Author: SamRandom

But a figment of the internet.

Warhammer exploratory essay: Who gets to be human

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Introduction

I have alluded to the idea of personhood in earlier chapters, but in this text I will discuss it in more clear terms. All the playable factions are humanoid in one way or another. The non-human factions are either adjacent to humans like Elves or dwarves, or they are more inhuman like Lizardmen, Skaven and Goblins. All of them have humanoid characteristics and keep some sort of human culture.

What became clear when I started researching this topic is just how human centric the Old World is. Humans as humans, exist in Europe, Africa and Asia, with clear, if often tokenized versions of their real life counterparts cultures. There are humans in fantasy Arabia, even the undead of the setting version of Egypt are still decidedly human, despite their undead appearance. It is this prevalence of humans and human adjacent races like Elves that makes the less than human races stand out so much more.

The humanized

The humanised creatures are those that are clearly based on a real human culture, and also has humanizing features. Here you can find the Dwarves, and the Elves, both are staple of the fantasy genre when the setting was made, as they still are today. THe dwarves are proud and the Elves are arrogant, both see themselves as better than the short lived humans. Wood Elves are likewise seen as more wild but yet arrogant and in many ways superior to humans in most ways.

The lizardmen live in the south of the Old Worlds version of Africa, as well as the southern version of South america. The aesthetic of the Lizard men are hard to miss, living in large stone cities with grand temples to golden serpent gods, gods that require living sacrifices in large numbers. While still a sympathetic depiction, there are still some connotations to certain conspiracy theories that makes them a bit uncomfortable to consider. As part of being reptilian are to varying degrees been described as unemotional and mechanical, going from almost pure automata at their inception, to the strange and otherworldly, but yet fully sentient creatures in the later editions.

The second example of the use of human cultures for nonhuman creatures is less easy to explain away. The Ogres, the hungry, dumb and brutal race of giant humans, are both located where real life Mongolia is, as well as sharing some physical features and stereotypes of Mongolian men.

With thick eyebrows and rather characteristic mustaches, their connection to gluttony, violence and stupidity is a rather unfortunate one to say the least. But with this said, are they still considered moral in one way or another, and are often seen as neutral, if not good. Vampires and undead, are likewise seen as monsters but are still human when it comes down to it. This is in rather starch contrast to some of the other humanoid factions in the setting.

The inhuman

There are two factions that I wish to discuss when it comes to dehumanised, or monstrous versions of humans in the Warhammer fantasy universe, first of them are the Orks and Goblins, playing much the same role that they do in dungeons and dragons and similar fictions of the time. They are violent and aggressive, and live only for combat. They are the stereotype of a villain. They soely exist to fight, destroy and eat, but unlike their ogre counterparts do they have very few humanizing features, or seen as capable of any good. THis pigheaded and absurd evil is often played as a sort of comic relief, playing off the improbability of their civilizations to begin with.

Orks are strong, resilitand and sprout out of the ground, being grown from fungi.They have absolute faith in all that they do and can never be persuaded to leave their path of destruction for one simple reason, they are finding it all too fun. Goblins are ted tibet as the menial cast of the faction, working, carrying, farming and building, though the quality of these efforts are often described as subpar at best. They also trade and barter, giving the faciton their only hire non violent connection with the other factions.

The second faction to discuss is the Skaven, a fascinating society of half ratmen, that lives under the cities of all the world’s major factions and civilizations. The Skaven are depicted as man’s worst qualities, selfish, greedy and ambitious, each Skaven lives only for themselves, and will not hesitate for a second to sacrifice another of their kind if it meant gaining an upper hand in their competitive and cut throat society.

While some are vaguely human in their organisation and culture, are they not as closely tied to a certain culture or nationality. Both the Orks and the Skaven are clearly meant to be parodies or exaggerated versions of some of humans’ worst sides, and vices. Even more so then the followers are chaos are these races often used as dark or warped mirrors of humanity. Orcs are aggressive and ambitious in the extreme, while Skaven are greedy and cowardly in the extreme.

Conclusions

The question of who gets to be human and who doesn’t is not a question that is unique to warhammer, but is one that tends to turn up in many high fantasy settings. For example does the Elder scrolls make a clear distinction between, elves, humans and “the bestial races” of orcs, argonians and khajiit. The concept of having other or near human races is not a problem in and of itself.

It is a great way to add some variety and texture to the world. Likewise is it not a problem in itself to base these races on specific human cultures, Elder Scrolls argonians for example shares their mesoamerican inspiration with the Lizardmen of Warhammer fantasy. Problems can arise when certain races are tied to both a specific culture and a specific negative trope tied to that culture. For example the brainded hunger of the Ogres, or the cold and alien Lizardmen.

