Creating a demi-human race and society

[Edena_of_Neith]

Ok, I'm trying an experiment.

Let's take a typical NPC Commoner.
Make that Commoner 1st level.
Make him human.
Assume a Charlemagne environment exists around him.

Now, what we are going to do is make this Commoner into a demi-human (or, in 3rd Edition, a humanoid) and seeing how the society around him would change as a result.
We are going to do this by granting him traits that unusual variations for a human, or are outright inhuman. Then altering the society around him to reflect the fact that everyone else (in the Charlemagne society) has this inhuman trait also.
Then, we will add game rules (from any edition) to reflect the change, or make it feasible.

I need someone to take this 1st level human male Commoner, and give him a trait that is distinctly unusual for a human, or outright non-human.

Anyone?

Edena_of_Neith

 

[SWBaxter]

I need someone to take this 1st level human male Commoner, and give him a trait that is distinctly unusual for a human, or outright non-human.

Go with a classic: Infravision. Or Darkvision, Nightvision, Low-Light vision, whatever - he can see in the dark.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Excellent.

Now, envision: Everyone in the society (the Charlemagne society) now has Darkvision: they can see in the dark.

What kind of changes in society can you imagine happening as a result?
Go into the details. I want to hear what you think.

Anyone and everyone who wants to comment on the changes that would occur as a result of everyone having Darkvision: speak your mind. I would love to hear what your thoughts are.

 

[mir]

Traditionally work hours were set by when the sun went down because there was no other way to illuminate a working area. Peasants with darkvision can work round the clock. Presumably leading to productive but stressed out laborers.

 

[Tonguez]

Traditionally work hours were set by when the sun went down because there was no other way to illuminate a working area. Peasants with darkvision can work round the clock. Presumably leading to productive but stressed out laborers.

Even peasants aren't going to work themselves to the point of exhaustion just because they can so it looks like worl hours will be set by need for sleep rather than hours of daylight.

I think an interest aspect will be the whole social psychology of darkness. For humans many of our cultural and social practices are based on a 'fear of the dark' primarily because we can't see the things lurking in the shadows.

For a race with darkvision that fear of shadows becomes less pronounced, they no longer need to gather indoors around the fire to keep out the things that go bump in the night. Being out at night still isn't best practice but we no longer have that lingering fear of shadows in the closet or boogeymen under the bed.

I'm not sure what this might change so I'll keep thinking

Socially I think that in warm climates it might result in a more 'open street social life' with night time parties in the main street of town with city guards posted around to keep an eye on things (inside and out). So instead of abandoned streets where theives hide in the alleyways you have busy nighttime markets, outdoor theatres and street parties/madi gras where pickpockets ply the crowds.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Even peasants aren't going to work themselves to the point of exhaustion just because they can so it looks like worl hours will be set by need for sleep rather than hours of daylight.

I think an interest aspect will be the whole social psychology of darkness. For humans many of our cultural and social practices are based on a 'fear of the dark' primarily because we can't see the things lurking in the shadows.

For a race with darkvision that fear of shadows becomes less pronounced, they no longer need to gather indoors around the fire to keep out the things that go bump in the night. Being out at night still isn't best practice but we no longer have that lingering fear of shadows in the closet or boogeymen under the bed.

I'm not sure what this might change so I'll keep thinking

Socially I think that in warm climates it might result in a more 'open street social life' with night time parties in the main street of town with city guards posted around to keep an eye on things (inside and out). So instead of abandoned streets where theives hide in the alleyways you have busy nighttime markets, outdoor theatres and street parties/madi gras where pickpockets ply the crowds.

(considers both your posts)

The first thing that came to my mind was: what about peace and quiet?
How can people in a city sleep when it's an uproar all night?

Wouldn't this make basements (cellars, etc.) more popular?
They are warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, more private than aboveground, and now that a lack of light is not a problem wouldn't they be more fully utilized?

How would light be handled?
Light spoils Darkvision. Light a torch, and everyone on the street is momentarily blinded (I think that's how it works ...) and annoyed.
Would light be banned at night? Moderated by law?
Perhaps torches and lanterns would be banned altogether in certain places and times?

 

[Set]

Since most people wouldn't work both day and night, people would tend to gravitate to day jobs and night jobs, and quickly become visibly different in appearance and status.

Darkvision users don't see colors, so they wouldn't be prone to wearing colorful clothing. They'd be pale skinned. Depending on the climate and the conditions, one class or the other would likely become an underclass. Due to Vitamin D absorbtion problems, the night shift might be sickly (or not, depending on diet), and 'night work' and the 'night workers' regarded as lower class and expendable, a sort of heriditary untouchable caste. Alternately, the day workers might end up tanned and leathery, and that sort of look be associated with common laborers, while the pale, flawless skin of the night workers might be associated with the similarly pale and flawless skin of the noble classes. (In the real world, some noblewomen used small doses of poison on themselves to have paler skin...)

There's sufficient rationale to go either way, depending on what the designer wants, and the actual nobility can just as easily spend more time hunting and hawking in the outdoors, if they want to avoid being pale-skinned. A healthy golden tan, and 'being blessed by the sun' would then be associated with nobility, and some sort of pseudo-babble about noblemen being purified and closer to the noblest metal gold, than the commonfolk, would crop up to justify the ill-treatment of the night workers (and foisting night work off on people who are already ill-regarded, like slaves or foreign immigrants or criminals given work sentences or members of minority faiths / races / social groupings / etc).

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Thanks. Got a question on Darkvision, though ... how much light is needed to spoil it?

In Charlemagne's realm, we've got long days in summer and short in winter. And then the moon goes from dark to full. And sometimes it's cloudy (at night, no moonlight and thus very dark) and sometimes not.

How to handle that?

(Let's assume, also, for the point of this thread, that this particular Darkvision allows you to see in color ... when it is working.)

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

From the SRD:

The presence of light does not spoil darkvision.

Unless I'm just missing it, I cannot find anything in the SRD that shows how far you can see in moonlight, I suppose probably because it depends so much on other conditions.

The way Darkvision reads, you can see normally out to a certain range, no matter the conditions (cloudy, moonlit total darkness) but it just stops after that, so someone with a 60 ft. range darkvision might still have some fear of the darkness since there might be something lurking just beyond their range of vision.

Edit: thinking about this - in that case a race that works at night relying on its darkvision might have a fewer issues with personal space. They tend to cluster together more - it is rude to stand far away from each other because they might drop out of sight of each other.

 

[Mallus]

How can people in a city sleep when it's an uproar all night?

Maybe you should visit a city someday and find out. Any urban area worth it's salt has noise around the clock in places.

Edena, that isn't extrapolation, it's just being silly.

(The answer, BTW, is that you get used to the uproar.)

Also, are these creatures of yours nocturnal, diurnal, both or neither?