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3DPrinting

2021-10-07T23:25:37Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* Types of Printing */

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{{Topquote|“But this constructor is both efficient and flexible. I feed magnetronic plastics — the stuff they make houses and ships of nowadays — into this moving arm. It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photo-cells. But plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens as it comes ... following drawings only”| Murray Langster's ''Things Pass By'', hitting the nail on the head on what the tech would become almost 70 years before it actually happened.}}
[[File:3D Printer.jpg|thumb|The holy shrine of plastic crack, breath in the incense of freedom and possibilities! (Editor's note, DO NOT do this, and remember to properly ventilate your workspace.)]]
3D Printing is, putting it simply, the home modelers new best friend. [[Laserburn|Discontinued]] games, long since given up hope of reprints, are now almost completely supported by use of hobbyists and printers alike.
== Overview ==
How many [[Car Wars|cars]] [[meme|will you download]]?

3D Printing is the catch-all term for use of a specialized printer that is fed some form of plastic or other, similar malleable material to turn into a three dimensional object via use of a computer that has a renderable 3D file. The technology was first described in a sci-fi story in the forties, and has since become not only science fact, but a commercial success. Prior to the 2000's, it was mostly only ever used in an industrial capacity, up until 1988 when the company Stratasys came up with the concept of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing, which brought the complex process to the consumer grade market for a hefty, Forge World-esque price right up until 2009, when the process became public domain, and as a result, more and more companies and builders could get in on the process, making the process still yet far more accessible than ever before. By now, a former $2000 printer may only cost as much as a new video game console.

The accessibility of printer technology, continued availability and sharing of 3d Modeling files, and the complete boredom of lock-downs thanks to the 2020 pandemic has created a boom in 3d printer use for table-top gaming. This is assuming of course you buy your own, and don't just cheap out the work to a company that specializes in 3D printing, like Shapeways.

==== Types of Printing ====
Since no one has access to [[Dark Age of Technology|Electron beam melting desktop technology]] this wiki will cover the most commonly used home printers.

'''Digital Light Processing (DLP)'''
DLP (also called SLA) technology uses a digital light projector screen under a vat of UV resin. DLP 3D printers can image an entire layer of the build all at once, resulting in faster build speeds. While frequently used for rapid prototyping, the fine detail allows for quality [[Miniatures|minis]] to be printed. However, this type of printing is significantly more complicated, and thus costlier, than FDM printing.

'''Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)'''
FDM is a common desktop 3D printing technology for plastic parts. An FDM printer functions by extruding a plastic filament layer-by-layer onto the build platform. It’s <s>stinky</s> (just use PLA) but a cost-effective (up to 30 times cheaper than [[Games Workshop|GW]]) and relatively quick method for producing physical models. This is best for creating [[Citadel Hard Foam Terrain|terrain]] or larger models. [[Image:Ender3.jpg|thumb|Costs a fraction of a titan and will make you one]]

3DPrinting

2021-10-07T23:23:15Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* Overview */

{{stub}}
{{NeedsImages}}
{{Topquote|“But this constructor is both efficient and flexible. I feed magnetronic plastics — the stuff they make houses and ships of nowadays — into this moving arm. It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photo-cells. But plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens as it comes ... following drawings only”| Murray Langster's ''Things Pass By'', hitting the nail on the head on what the tech would become almost 70 years before it actually happened.}}
[[File:3D Printer.jpg|thumb|The holy shrine of plastic crack, breath in the incense of freedom and possibilities! (Editor's note, DO NOT do this, and remember to properly ventilate your workspace.)]]
3D Printing is, putting it simply, the home modelers new best friend. [[Laserburn|Discontinued]] games, long since given up hope of reprints, are now almost completely supported by use of hobbyists and printers alike.
== Overview ==
How many [[Car Wars|cars]] [[meme|will you download]]?

3D Printing is the catch-all term for use of a specialized printer that is fed some form of plastic or other, similar malleable material to turn into a three dimensional object via use of a computer that has a renderable 3D file. The technology was first described in a sci-fi story in the forties, and has since become not only science fact, but a commercial success. Prior to the 2000's, it was mostly only ever used in an industrial capacity, up until 1988 when the company Stratasys came up with the concept of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing, which brought the complex process to the consumer grade market for a hefty, Forge World-esque price right up until 2009, when the process became public domain, and as a result, more and more companies and builders could get in on the process, making the process still yet far more accessible than ever before. By now, a former $2000 printer may only cost as much as a new video game console.

The accessibility of printer technology, continued availability and sharing of 3d Modeling files, and the complete boredom of lock-downs thanks to the 2020 pandemic has created a boom in 3d printer use for table-top gaming. This is assuming of course you buy your own, and don't just cheap out the work to a company that specializes in 3D printing, like Shapeways.

==== Types of Printing ====
Since no one has access to [[Dark Age of Technology|Electron beam melting desktop technology]] this wiki will cover the most commonly used home printers.

'''Digital Light Processing (DLP)'''
DLP (also called SLA) technology uses a digital light projector screen under a vat of UV resin. DLP 3D printers can image an entire layer of the build all at once, resulting in faster build speeds. While frequently used for rapid prototyping, the fine detail allows for quality [[Miniatures|minis]] to be printed. However, this type of printing is significantly more complicated, and thus costlier, than FDM printing.

'''Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)'''
FDM is a common desktop 3D printing technology for plastic parts. An FDM printer functions by extruding a plastic filament layer-by-layer onto the build platform. It’s <s>stinky</s> just use PLA but a cost-effective (up to 30 times cheaper than [[Games Workshop|GW]]) and relatively quick method for producing physical models. This is best for creating [[Citadel Hard Foam Terrain|terrain]] or larger models. [[Image:Ender3.jpg|thumb|Costs a fraction of a titan and will make you one]]

3DPrinting

2021-10-07T23:06:09Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F:

{{stub}}
{{NeedsImages}}
{{Topquote|“But this constructor is both efficient and flexible. I feed magnetronic plastics — the stuff they make houses and ships of nowadays — into this moving arm. It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photo-cells. But plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens as it comes ... following drawings only”| Murray Langster's ''Things Pass By'', hitting the nail on the head on what the tech would become almost 70 years before it actually happened.}}
[[File:3D Printer.jpg|thumb|The holy shrine of plastic crack, breath in the incense of freedom and possibilities! (Editor's note, DO NOT do this, and remember to properly ventilate your workspace.)]]
3D Printing is, putting it simply, the home modelers new best friend. [[Laserburn|Discontinued]] games, long since given up hope of reprints, are now almost completely supported by use of hobbyists and printers alike.
== Overview ==
How many [[Car Wars|cars]] [[meme|will you download]]?

3D Printing is the catch-all term for use of a specialized printer that is fed some form of plastic or other, similar malleable material to turn into a three dimensional object via use of a computer that has a renderable 3D file. The technology was first described in a sci-fi story in the forties, and has since become not only science fact, but a commercial success. Prior to the 2000's, it was mostly only ever used in an industrial capacity, up until 1988 when the company Stratasys came up with the concept of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing, which brought the complex process to the consumer grade market for a hefty, Forge World-esque price right up until 2009, when process became public domain, and as a result, more and more companies and builders could get in on the process, making the process still yet far more accessible than ever before. By now, a former $2000 printer may only cost as much as a new video game console.

The accessibility of printer technology, continued availability and sharing of 3d Modeling files, and the complete boredom of lock-downs thanks to the 2020 pandemic has created a boom in 3d printer use for table-top gaming. This is assuming of course you buy your own, and don't just cheap out the work to a company that specializes in 3D printing, like Shapeways.

==== Types of Printing ====
Since no one has access to [[Dark Age of Technology|Electron beam melting desktop technology]] this wiki will cover the most commonly used home printers.

'''Digital Light Processing (DLP)'''
DLP (also called SLA) technology uses a digital light projector screen under a vat of UV resin. DLP 3D printers can image an entire layer of the build all at once, resulting in faster build speeds. While frequently used for rapid prototyping, the fine detail allows for quality [[Miniatures|minis]] to be printed. However, this type of printing is significantly more complicated, and thus costlier, than FDM printing.

'''Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)'''
FDM is a common desktop 3D printing technology for plastic parts. An FDM printer functions by extruding a plastic filament layer-by-layer onto the build platform. It’s <s>stinky</s> just use PLA but a cost-effective (up to 30 times cheaper than [[Games Workshop|GW]]) and relatively quick method for producing physical models. This is best for creating [[Citadel Hard Foam Terrain|terrain]] or larger models. [[Image:Ender3.jpg|thumb|Costs a fraction of a titan and will make you one]]

Metamagic

2021-10-07T08:42:26Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F:

'''Metamagic''' is a game mechanic created in [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]. As the name implies, it is a way for spellcasting classes ([[wizard]]s, [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|sorcerers]], [[cleric]]s, [[druid]]s, etc.) to get even more powerful by tinkering with certain aspects of their spells, augmenting them in various ways, such as removing the need for certain components, expanding their area of effect, and so forth.

While it was truly introduced in 3rd edition, it has its roots in a number of older spells from [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons| still older versions of the game]]. Notably, spells like ''sequencer'' and ''contingency'', only some of which survived metamagic, gave casters the ability to play with their spells and fiddle with their output.

In 3rd edition, metamagic was handled as a family of feats that casters could pick up. Each metamagic feat represented a specific magical trick that a caster could apply when preparing or casting a spell, depending on their casting style, and usually with some drawback - mostly in the form of requiring a higher spell-slot than before. Multiple metamagic effects could be stacked on the same spell, but this could get prohibitively expensive in terms of spell slots. You could throw a massive ''fireball'' with a huge area of effect that not only maximized the damage instead of rolling for it but ''also'' increased it by 1.5 times, but it would require the same spell slot to prepare as a ''wish'' spell.

