As an Israeli, I am more aware of the violence perpetrated by settlers in the West Bank than the general population, and I think the concept of laborers in a colonial holding using a milspec mech has implications that are both horrifying and in some places all too real. With that said, I feel like the current fluff text fails to bring that to the fore, resulting in players ignoring it and going "wow cool dogbus", which I think is a shame.
#Taraxacum Fluff A Bit Weak
summer wyvern
Paging @robust palm for comment and determining whether that was the authorial intent, although even if it's not it still could be seen as being overly blasè about a real-world issue,
summer wyvern
I didn't say it was.
ruby rose
Okay ‘the fluff on this mech feels like it’s condoning colonial military occupation, was that intentional or were you just blind to it’ is an equally harsh way to start out
summer wyvern
Okay ‘the fluff on this mech feels like it’s condoning colonial military occupat...
It is expressing The Horrors (settlers being used as a "shadow miiltary") but I feel it's not being loud enough about it that people are broadly speaking missing it.
Compare it to the Hecatonchieres.
ruby rose
I think there is a fair point to bring up about whether the fluff at hand conveys the desired feeling to the reader but backhandedly associating it with an ongoing real-world genocide is an extremely difficult thing for an author to approach
as any response Kat could give is then something that can be interpreted as her feelings on said real world event
lyric adder
Yeah. I can't speak for Kat, but chiming in as a random onlooker that's an opening that makes me flinch, nevermind if I were the writer on the recieving end of it
ruby rose
and whether her mech is strongly condemning colonial efforts enough
lyric adder
I don't think you meant bad by grounding your feedback within the context of your personal experiences, but I felt there was a way that could have made that clearly and less... subtly accuse-y, even though that might not have been your intention
solar valley
I straight up did not get that vibe at all from Tarax's description.
summer wyvern
Absolutely no hostility was meant and I would like to make that clear.
I apologize for any hurt feelings i mah have caused.
solar valley
It just seems like a mech with a dual purpose for colony building and general use like Lanny.
ruby rose
I mean, the KTB’s project in the DLS is a colonial endeavor with varying local populations/history depending on the world
and I would agree that the fluff of the Taraxacum is playing up the mythologizing of the mech by that force, even as an occupying tool
solar valley
I mean, I just see it as a neat settlement building tool with a weapons hard point.
delicate spruce
I don't think Crossland as more than like 1 line of written fluff in currently published material but yeah - the KTB are the original peoples of most of the shore
ruby rose
but I’m trying to not get too in the weeds about setting details and focus more on how to best convey that point as actionable feedback
ruby rose
I mean, I just see it as a neat settlement building tool with a weapons hard poi...
sure, but that in and of itself is a political statement in its own right
solar valley
It's a stretch is what I'm trying to say.
ruby rose
it’s the point that comes across with a lot of the IPS-N mechs
deep thorn
it’s the point that comes across with a lot of the IPS-N mechs
IPS-N mythologised its mechs intentionally. That's why the Caliban specifies it has no positive "backstory"
Which you might be saying, but just in case.
Regarding the Taraxacum, I can see where the negative association with the builder mech also being for combat could come from, though I wouldn't have if not pointed out.
With the context of the Shore I don't think it's depicting colonialism as positive in any way however
The opening of the thread was also uh. Very intense