I understand the concepts you're throwing around, Omnirizon, but-to coin a metaphor-I wasn't sure what you were aiming them at...
So thank you for atleast elaborating
I think that you're correct in some ways, that Dom3 is created from a Eurocentric viewpoint. Ofcourse it is-the Devs are Europeans. As far as Occidental Nations being human, vs non-human Orientals, yes you're correct in that, but you're not mentioning Machaka (Africa) or Mictlan (South America). If Egypt can be arguably Oriental, then certainly more so the Ashanti. And stranger-far more "Other" than *any* Asian country, the Aztecs, who didn't come into contact with any known Europeans, through *any* means, until the 16th century. Either one of them could have been anthropomorphized. Mictlan, for instance, has every opportunity to go fully alien, but never does.
The subject of colonialism interests me, Omnirizon, in part, because of the mods I'm making; and in part, that interest is the reason I'm making those mods:
Aksum (Ethiopia), ofcourse, belongs to the Christian hegemony, and is one of the oldest of all centers of Christianity, but is very distinct from Europe, America, the Middle East, etc. It's also, naturally, a part of Colonial history-in this case, a would-be Italian colony that defeated their would-be conquerors, drove them out of the country in shame, and then sued for peace immediately afterward.
Again, very different and distinct from preconceptions of colonial Africa--they're already Christians, and have been since around the 4th century AD. Infact, it's the second oldest country, after Armenia, to officially become Christian, and it's quite possibly the oldest country-in terms of human settlement-in the entire world. When set upon, they defeated their European enemies, and retained their National identity. Thirdly, they have a very long tradition of female rulership and political-even military-power. So on one hand, a culture very recogniseable to Europe, but on the other, one completely alien in many ways-but still capable of holding it's own.
Ammon, on the other hand, represents a broader, but much more mythological base-a hypothetical "last stand" of indiginous culture against colonial powers (aka the other LA Nations). They're a brutish Nation, with undead and demonic units galore. They practice blood sacrifice and cannibalism, and have a lower than Late Era average technological base, so they're arguably no better or brighter than any other Late Era Nation, and they were (eventually) specifically designed not to be, but they *are* wildly different, in various ways, from the other Nations they're set against. One way I wanted to show this was to give them a thriving giant population. They're completely non-Jotun giants (they're part demon, and worship the stars and the dead), but they arm themselves and conduct themselves along basic Jotunish/giantish lines. Defeating them-LA Hinnom aside-means no more giants in the world. On the other hand, they have access to more gems than other LA Nations-to represent the raw resources of an undeveloped, untamed continent. They also draw from one of the oldest of human cultures-Egypt.
Neither one was created from a Eurocentric viewpoint-I'm an American-but neither was written with "political correctness" or realism, or even historical accuracy as a goal. They're simply personal homages and nods to various cultures, filtered through my own concepts, and preconceptions. Representative icons, just like the other Dom3 Nations.
They both include humans, but they include humans who aren't necessarily acting all that well, and Aksum, infact, includes 1 unit which is partly based on a racist anthropomorphization that Ethiopian Christians inflicted on Ethiopian Jews-that they were capable of transforming into hyenas, because it was believed that all blacksmiths were were-hyenas (being a blacksmith was hereditary), which was a common profession for Ethiopian Jews.
I don't appologise for that use-it makes the Nation more interesting, it educates about the culture, and it's a valid, if immoral, superstition. And racism isn't the whole story-Ethiopians believed that *every* Blacksmith was a were-hyena, not just the Jewish ones. Culture isn't, after all, just the best, most noble aspects of humanity, it's also us at our worst, and us at our most mediochre, and everything in between.
I think it would be hard for anyone to create 50 + Nations *without* doing what the Devs have done-namely, filtering them through their own concepts, and preconceptions, and coming up with some generic themes. It's not so much a Eurocentric, or Occidental (opposed to Oriental) worldview, as it simply is a human factor. We all come from somewhere, and we all view the world from that place. I think the fact that the Devs introduce these cultures, and their myths and spirituality, in depth and to a large audience, says a lot more about how they look at the world than any fantastical "European conspiracy" to subjugate the world.
For a more clear example, compare EA R'lyeh Aboleths to LA R'lyeh. They're both extremely "other", but in terms of power, they're complete opposites. And while there may be some lines drawn between East and West, they're not power-lines.
Infact, considering that Kristoffer is a teacher of religion, and considering that religion *is* one of the greatest dividers between so-called "Eastern" and "Western" thought, I would say if anything, it's simply a facet of his training and mindset, which has been influenced to a greater degree than most of us by that East vs West division.
And I think, considering Yomi, that that's much more a Cinocentric view of a Nation than anything the West needs take responsibility for. China viewed itself as the center of the world-and outside that center lived barbarians, bandits, demons, and giants. I'm reading the "Tales of the Tea-House" epic, and it mentions a very Yomi-like nation of demons and giants to the North.
As far as India goes, that-if anything-is a fine example of taking a literary concept, in this case the works of Rudyard Kipling, and translating them into the game, as a set of Nations. I don't find that irresponsible, Eurocentric, or strange, in that Atlantis comes mainly from the mind of H.P. Lovecraft, another example of a literary "model".
Yes, it would be nice to have some more Nations based on historical India. Somebody's going to have to create those Nations, though.
If anything, I'd like to have a Native American (or even Canadian) Nation-that's one of the few areas of the world that doesn't have in-game representation. But even if they made it about "Vinland", Skraelings, and Lief Ericson's adventures, that would still, to me, be a valid representation of America,
Re: Orientalism in Dominions
Hybrid Mode