Notably, the famous Quicken Spell metamagic allowed character to break action economy, throwing spells around as one action less than their normal casting time, making it powerful and infamous despite the staggering four spell level hike. Also, divine casters had access to Sacred Spell, to let them penetrate any kind of resistance because fuck you, as a component of their [[CoDzilla | infamously powerful status]].

Some metamagic feats could be taken multiple times. Most prominently, the Energy Substitution metamagic feat, which was broken up into five subfeats; Acid, Cold, Electric, Fire and Sonic. Each version of Energy Substitution taken allowed the caster to replace the normal energy type of their spell with that feat's type; Energy Substitution (Acid) could be used to create a Chain Lightning spell that did acid damage, whilst Energy Substitution (Cold) could be used to create Fireball spell that did cold damage.

Notably, it was ''much'' harder to use for spontaneous caster compared to prepared ones for... reasons. Reasons that may have started with a mixture of sloppy editing and unreasoning paranoid about the power of spontaneous casting vs. the traditional kind and turned into spiteful malice and an editor/author trying to win a long-lost forum argument in the transition from 3rd edition to 3.5 with the ultimate rules-beating stick. For example, while a wizard who wished to cast a ''reach shivering touch'' spell for maximum cheese had only to have the Reach Spell feat and access to the fifth level slot necessary and prepare it thus, a sorcerer who wished to do the same must not only have the slot and the feat, but spend a ''full round action'' to make it go off. This also meant that Quicken Spell was useless to a spontaneous caster.

Happily, limited salvation was to be found in the form of Rods of Metamagic! These not-at-all-phallic-and-why-would-you-think-that magic items were each attuned to specific metamagic feats, and could apply metamagic to spells for free a limited number of times per day, requiring neither a spell-level hike nor, in the case of spontaneous casters, a full-round action. Said rods typically came in three flavors of potency, with ''lesser'' rods only working on the weakest spells and only ''greater'' rods helping out with the big boys.

Metamagic vanished in 4th edition, because it just didn't quite work with the new paradigm to how spells worked. Its spirit lived on in the form of various feats that provided permanent innate augmentations to different spells in a broad sense.

[[Pathfinder]] kept most of the 3rd edition metamagics, adding in a few of its own. Energy Substitution was now a feature of specific classes, though. One trait (a form of "half-[[feat]]" the game introduced), called Magical Lineage, let a character pick one spell and reduce its effective level by one while applying metamagic to it. This was, by what we're sure is ''pure'' coincidence, half the effect of the infamous 3E but not OGL feat Arcane Thesis. Also introduced were Selective Spell, which allowed people throwing AoE's around to exclude their party members, and Intensify Spell, which doubled the level cap for spells that rolled extra dice for caster level. The latter in particular is much beloved by the whole [[magus]] class that needs ''shocking grasp'' and/or ''snowball'' to function on par with others in their intended role.

While the problems spontaneous casters have with metamagic were almost intact (quicken spell however actually works!), a number of cheesy tricks and character options helped mitigate it, such as the Arcane sorcerer bloodline.

It returned in 5th edition, now relegated to a class feature for the Sorcerer, which could burn "sorcery points", a pseudo-mana system, when casting a spell in order to activate metamagic effects; sorcerers can now choose which metamagics they learn as they level up. Unfortunately, due to various issues...namely, how few sorcery points they get, the fact sorcery points are also used to replenish depleted spell slots, ''and'' the fact that sorcery points only recharge on a long rest... well, it makes metamagic a lot less useful in 5e than it was, which has upset many sorcerer fans. They also don't get nearly enough choices nearly often enough.

Also, while certain combinations are still ''very'' potent (Twinned Spell + ''haste'' = best combat buffer in the game for levels to come), and collapsing Still Spell and Subtle Spell into one power that also goes off very cheaply is very, very nice, Quicken Spell, though still good, is hurt by the game's mechanics. Since there's a hard cap of one spell and one cantrip per round, no more, it's a good but not abuseable trick. This is good in a vacuum, but a bit of a pain for a class that could really stand a few more abuseable tricks to its name.

It's telling that the Lore Master Arcane Tradition for wizards in [[Unearthed Arcana]] didn't once mention the word "metamagic", and yet it ''still'' manages to blow sorcerers out of the water in terms of being able to tweak and modify spells on the fly for greater efficiency in battle; its very first feature, ''Spell Secrets'', lets it change elemental damage typing for its spells at will - which is considered broken in and of itself, because that's a category that includes Force damage, which practically no enemy resists - and also change the saving throw required of 1 spell per encounter, which means they can spontaneously tailor a spell to strike a particular weakness of a creature that would normally be heavily resistant to it due to having a good saving throw. Then, at level 6, its ''Alchemical Casting'' lets it modify certain spells by burning an extra spell slot; give up a 1st level spell slot when casting a spell that inflicts damage for +2d6 bonus Force damage, give up a 2nd level spell slot when casting a ranged spell of at least 30 feet to instead upgrade its range to 1 mile, and give up a 3rd level spell slot when casting a spell with a saving throw to increase its DC by +2. Level 10's ''Prodigious Memory'' feature lets a Lore Master use a bonus action to swap one of its memorized spells out for a prepared spell instead once per encounter, which would be toe-stepping harder if sorcerers weren't already sucking so hard in terms of spell output per day and actual versatility. Things come to a cap with its ultimate subclass feature: level 14's ''Master of Magic'', where, 1/day, the Lore Master can choose to cast a single spell from ''any other class's spell list''. Which, admittedly, would be more impressive if the spell-lists didn't boil down to "[[Wizard]], [[Cleric]], and token tweaks to either of the aforementioned".

Fans of the sorcerer were '''outraged''', prompting such a backlash that the School of Invention, what many believe to be the 2nd iteration of the Lore Master, was portrayed as a [[Wild Mage]]/[[Artificer]] hybrid with a theme of "bumbling [[gnome|gnomish]] know-it-all". Even so, the whole fact that the Lore Master's old design used to be stupidly powerful was subtly mocked by fluff for them implying that they're not nearly the clever magic masters that they think they are.

So, naturally, they never again '''[[Truenamer#Onomancer.2C_or_Utter_Hubris:_the_5e_Truenamer| oh wait]]'''!

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Gamer Slang]] [[Category: Game Mechanics]]

Wrath of the Righteous

2021-10-07T08:36:23Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* The Basics */

{{/vg/}}

'''Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous''' is a [[CRPG]] by Owlcat Games based on the [[Adventure Path]] of the same name published by Paizo, and a follow-up to ''Pathfinder: [[Kingmaker]]''. The game tells the same general story from the tabletop campaign but done within the confines of it being a one player game. Owlcat also took the chance to add in a bunch of new content and characters which range from fairly good to rather mediocre, and to add more support for playing as an evil character since the original adventure path kind of assumed all the players would be good-aligned.

==The Basics==
You play a character built using a modified [[Pathfinder]] system. You character can be of one of the following races: Aasimar, Dhampir, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-elf, Half-orc, Halfling, Human, Kitsune, Oread or Tiefling. And any of Pathfinder's core classes as well as Alchemist, Arcanist, Bloodrager, Cavalier, Hunter, Inquisitor, Kineticist, Magus, Oracle, Shaman, Skald, Slayer, Warpriest, or Witch. Each class has six archetypes. You pick from a curated selection of feats, design a player avatar and choose or upload a picture of them.

Once you're done with the first city, you also get to play a set of Crusade management minigames in parallel with your normal adventuring, whether you like it or not. It's full of [[skub]] and busywork, but isn't hard, as long as you've played a TBS game in your life.

==The Mythic Paths==
The game has a modified version of the Mythic Path system used in the adventure path, using new paths with different rules to the tabletop. Only the player character can get a Mythic Path, with your companions only getting the "Mythic Companion" path which offers only Mythic Abilities and Mythic Feats, but none of the unique shit specific to the player's Paths. You choose your path fairly early on in the game and which choices are available to you depends on whether you have unlocked them through certain character interactions. Each path also has alignment restrictions, and choosing a path with an unsuitable alignment has the game give you a quest that shifts your alignment to something acceptable. Once chosen, the path gives you a spellbook that goes up to level 6 spells as you increase in Mythic Rank (except the Angel and Lich, which go up to ninth level spells) and a grab-bag of powers. All of them also give you the power to summon some thematically-appropriate minions, such as the Azata summoning more benevolent fey and nature spirits or the Aeon summoning various constructs.

Six paths are available when you choose a Mythic Path.

