Race Relations in Anaxas
From ThornsWiki
Welcome to the Race Relations page. This page is an in-depth look into the subtleties and nuances of how the four races feel about one another. It is a lot to read; we recommend reading at least the section that applies to your character in order to get a feel for it. The following is for those who want to take their understanding of Vitan racial dynamics to the next level.
Contents
A Special Note on Prejudice
Despite being in many ways one of the most progressive nations in the Six Kingdoms, Anaxas nevertheless suffers from the innate prejudices of its people. Prejudice is most commonly meted out against the differently-abled (that is to say, magically), though there is also some lingering prejudice against those of different genders, religions, nationalities, ethnicities and sexual orientation.
Please note how these views may affect the creation of your character—while it "feels good" to play a sympathizer galdor, how realistic is it in the Kingdom? How will a galdor who feels differently from the norm about wicks or humans or even passives be treated? How will they be successful in their business and friendship endeavors? Keep this in mind and remember, this is just a game!
Galdori
Probably the forerunners of the kingdom's prejudice are the galdori, who receive the lion's share of the blame for being prejudiced. An intelligent and logical race, they nevertheless have formed strong negative opinions about other races. In many senses they are more fair-minded than most of the kingdom; for example, they have attained near-complete gender equality, and their attitude towards homosexuality is surprisingly accepting. However, their views of the other races (humans, wicks and passives) are not nearly as progressive, tending towards ignorant assumptions, stereotypes and general disdain.
This stems mainly from the very real differences between galdori, humans, wicks and passives. As the primary magic-users (and the only proper ones, in their view), the galdori see themselves as the natural leaders and indeed owners of the world. They view other races as violent, unpredictable and ungrateful. While their treatment of other races might be seen as cruel by outsiders, they imagine themselves as the patient protectors of the world; generally, they deny humans the right to govern themselves because they believe that humans would only engage in pointless warfare (such as the type they observed in tribes of humans, before galdori rule was established) and become horribly unhappy without the technological advancements of the galdori.
Galdori are enlightened when it comes to acceptance of other nationalities and ethnicities, for the most part, though they have quite a lot of disdain for what they see as "savages" (mainly the tribes of galdori in Naulanon, whom they often refer to as 'greenbacks', and the Shothans, with whom no one has had contact in many years). There is some residual dislike of Hesse, as Hesse and Anaxas entered a brief armed conflict around 300 years ago.
Humans
Humans are not without prejudices of their own. In addition to an understandable resentment of the galdori, they have a long history of hating and mistrusting the galdori - even as far back as the days of Estua, and the War of the Book. They have a relatively good relationship with the wicks overall, but cultural and magical differences render them ultimately unable to fully understand them. Even their views on passives (with which they share a common inability to perform magic) tend towards the unequal - many view passives as spoiled galdori children that got what was coming to them, while others merely pity passives; some fear their diableries. Their society has other ills, as well. Women are considered generally less capable than men in most professions, and in society women are expected to be somewhat subservient to men. As humans have no natural ability to defend themselves, rape and assault on women is unhappily common, especially in the city. Racism (when referring to nationality) is also fairly common, but not usually vicious in nature. Stereotypes exist of almost every kingdom apart from Anaxas, from 'snooty Bastians' to 'hairy Hesseans' to 'frigid Hoxians' to 'caveman Giorans'. However, Anaxi humans have very little animosity for Mugrobi people; in fact, they generally consider Mugroba to be a country to aspire to and emulate, and have high regard for Mugrobi culture, even adopting portions of it. Homosexuality is widely condemned among humans; it is seen as a weakness in men and a coarse, desperate trait in women.
