Strange Aeons-Toning down the racist connotations

[Thealtruistorc]

So I'm going to be running through Strange Aeons at some point with some of my players in the near future, but there is one thing that recurs throughout that troubles me. It has to do with the fact that many of Lovecraft's xenophobic fears wound up projected into his writing on several occasions, some of which have major places in Strange Aeons.

I'm talking about how the Denizens of Leng are a major villainous entity, creatures that were more or less an Arab caricature in the original story and who through their design and fluff still seem to convey a fair amount of the original malice. As neat as the Strange Aeons adventure is, this rubs me the wrong way and I envision it would do the same with a couple of my players.

What I'm looking to do mostly is to refluff the Denizens of Leng so that the racism can be more or less cut out of their premise. The primary issue is with their design, so I'm looking to find ways to keep the idea of plane-wandering dream slavers intact while removing them from the 30s-era racial paranoia that birthed them. How would you advise I go about this?

[Duke of Urrel]

Just choose a suitable exotic non-human species to be your villains. What about githyanki or something like them? Or Evil feys?

[Venger]

you could always go with neogi. they're nonhumanoid spider creatures who are also slavers. their culture and practices is laid out in lords of madness.

[Coidzor]

So I'm going to be running through Strange Aeons at some point with some of my players in the near future, but there is one thing that recurs throughout that troubles me. It has to do with the fact that many of Lovecraft's xenophobic fears wound up projected into his writing on several occasions, some of which have major places in Strange Aeons.

I'm talking about how the Denizens of Leng are a major villainous entity, creatures that were more or less an Arab caricature in the original story and who through their design and fluff still seem to convey a fair amount of the original malice. As neat as the Strange Aeons adventure is, this rubs me the wrong way and I envision it would do the same with a couple of my players.

What I'm looking to do mostly is to refluff the Denizens of Leng so that the racism can be more or less cut out of their premise. The primary issue is with their design, so I'm looking to find ways to keep the idea of plane-wandering dream slavers intact while removing them from the 30s-era racial paranoia that birthed them. How would you advise I go about this?

So, just to be clear, the issue is that they look like Arabs and you want them to have a completely different physical description?

[J-H]

Almost all human cultures throughout history have some subset of beliefs or views that a postmodern American will find offensive. You could take the road of calling it an experiment in tolerating diverse viewpoints, multiculturalism, or historical authenticity.

[BWR]

Almost all human cultures throughout history have some subset of beliefs or views that a postmodern American will find offensive. You could take the road of calling it an experiment in tolerating diverse viewpoints, multiculturalism, or historical authenticity.

Except I'm pretty sure the Lengians aren't intended to be human cultures and definitely not historically accurate. Trying to claim that they are would just make it actually racist rather than possibly arguably.

[paranoidbox]

Almost all human cultures throughout history have some subset of beliefs or views that a postmodern American will find offensive. You could take the road of calling it an experiment in tolerating diverse viewpoints, multiculturalism, or historical authenticity.

Ahh, the "those were just old timey beliefs, am I right, welp, nothing we can do about it now" point of view. It never fails to make an appearance.

Edit: Oh yes, and I was also going to suggest the githyanki.

[Venger]

I'm not sure on your setting, but Thay is a society that's heavily reliant on slaves, but doesn't lean much on any particular real-world culture. Even if it's not set in forgotten realms, that's probably a good place to start if you wanted to keep enemies human instead of having people enslaved by aboleths or mind flayers.

[Raz Dazzle]

Almost all human cultures throughout history have some subset of beliefs or views that a postmodern American will find offensive. You could take the road of calling it an experiment in tolerating diverse viewpoints, multiculturalism, or historical authenticity.

The problem isn't that it's offensive, the problem is that it's racist. Racism is pretty terrible as far as viewpoints go, and DMs who want to explore it can do so without actually being racist in planning their settings. My own campaign world has interracial conflict as a major theme, for instance, but none of my races are awful caricatures of real-life ethnicities.