*The '''Aeon''' is unlocked when you find the remains of a destroyed Aeon, and requires that you be lawful in some way, or True Neutral. Its main abilities are Enforcing Gaze, which allows you to buff allies and debuff enemies in an area around you, and Aeon's Banes, which are pretty much just Inquisitor's Banes but much stronger and they stack with Inquisitor's Banes. They also become immune to many different status effects as they increase in rank.
*The '''Angel''' is unlocked early on in the main quest and requires you to not be evil. It offers some powerful divine spells and players with levels in a full divine caster class can merge their Angel and class spellbooks. Their main abilities are Sword of Heaven, which makes their weapon attacks deal holy damage as well as making their healing and damaging spells more effective and can later be upgraded to grant various other bonuses, and Angelic Aura, which buffs allies within 50 feet and can be upgraded to grant various other bonuses. It also shows up quite a bit in dialogue, since taking on the aspect of goodness personified tends to be a good way to convince people you're trustworthy.
* The '''Azata''' is unlocked by helping some people and then singing with them, and requires you to not be Lawful or Evil. They get Azata Perfomances, which are pretty much just Bardic Performances but much stronger (and their uses per day stack with those of Bardic Performances), and a list of Superpowers (powerful passive buffs) to choose from at certain levels. Some of the Superpowers include All-Skilled, which grants a bonus to all skill checks and proficiency in all equipment; Supersonic Speed, which grants a permanent Haste effect and 20% chance to dodge all melee and ranged attacks; and Zippy Magic, which makes all single-target spells also hit another valid target within 30 feet of the original as well as making damaging single-target spells deal bonus damage. They also get a free animal companion in the form of a Havoc Dragon named Aivu, who will interject in conversations and interact with NPCs much like your humanoid companions.
* The '''Demon''' is unlocked early on in the main quest and requires you to not be good or lawful. Its main mechanic is the Demonic Rage, which is like a Barbarian or Bloodrager rage but it also improves spellcasting, and Demonic Aspects, which let you pick between various aspects that give you a bonus both in-combat and out of it. Generally agreed to be the worst of the paths in terms of both gameplay and story.
* The '''Lich''' is unlocked when you find an evil wand and keep it with you until you get to a basement in a particular chapel. It offers some powerful arcane spells (mostly necromancy, of course) and players with levels in an full arcane caster class can merge their Lich and class spellbooks. Its main mechanics are the Skeletal Champion, a permanent undead minion that can be upgraded in various ways as you increase your rank and equipped with whatever magic swag you and your companions don't need, and Lich Powers, which are similar to the Azata's Superpowers in that they let you pick between various powerful bonuses. Some of the Lich Powers include Decaying Touch, which lets your natural weapon attacks deal bonus unholy damage and reduce the target's Strength; Withering Life, which makes all of your spells deal ability damage; and Indestructible Bones, which grants DR10/- and make it so enemies that hit you get a penalty to attack rolls until the end of combat. They also get a few passive abilities that buff spellcasting in general and Necromancy in particular, and are unable to romance any of the companions due to one of the steps on the path of Lichdom involving killing your ability to feel love.
* The '''Trickster''' is unlocked by playing a trick on some enemies early on in the game, and requires that you be True Neutral or some kind of Chaotic. It grants sneak attack dice and lets you sneak attack with healing spells, as well as allowing you to pick a few Mythic Tricks which let you use skill checks to do things like automatically demoralizing every enemy at the start of combat or identifying magic items so well that they inexplicably become more powerful.

On top of these six options, there are four that the player can switch over to later in the game.

* The '''Devil''' can be accessed by either choosing the Aeon path and being both evil and competent enough that hell offers you a job, or by picking the Azata path and being so terrible at being Chaotic Good that you become Lawful Evil.
* The '''Gold Dragon''' is unlocked by giving the Storyteller a scale and a claw (which can be found right next to the wand that unlocks the Lich path) of Terendelev, investigating her lair, meeting her gold dragon mentor and being very Sarenrae-like about one of the cultists squatting there. If everything is done right, the dragon shows up at the beginning of Act 5 to fry some demons and say you have what it takes to be cool and shiny too, if you want to.
* The '''Swarm-That-Walks''' is accessed by interacting with what's left of a Vescavor Queen and doing some research into swarms. It allows your character to become a ravenous humanoid swarm of locusts, devouring crusader and demon alike and generally being such a menace that the crusaders have to put the crusade on hold so they can fight you instead. Switching over to this path causes all of your companions to abandon you, but you make up for it by being able to split your swarm up into copies of yourself, being able to create more copies the more corpses you devour.
* The '''Legend''' is accessed by choosing to cast away any extraplanar influence and instead draw only on your own personal might for your mythic power. This removes all but one of your Mythic Abilities and Feats, but gives a massive boost to XP gain and doubles the level cap, allowing you to go up to character level ''40.''

==The Companions==
*'''Arueshalae the Succubus Ranger''' is a Chaotic Neutral succubus who got her empathy switched back on by a goddess and has since been working to redeem herself. The player can help her in this goal, causing her to turn Chaotic Good, {{spoiler|or they can cause her to fall back into Chaotic Evil.}} She's extremely useful in this game due to having evil outsiders as her favored enemy in a game full to bursting of the things, as well as the ability to share her favored enemy bonuses with the rest of your party. She can be romanced regardless of gender (which is actually one of the ways to redeem her), {{spoiler|but if she's turned evil she can only be romanced by a player going down the Demon Mythic Path}}.
*'''Camellia Gwerm the Half-Elf Shaman''' is the True Neutral bastard daughter of a nobleman. {{spoiler|Though she's also wearing a magic necklace that conceals her true alignment, which is probably chaotic evil}}. She can be romanced by male characters.
*'''Daeran Arendae the Aasimar Oracle''' is a Neutral Evil sociopathic nobleman who joins your party mostly just because he thinks fighting the demons would be entertaining. He can be romanced regardless of gender.
*'''Ember the Elf Witch''' is a Neutral Good young girl (young by elf standards anyway, she's actually as old as the Worldwound) who came to the Worldwound with her parents many years ago, who were wrongly accused of treason and burned at the stake. She's got a special Witch archetype created just for her that turns her into an Oracle/Witch hybrid, replacing her patron with an Oracle's Curse and making her a Charisma-based spontaneous caster.
*'''Greybor the Dwarf Slayer''' is a True Neutral mercenary who really only follows you because you pay him to. If you stop paying him, he leaves.
*'''Lann the Mongrelfolk Monk''' is a Lawful Neutral archer. He's also Wenduag's ex-boyfriend who shares a mutual hatred with her, and picking one to join your party will mean you'll need to wait a while before you can recruit the other. {{spoiler|Assuming you don't let Wenduag kill him, that is}}. He can be romanced by female characters.
*'''Nenio the Kitsune Wizard''' is a True Neutral Scroll Savant Wizard who is generally regarded by players as being either pretty funny or extremely annoying.
*'''Regill Derenge the Gnome Hellknight''' subverts the general gnomish stereotypes by being joyless, stoic, brutally pragmatic, and Lawful Evil.
*'''Seelah the Human Paladin of Iomedae''' is Pathfinder's iconic paladin.
*'''Sosiel the Human Cleric of [[Shelyn]]''' is a friendly man who is very good at killing things with a glaive. In the adventure path he had a boyfriend, but here he's single and available to be romanced by male players.
*'''Wenduag the Mongrelfolk Fighter''' is a Neutral Evil cat-spider-woman who only cares about getting stronger, and joins the player because they've proven themselves very strong indeed. She's also Lann's ex-girlfriend who shares a mutual hatred with him, and picking one to join your party will mean you'll need to wait a while before you can recruit the other. This big difference compares to the original adventure path, where she was just a minor antagonist who fought the players and then died. She can be romanced by players regardless of gender.
*'''Woljif Jefto the Tiefling Rogue''' is a Chaotic Neutral Eldritch Scoundrel who is a member of a group of tiefling thieves, and joins the player if they choose to have him released from jail. In gameplay terms, he's absolutely terrible.
*'''Trickster-Exclusive companion: {{spoiler|Nurah Dendiwhar the Halfling Bard'''}} is an antagonist who is initially Chaotic Evil, but can be turned Chaotic Neutral as part of recruiting them, assuming you can {{spoiler|pierce her maze-like shell of personal issues and lead her away from devotion to Baphomet}}.
*'''Lich-exclusive companion: {{spoiler|Staunton Vhane the Undead Dwarf Warpriest'''}} is an antagonist who you eventually kill, and if playing as a lich can choose to raise as your undead thrall.
*'''Lich-exclusive companion: Delamere the Undead Ranger''' was a loyal priestess of [[Erastil]] in life, devoted enough that her remains were preserved as holy relics. A lich player who finds these remains can choose to reanimate her as an undead minion. Despite her current circumstances and inability to disobey you or end her own existence no matter how much she wants to, she remains loyal and devoted to her god.

[[Category:Pathfinder]]

Standard Fantasy Setting

2021-10-07T06:51:29Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* Standard Japanese Fantasy Setting */

You know the one. The "default" fantasy setting, <s>as codified by</s> ripping off [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] and/or [[Dungeons and Dragons]], with a few going for the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] cum Central European fantasy angle.

[[Image:Generic_Fantasy_Map.jpg|thumb|right|Typically features the generic fantasy map. You know, the one with oceans on the left, land on the right, some long mountain ranges splitting good from evil.]]
[[Image:Generic_Fantasy_Cities.png|thumb|right|The capital of the (anime) Standard Fantasy Setting: Seoul, South Korea.]]
[[Image:WouldNotExplore.jpeg|thumb|right|Another typical example (click for more detail)]]

The "distinguishing" features of the standard fantasy setting include:
* [[Elf|Elf/ves]], [[Dwarf|Dwarf/ves]], [[Human|Humans]], [[Orc|Orcs]] or their [[Games Workshop|trademarkable]] equivalents. [[Halfling|Halflings]] and other races are optional, depending on the decade it was made.
** There's usually at least one [[Always Chaotic Evil]] race; if not Orcs, then some kind of [[Demon]].
* [[Dragon|Dragons]], usually intelligent.
* [[Undead]], usually evil.
* [[Medieval Stasis]], with heavily schizophrenic technology levels the further from the center of the map you get.
* Enough magic that [[Wizard]] is a viable career path.
* Some kind of Evil Overlord, although he does not have to feature in the story or campaign.
* Fantasy versions of real world cultures. Typical are [[Al-Qadim|Arabia]], [[Kara-Tur|The Middle Kingdom]], and some variant on [[Maztica|Native Americans]].
* Either a "Dung Ages" or "Excessively Romanticized" approach to what the world looks like, sometimes both depending on its level of humor/seriousness.
* [[God|Gods]], generally [[Religion|active enough]] that there is no doubt of their existence.

Common variations of the Standard Fantasy Setting include:
*Gothic: Adds angels and demons, black-white ethical framework, and Gothic architecture
*Swords & Sandals: Very [[Bronze Age]]-esque.
*'''''[[Starfinder|IN SPAAAACE]]''''': [[Science Fantasy]], but we're in space.
Some variations will eschew the Tolkien races in favor of pulpier or slightly more obscure races/visual themes, like [[Nymph|nymphs]] and [[Frazetta Man|Frazetta Men]].

