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How Would a Proud Scholar Race Come About

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SharkToast Since: Mar, 2013
#1: Dec 13th 2017 at 11:19:56 AM

So this Proud Scholar Race is mainly focused on the occult and eldritch knowledge. Members of this race often act as consultants in these matters. I've been thinking about how this culture would have come about. The first thing this culture would need would be a written language. Otherwise, this knowledge would be lost over the years. They also would need some political stability in order to spend time studying the occult. Thus, this culture would have to be from an area that didn't experience much war, unless constant warfare drove them to acquire occult knowledge.

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#2: Dec 13th 2017 at 4:16:12 PM

Read this book. I predict it will give you a ton of ideas.

edited 13th Dec '17 4:16:25 PM by DeMarquis

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Sharysa Since: Jan, 2001
#3: Dec 15th 2017 at 2:48:11 PM

Ummmm, "written language =/= absolutely immune to being lost."

The FIRST thing many conquerors did with their new subjects was Rape, Pillage, and Burn on a massive scale, and often explicitly murdering the scholars so that any natives attempting to fix things would have a total BITCH of a time. Lots of people still have no idea that the Philippines had a native written language called Baybayin, since Spain did such a good job of conquering.

Your scholars would need to be a race of Badass Bookworms and make sure they have a) lots of backup copies, and b) a strong oral tradition to balance out written knowledge, just in case someone invades the capital and burns its library down.

edited 15th Dec '17 2:52:40 PM by Sharysa

lavendermintrose (Long Runner) Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#4: Mar 11th 2018 at 10:59:56 AM

[up] Obviously - even English and Latin have tons of lost works. Having a written language is not a guarantee that things will not get lost, but not having a written language is a guarantee that things will get lost. With an oral history, there's no way of guaranteeing that what you're hearing today is exactly the same as what you they heard a hundred years ago, or even the same as what you yourself heard last month.

As for how they avoided getting conquered - defense spell + either spy detection so other countries can't steal it, or some sort of prerequisite that other countries can't make up for, or just a fearsome reputation from non-magicians (or less powerful magicians). ...sort of how my characters' society became Perfect Pacifist People on top of being a Proud Scholar Race (or, proud scholar, racially-mixed society).

Sharysa Since: Jan, 2001
#5: Mar 11th 2018 at 12:16:59 PM

You could always go the Black Panther route and have them pretend to be a small, quiet Ruritania / Arcadia type of country, while magically hiding their REAL abilities/tech.

Obfuscating Stupidity works pretty damn well, especially for the Dramatic Irony that a Proud Scholar Race is doing it.

edited 11th Mar '18 12:17:49 PM by Sharysa

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