Wicks
Despite being (for the most part) open and accepting of most people, lifestyles and cultures, even going so far as to create their own culture based around a hodgepodge patchwork quilt of other cultures, the wicks have a virulent hatred of the galdori - perhaps owed, in part, to their common heritage. As magic users, wicks have a very different approach to spells and the uses of magic, and resent the galdori attempting to deny them their abilities because they are not 'pure' enough. Although the galdori government takes a generally non-agressive approach to dealing with wick tribes, even considering them sovereign, wicks sympathize with the plight of humans and passives. Their opinion of the galdori is mainly formed by a combination of word of mouth, individual experiences (for wicks who were born of galdori) and their own cultural history.
Galdori Views of the Other Races
The galdori see themselves as the master race, and the clear and rightful rulers of the world, because of their ability to manipulate the mona. As such, though they are physically identical to humans in most respects, they do not classify themselves as such. They have removed themselves completely from the word human, and created a new identity for themselves. (However, they consider their 'species' to be homo sapiens, all the same.)
Considering their overall view of the common people, it is not surprising that galdori come to the conclusion that many humans are not to be trusted and incapable of governing themselves without horrible consequences. The rampant crime that plagues the human population is seen as a symptom of bad blood within the humans themselves, something about their nature, rather than the result of the galdori regime or chronic poverty. (This is not to say that no galdori have ever made that leap, but it is not a popular hypothesis that galdori rule is the cause of humanity's criminal problem.) This view traces back to the furthest reaches of history, when the early galdori nations triumphed over the tribal human societies and assimilated them into the ways of meritocracy. The tribal societies were at constant war with each other; it was a part of their culture and a means of population control. The galdori did not see the merit in such a society, and to this day consider tribal culture to be worthless and mindlessly violent.
Humans make up the majority of the labor force. As such, galdori have a vested interest in keeping them happy, ignorant and working. Though most of galdori society does not consider this, the government invests a lot of time in quelling the fears of the human population. They push them, but not too far. They work them hard, they tax them hard, but not too hard. In fact, in the event of overzealous politicians who try to enforce a stricter reign of oppression than the one currently in place, the majority government often steps in to intervene on the public's behalf. This leads to galdori popular society judging these governments "going soft", but it in fact this strategy managed to keep the peace until now.
Galdori know instinctively that humans are capable of some reasoning, and do grant them some autonomy in certain respects. Unlike passives, which galdori see unequivocally as children, humans are usually given the benefit of the doubt that they will understand a task and be able to perform it competently. While many galdori do think of humans as uneducated laborers, there is widespread social acceptance of the idea that most are not drooling idiots (as a rule).
In fact, many galdori form friendships with their human servants or the humans they see on a daily basis. This is far from unusual. It would not be strange to see a galdori chatting happily with their cab driver or the local baker. But such friendships often carry heavy undertones of class privilege, and there is a socioeconomic divide that cannot be forgotten in most circumstances. While a galdor might be happy to chat, even call a human their friend, it is unlikely that the human could cross this divide and demand more than such a superficial friendship calls for. In the case of attempted romantic relationships, it is nearly always the inequality of the two individuals involved that ends the affair prematurely. Galdori feel no guilt about relationships with humans, not from a moral standpoint, but the social taboo against "digging in the dirt" (as it is called) is usually strong enough to dissuade them. When romance does occur, it is usually manipulative or exploitative, often to the point of physical or emotional abuse. This occurs even with the best of intentions.
In the end, the opinion on humans varies widely among galdori. Some high-class galdori who live in relative isolation from the human population, such as the wealthy elite at Brunnhold, consider them disgusting and ignorant beings without exception. Most galdori interact with friendly humans on a daily basis and have no strong opinion one way or another. Practically speaking, as humans make up 75% of the population of Vita, it would be very hard indeed to maintain a strong loathing of humans throughout one's whole life. Even the most prejudiced galdori typically settle for mild dislike.