This has become more rare in literature; the likes of Dennis L. McKiernan and Terry Brooks have mined it to exhaustion, while others like Terry Pratchett and G.R.R. Martin have satirized, parodied, or deconstructed what was left. [[Fantasy Heartbreaker|Fantasy Heartbreakers]] have similarly exhausted the tabletop RPG side. [[Isekai]] still has plenty of 'em, but most Isekai are garbage.

Since most people are familiar with the Standard Fantasy Setting, it remains popular in [[Anime]], [[Video Games|Vidya]], and [[board games]].

==Medieval European Fantasy==
Distinct enough from the Standard Fantasy Setting to get its own name (and tropes page), the Medieval European Fantasy setting is, well, a setting that tries to base itself around some kind of fascimile of Medieval Europe. What distinguishes this from the Standard Fantasy Setting? Generally, that's... tricky. Expert more overt references to European culture, geography, politics, history, and so forth. This may even go so far as to bring in more elements of Arthurian legend and/or European fairytales.

There are two and a half common ways of describing the MEF to SFS relationship:

# One possible way to differentiate is to ask "is this closer to J.R.R. Tolkein or George R.R. Martin?" That is, MEF is usually more closely associated with "low powered", "more or less historically accurate", or "grimdark" fantasy, rather than Standard Fantasy Setting's "high powered", "closer to Mythology than anything realistic", or "Noblebright" fantasy.
# Another is to ask "are there cultures besides Medieval European, are they examined in any detail, and is a large amount of the story set in this non-ME culture?" If the answer to both is "Yes", you may have exited the MEF zone, and entered more of the SFS area. (Or put another way: The Daenerys parts of [[A Song of Ice and Fire]] are not MEF, if counted separately; ASoIaF as a whole counts as MEF, since that's such a small part of the story.)
# The "half" way is to just contrast MEF to the Japanese Standard Fantasy Setting.

Notable examples of this aesthetic include:
* [[Symbaroum]]
* Certain iterations of [[Bretonnia]] in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] (The rest of the world is a little too culturally advanced to fit the "Medieval" part of the name)
* [[A Song of Ice And Fire]]
* [[Dungeons and Dragons]] can be played as MEF, but it was and is more a melting pot of influences and a toolkit than anything with an actual coherent aesthetic<ref>Seriously, the 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide had rules for pistols, shotguns and lasers from [[Boot Hill]] and [[Gamma World]], and let's not get started on how Asian the [[Monk]] is.</ref>, and most generic fantasy follows in D&D's footsteps.

==Standard Japanese Fantasy Setting==
Whilst the Japanese love the Standard Fantasy Setting enough that you'll see it in plenty of fantasy anime, manga and video games, they've also put their own spin on it often enough that it's become a recognized aesthetic in its own right, which in turn has become a major thing in fantasy anime, manga and video games. In fact, there's very few official tabletop games set in this kind of setting, outside of Japan's own [[Dungeons & Dragons]] knock-off, [[Sword World RPG]].

Defining attributes of the Standard Japanese Fantasy Setting?

'''Races:''' In a SJFS, races are typically divided into the major categories of Humanoid, Sei ("Pure" or "Sacred"), Ma ("Magic" or "Demon"), Shin ("God" or "Divine"), Demihuman and Monster.
* Humanoid races are typically made up of Humans, [[Elf|Elves]], [[Dwarf|Dwarves]], [[Beastfolk]] and [[Giant]]s. If there's a precursor race, it's typically related to one or more or the aforementioned.
** Humans tend to be in charge, and may treat other races like crap, especially if there's a corrupt empire and/or church running humanity.
** Dwarves are very close allies with humans, and their womenfolk tend to be more prominent (often ending up as [[loli]]s or [[shortstack]]s).
** Elves often are in hiding, usually due to having warred with humanity. Half-elves tend to replace purebloods as "the elves who actually interact with humans". Dark elves are usually not evil, and tend to be quite sexual, often with blonde or white hair contrasting human-like dark skin.
** Beastfolk vary from full-on anthros to [[monstergirls]] style "human with animal bits". Often men look like anthros and women like monstergirls. Tend to be physically orientated, and often treated like crap. Some beastfolk, especially human-blooded halfbreeds, may look human or monstergirl style, but can "freak out" and transform into a more monstrous state whilst also going berserk, ala a [[therianthrope]].
* Sei races are typically a mixture of [[fey]], [[elemental]]s, and magical beasts (from "ordinary" talking animals to magical creatures like [[unicorn]]s).
* Ma races are usually dangerous and chaotic, but not universally evil (we'll get to that). Generally divided between Majuu ("Demon-Beasts"; animal type monsters or beastfolk) and Mazoku ("Demon-Tribe", humanoid and often taking visual cues from Western [[fiend]]s), with a Maou ("Demon-Lord") ruling over them all.
* Shin races, often called "Shinzoku", are typically either [[celestial]]s, [[dragon]]s, or both. They are usually ruled over one or more Gods of Good.
* [[Demihuman]]s are generally more monstrous humanoids that are begrudgingly accepted alongside humanity, but not liked very much. This may be just an alternative name for "Monster". [[Lizardfolk]] and [[Harpy|Harpies]] tend to be demihumans.
* Monsters are any creature that exists to be killed. Common monsters are [[slime]]s, [[orc]]s, [[kobold]]s, [[ogre]]s and [[goblin]]s. Orcs and kobolds, infamously, tend to resemble pig-folk and dog-folk, due to their roots in old-school D&D art.

'''Classes:'''
* The [[Gish]] archetype tends to be very pronounced, to the point where fighters who ''don't'' know at least a few spells are rare.
* Master Swordsman types, who frequently get slapped with the [[samurai]] moniker, are usually the exception to the above, relying on striking with incredible speed and force whilst not being very good at taking damage.
* Paladins, in comparison, tend to be the tanks. Due to the Japanese cosmology revolving around Light/Dark rather than Good/Evil, the whole "testing or morals" things is rare.
* Ninjas typically fill the role of "thief" or "assassin", but are usually characterized as loyal and/or self-sacrificing, unlike western Rogues.
* The traditional D&D Monk is often portrayed by women or cute little kids, for the comedic juxtaposition.
* Barbarians are usually called Berserkers, and often portrayed as somehow cursed.
* With the proclivity towards [[magitek]], expect gunners and/or artificers backed by constructs.
* Spellcasters are typically divided between Black Mages (focused on elemental or destructive magic), White Mages (focused on healing and holy magic), and Summoners.

Other notable aspects of the SJFS:
* Good and Evil in the Western sense are replaced with a focus on Light and Dark.
* Individuality is central to Goodness, which keeps powers of Good firmly in the Neutral Good and Chaotic Good alignments; the great flaw of Good is a tendency to devolve into tyranny.
* Darkness isn't evil; the Ma races aren't necessarily universally evil.
* Light isn't good; Shin and Sei races (especially Sei) can be just as dangerous or corruptible as the Ma races.
* Catholic trappings are popular for religious aspects, but the more overtly "Christian" a church is, the more likely it tends to be corrupt or outright evil (that whole "Lawfulness can devolve into Tyranny" thing again).
* [[Magitek]] is often common, and may even see fantasy Mecha.
* Ki manipulation is often a major part of the magical system, if not the default explanation for it.
* The world often has a tangible font of life energy that must be protected from abuse.
* Mana often takes solid form by crystallizing.

SJFS "light novels" have their own particular set of tropes more common to them than other media:
* Adventuring guilds are a thing.
* Dungeon crawling is often emphasized to the point that dungeons are a kind of magical-yet-natural phenomena, and/or plunging into dungeons may serve as the foundation of entire economies.
* Slavery is often present, and usually magically enforced by enchanted collars or tattoos.

==Tropes Pages==
* https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardFantasySetting
* https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MedievalEuropeanFantasy
* https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardJapaneseFantasySetting

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]
[[Category: Setting Aesthetics]]

Standard Fantasy Setting

2021-10-07T06:49:15Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* Standard Japanese Fantasy Setting */

You know the one. The "default" fantasy setting, <s>as codified by</s> ripping off [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] and/or [[Dungeons and Dragons]], with a few going for the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] cum Central European fantasy angle.

[[Image:Generic_Fantasy_Map.jpg|thumb|right|Typically features the generic fantasy map. You know, the one with oceans on the left, land on the right, some long mountain ranges splitting good from evil.]]
[[Image:Generic_Fantasy_Cities.png|thumb|right|The capital of the (anime) Standard Fantasy Setting: Seoul, South Korea.]]
[[Image:WouldNotExplore.jpeg|thumb|right|Another typical example (click for more detail)]]

The "distinguishing" features of the standard fantasy setting include:
* [[Elf|Elf/ves]], [[Dwarf|Dwarf/ves]], [[Human|Humans]], [[Orc|Orcs]] or their [[Games Workshop|trademarkable]] equivalents. [[Halfling|Halflings]] and other races are optional, depending on the decade it was made.
** There's usually at least one [[Always Chaotic Evil]] race; if not Orcs, then some kind of [[Demon]].
* [[Dragon|Dragons]], usually intelligent.
* [[Undead]], usually evil.
* [[Medieval Stasis]], with heavily schizophrenic technology levels the further from the center of the map you get.
* Enough magic that [[Wizard]] is a viable career path.
* Some kind of Evil Overlord, although he does not have to feature in the story or campaign.
* Fantasy versions of real world cultures. Typical are [[Al-Qadim|Arabia]], [[Kara-Tur|The Middle Kingdom]], and some variant on [[Maztica|Native Americans]].
* Either a "Dung Ages" or "Excessively Romanticized" approach to what the world looks like, sometimes both depending on its level of humor/seriousness.
* [[God|Gods]], generally [[Religion|active enough]] that there is no doubt of their existence.

