe ACTUALLY incapable of happiness and love and freedom or whatever?
And for the record, I would never let my daughter date a hobgoblin. That's just not right.
Are you kidding? Of course there's racism in D&D. Elves are huge racists, described as looking down at the "younger, less races" in the Players Handbook. Dwarves are basically isolationists most of the time. Humans also like to keep to themselves and only trade with other races when it's profitable. In Lord of the Rings, its even worse. Elves consider Orcs to be vermin, humans to be dirty and uncultured and Dwarves to be hairy, repulsive ugly creatures.
Of course, that's in game. When you look at the creation of fantasy universes, they're all terribly racist. Every Ferengi in Star Trek is a greedy little back stabber, all Klingons have exactly the same concepts of religion, honor and combat, all Bajorans are spiritual, all Romulans are very intelligent, etc. Star Wars races are developed from a single line in the movie, hence Bothans are a total society based around espionage, Jawas always smell bad, Wookies are always awesome, Qualish (the alien in the Catina that attacks Luke) are all aggressive, and Mon Cals (Ackbar) are all great with capital ships.
There are two conclusions here. One: there has to be a defining trait for a species. An alien race that isn't completely united under one religion, culture, government and world view? Unthinkable.
And two: I apparently know a lot more about different fantasy universes than I thought.