Furthermore can a non human race become rather flat and simplistic if it is only allowed to have one cultural expression. This is especially apparent, if like in the elder scrolls series, there are several human cultures but only one Argonian culture. The Warhammer examples are very good at making a varied and complex set of cultures, even amongst the more comedic races. There is a large difference between the plague worshipers of Clan Pestilence and the quirky engineers of Clan Skryre. Despite this do the races as whole have a uniforming feel and cohesion that makes them easily recognized.

The tokenization and alienation of real cultures is not a problem unique to Warhammer, but can be seen across many series and settings. The Kajiit of the Elder scrolls used to talk, and to some degree do in a stereotypical Romani coded voice, and are also depicted as being semi nomadic, and known for thievery. To take another example, the goblins in Harry Potter are only seen working in banks- They are long nosed, greedy and untrustworthy, a sadly still all too common anti semitic trope in fantasy.

It is only through nothing but biases and assumptions in writing that we can become better writers. If we wish to aim to write a more true and inclusive fantasy world, must we first explore what inspiration we draw from real life and why. That is why it is vital to listen to voices different from your own. I am not innocent of this as well, there are many times I have had to step back from my writing and re-evaluate, when I am getting too close to tokenizing or orientalising a culture or race in my writing. Tokens and stereotypes are powerful because they are easy to recognize to a reader, and a useful shorthand as a writer. This makes it even more important that we use them with respect and caution.

Worldbuilding and context: the existential questions of Pixar films

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Introduction

When creating a narrative, it is up to the author to make the world around the text itself. When it comes to real world stories is this a relatively straightforward task. The references exist to draw upon, and more importantly, there are already rules that the reader will understand. The more removed from this common ground, the more the text needs to explain how it works.

There is an interesting problem in writing, and movie making, where you have a set a specific time to explain how a narrative works, and how the fictional setting works. The more time spent on making a setting work, the less time you can spend on the narrative itself, but without explaining the narrative the story might not work as well. 

The less you explain the more holes are allowed to be filled in the text. There is less of a narrative background, and it is more difficult to explain and understand the text when thought about outside of the premise. The more the text is set in a world that is dissimilar to our own, the more things need to be explained, and the more space must be given for the audience to get used to how the world and narrative works.

Pixar movies

Pixar, the branch of Disney has made a large number of amazing 3D animations and narratives over the years, and are very much pioneers in the field. Their stories are heartfelt, complex and often focus on family, friendship and loyalty. Very much following the stories of older Disney filmed. The pixar films are often very good at putting effective visuals to the narrative they are presenting. often is the fact that most, if not all their main characters in the early movies are not human. This allows them to discuss hard questions via proxy- By using humanised robots, toys or cars can you tell stories of death, growing up and loss without having explicitly tying them to humans. THere also let’s be honest, it’s a lot easier to monetize.

 With that said, does many of their earlier films have things and settings that are very abstract, and can be downright strange if they are set under too much consideration. This is not a fault of these films, and not a criticism of the art, but rather an interesting analysis of how different stories are told,and what consequences the choices as well as restrictions are set on to a film.

A bug’s life: gender and sex in the insect world

A bug’s life is an interesting little film, and a grand example of early 3d. It is a classic pop cultural exploration of the time. One fascinating thing that seems to plague every animated film about swarming insects, is the concept of gender. In both bugs life, ants and in the bee movie are the main character, the downtrodden worker, a man, while all colones in reality are made out of almost exclusively women.

Cars: classism and racism

Cars is one of the most abstract films that the studio has made, while being the most straightforward on the surface. On a narrative level it is a simple tale of a popup superstar learning the joy of the little things, and the slow life. It is also a love letter to a certain american small town that may or may not have ever existed. It is nostalgic and feels like a good lesson in a simple but enjoyable tale.

The largest consist and the gimmick of the tale is the fact that every character is some sort of car or other kind of vehicle. There seems to be no humans in the setting, and they are never mentioned. With that said, do we later learn that cars are constructed, and it seems that most are made for a specific role in mind. Lighting Mcqueen is a race car so he races, his semi truck driver is made to transport cars, so he transports Lighting Mqueen.

There are some cars shown to not have a clear role to serve, and one school bus is working as a wrestler, or the car related version of wrestling. The general public seems to be made out of personal cars with no job related to them. In the later movies it is introduced that there are new models of cars being made and built explicitly. Before it was implicit since there are older and newer models of cars, especially in the racing circuit where old models are being retired for the newer faster cars to take their place.