Common variations of the Standard Fantasy Setting include:
*Gothic: Adds angels and demons, black-white ethical framework, and Gothic architecture
*Swords & Sandals: Very [[Bronze Age]]-esque.
*'''''[[Starfinder|IN SPAAAACE]]''''': [[Science Fantasy]], but we're in space.
Some variations will eschew the Tolkien races in favor of pulpier or slightly more obscure races/visual themes, like [[Nymph|nymphs]] and [[Frazetta Man|Frazetta Men]].

This has become more rare in literature; the likes of Dennis L. McKiernan and Terry Brooks have mined it to exhaustion, while others like Terry Pratchett and G.R.R. Martin have satirized, parodied, or deconstructed what was left. [[Fantasy Heartbreaker|Fantasy Heartbreakers]] have similarly exhausted the tabletop RPG side. [[Isekai]] still has plenty of 'em, but most Isekai are garbage.

Since most people are familiar with the Standard Fantasy Setting, it remains popular in [[Anime]], [[Video Games|Vidya]], and [[board games]].

==Medieval European Fantasy==
Distinct enough from the Standard Fantasy Setting to get its own name (and tropes page), the Medieval European Fantasy setting is, well, a setting that tries to base itself around some kind of fascimile of Medieval Europe. What distinguishes this from the Standard Fantasy Setting? Generally, that's... tricky. Expert more overt references to European culture, geography, politics, history, and so forth. This may even go so far as to bring in more elements of Arthurian legend and/or European fairytales.

There are two and a half common ways of describing the MEF to SFS relationship:

# One possible way to differentiate is to ask "is this closer to J.R.R. Tolkein or George R.R. Martin?" That is, MEF is usually more closely associated with "low powered", "more or less historically accurate", or "grimdark" fantasy, rather than Standard Fantasy Setting's "high powered", "closer to Mythology than anything realistic", or "Noblebright" fantasy.
# Another is to ask "are there cultures besides Medieval European, are they examined in any detail, and is a large amount of the story set in this non-ME culture?" If the answer to both is "Yes", you may have exited the MEF zone, and entered more of the SFS area. (Or put another way: The Daenerys parts of [[A Song of Ice and Fire]] are not MEF, if counted separately; ASoIaF as a whole counts as MEF, since that's such a small part of the story.)
# The "half" way is to just contrast MEF to the Japanese Standard Fantasy Setting.

Notable examples of this aesthetic include:
* [[Symbaroum]]
* Certain iterations of [[Bretonnia]] in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] (The rest of the world is a little too culturally advanced to fit the "Medieval" part of the name)
* [[A Song of Ice And Fire]]
* [[Dungeons and Dragons]] can be played as MEF, but it was and is more a melting pot of influences and a toolkit than anything with an actual coherent aesthetic<ref>Seriously, the 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide had rules for pistols, shotguns and lasers from [[Boot Hill]] and [[Gamma World]], and let's not get started on how Asian the [[Monk]] is.</ref>, and most generic fantasy follows in D&D's footsteps.

==Standard Japanese Fantasy Setting==
Whilst the Japanese love the Standard Fantasy Setting enough that you'll see it in plenty of fantasy anime, manga and video games, they've also put their own spin on it often enough that it's become a recognized aesthetic in its own right, which in turn has become a major thing in fantasy anime, manga and video games. In fact, there's very few official tabletop games set in this kind of setting, outside of Japan's own [[Dungeons & Dragons]] knock-off, [[Sword World RPG]].

Defining attributes of the Standard Japanese Fantasy Setting?

'''Races:''' In a SJFS, races are typically divided into the major categories of Humanoid, Sei ("Pure" or "Sacred"), Ma ("Magic" or "Demon"), Shin ("God" or "Divine"), Demihuman and Monster.
* Humanoid races are typically made up of Humans, [[Elf|Elves]], [[Dwarf|Dwarves]], [[Beastfolk]] and [[Giant]]s. If there's a precursor race, it's typically related to one or more or the aforementioned.
** Humans tend to be in charge, and may treat other races like crap, especially if there's a corrupt empire and/or church running humanity.
** Dwarves are very close allies with humans, and their womenfolk tend to be more prominent (often ending up as [[loli]]s or [[shortstack]]s).
** Elves often are in hiding, usually due to having warred with humanity. Half-elves tend to replace purebloods as "the elves who actually interact with humans". Dark elves are usually not evil, and tend to be quite sexual, often with blonde or white hair contrasting human-like dark skin.
** Beastfolk vary from full-on anthros to [[monstergirls]] style "human with animal bits". Often men look like anthros and women like monstergirls. Tend to be physically orientated, and often treated like crap. Some beastfolk, especially human-blooded halfbreeds, may look human or monstergirl style, but can "freak out" and transform into a more monstrous state whilst also going berserk, ala a [[therianthrope]].
* Sei races are typically a mixture of [[fey]], [[elemental]]s, and magical beasts (from "ordinary" talking animals to magical creatures like [[unicorn]]s).
* Ma races are usually dangerous and chaotic, but not universally evil (we'll get to that). Generally divided between Majuu ("Demon-Beasts"; animal type monsters or beastfolk) and Mazoku ("Demon-Tribe", humanoid and often taking visual cues from Western [[fiend]]s), with a Maou ("Demon-Lord") ruling over them all.
* Shin races, often called "Shinzoku", are typically either [[celestial]]s, [[dragon]]s, or both. They are usually ruled over one or more Gods of Good.
* [[Demihuman]]s are generally more monstrous humanoids that are begrudgingly accepted alongside humanity, but not liked very much. This may be just an alternative name for "Monster". [[Lizardfolk]] and [[Harpy|Harpies]] tend to be demihumans.
* Monsters are any creature that exists to be killed. Common monsters are [[slime]]s, [[orc]]s, [[kobold]]s, [[ogre]]s and [[goblin]]s. Orcs and kobolds, infamously, tend to resemble pig-folk and dog-folk, due to their roots in old-school D&D art.

'''Classes:'''
* The [[Gish]] archetype tends to be very pronounced, to the point where fighters who ''don't'' know at least a few spells are rare.
* Master Swordsman types, who frequently get slapped with the [[samurai]] moniker, are usually the exception to the above, relying on striking with incredible speed and force whilst not being very good at taking damage.
* Paladins, in comparison, tend to be the tanks. Due to the Japanese cosmology revolving around Light/Dark rather than Good/Evil, the whole "testing or morals" things is rare.
* Ninjas typically fill the role of "thief" or "assassin", but are usually characterized as loyal and/or self-sacrificing, unlike western Rogues.
* The traditional D&D Monk is often portrayed by women or cute little kids, for the comedic juxtaposition.
* Barbarians are usually called Berserkers, and often portrayed as somehow cursed.
* With the proclivity towards [[magitek]], expect gunners and/or artificers backed by constructs.
* Spellcasters are typically divided between Black Mages (focused on elemental or destructive magic), White Mages (focused on healing and holy magic), and Summoners.

Other notable aspects of the SJFS:
* Good and Evil in the Western sense are replaced with a focus on Light and Dark.
* Individuality is central to Goodness, which keeps powers of Good firmly in the Neutral Good and Chaotic Good alignments; the great flaw of Good is a tendency to devolve into tyranny.
* Darkness isn't evil; the Ma races aren't necessarily universally evil.
* Light isn't good; Shin and Sei races (especially Sei) can be just as dangerous or corruptible as the Ma races.
* Catholic trappings are popular for religious aspects, but the more overtly "Christian" a church is, the more likely it tends to be corrupt or outright evil (that whole "Lawfulness can devolve into Tyranny" thing again).
* [[Magitek]] is often common, and may even see fantasy Mecha.
* Ki manipulation is often a major part of the magical system, if not the default explanation for it.
* The world often has a tangible font of life energy that must be protected from abuse.
* Mana often takes solid form by crystallizing.

SJFS "light novels" have their own particular set of tropes more common to them than other media:
* Adventuring guilds are a thing.
* Dungeon crawling is often emphasized to the point that dungeons are a kind of magical-yet-natural phenomena, and/or plunging into dungeons may serve as the foundation of entire economies.
* Slavery is often present, and usually magically enforced by enchanted collars of tattoos.

==Tropes Pages==
* https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardFantasySetting
* https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MedievalEuropeanFantasy
* https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardJapaneseFantasySetting

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]
[[Category: Setting Aesthetics]]

Western

2021-10-07T06:31:36Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* More general influence */

{{stub}}

One of the more peculiarly popular [[Setting Aesthetics|setting aesthetics]]: Something resembling the American West from the years 1865 (the end of the Civil War) to 1914 (the beginning of World War 1), but generally limited to before 1894 (when the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the frontier was closed<ref>Works set later than 1894 usually center around people who can't let go of a way of life that's no longer possible--for example, ''Red Dead Redemption 1'' or ''The Shootist'', John Wayne's last movie.</ref>). The genre was actually established as early as 1903, with The Great Train Robbery, if not earlier.

The thing is, for most of the 20th century, the historic "Wild West" was the logical place to set what we now call an "Action" movie, for several reasons<ref>The era was still in living memory, the most common forms of action (gunfights, horse-riding and semiskilled fistfighting) were all easy to fake, and Hollywood was conveniently located to a lot of filming locations that resembled a lot of other places in the American West, there was plenty of well-documented low-level conflict to base your fiction upon, there was also a lot of existing pulp fiction about the era (some of it written during the period in question), and the details (props and costumes) being fairly cheap to build or buy your own version of.</ref>, even if the historical west wasn't actually all that violent or crime ridden. The genre was '''very''' influential, and riffs on the Western in a different setting followed in the 1950s onwards.