Wicks, like humans, make up a larger percentage of the population of the world than galdori, a fact which leaves the sorcerers uncomfortable. As a whole they see wicks as evidence of a dilution of their race, something which makes them uncomfortable (and, in some cases, terrifies them). The bastardized magic used by the wicks is a subject of scorn for most galdori, who hold magic in the highest esteem, as it forms the backbone of their culture. The stereotypical wick represents many things galdori society opposes: a disregard for the law and tradition, a tribal-structured society with no strong government, disrespectful and diluted magic, deception, poverty and a lack of ambition. (Note that the physical appearance of wicks usually ranks low on the list of grievances, though many galdori find it appalling.) However, with a few exceptions, most galdori do not view wicks as an outright threat to their way of life.
As wicks are omnipresent in society, galdori have gone out of their way to encourage them to assimilate to human culture and go without magic. Ignoring the tribal structure was the first step in this; they discount its validity, and offer a kind of unspoken legal autonomy, provided the tribes leave galdori society alone. The tsat subculture of Vienda was the result of galdori efforts to separate wicks from their tribes, educate them in trade, and discourage the use of unregulated, dangerous magic. Tsats are usually treated on par with humans in this context, as a reward for their efforts to blend in.
Surprisingly, wicks who "look the part" tend to receive slightly more positive reactions from galdori, who in other contexts tend to view extreme self-modification as outright disrespect and rebellion. The "jovial" wick is seen as a source of entertainment. Galdori children are often enchanted by the strange appearance of wicks, and more than a few adults don't mind a bit of wickish entertainment despite having conservative standards. As long as wicks keep to themselves, galdori tend to tolerate them, though they will usually dissuade their children from interacting with them. Galdori tend to buy into the stereotype of wicks as lazy, good-natured thieves, and wicks who fit their mental image of what a wick should look like are not considered overly dangerous.
The wicks whom galdori dislike implicitly are the less jovial, more tribal nomads, such as the Black Hand. They are seen as blackguards and ruffians, and as they do not typically dress in a flamboyant manner or peddle harmless tricks such as fortune telling, they strike the galdori as a potential threat to the peace. Wicks who comply with neither the jovial nor the tsat stereotype are mistrusted.
Most recently, the rising up of the young, disillusioned wick generation into tyat kuatanos has particularly disturbed the galdori who already struggle with accepting wicks both in and outside of their cities. These young wicks are both dissatisfied with the decisions of their elders as well as with their place as sanctioned by the galdori and have proven themselves particularly stubborn and resistant to authority.
The galdori relationship with passives is immensely complex. Over the centuries, so many theories on the cause of passivity have been offered up that most have simply ceased to think about it. The religious explanation (i.e. that passives are being punished for an action in a previous life) has proven the most popular and sustaining theory, and within it there is an element of victim-blaming that prevents most galdori from feeling guilt over their treatment of passives. The "passive problem" is conflated by the unstable element of the diablerie, which is a looming and potentially deadly threat that has caused many galdori to hate and fear passives.
There is a long history of various 'solutions' to the problem of galdori children being born without magic. The most lasting method has been to confine them in a place where they can do as little harm as possible, and, theoretically, where little harm could come to them - namely, as live-in servants in galdori institutions. The galdori tend to see this as a great mercy. Allowing passives to work at universities and in the houses of galdori is allowing them in-name-only access to galdori culture, whereby they might soak up the good graces of the master race and become better themselves. As servants, they serve the galdori race while leading lives devoid of complexity, personal responsibility or choice - lives most galdori assume to be carefree and without worry.
As stated before, passives are thought of as universally childlike and innocent. Being without magic leaves them in a state of permanent pre-adolescence, in the minds of the galdori, and they are kept as innocent as possible through the social conventions around them. Passives are not allowed to marry or bear children, take on paying jobs, or experience an education. Galdori take their role as the caretakers of passives very seriously, and there is a strict taboo against any kind of sexual relationship with a passive; such an act would be monumentally immoral, on par with child abuse, and guilty parties are labeled "pathephiles". And while physical abuse of passives is rampant, it is not seen as a socially polite thing to discuss, nor is it something most galdori could stomach (not being a violent people by nature). The galdori prefer to enable systems that encourage passives to punish each other for misdemeanors in exchange for the favor of their masters. Corporal punishment is seen as a way of keeping passives in line, in the same vein as smacking a misbehaving dog.
