How does a Masquerade fall apart?

As part of my story, I've got late 21st century humans disguising themselves to fit in amongst Iron-Age level humanoid aliens. (Via avatar, essentially.) To explain the obvious like languages and customs, etc, the humans have been listening to the aliens for several years via smart dust. (In trope terms, not-so-Sinister Surveillance.)

However, the plot I want relies on the Masquerade slowly falling apart from tiny details the humans have missed. For instance, one possibility I thought of was that the aliens notice that the humans are not carrying anywhere near the resources/provisions they would need to to fit the tech level. (Since the humans aren't traveling by foot but by aircraft/spaceship.) What other slip-ups like that could give them away?

(Feel free to use This Is Reality in full force, if it helps.)

edited 2nd Mar '11 3:32:01 PM by Yej

Da Rules excuse all the inaccuracy in the world. Listen to them, not me.

Cues like body language and expression would be the big stumbling blocks. Even with detailed surveillance that included visuals, humans studying another species would likely only be able to pick up broad strokes about such nonverbal communication details. Hygiene would be another; modern humans would probably have higher standards of personal washing and such than Iron Age aliens.

Provisions, I think, would be less of an issue. There's only so much any given individual would be able to carry on them, and given your suggested tech level for the aliens, they would likely assume that any long journey involves acquiring food along the way rather than packing it all with you.

I think breaking a masquerade is a bit harder to do in an Iron-age setting, just because of how long it would take for the revelation to actually get anywhere. You don't exactly have TV s and radios lying around, and it could take literally months for it to spread across a country.

The thing about Masquerades is, to really break them, the information needs to reach and be broadcasted by a big enough person that they just can't be killed off to keep a secret. If you can stop even a king's entire court from telling the whole country by decimating the city they're in, then its a bit challenging to actually reveal a Masquerade, and it would take years at the very least to actually inform every person in the most remotest areas.

edited 2nd Mar '11 5:26:09 PM by Dec

Nemo enim fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte insanit Deviantart.

One possibility is that the natives have a worldview shaped by their religion, but there is no way for the observers to pick up on the concepts of that worldview. In many primitive cultures the sacred mysteries are exactly that, mysteries. At some point, probably puberty, you go into a cave and someone in a mask whispers the secrets of the universe to you.

The observers, of course, have no clue what those secrets are. As time passes, the natives will notice discrepancies. They can't come out and ask directly, though, because you don't talk about sacred mysteries over coffee. Example: natives believe the world sits on the back of an otter, and its sneezes cause earthquakes. An earthquake occurs. The observers speculate about volcanoes and run off to check their instruments, with nary a word about otters.

Under World. It rocks!

Thanks for pointing that out, since I hadn't been thinking a lot about gestures/facial expressions. However, now I'm kind of stuck, because that sort of thing would be a very good reason to simply reject the humans and thus short-circuit the plot. (The hygiene thing is highlighted by some of the aliens considering the humans to be Memetic Sex Gods simply because they don't have shit all over them.)

I'm trying my best to avert Planetville, so the story is only really focusing on a single tribe of 50-100 people. IMO, the news could spread through that in less than a day, if not in a few hours.

Oh, right,yes. I had forgotten that the sacred mysteries wouldn't necessarily show up on the surveillance. (Though now I want to write a scene where the humans are discussing the sacred mysteries over coffee.) Also, I was generally thinking that the humans are going to sensible enough not to speculate about volcanoes within earshot of the aliens, exactly because they don't want to give themselves away. However, would (In)Exact Eavesdropping work as a substitute?

edited 4th Mar '11 2:56:31 PM by Yej

Da Rules excuse all the inaccuracy in the world. Listen to them, not me.

One very simple way unless the humans have used something like post-hypnotic suggestion is to just have them have a visceral negative reaction to one or more things that the aliens are very matter-of-fact about.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

" Thanks for pointing that out, since I hadn't been thinking a lot about gestures/facial expressions. However, now I'm kind of stuck, because that sort of thing would be a very good reason to simply reject the humans and thus short-circuit the plot."

Not necessarily. Like I said, the humans would be able to pick up broad strokes about the alien body language and such from long-term, close observation. The trouble would be with more subtle cues and lapses in the charade (as it would be very hard for a human being to go 24/7 without slipping back into natural, habitual body language). It wouldn't be a very obvious "OMG they are teh not us!" thing, but probably a more subtle Uncanny Valley effect from the alien's point of view. They'd be suspicious, but unable to tell outright that the humans are not them.

" (The hygiene thing is highlighted by some of the aliens considering the humans to be Memetic Sex Gods simply because they don't have shit all over them.)"

That strikes me as unlikely. Primitive people don't have lower standards of hygiene because they're just dirty, they have lower standards of hygiene because it's really impractical to keep it up in many environments without modern conveniences. In a cold or even temparate climate, without electricity, it would be too cold to bathe without getting hypothermia for most of the year. The only way to get around that is heating the water with fire, which is very time-consuming and uses up lots of fuel, so unless you're rich, you simply don't have the time/resources to bathe more often than once a month or so. Once a week if you're really fastidious.