==Notable Variants==

Just about every genre you can imagine has had either a Western version or equivalent, including, but not limited to: Romance, Murder Mystery (''[[wikipedia:Hec Ramsey|Hec Ramsey]]''), Horror (''[[Wikipedia:Curse of the Undead|Curse of the Undead]]''), Science Fiction (''[[Wikipedia:Cowboys and Aliens|Cowboys and Aliens]]''), Spy Thriller (''The Wild Wild West''), Musical (''Oklahoma''), [[Superhero]]s (''[[Wikipedia:Lone Ranger|Lone Ranger]]''), Crime, [[Urban Fantasy|Modern Fantasy]] (aka "[[Weird West]]"), and War (usually against Indians, which, well, see below under trappings).

The first were probably either the Space Western, or the Samurai Western, depending on how you count. The (1950s made) Samurai films of Akira Kurosawa were ''very'' western inflected, and several wound up being remade as traditional Westerns ("A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Magnificent Seven", among many others), which means the Samurai Western has claim of priority in film. On the other hand, the sci-fi magazines and comics of the pulp era loved raygun westerns because they were easy to write<ref>It cannot be understated how much easier having '''two''' sets of cliches to draw from makes things for writers.</ref> and advertise, but since Science Fiction is expensive to film, the first cited example is either the initial pitch for Star Trek (which Gene Roddenberry described as "''Wagon Train'' to the stars"), or 1977's Star Wars. That being said, Horror-themed works set in the "old West" period have a long history as well, with some "Horror Western" films<ref>Admittedly, the most notable example (''Phantom Empire'', the first Gene Autry film--well, actually a [[Wikipedia:Film serial|serial]], but that's not that important) took place in the then "present day" of the 1930s, but was still counted as a Western (if a weird one) by audiences of the day</ref> dating back to the 1930s.

==Notable Trappings==

There are plenty of trappings that will get a work not set in North America west of the Mississippi River between the years 1865 and 1914 called "Western"-adjacent. The more of the following you have, and the more direct the equivalents of thereof, the more likely you are to be called a "Space Western", "Fantasy Western", "Weird Western", or what have you.

* Very low population density. The most distinguishing feature of the historic West, there were vast ranges of territory where the nearest person could be miles away, which had several implications:
** The Law was mainly limited to towns, which were frequently quite far from one another if they weren't on a train-line. Thus, a Sheriff or Rancher, if he couldn't find local support, was more or less on his own.
** As an indirect consequence of the above, [[Bandit]]s.
*** If the work doesn't center around a larger conflict, expect either [[bandit]]s or "evil banker" types employing them as the main bad-guys.
** Drifters; that is, men who wander from town to town; they may be traveling somewhere in particular, but for now, as far as this town (and story) is concerned, they're just passing through.
*** In particular, men looking for work and/or opportunities, cowboys who were driving their herd to market, or gamblers looking for new clientelle would historically not have raised the slightest eyebrow.
* Almost three million men fought in the Civil War, leaving a LARGE number of men with fighting experience and a chip on their shoulder for those who were on the other side. Any frontier bar brawl is liable to descend into a North-vs-South rematch.
* Handguns (particularly Revolvers and concealed weapons) and Longguns (particularly shotguns) in places where openly wielding a weapon is allowed (notably, stagecoaches frequently had a guy holding a shotgun in case bandits showed up).
* Quickdraw shooting.
* Saloons.
** If the rating allows, prostitutes as the only female company available.
* Bounty Hunters.
* Sand and dirt. (While the actual American West can be fairly green, particularly in the mountains, most people picture a lot of sand when they picture a Western.)
* Cows. Cattle ranching was one of the main businesses of the historical period covered by the Western, and so "Cowboys" (as the men responsible for herding cows were called) were frequently cast as either protagonists or supporting characters in Westerns.
* Horses, with a side option for donkeys and mules. Historically, the only way of getting around besides the railroad or stagecoach was a horse.
* The main form of farming being animal related is also a frequent feature.
* Stagecoaches.
* Railroads. In particular, somebody arriving at a station meeting a "welcoming" committee (who may try to kill him or run him out of town) is a common scene in both direct Westerns and Western-inflected works.
* Telegraphs. Truly important information can move pretty fast in the West thanks to telegraphy, using morse code over wires. Breaking headline news (elections, wars, market crashes, large disasters, etc) will be known nationwide in hours. Overnight delivery of small text messages across the country is physically possible but the price is steep.
* More rare in post-1960 Westerns: Native Americans.
** Historically-set Westerns have plenty of American Indians, historically. It's just that, by the 1960s, most writers decided it was a better idea to center around subjects that weren't so likely to be read as making their protagonists "the real bad guys". Thus, most post-1970 westerns center purely on White vs. White conflict, or have protagonists who are sympathetic with the Indians, with a smattering of works centered on Black characters (most notably ''Blazing Saddles''). (Historically speaking, there were plenty of black cowboys, but this was ignored by most writers and producers historically, and frequently still is in the present day.)
** Bonus points if the setting has both "friendly trader" and "hostile barbarian" tribes of Native American equivalents (see: Jawas and Tuskan Raiders in Star Wars).
* There are a ''lot'' of Mexico-set Western media, particularly among those Westerns made since the mid 1960s. Mexico's ''very'' colorful history with civil wars, bandit-revolutionaries and general political strife mean that if an author is going political or post-1894, Mexico is a good place to set a large chunk of your story.
** For "Western-inflected" works, if you have a place that's somewhat nearby, and going through violent revolution (or on the verge of one), you may be in pseudo-Mexico.

==/tg/ Relevence==

Oh, you're wondering what /tg/ relevance this has? Well, just to start with, with RPGs we have:

* [[Boot Hill]]
* [[Deadlands]]
* [[Spellslinger]]
* [[Dogs in the Vineyard]]
* [[Pathfinder]]'s [[Gunslinger]] class.
* [[World of Darkness|Werewolf: The Wild West]].
* That RPG based on Firefly/Serenity.
* And '''plenty''' of others.

Then there are actual board games set in the period (MANY railroad games, just to start with.)

===More general influence===

In addition to all the above, we could very well argue that without the Western, we never would have had [[Dungeons & Dragons]], which, despite what [[Historical Fantasy]] nuts may say, began its existence as this strange hodge-podge of common Western tropes in a quasi-Medieval Europe backdrop and infused with [[Sword & Sorcery]], Classical [[Mythology]], European Mythology, [[Tolkien]], and whatever elements of pop-culture from the 60s-80s that [[TSR]] felt like including. It even got [[Murlynd|a literal cowboy god]], rolled up by one of Gygax's friends and a lifelong Western aficionado in the second-ever session of ''D&D''. Even to this day, the "[[Standard Fantasy Setting|standard fantasy setting]]" is more like a Western set in a faux-European countryside than anything else.

==Genre variants we have articles on==

* [[Cattlepunk]]
* [[Weird West]]

==Footnotes==

[[Category:Setting Aesthetics]]

Western

2021-10-07T06:24:41Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* Notable Trappings */

{{stub}}

One of the more peculiarly popular [[Setting Aesthetics|setting aesthetics]]: Something resembling the American West from the years 1865 (the end of the Civil War) to 1914 (the beginning of World War 1), but generally limited to before 1894 (when the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the frontier was closed<ref>Works set later than 1894 usually center around people who can't let go of a way of life that's no longer possible--for example, ''Red Dead Redemption 1'' or ''The Shootist'', John Wayne's last movie.</ref>). The genre was actually established as early as 1903, with The Great Train Robbery, if not earlier.

The thing is, for most of the 20th century, the historic "Wild West" was the logical place to set what we now call an "Action" movie, for several reasons<ref>The era was still in living memory, the most common forms of action (gunfights, horse-riding and semiskilled fistfighting) were all easy to fake, and Hollywood was conveniently located to a lot of filming locations that resembled a lot of other places in the American West, there was plenty of well-documented low-level conflict to base your fiction upon, there was also a lot of existing pulp fiction about the era (some of it written during the period in question), and the details (props and costumes) being fairly cheap to build or buy your own version of.</ref>, even if the historical west wasn't actually all that violent or crime ridden. The genre was '''very''' influential, and riffs on the Western in a different setting followed in the 1950s onwards.

==Notable Variants==

Just about every genre you can imagine has had either a Western version or equivalent, including, but not limited to: Romance, Murder Mystery (''[[wikipedia:Hec Ramsey|Hec Ramsey]]''), Horror (''[[Wikipedia:Curse of the Undead|Curse of the Undead]]''), Science Fiction (''[[Wikipedia:Cowboys and Aliens|Cowboys and Aliens]]''), Spy Thriller (''The Wild Wild West''), Musical (''Oklahoma''), [[Superhero]]s (''[[Wikipedia:Lone Ranger|Lone Ranger]]''), Crime, [[Urban Fantasy|Modern Fantasy]] (aka "[[Weird West]]"), and War (usually against Indians, which, well, see below under trappings).

The first were probably either the Space Western, or the Samurai Western, depending on how you count. The (1950s made) Samurai films of Akira Kurosawa were ''very'' western inflected, and several wound up being remade as traditional Westerns ("A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Magnificent Seven", among many others), which means the Samurai Western has claim of priority in film. On the other hand, the sci-fi magazines and comics of the pulp era loved raygun westerns because they were easy to write<ref>It cannot be understated how much easier having '''two''' sets of cliches to draw from makes things for writers.</ref> and advertise, but since Science Fiction is expensive to film, the first cited example is either the initial pitch for Star Trek (which Gene Roddenberry described as "''Wagon Train'' to the stars"), or 1977's Star Wars. That being said, Horror-themed works set in the "old West" period have a long history as well, with some "Horror Western" films<ref>Admittedly, the most notable example (''Phantom Empire'', the first Gene Autry film--well, actually a [[Wikipedia:Film serial|serial]], but that's not that important) took place in the then "present day" of the 1930s, but was still counted as a Western (if a weird one) by audiences of the day</ref> dating back to the 1930s.