It cannot be said that galdori never share a dislike of passives. When they do, it is typically a feeling of frustration and ignorance; passives seem ungrateful for the service that the galdori believe they provide them with. Passives are also accused of stubbornness, stupidity (not ignorance, which is seen as a positive trait in passives) or insubordination.
While passives are human-like in that they have no magical ability, galdori do not see them as such. Even freed passives have a different status than humans. They are seen as sharing a certain kinship with galdori, a bond of blood. A galdori might speak indifferently to a human, but passives often evoke a more emotional response - derision, fear, avoidance, or pity. Galdori families that contain a passive typically cut all ties to them - not purely for reasons of social grace, either. Passives evoke painful emotions in galdori that are often too much to bear. The expectation of magical ability in a young child is so great that the loss of their future in magic is devastating, as terrible for galdori parents to endure as the actual death of a child. Cutting ties helps ease the pain for the galdori family, and is seen as the expected recourse should a child be discovered to be a passive. It is seen as kind rather than cruel; galdori assume that growing up with one's family without being able to live up to the social expectation of magic use would be far more painful than an anonymous future at Brunnhold.
When passives are special servants to individual galdori, they might have a very close relationship, but like human-galdori friendship this comes with heavy implications of inequality. Most galdori could never see a passive as an equal, and such friendships tend to be very one-sided.
All races distrust and despise the Raen, viewing them as murderers and stealers of souls. While they may offer phasmonia as a peace offering, hoping the Raen will stay away from their friends and family, they will not hesitate to drive a Raen out from their community if discovered.
Human Views of Other Races
Humans form the vast majority of the Ten Kingdoms and the bulk of the labor force. In most of the world, to survive as a human is to allow oneself to be subjugated by galdori. This is such a common and historical state of affairs that few question it, though there are often very loud grumbles.
In essence, humans are too vast and varied to feel a racial kinship towards one another. They do not sympathize with those who live one town over any better than they can sympathize with passives or wicks. Human cultures are insular, intended to block out unfriendly parties. Humanity is about survival at its core.
For the majority of humans, their lives and their relationship with the galdori are not a simple matter of "oppressors vs. oppressed." The human attitude towards galdori can be broken down into three subsections of the population: those who consider themselves benefiting from galdori rule, those who are indifferent to the workings of the government, and those who oppose it.
Some humans do feel that they have benefited, and have no desire to rock the boat or challenge the status quo; these are typically humans who have found themselves in positions of some autonomy, running a business that is technically owned by a galdor while being under the protective umbrella of his company. Many galdori do indeed protect the humans who follow their regulations and run their companies to their specifications. Getting in good with a galdori property owner is a good way for a human to get ahead, despite the economic glass ceiling. However, the number of humans who think this way are relatively low, and sometimes suffer the derision of their own people for voicing such an opinion - an opinion that is coming from a position of economic privilege, if not race privilege. It is worth noting that these humans, referred to colloquially as "lampreys," do not approve of galdori universally. Some feel they are making the best of a bad situation, or manipulating those in charge.
The majority of humans have no real opinion on politics, as they are too busy living their own very difficult lives. Their relationship with the galdori is one of polite servitude, often sarcastic and disingenuous (as the lower class typically is to the upper class). The status quo is seen as "normal", something that has always been and always would be. Most humans see galdori rule as necessary for peace, an opinion that has been drilled into them by their breeding. Those who come from more rebellious stock might not see the need for humans to run businesses or own property; while there are disadvantages to living under galdori rule, the thought of being leaderless is more frightening. Humans are trained to mistrust their own kind and would probably see a human leader as devoid of true, tangible authority. These humans may or may not dislike or mistrust all galdori on principle.