Toy story: Rules with no consequences, eternal servitude

There is a rule in the toy story universe where the toys must never be seen to be alive by humans. This is clearly a reference to the raggedy ann movies where the toys die if the humans see a toy moving, that toy dies. This is initially set up as somewhat of a rule in the first movie, until the climactic finale where the toy tortures a struggling depressed from a poor family for the crime of taking out his aggression on inanimate objects. There can be argued that the scare helped ZId, as his behavior could be seen as early 

Later it is proven that the toys are not aware originally that they are toys and indeed believe that they are the person they are emptying. Making the rules about not being seen even more strange. In the third movie the implications of being a toe is being seen as a toy, ergo the craft comes to life. A concept that deepens the rabbit hole even further.

The rules are expanded and changed between the movies and does not entirely keep to the same internal logic. Something that is understandable since the goal is not to make a deep deconstruction on how toys work in the universe, but rather themes of growing up and family and aging.

Conclusions

Note that none of these critiques are meant to be critical of the texts, but rather how texts can be formed and presented when the goal is not to make a cohesive world but rather to present morals and a sense of a narrative. The early pixar movies are not meant to be deconstructed in this way. They are meant to present tales and lessons to kids, and in this way they are highly effective.

I write this text as a fun way to discuss and think about narratives, and the implications of what sections in storytelling can lead to. A way of peeling back the curtains and looking behind the walls of narrative writing. There are always limits for what you can tell in a story, there are boundaries for when a story starts and where it ends. You must choose what to tell and what to be left implied. The more fantastical a tale, the more things need to either be explained or left unsaid. For every sentence you lay on explaining a world or a narrative, is a sentence you can not use to drive the narrative forward.

This is why some fantasies can often either feel like they are giving you a lecture, or leaving you in the dark on how the world works. It is a delicate balance to tread, one that I myself struggle with a lot. 

The wonder with analysing texts is that it will inevitably tell you something about yourself in the process. Just like telling a story, is there a limit for how much you can say in one analysis before it gets too long, too complex and granular. In this text I have focused on the holes in the canvas of a tale, the places where the set stops. I have done this because it inevitably opens a lot of room for imagination and contemplation. 

I can not tell why these decisions were made, only that they were, and that me and many others have noticed them in one way or another.  everything we write and not write into a text will have a reaction from the  reader. the reader will understand it in one way or another. That is the joy of storytelling, you never have the entire picture, a story is always created in collaboration with the reader.

Premium essay: Cyberpunk and Solarpunk, a different kind of hope

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Altdorf misadventures: the comedic joy of warhammer fantasy writing

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Introduction

The reason that I started writing and researching warhammer again has been the joy reading materials for the roleplaying game Warhammer Fantasy, specifically the supplement Altdorf: Crown of the Empire, the supplement that allows you to play adventures in the capital of the Empire. There are large collections of descriptions of quest hooks, characters and storylines, as well as a large amount of descriptions of the streets, districts and institutions that are present in the town. I wish to discuss the setting, the characters as well as the tone and writing style of the supplement as well as the rest of the series.

Comedy and grounding

One thing that I have discussed earlier and that are very much part of this supplement is the tone of the writing. There is a reference to everything that is written in the supplement. The Altdorfer’s like to see themselves as master engineers, artists and aristocrats. but are in fact quite the opposite. The buildings of Altdorf are described both in drawings and in descriptions to be quickly built, hastily prepared and rickety. except for the buildings either built by Elves or by Dwarves.

The grand cultures enjoyed by all are theatre, in a deeply Shakesperian tone, that most pretends to enjoy for the visuals of it. On the streets are things like pig chasing and pie eating contests enjoyed by nobles, learned and peasants alike. The city itself is described as smelly and almost unbelievably so, with a reeking river going through the centre of the town. There are many strange districts of the city, from the warped magic district to the deep and dark slums. 

There are many organizations, from the high and mighty royal houses that pretends to care about the poor while taxing them deeply. There are also the revolutionary factions of P.L.A.N.T that despite their egalitarian and positive goals are sadly engaged in infighting and any official critical power. Despite this is it clear that the narrative is always with the poor, revolutionary and the downtrodden.

By now will the setting remind you of another setting, namely Ankh Morpork of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. This is indeed an apt comparison, and I found a lot of comparisons to the british writer as well, to the point where the supplement has their own version of Captain Sam Vimes in the setting, a gruff captain of the guard, forced in to leading a progressive new guard while he would rather drink and patrol all night.

The Pratchian comedy can be found in many places, as well as the target of the comedy, as in there are always the cruel, powerful and hypocritical that are the target of this derivement. All of this leads to a very enjoyable read, and is a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of the other things that the company has released, especially in the Warhammer 40k setting, see my earlier series.