==Notable Trappings==

There are plenty of trappings that will get a work not set in North America west of the Mississippi River between the years 1865 and 1914 called "Western"-adjacent. The more of the following you have, and the more direct the equivalents of thereof, the more likely you are to be called a "Space Western", "Fantasy Western", "Weird Western", or what have you.

* Very low population density. The most distinguishing feature of the historic West, there were vast ranges of territory where the nearest person could be miles away, which had several implications:
** The Law was mainly limited to towns, which were frequently quite far from one another if they weren't on a train-line. Thus, a Sheriff or Rancher, if he couldn't find local support, was more or less on his own.
** As an indirect consequence of the above, [[Bandit]]s.
*** If the work doesn't center around a larger conflict, expect either [[bandit]]s or "evil banker" types employing them as the main bad-guys.
** Drifters; that is, men who wander from town to town; they may be traveling somewhere in particular, but for now, as far as this town (and story) is concerned, they're just passing through.
*** In particular, men looking for work and/or opportunities, cowboys who were driving their herd to market, or gamblers looking for new clientelle would historically not have raised the slightest eyebrow.
* Almost three million men fought in the Civil War, leaving a LARGE number of men with fighting experience and a chip on their shoulder for those who were on the other side. Any frontier bar brawl is liable to descend into a North-vs-South rematch.
* Handguns (particularly Revolvers and concealed weapons) and Longguns (particularly shotguns) in places where openly wielding a weapon is allowed (notably, stagecoaches frequently had a guy holding a shotgun in case bandits showed up).
* Quickdraw shooting.
* Saloons.
** If the rating allows, prostitutes as the only female company available.
* Bounty Hunters.
* Sand and dirt. (While the actual American West can be fairly green, particularly in the mountains, most people picture a lot of sand when they picture a Western.)
* Cows. Cattle ranching was one of the main businesses of the historical period covered by the Western, and so "Cowboys" (as the men responsible for herding cows were called) were frequently cast as either protagonists or supporting characters in Westerns.
* Horses, with a side option for donkeys and mules. Historically, the only way of getting around besides the railroad or stagecoach was a horse.
* The main form of farming being animal related is also a frequent feature.
* Stagecoaches.
* Railroads. In particular, somebody arriving at a station meeting a "welcoming" committee (who may try to kill him or run him out of town) is a common scene in both direct Westerns and Western-inflected works.
* Telegraphs. Truly important information can move pretty fast in the West thanks to telegraphy, using morse code over wires. Breaking headline news (elections, wars, market crashes, large disasters, etc) will be known nationwide in hours. Overnight delivery of small text messages across the country is physically possible but the price is steep.
* More rare in post-1960 Westerns: Native Americans.
** Historically-set Westerns have plenty of American Indians, historically. It's just that, by the 1960s, most writers decided it was a better idea to center around subjects that weren't so likely to be read as making their protagonists "the real bad guys". Thus, most post-1970 westerns center purely on White vs. White conflict, or have protagonists who are sympathetic with the Indians, with a smattering of works centered on Black characters (most notably ''Blazing Saddles''). (Historically speaking, there were plenty of black cowboys, but this was ignored by most writers and producers historically, and frequently still is in the present day.)
** Bonus points if the setting has both "friendly trader" and "hostile barbarian" tribes of Native American equivalents (see: Jawas and Tuskan Raiders in Star Wars).
* There are a ''lot'' of Mexico-set Western media, particularly among those Westerns made since the mid 1960s. Mexico's ''very'' colorful history with civil wars, bandit-revolutionaries and general political strife mean that if an author is going political or post-1894, Mexico is a good place to set a large chunk of your story.
** For "Western-inflected" works, if you have a place that's somewhat nearby, and going through violent revolution (or on the verge of one), you may be in pseudo-Mexico.

==/tg/ Relevence==

Oh, you're wondering what /tg/ relevance this has? Well, just to start with, with RPGs we have:

* [[Boot Hill]]
* [[Deadlands]]
* [[Spellslinger]]
* [[Dogs in the Vineyard]]
* [[Pathfinder]]'s [[Gunslinger]] class.
* [[World of Darkness|Werewolf: The Wild West]].
* That RPG based on Firefly/Serenity.
* And '''plenty''' of others.

Then there are actual board games set in the period (MANY railroad games, just to start with.)

===More general influence===

In addition to all the above, we could very well argue that without the Western, we never would have had [[Dungeons & Dragons]], which, despite what [[Historical Fantasy]] nuts may say, began its existence this strange hodge-podge of common Western tropes in a quasi-Medieval Europe backdrop and infused with [[Sword & Sorcery]], Classical [[Mythology]], European Mythology, [[Tolkien]], and whatever elements of pop-culture from the 60s-80s that [[TSR]] felt like including. It even got [[Murlynd|a literal cowboy god]], rolled up by one of Gygax's friends and a lifelong Western aficionado in the second-ever session of ''D&D''. Even to this day, the "[[Standard Fantasy Setting|standard fantasy setting]]" is more like a Western set in a faux-European countryside than anything else.

==Genre variants we have articles on==

* [[Cattlepunk]]
* [[Weird West]]

==Footnotes==

[[Category:Setting Aesthetics]]

Western

2021-10-07T06:21:00Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* Notable Trappings */

{{stub}}

One of the more peculiarly popular [[Setting Aesthetics|setting aesthetics]]: Something resembling the American West from the years 1865 (the end of the Civil War) to 1914 (the beginning of World War 1), but generally limited to before 1894 (when the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the frontier was closed<ref>Works set later than 1894 usually center around people who can't let go of a way of life that's no longer possible--for example, ''Red Dead Redemption 1'' or ''The Shootist'', John Wayne's last movie.</ref>). The genre was actually established as early as 1903, with The Great Train Robbery, if not earlier.

The thing is, for most of the 20th century, the historic "Wild West" was the logical place to set what we now call an "Action" movie, for several reasons<ref>The era was still in living memory, the most common forms of action (gunfights, horse-riding and semiskilled fistfighting) were all easy to fake, and Hollywood was conveniently located to a lot of filming locations that resembled a lot of other places in the American West, there was plenty of well-documented low-level conflict to base your fiction upon, there was also a lot of existing pulp fiction about the era (some of it written during the period in question), and the details (props and costumes) being fairly cheap to build or buy your own version of.</ref>, even if the historical west wasn't actually all that violent or crime ridden. The genre was '''very''' influential, and riffs on the Western in a different setting followed in the 1950s onwards.

==Notable Variants==

Just about every genre you can imagine has had either a Western version or equivalent, including, but not limited to: Romance, Murder Mystery (''[[wikipedia:Hec Ramsey|Hec Ramsey]]''), Horror (''[[Wikipedia:Curse of the Undead|Curse of the Undead]]''), Science Fiction (''[[Wikipedia:Cowboys and Aliens|Cowboys and Aliens]]''), Spy Thriller (''The Wild Wild West''), Musical (''Oklahoma''), [[Superhero]]s (''[[Wikipedia:Lone Ranger|Lone Ranger]]''), Crime, [[Urban Fantasy|Modern Fantasy]] (aka "[[Weird West]]"), and War (usually against Indians, which, well, see below under trappings).

The first were probably either the Space Western, or the Samurai Western, depending on how you count. The (1950s made) Samurai films of Akira Kurosawa were ''very'' western inflected, and several wound up being remade as traditional Westerns ("A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Magnificent Seven", among many others), which means the Samurai Western has claim of priority in film. On the other hand, the sci-fi magazines and comics of the pulp era loved raygun westerns because they were easy to write<ref>It cannot be understated how much easier having '''two''' sets of cliches to draw from makes things for writers.</ref> and advertise, but since Science Fiction is expensive to film, the first cited example is either the initial pitch for Star Trek (which Gene Roddenberry described as "''Wagon Train'' to the stars"), or 1977's Star Wars. That being said, Horror-themed works set in the "old West" period have a long history as well, with some "Horror Western" films<ref>Admittedly, the most notable example (''Phantom Empire'', the first Gene Autry film--well, actually a [[Wikipedia:Film serial|serial]], but that's not that important) took place in the then "present day" of the 1930s, but was still counted as a Western (if a weird one) by audiences of the day</ref> dating back to the 1930s.

==Notable Trappings==

There are plenty of trappings that will get a work not set in North America west of the Mississippi River between the years 1865 and 1914 called "Western"-adjacent. The more of the following you have, and the more direct the equivalents of thereof, the more likely you are to be called a "Space Western", "Fantasy Western", "Weird Western", or what have you.