Also gonna go with githyanki on this one.

[Coidzor]

Ahh, the "those were just old timey beliefs, am I right, welp, nothing we can do about it now" point of view. It never fails to make an appearance.


I'm suddenly quite curious, what do you do with genies in your games?

Same goes for you, Thealtruistorc.

Is there any reason you can't apply that to this group of monsters?

[P.F.]

What I'm looking to do mostly is to refluff the Denizens of Leng so that the racism can be more or less cut out of their premise. The primary issue is with their design, so I'm looking to find ways to keep the idea of plane-wandering dream slavers intact while removing them from the 30s-era racial paranoia that birthed them. How would you advise I go about this?

I'm looking at the Denizens of Leng right now and to be honest I'm not seeing anything any more racist than any other "evil" D&D race. I'm guessing you object to their ... style of dress ... which appears to combine elements from any of various Mediterranean, South Asian, North African, and Near-Eastern historical fashions. If the clothing from that region is problematic, however, by all means change it.

I would personally go with top-hats instead of turbans, cover their faces with kerchiefs instead of veils, and conceal their twisted legs and cloven hooves with floor-length frocks and white spats. Next, I'd rename anyone or anything that sounds too "Arab" with names like Harscot, Smythe, Gwautham, Willersby, and Biggs.

Then, I'd rename their abilities and technology. Instead of using their dexerity drain attack, they will hit your players with "Compliance Implementation (Su)." Sneak attacks only affect the Denizens 50% of the time because of their "Internal Restructuring (Ex)" special quality. The black ship which the denizens sail through interdimensional space will be called The Core Competency. Instead of enslaving other races, they engage in "Efficient Onboarding."

While these descriptions have a cohesive theme and feel, they are not at all racist against Arabs or any other persecuted ethnic group. To a present-day audience, however, they should still conjure up some of Lovecraft's signature "horror of the incomprehensible other" and play on contemporary fears, dislikes, and prejudices.

[Coidzor]

I'm looking at the Denizens of Leng right now and to be honest I'm not seeing anything any more racist than any other "evil" D&D race. I'm guessing you object to their ... style of dress ... which appears to combine elements from any of various Mediterranean, South Asian, North African, and Near-Eastern historical fashion. If the clothing form that region is problematic, however, by all means change it.

I would personally go with top-hats instead of turbans, cover their faces with kerchiefs instead of veils, and conceal their twisted legs and cloven hooves with floor-length frocks and white spats. Next, I'd rename anyone or anything that sounds too "Arab" with names like Harscot, Smythe, Gwautham, Willersby, and Biggs.

Then, I'd rename their abilities and technology. Instead of using their dexerity drain attack, they will hit your players with "Compliance Implementation (Su)." Sneak attacks only affect the Denizens 50% of the time because of their "Internal Restructuring (Ex)" special quality. The black ship which the denizens sail through interdimensional space will be called The Core Competency. Instead of enslaving other races, they engage in "Efficient Onboarding."

While these descriptions have a cohesive theme and feel, they are not at all racist against Arabs or any other persecuted ethnic group. To a present-day audience, however, they should still conjure up some of Lovecraft's signature "horror of the incomprehensible other" and play on contemporary fears, dislikes, and prejudices.

Sounds good to me.

I think their leader should be Sir Topham Hat, though, and their ship should just be Thomas the Tank Engine to mess with the players for maximum horror and desecration of their childhood.

[CharonsHelper]

Sounds good to me.

I think their leader should be Sir Topham Hat, though, and their ship should just be Thomas the Tank Engine to mess with the players for maximum horror and desecration of their childhood.

When it comes to consuming your souls:

He thinks he can, he thinks he can, he thinks he can, he thinks he can...

[Duke of Urrel]

I think their leader should be Sir Topham Hat, though, and their ship should just be Thomas the Tank Engine to mess with the players for maximum horror and desecration of their childhood.