Some humans, however, are of the opinion that galdori rule is the cause of all the problems of humanity. They oppose it by taking part in subversive acts: underground education, smuggling, crime, or even joining organizations such as the resistance. Rebellion against the government and the ideals put across by galdori culture unifies this portion of humanity. Galdori are seen as perpetrators of a corrupt and self-serving system, the willing participants in what amounts to slavery. Though they may outwardly play the roles that their culture expects of them, these humans tend to despise all galdori.
The harm done by galdori culture in its assimilation of human culture cannot be fully measured, but signs can be seen in the inferiority complexes that many humans have in the face of galdori. The lack of magical ability is a deep and pervading inequality, one that is patently obvious and impossible to ignore. It is therefore not surprising that humans sometimes accept galdori rule without question, even if they personally dislike their place in it.
Humans as a whole are typically more easygoing around wicks than they are around the galdori, and there is no great contention between the two races. But because humanity is so vast and diverse, it is impossible to state definitively that humans and wicks always get along. In smaller towns, places where wicks are relatively uncommon, the attitude towards them might be one of confusion or dislike, but it might also be a welcome relief (if the wicks fall into to the "jovial" stereotype). Wicks provide many services humans value, such as medicinal and magical healing, entertainment, and the transfer of trade goods.
Some humans consider wicks lazy or shiftless, buying into a common unfriendly stereotype. Nomadic wicks and the way they live might confuse a human who has always lived in a town and worked a normal job. For this reason, some humans carry prejudices about associating with wicks beyond enjoying a performance or trading with them. For a child to have a close friendship with wick children is sometimes a source of worry for mothers. Meanwhile, human adults are often proud of their wick friends, and are often not above asking them to perform small tricks for them while sharing an ale.
Tsats are another matter. They are the best of both worlds, according to humans; they look and act "normal" (ie, human) and yet have magical abilities that can be useful in a pinch. Humans often feel that tsats are admirable for assimilating into their culture; they are aware, too, of the prejudice tsats face by galdori.
Strangely enough, much like their galdori oppressors, humans aren't entirely sure what to do about the tyat movement as its restlessness grows from within the youngest generation of wicks. While it's not such a bad thing to see some of the blame for trouble shifted off of human shoulders, tyat don't necessarily discriminate when it comes to their lawless behavior, and this has left humans victimized in their wake.
Most recently, the rising up of the young, disillusioned wick generation into tyat kuatanos has particularly disturbed the galdori who already struggle with accepting wicks both in and outside of their cities. These young wicks are both dissatisfied with the decisions of their elders as well as with their place as sanctioned by the galdori and have proven themselves particularly stubborn and resistant to authority.
The reaction of humans to passives is complex, and involves several factors.
From a purely logical standpoint, humans see passives as victims of the galdori system - they were betrayed by the same people who purported to love them. Most humans cannot understand why galdori parents would give up a child who could not do magic; this is, of course, because they themselves cannot fully understand magic culture and how incredibly integral it is to galdori identity. But this is not to say that all humans pity passives, or feel they were given the short end of the stick. As an emotional side, some actually feel that passives were raised as spoiled galdori and therefore deserve the fate they were given. Many do not believe life as a passive is much harder than life as a galdor. Given the way passives treat humans, the resulting dynamic is one of mutual mistrust, or at least mild dislike.
Some humans do feel pity for passives. These are usually the humans who have gotten to know passives personally, or have experienced firsthand the kind of treatment that passives receive. Because becoming a passive is seen to humans as a humbling, "breaking" experience, they don't group them in with the galdori. But the element of danger from a passive's diablerie is always at the back of a human's mind; they tread carefully around them. Humans know even less about what causes a diablerie than the galdori do, so they are more likely to avoid interacting with a passive for fear of triggering it.
In the case of passives who manage to live incognito (especially older passives, whose epicanthic folds are not as obvious), it is normally impossible for humans to detect them outside of slight genetic differences.
All races distrust and despise the Raen, viewing them as murderers and stealers of souls. While they may offer phasmonia as a peace offering, hoping the Raen will stay away from their friends and family, they will not hesitate to drive a Raen out from their community if discovered.
