How do I break out of those weird tropes but still write something with gnomes and shit? What does it look like when wizards control the means of production?

  • Tervell [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    This might be Arcanum? Specifically this quest (spoilers obviously): https://arcanum.fandom.com/wiki/The_Ren%27ar_Siamese_Twins

    I think it's supposed to be kind of like an X-Files quest, where there isn't really a proper conclusion.

    From what I remember lorewise (haven't played Arcanum in a while), the gnomes were major actors in the world's industrial revolution, and as such a lot of them are now rich magnates, bankers and the like. The breeding here was of half-ogres, with the implication being that human women were being forcefully impregnated. Another detail is that many prominent gnomes have half-ogre bodyguards, and the quest is supposed to make you question if this is actually some kind of top-secret bodyguard breeding program, to ensure wealthy gnomes have appropriate protection. But it's never conclusively stated - the ending is kind of like Eyes Wide Shut in a way.

    The whole "gnomes are rich and greedy" thing might be interpreted as doing some anti-semitic tropes, but I guess if you wanted to be favourable you might say that this perception of gnomes is in-universe racism. The game definitely does stuff with that - orcs for example are used in Tarant as factory workers, but live in a ghetto and are generally marginalized, which eventually leads to the great newspaper headline "Anarchist Laborers Take Over Factory.".