I believe your idea has just won the entire thread.

[paranoidbox]

I'm suddenly quite curious, what do you do with genies in your games?

Same goes for you, Thealtruistorc.

Is there any reason you can't apply that to this group of monsters?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "what do you do with genies?" In general, I don't have a problem with having or putting genies in my games. Mainly for two reasons:
1) As far as I know, genies aren't depicted as any kind of caricature, at least not in the MM, so there's no reason to change them or avoid them.
2) Genies are an actual part of Arabian mythology, as opposed to the Men of Leng who came from the mind of a racist author who was not part of that culture and by all accounts was unbearably afraid of everyone who wasn't christian, white, or straight.

As for your second question, there is indeed no reason you can't simply change the Denizens of Leng into something a little more palatable. I like the suggestion of P.F. It has the added bonus that an implied British attitude of casual colonialism and cultural supremacy shines through which, if you're on the receiving side, is probably truly and suitably horrible to behold.

[Anlashok]

Giving pathfinder Denizens a read over... Denizens of Leng are alien, hooved, tentacle mouthed monsters that try to pass off as human with robes and facial coverings. They subjugate people, don't bleed and are at war with weird spiders.

Which of these features do you find racially insensitive? Knowing that will make it a lot easier to help you.

[CharonsHelper]

2) Genies are an actual part of Arabian mythology, as opposed to the Men of Leng who came from the mind of a racist author who was not part of that culture and by all accounts was unbearably afraid of everyone who wasn't christian, white, or straight.

Lovecraft wasn't a Christian. He was an Atheist. He wrote a couple of famous letters saying exactly that.

[paranoidbox]

Lovecraft wasn't a Christian. He was an Atheist. He wrote a couple of famous letters saying exactly that.

Eh, Christian-descended then. I'm not an expert but I did seem to remember he was born into a religious family.

[Crake]

I'm not an expert but

Let me just stop you right there.

[paranoidbox]

Let me just stop you right there.

No.

While a hilarious meme which I'm sure earns you a lot of internet points, it's not the same kind of "gotcha" as stopping someone who starts a sentence with "I'm not racist but...". Mostly because I don't need to be an expert on Lovecraft to remember that I have read something along those lines, and neither is that the topic of the thread. The topic was how to deal with the Men of Leng so let's return to that or let's let this thread slip nicely into oblivion.

[CharonsHelper]

Eh, Christian-descended then.

Considering that at that time in history, 95% of the western world, especially America, was Christian (or at least said they were), even if true that has nearly no meaning when it comes to categorizing him.

[Extra Anchovies]

A possible angle to take is that the culture of the denizens of Leng as described in the books is an entirely artificial one, created as a cover of sorts for Leng's cruel slave-trade society. The reason they come across as intentionally foreign or exotic is because giving off that impression provides a mercantile and criminal edge; if your clients think you're the only source of some product or another, then they'll likely not bother to look for another source before accepting whatever exorbitant price you set.

The pseudo-Arabian style could also have come from a history of association with genies, specifically the Efreet. As natives to the elemental planes, genies are unfathomably old, likely dating back to well before the creation of the material plane. The denizens of Leng could even be a sort of lesser geniekind, perhaps created by the Efreet as middlemen for dealings with the genies of the other planes, who didn't trust the Efreet enough to deal face-to-face.

[Krazzman]

Why not just make them into Germans? I mean such a thing as reverse racism doesn't exist, right? [/sarcasm]

My main concern is... why does it matter? Just describe them more otherworldly... if they seem like caricatural arabs it's just a coincidence since they are not in fact arabs or in any way connected to them.

[Starbuck_II]

How about pseudo-Australians?
Seeing as Australia isn't a race, it can't be racist. :smallcool:

Like Captain Boomerang, you give the race of creatures caricatures of that country.
You can gain inspirations from Crocodile Dundee, Captain Boomerang, etc.