Fantasy Slurs and Stereotypes

[Mr. Mask]

In your setting, scifi or fantasy, what slurs and stereotypes exist between different groups?

One I have is that goblins are considered baby eaters, despite having no history of eating babies, as far as anyone remembers.

[VoxRationis]

In my current setting, elves are known as cowards who only fight when the odds are overwhelmingly in their favor. (Which is true, owing largely to their being immortal but lacking an afterlife.) They also have gained a reputation as scheming, duplicitous sorts in recent years.

[Milo v3]

People in my setting joke that dromites are terrified of shoes, since people step on ants.

[goto124]

Filthy Mudblood!

[Sith_Happens]

Filthy Mudblood!

Hey, what did earth gensai ever do to you?

[Marlowe]

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[Rhaegar14]

"Devilspawn" is a pretty popular slur for Tieflings in the setting my group is playing right now. We also borrowed "knife-ears" from somewhere for Elves, which are largely hated in the nation the campaign takes place in.

[Marlowe]

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[Joe the Rat]

"Devilspawn" is a pretty popular slur for Tieflings in the setting my group is playing right now. We also borrowed "knife-ears" from somewhere for Elves, which are largely hated in the nation the campaign takes place in.

I've seen knife-ears used for githyanki (they are sometimes described as being serrated).

The only one I've got is one clan of Dwarves being called "perverts," due to their deviant tendency to use arcane magic. The Mist Elf (from the typical "mysterious mystic isles") is called "fish-boy" based on the smell, but that's more personal than racial.

Hmmm, I think I need more slurs.

[Maglubiyet]

It's not PC for a PC to notice race.

[goto124]

From a PC's point of view, there are two races:

1) PCs
2) NPCs

[Palegreenpants]

I've seen knife-ears used for githyanki (they are sometimes described as being serrated).

The only one I've got is one clan of Dwarves being called "perverts," due to their deviant tendency to use arcane magic. The Mist Elf (from the typical "mysterious mystic isles") is called "fish-boy" based on the smell, but that's more personal than racial.

Hmmm, I think I need more slurs.

'Knife-ears' originates from Dragon Age, actually. They call the Elves many insulting things.

[DragonBaneDM]

Metal monkeys was a slur my DM had a tielfing NPC call a sect of warforged the other day.

[goto124]

Meat monkeys are what the warforged refer to the humans as.

[GungHo]

The Witcher (books and games) also has examples of many slurs. Many of which are not repeatable here.

[dysprosium]

In my current campaign world (based on the War of the Burning Sky adventure path) orcs are sometimes referred to as 'tuskers.'

[Anonymouswizard]

For my GURPS fantasy setting:

Mongrels for humans.

Elves are called bureaucrats, due to them having a very organised culture. Also occasionally goldies in reference to their skin tone, as my elves are Chinese.

Dwarves have a stereotype of going boom.is is more a unfortunate side effect of having many alchemists, and a culture where they only own what they can carry. No really slurs specifically directed at them, as they are well integrated with humans.

Demonface to a troll's back. Orcs are likewise called pigmen occasionally.

Changelings are called 'betweeners', if someone knows what they are. Otherwise it's more along the lines of witch or demon.

Shapeshifters are called furries, witches, devilkin, beasts, and a great many others.

[Gemini Lupus]

In my world, the iconic d&d character names are slurs. So calling a Dwarf Tordek, an Elf Mialee, etc are akin to calling Germans "Gerry" or Vietnamese "Charlie." I feel like it gives the world a more authentic/natural feel. And it gives those names/characters a place.

[Slipperychicken]

Elf = Knife-ears, nancy-boy, sissy, lembas

Orc, Goblin, Troll = Greenskin

Tiefling = Horns, Rojo (red), demon-spawn

Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome = Midget, shorty

[Xuc Xac]

Isn't calling a tiefling "demonspawn" or "devilspawn" like calling someone born out of wedlock a bastard?

[hamishspence]

I can just imagine a tiefling villain (who prides themselves on their fiendish heritage) - chiding enemies for using the wrong one:

Paladin: "Die, hellspawn!"
Tiefling: "Abyss-spawn, you idiot. Get it right."

[Slipperychicken]

Isn't calling a tiefling "demonspawn" or "devilspawn" like calling someone born out of wedlock a bastard?

As long as they feel bad when you say it, it doesn't really matter what you're saying.

I've been thinking about calling humans "monkeys", but the situation hasn't come up in-game yet.

[Marlowe]

Isn't calling a tiefling "demonspawn" or "devilspawn" like calling someone born out of wedlock a bastard?

It's more like calling someone whose surname starts with "Fitz-" a bastard.

[VoxRationis]

As long as they feel bad when you say it, it doesn't really matter what you're saying.

I've been thinking about calling humans "monkeys", but the situation hasn't come up in-game yet.

Who's calling them monkeys? All of the other PHB races (3.5; 4th and 5th shook things up a bit) are just as firmly in Hominini as humans are. Neotenized facial structure (except for orcs), bipedalism, even that unflared ribcage which is actually found only in H. sapiens.

[hymer]

Who's calling them monkeys? All of the other PHB races (3.5; 4th and 5th shook things up a bit) are just as firmly in Hominini as humans are. Neotenized facial structure (except for orcs), bipedalism, even that unflared ribcage which is actually found only in H. sapiens.

Slurs don't have to be biologically accurate, you know. And people using slurs are often prone to hypocrisy.

In Thedas (the Dragon Age setting, so named because that's what it is) 'shemlen' is elvish for 'human', while 'shem' is an elvish slur on humans. Fereldans (a human culture) usually get hit with dog-loving metaphors.

Orcs of Middle-earth have been known to call the Rohirrim 'horse boys', and Numenoreans 'Tarks' IIRC. Fair-skinned humans in general were called 'whiteskins' by Orcs, as well.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

In my setting, there are a bunch of common stereotypes that get thrown around by the ignorant and bigoted.

• Halflings are thieves, and paedophiles - cause they look like children, right? If kids ever go missing, halflings get lynched.
• Dwarves are dirty, and took our jobs. Coming over here with their "engineering" and efficient "work-ethics" *spits*. Expect to see mobs of unemployed workers attacking dwarven engineering projects.
• Elves are sexually deviant and lazy. Look at them - how can you even tell if it's a girl or a bloke? Cause they don't care. Never see them do anything in a hurry, either, always lounging about playing music or dancing.

Humans? Well, they're stupid bigots, for a start. And they breed like flies. With anyone.

Please excuse these in-character slurs! I'm just exploring racial tension themes through the fantasy medium.

[Worgwood]

A friend who I played Warcraft RPG with for awhile referred to the draenei as "cobblestones", which was a clever throwback to their lore.

More setting-neutral, some of my group call dwarves "earthworms", elves "fairies" and "tree rats", and thereon. And I always kind of thought "halfling" sounded like enough of an insult on its own, to be honest.

[goto124]

Kender....

[Marlowe]

Come to think of it, my characters have a bad habit of referring to Kobolds as "Chicken-Lizzies".

[chainer1216]

We have a couple players prone to playing dwarves in our group so other than humans they are a pretty common sight, as such we've heard a couple slurs here and there.

The worst is "digger" though even admitting we used that a couple times makes me feel really guilty, due to it rhyming with real world bigotry.