Wick Views of Other Races
For the most part, being an inclusive society, wicks do not hold as many prejudices as the other races. The ones they do have tend to be mostly fluid, able to be dispelled with personal experience. The nomadic lifestyle lends itself to fleeting interaction, and as such many wicks do not have much experience with other races on a long-term basis.
Wicks have genetic history among the galdori, as they are the result of galdori/human interbreeding. But most wicks are wick-born and do not have galdori parentage. They do not feel a kinship to them based on magic, as the galdori have much stronger magic than wicks, as well as a different outlook towards the practice in general. Much of wick culture is dedicated to throwing off the confines of galdori society - if not as a conscious rebellion than as an unconscious one.
But because galdori mainly ignore wicks, most do not feel a strong sense of animosity towards the galdori. True, some of the recent laws regarding the banning of nomadic wicks from Vienda sting, and there is a growing sense of resentment for the harassment wicks face on a daily basis while interacting with the Seventen. But as most wicks are traveling for much of the year, they do not typically encounter such problems in excess. As such, the galdori government is usually less of a concern to them as intertribal politics.
On a personal level, wicks tend to find galdori fussy, pompous and arrogant. They rarely deal with them in trade and usually avoid them whenever possible. But there is much less of a servile component to their behavior when they do interact with galdori, possibly because they feel they have nothing to lose. A wick is far less likely than a human to be automatically polite and compliant when speaking with a galdor.
On the whole, wicks have no problem with humans. They tend to view them as hardworking people who just prefer to stay in one place. They may occasionally laugh at the prudishness of humanity, and it could be said that wicks consider humans too old-fashioned, but this never translates into outright malice or negativity.
Many wicks see humans as potential customers, and go out of their way to be friendly to them. Some might resent the way humans act as though wicks are entertaining novelties, but some of them don't mind it.
Wicks see wick passives (parse) as no different from magic-using wicks. Though the diablerie is still a factor, it is rarely as severe or damaging as galdori-born passives. Therefore parse exist seamlessly within wick society, and there is almost no distinction between wicks and parse, or shame to the parents of parse. Light teasing may take place in adolescence, but this is fleeting. The reason for this is that many wicks choose not to use magic altogether. Magic is far less integral to wick society than it is to galdori society; parse may fill a variety of roles and never miss their lack of magic.
As for galdori-born passives, wicks have little opinion, though they are slightly more pitying than humans when it comes to the way passives are treated. They understand that magic is important to the galdori, far more important than familial bonds, and though they do not approve of this dynamic they recognize how passives might become victimized by it. Typically wicks hold no animosity towards passives, and might even have a bit of sympathy for them.
All races distrust and despise the Raen, viewing them as murderers and stealers of souls. While they may offer phasmonia as a peace offering, hoping the Raen will stay away from their friends and family, they will not hesitate to drive a Raen out from their community if discovered.
Passive Views of Other Races
For the purposes of this section, we will be assume galdori-born passives; wick-born passives typically adopt the views of wicks, and do not need to be discussed in detail.
Passives have a unique situation, as they were raised as galdori for the first ten years of their lives, and converted into a subculture without their consent when they were discovered to have no magical ability. They have been othered by the cultural system in place, stripped of their cultural identity and left to absorb a makeshift one to replace it. As such, they feel a great deal of anger and resentment for a good portion of their lives. This cannot help but affect their views of everything, including other races.
Despite this, the majority of passives do not feel as though they are a truly separate race. Even with the name "passive" becoming their new racial identity, they consider themselves rightfully galdori, and often struggle to accept the divide between galdori and passives.
The passive relationship towards galdori is one of the most complex and multi-faceted relationships in Vita, and cannot be fully explained by a handful of paragraphs. In short, the way passives view their former friends and family members after becoming their servants is different for each individual. There are some commonalities that occur, however.