That would be less of an issue in tropical climates, but those come with problems of their own. Sure, you can bathe as often as you like, but it's hot and humid so you'll be sweating a lot more. And in an Iron-Age civilization, there are no deoderants or antiperspirants. Even just regular soap is less effective and much more labor-intensive to produce, and therefore more expensive.

Also, everyone would be used to the level of hygiene that is generall maintained. "If everybody stinks, nobody stinks" and all that.

To them, the insistance of modern people on bathing at least once a day and washing their hands all the time would seem like someone insisting on bathing at least once an hour, while slathering on shampoo and soap that costs fifty bucks a bottle would to us.

I don't understand. I think you've swapped a word somewhere? (Also, I was trying to use the surveillance to suggest the humans have seen it before, just not in person, and so can disguise their bad reactions.)

I'd agree with the difficulty of maintaining it, and also the Uncanny Valley potential. However, the Masquerade line is that the humans are explorers from another tribe of the same species, so would that cover over the Uncanny Valley? (i.e. How easily could they dismiss the mismatched gestures as funny foreign customs?)

(Or is that a Characterization issue I need to sort out myself?)

Well, yes, it'd be impractical, but that's where I got the Sex God thing from. The logic is that since maintaining yourself to modern standards is so impractical, anybody who can is immensely rich and high-status. And since diseases sometimes result in scarring, the humans would seem physically attractive, apart from the Uncanny Valley thing. (Also, the humans are sensible enough not to insist on washing once a day/week "in character." If any of them do wash too much, they'll sneak back to human "civilization" to do it.)

edited 5th Mar '11 3:53:11 PM by Yej

Da Rules excuse all the inaccuracy in the world. Listen to them, not me.

"I'd agree with the difficulty of maintaining it, and also the Uncanny Valley potential. However, the Masquerade line is that the humans are explorers from another tribe of the same species, so would that cover over the Uncanny Valley? (i.e. How easily could they dismiss the mismatched gestures as funny foreign customs?) "

That kind of depends on how much inter-tribal contact and communication the alien species have. If there's very little, they might well dismiss it as simple cultural differences. If there's a relatively high degree of trade/contact then, well, the average alien will still be able to dismiss them as simply foreigners. Those who actually interact with foreigners more often, however, might well pick up on the fact that the humans are really different.

"Well, yes, it'd be impractical, but that's where I got the Sex God thing from. The logic is that since maintaining yourself to modern standards is so impractical, anybody who can is immensely rich and high-status. And since diseases sometimes result in scarring, the humans would seem physically attractive, apart from the Uncanny Valley thing. (Also, the humans are sensible enough not to insist on washing once a day/week "in character." If any of them do wash too much, they'll sneak back to human "civilization" to do it.)"

The artificial bodies the humans use probably would be more healthy and attractive than natural aliens, but more due to the nature of their growth (however that's done) and the more advanced state of human medicine (especially dentistry). That wouldn't tie in too much with hygiene, though, I expect.

Ah, so that'll be something I need to sort out from the (rather ill-defined ATM) geography and so on. Would it generally make sense for the richer families/individuals to be more involved with any visiting traders/foreigners?

It's done basically via growth-accelerating test-tubes, but a side-effect is that they developed in 125% of the usual gravity.  ^*

^{They're grown on an STL spaceship, and the engine provides Earth gravity, but the planet they're landing on only has 80% Earth gravity}

. There's also little opportunity for injuries before they actually meet the aliens, since they were grown specifically for that.

edited 6th Mar '11 10:22:54 AM by Yej

Da Rules excuse all the inaccuracy in the world. Listen to them, not me.

"Ah, so that'll be something I need to sort out from the (rather ill-defined ATM) geography and so on. Would it generally make sense for the richer families/individuals to be more involved with any visiting traders/foreigners?"

Perhaps. Depends on whether those would be more like land-controling farmers, warriors, traders, or some mixture.

Ah, so I'll have to work out whose rich and why, though I'm thinking it's more likely that it'll be traders and smiths, etc, rather than farmers. The logic being that farmers can be hired, but metal-smithing or bargain-hunting aren't common skills. Does that remotely mirror Real Life?

edited 6th Mar '11 3:33:01 PM by Yej

Da Rules excuse all the inaccuracy in the world. Listen to them, not me.

Depends on just how advanced the alien civilization is. If they are roughly equivalent to iron age humans, odds are against a really organized culture with sharp class divides. It's possible, mind you, but unlikely.

For the most part I'd expect the aliens to live in small villages, with only basic division of labor and no real merchant class. However, there might be a handful of more advanced cities on the planet with actual professionals who do one kind of work to the exclusion of all else. There would be very few such cities, however, and the vast majority of individuals would still be farmers.

You might want to bump the tech-level of the aliens up a bit to be roughly equivalent to early the early Classical period, or the Egyptian Old Kingdom or something similar. Then you'd be more likely to have complex societies with thriving classes of skilled laborers, merchants, and nobles to interact with and recognize the humans as aliens.