Queerness and minorities (woke, actually)

Fantasy has sadly never been the most inclusive of genres, and I am afraid that warhammer fantasy in general has not been an exception to this. Warhammer fantasy has often fallen into a trope of writing that plagues many Games Workshop franchises. This would be the concept of the girls club. Where the women of a faction are truly and definitely a part of the faction’s army, it just happens that all of them are in their own little corner of the faction, put in a unit, army or group made out of all women. Not to mention other minorities or anyone that falls outside of the genre of straight, cis, and white. 

Warhammer RPG is a breath of fresh air in this regard. There are women, there are queer individuals, and most interestingly is there an open transman in the form of the ship’s architect Herr Arnold Spald. It is made clear in the text that his crew is fully on his side, and that anyone that has a problem is “politely made to remove themselves”. There are also openly gay and lesbian characters as well as individuals from outside of the empire described at the same level as the ones from inside the empire.

Justice and revolution

There is a clear political message in the Warhammer Fantasy setting regarding the Empire. The Empire itself is shown to be inefficient, somewhat corrupt and ruled by the inept elite and the zealous and cruel. There is one grand exception to this, the downtrodden and the poor, as well as those that fight for equal rights, while having jokes written about them are always seen in the right, and always having the sympathy and empathy of the narrative. It is always clear that the corrupt and lazy lords are always in the wrong.

 The rich are seen as dumb, cruel and simpleminded, partly by the Altdorf students organizations of the Karl Franzers. A bullying fraternity that makes fun and territories the so called Inkies, or students that have joined higher learning for learning itself. There’s a clear divide between those that are studying by birth and those that are studying by skill. Fans of Pratchett’s work will recognize the same dynamic in the Assassin’s Guild.

This class struggle is one that can be seen on many modern campuses, even more so when the money your parents had directly decided if you had the right to learn to read or not. The rich and powerful are often depicted as just as uneducated, and often dumber than the general public.

These are themes that very much echoes their inspiration of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. And there are in fact many comparissons that can be found both in defense of queerness, and in the defense of those that are oppressed and abused on the socioeconomic ladder. Like terry pratchett are these not a black and white picture, and there are indeed those in a privileged position that tries and do go good.

Gods, magic and silliness

Magic is described in the Warhammer Fantasy world to be something truly amazingly dangerous, and mind bendingly evil. It has the power to turn you into a multiplied several mouthed monstrosity or break your mind beyond repair. What makes the text interesting is that it still keeps the comedic side to the much darker descriptions of magic that can be found elsewhere. 

It is true that magic is still very dangerous, and magic users are shunned and many factions would like to see them killed. With that said is the area where the arcane college is described with an air of dark comedy, the area is described as often being transformed in strange and mysterious ways. Entire streets have been transformed in wonderful and majestic ways, except for the streets of the pyromancy department, they were simply burnt down. 

The wizards themselves are described as strange and eccentric, and their personalities are to some degree exaggerated by the various forms of magic, so fire mages are easier to anger, and nature mages find towns and cities claustrophobic.

Peppered around the description of the pantheon of Sigmar are the mentions of the old gods, and their workshop. These are often given a lot more empathy than the very catholic coded Sigmarites. The aesthetics might be a bit condescending and tonification of the Celtic faith, but they are mostly treated with respect. At some parts they are seen as primitive and strange for wanting to bathe in sacred springs, but this is more seen as eccentricities than anything malicious.

Sigmarites, the followers of Sigmar are often seen as zealous, aggressive and brutal in their treatment of others. Witch hunters are a thing that exists within the universe and they do exactly what their name entails, as well as hunting vampires and demons. The Sigmarites are made up of several factions, one more jealous than the other, all looking at themselves as the true faith. I imagine I don’t need to point out the obvious allegories ast play here.

What makes the Sigmarites and Witch Hunters interesting in Warhammer Fantasy is that they are mostly right. That is to say, untrained and unsupervised magic users are objectively dangerous. If you cast a fireball spell wrong you might summon a horde of demons to your doorstep, or turn yourself inside out, or unleash a plague of blood boils on your neighborhood. This is a narrative point that Games Workshop loves using. The protagonist’s human factors often do incredibly heinous and repressible things, but they are often justified by the universe being so much worse.

Final thoughts

In this essay have I gone through the one text that made me inspired to go back to the Warhammer series again. The pure joy I had reading through this text made me inspired to once again get back into text analysis and discussion. The text itself is in my opinion well worth picking up even if you are not interested in Warhammer, but are a fan of fantasy, and especially if you are a fan of Terry Pratchett’s work.

The text is a grand example of the fact that Warhammer is not always grim and dark and can often be rather humorous. It is a setting that keeps its inspiration on its sleeves, and for its good I would say. There is darkness and horror, yes, but there is also space for levity and humor, as well as the sensation that the person that the thing happens to kind of had it coming in one way or another. It is an interesting dichotomy to the often serious and depressingly dark fiction that one finds in Games Workshop’s writing.