Most passives, upon discovering their passivity, proceed through the stages of grief utterly alone. Their families abandon them, in a cultural tradition that they themselves accepted while growing up. Knowing that they bought into the system of slavery that currently binds them to servitude is a bitter irony for passives; some feel there must have been a mistake. But almost universally, there is anger and sadness towards the galdori involved.
Eventually, this spreads to the entire race; passives feel jealousy of powers they will never have, resentful of the privileged life they will be denied, and anger at the way they are treated by their former race. They are prone to lashing out in the beginning stages of acceptance, which often earns them a harsh reality check - being physically punished for transgressions is not something many galdori children are used to.
As passives age, some begin to accept their lot in life, but few ever begin to feel it is morally right. That is not to say that no passives support the system that oppresses them. A certain type of Stockholm Syndrome takes place in a minority of passives, who become brainwashed into believing that the system keeps them safe from harm and even benefits them in intangible ways. Some religious individuals believe that the role passives play in galdori society is ordained by the gods. Most passives, however, will never feel satisfied with their lives, and are often driven to a deep-seated hatred of the galdori.
Especially difficult to come to terms with is the idea that they will never be allowed to marry or bear children. The taboo about passive/galdori relations is generally one-sided; passives see things differently. From their perspective, they are fully capable of consent, and indeed have a deep-set genetic attraction to their own race. Many believe relationships with galdori might be a ticket back into galdori society, though these passives are generally disdained by other passives for being manipulative. Even genuine attraction of a passive to a galdor is seen as race betrayal. It is not unusual for passives to fall in love with galdori, in spite of the hopelessness of reciprocation, and many fall deep into depression as a result of this unrequited affection.
One cannot forget, however, that a very real power imbalance is inherent in all galdori/passive relationships. It is inescapable, and passives sometimes fall prey to the manipulation of unscrupulous galdori. This has led to rampant mistrust of galdori men by passive women in particular.
Another facet of the relationship is this: most passives feel galdori are, to some extent, worthier and greater than they are. This is an inescapable feeling, the result of a lifetime of conditioning, and usually manifests itself somewhere in the subconscious. It is a message constantly reinforced by their masters, and it conflates with what they were told growing up. This inferiority complex is processed in different ways by different individuals, but many passives internalize it and might grow to accept the galdori as their rightful masters. This is more frequently a feature of older passives than the younger ones.
Gated passives generally align with galdori on their view of wicks - dirty, lazy, dishonest and unintellectual. This is the sort of prejudice they could carry with them their whole lives. Most gated passives do not encounter wicks on a daily basis, and can retain their dislike of them merely out of habit.
Freed passives tend to interact with wicks a lot more than gated passives do. In fact, wick transport is among the top ways that passives find freedom. Passives who are on the run tend to lay low with wicks, going "off the map" while the search for them dies down. This can lead to many passives actually preferring the company of wicks, who, to them, are a bit like weak galdori who accept them without question. Once passives get past the initial cultural differences, they can often find a new home among them.
If never given the chance to revise their opinion, passives feel generally the same way about humans that galdori do. They have no reason to feel solidarity with them, as they do not consider themselves human, or even non-magical in the same way.
However, many freed passives find a permanent home among humans. It generally takes many years for passives to truly assimilate to human culture, but they typically do so in the interests of survival. This may be coupled with a slight alienated feeling. Humans can never fully appreciate what it means to be a passive, nor can passives appreciate what it is to be human - though, with the lingering racial privilege of their formative years, they often assume that they know all about how humans feel, and that they are uncomplicated, simple people.
All races distrust and despise the Raen, viewing them as murderers and stealers of souls. While they may offer phasmonia as a peace offering, hoping the Raen will stay away from their friends and family, they will not hesitate to drive a Raen out from their community if discovered.
Raen Views of Other Races
The Raen for the most part are more focused on survival and finding a body to inhabit than they are on racial tensions. However, if a Raen carries prejudices, it is typically those of their past life.
| |||||||||||||||||