* Very low population density. The most distinguishing feature of the historic West, there were vast ranges of territory where the nearest person could be miles away, which had several implications:
** The Law was mainly limited to towns, which were frequently quite far from one another if they weren't on a train-line. Thus, a Sheriff or Rancher, if he couldn't find local support, was more or less on his own.
** As an indirect consequence of the above, [[Bandit]]s.
*** If the work doesn't center around a larger conflict, expect either [[bandit]]s or "evil banker" types employing them as the main bad-guys.
** Drifters; that is, men who wander from town to town; they may be traveling somewhere in particular, but for now, as far as this town (and story) is concerned, they're just passing through.
*** In particular, men looking for work and/or opportunities, cowboys who were driving their herd to market, or gamblers looking for new clientelle would historically not have raised the slightest eyebrow.
* Almost three million men fought in the Civil War, leaving a LARGE number of men with fighting experience and a chip on their shoulder for those who were on the other side. Any frontier bar brawl is liable to descend into a North-vs-South rematch.
* Handguns (particularly Revolvers and concealed weapons) and Longguns (particularly shotguns) in places where openly wielding a weapon is allowed (notably, stagecoaches frequently had a guy holding a shotgun in case bandits showed up).
* Quickdraw shooting.
* Saloons.
** If the rating allows, prostitutes as the only female company available.
* Bounty Hunters.
* Sand and dirt. (While the actual American West can be fairly green, particularly in the mountains, most people picture a lot of dirt when they picture a Western.)
* Cows. Cattle ranching was one of the main businesses of the historical period covered by the Western, and so "Cowboys" (as the men responsible for herding cows were called) were frequently cast as either protagonists or supporting characters in Westerns.
* Horses, with a side option for donkeys and mules. Historically, the only way of getting around besides the railroad or stagecoach was a horse.
* The main form of farming being animal related is also a frequent feature.
* Stagecoaches.
* Railroads. In particular, somebody arriving at a station meeting a "welcoming" committee (who may try to kill him or run him out of town) is a common scene in both direct Westerns and Western-inflected works.
* Telegraphs. Truly important information can move pretty fast in the West thanks to telegraphy, using morse code over wires. Breaking headline news (elections, wars, market crashes, large disasters, etc) will be known nationwide in hours. Overnight delivery of small text messages across the country is physically possible but the price is steep.
* More rare in post-1960 Westerns: Native Americans.
** Historically-set Westerns have plenty of American Indians, historically. It's just that, by the 1960s, most writers decided it was a better idea to center around subjects that weren't so likely to be read as making their protagonists "the real bad guys". Thus, most post-1970 westerns center purely on White vs. White conflict, or have protagonists who are sympathetic with the Indians, with a smattering of works centered on Black characters (most notably ''Blazing Saddles''). (Historically speaking, there were plenty of black cowboys, but this was ignored by most writers and producers historically, and frequently still is in the present day.)
** Bonus points if the setting has both "friendly trader" and "hostile barbarian" tribes of Native American equivalents (see: Jawas and Tuskan Raiders in Star Wars).
* There are a ''lot'' of Mexico-set Western media, particularly among those Westerns made since the mid 1960s. Mexico's ''very'' colorful history with civil wars, bandit-revolutionaries and general political strife mean that if an author is going political or post-1894, Mexico is a good place to set a large chunk of your story.
** For "Western-inflected" works, if you have a place that's somewhat nearby, and going through violent revolution (or on the verge of one), you may be in pseudo-Mexico.

==/tg/ Relevence==

Oh, you're wondering what /tg/ relevance this has? Well, just to start with, with RPGs we have:

* [[Boot Hill]]
* [[Deadlands]]
* [[Spellslinger]]
* [[Dogs in the Vineyard]]
* [[Pathfinder]]'s [[Gunslinger]] class.
* [[World of Darkness|Werewolf: The Wild West]].
* That RPG based on Firefly/Serenity.
* And '''plenty''' of others.

Then there are actual board games set in the period (MANY railroad games, just to start with.)

===More general influence===

In addition to all the above, we could very well argue that without the Western, we never would have had [[Dungeons & Dragons]], which, despite what [[Historical Fantasy]] nuts may say, began its existence this strange hodge-podge of common Western tropes in a quasi-Medieval Europe backdrop and infused with [[Sword & Sorcery]], Classical [[Mythology]], European Mythology, [[Tolkien]], and whatever elements of pop-culture from the 60s-80s that [[TSR]] felt like including. It even got [[Murlynd|a literal cowboy god]], rolled up by one of Gygax's friends and a lifelong Western aficionado in the second-ever session of ''D&D''. Even to this day, the "[[Standard Fantasy Setting|standard fantasy setting]]" is more like a Western set in a faux-European countryside than anything else.

==Genre variants we have articles on==

* [[Cattlepunk]]
* [[Weird West]]

==Footnotes==

[[Category:Setting Aesthetics]]

Bandit

2021-10-07T05:40:31Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* History */

[[File:Skyrim bandit.jpg|thumb|right|300px|"Never should have come here"]]

For the sake of this article a '''Bandit''' is a type of criminal which has removed him/herself from the bulk of society, dwells mainly in the wilderness (or in the seedier parts of a population center) and makes a living engaging by various means of armed robbery (or "banditry"). Since there is strength in numbers, bandits will often gang up, and depending on their infamy and wealth these numbers can range anywhere from a handful of thieves, to having enough to rival a nation's armed forces and possibly seize power. Solo bandits also exist, although they're either such highly proficient robbers that they don't need any help (or against the idea of sharing their spoils), or a rookie with more balls than brains.

There are various permutations of this, but the common theme is that if you traveled from town to town there was a good chance that you'd be waylaid by armed people which would try to extract the valuables from your person by force.

== History ==
In general for most of the history of civilization crime was bad. '''Really Bad.''' The worst areas of the modern first world pale in comparison to that of the middle ages as far as crime goes. This was a time where most people were dirt poor and for most civilizations there was no form of police that cared about anyone other than the nobility or do more than nab the odd fellow they deem suspicious and scare a few more for a bit. In the Middle Ages, towns would have guards who'd protect the gates and deal with riots, laws that required that random townsfolk or volunteers to patrol the streets at night with torches and chase away suspicious people, bounties were put out for thieves captured and rich people would have guys patrol their neighborhoods to catch anyone who looked suspicious. The countryside did not even have that and there were many nooks and crannies where ne'er-do-wells could lurk. And since most people lived in the countryside or sparsely populated villages, outlaws were an ever-present danger outside the boundaries of their homes. Empires such as Rome or China during the high points of the various dynasties and countries where things were stable like Edo Japan were somewhat better as they could have law enforcement forces, garrisons and patrols of rural areas, though they'd still be considered lawless by modern standards. The development of even somewhat modern policing (in terms of a dedicated full time professional law enforcement agency funded and run by the government, and who weren't just part of the army), which only really began to happen after the [[Renaissance]], led to a reduction; even then, the problem of banditry was a serious one well into the [[Industrial Revolution]], and in some places, the 20th century and/or the present day.

On the same note the worse off a country was, the more bandits it produced. In particular, armies, particularly mercenary armies, had a tendency when ill-disciplined or when badly losing to spin-off into banditry; until the 18th century, it was a common and frequently necessary tactic to pillage the countryside in order to support an army on foreign soil, and, well, people tend to do what they know.

For a further example of "war leads to bandits", if your cottage gets burned by a party of knights (possibly the ones who are supposed to be protecting ''you'') on a raid and the choice is letting your family starve or stealing some stuff from some passing merchant who never sold anything you could afford or a tax collector who's been bleeding people dry at the best of times, a fair number of people would steal from them. Robin Hood might have been a work of fiction, but men who steal from the rich and give to the poor when taxes were too high are not unprecedented. How much of this is altruism and how much of it was public relations would be something that varies from case to case. After all, if you provide a bit of treasure to people who have little enough to begin with, they're less likely to rat you out to the local knight (who they probably hate anyway for taxing them to hell and back, as mentioned above).

The above took on a further twist in the context of regions that had recently been conquered by rival countries (e.g. Greece following its conquest by the Ottoman Empire). Deprived of direct military force and with no other options to retaliate against their occupiers, their inhabitants sometimes took to banditry as a form of guerrilla warfare. As above, this was frequently supported by the commoners, who had no love for their new masters.

When did the age of banditry end? Well, that varies according to your definition of "banditry". The three most notable permutations of the concept for our purposes are:
* Highwaymen and Muggers, who target travelers.
* Robbers, who target individual buildings (banks, jewelery stores, etc).
* Raiders, who target entire towns and farms.

The era of Raiders ends with the birth of the modern army, who no longer needed to plunder in order to eat. The era of the Highwayman ends with either the train (train robbers are usually, well, more Robbers than Highwaymen; see below for more) or the invention of an effective Highway Patrol. Large scale robbery usually ends with the birth of the aforementioned dedicated police, with at least some people who follow up on things; nowadays the most important part of robbery planning is ''getting away with it'', which requires either a safe place to hide (a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty, forex) or good anonymity.

Some notable Real Life historical banditry:

* The Qin Dynasty fell in part because the penalty for reporting late (death) was the same as that for rebellion (death again), thus neatly creating a bandit and rebellion problem, among other things.
** Banditry was usually a part of the negative feedback loops which did Chinese dynasties in: corruption leads to a lack of funds for police and infrastructure projects in X province, infrastructure decays and the police spend more time shaking people down than fighting bandits, bandits operate unimpeded while the economy suffers (incidentally leading more people to get into banditry because there's no legitimate work to go around), which leads to budget cuts across the board which leads to more corruption.
* Alexander "Sawney" Bean, a guy in 16th century Scotland who started a whole family of bandits who decided that they didn't need the gold so much as they just wanted to eat people. And most of the grandchildren were the products of incest. I mean, if you're going to break one law, why not break them all? It took a manhunt led by the king himself to track them down.
* There were many outlaws during the period of the Wild West (in no small part due to the absence of an established police force) who get romanticized, like Billy The Kid, Jesse James, and Butch Cassidy. Many of them were portrayed as either Americanized Robin Hoods or free, unbound spirits that exemplified the Wild West, among other things. Although going past the romanticism, there was little evidence (if any at all) that proves they were anything more than proficient, opportunistic bandits that the simplefolk made stories about and eventually caught on as fact in the public mind. People tend to, incorrectly, take their existence and fame as evidence the west was swarming with criminals when it statistically had far lower crime rate than the east and most settlements went years without major crime.
** Side note: Many of the most notable figures had their origin in small scale "range wars", usually with both sides reaching for legal justification for their acts. [[Wikipedia:Category:Range_wars_and_feuds_of_the_American_Old_West | Wikipedia has articles on these conflicts]].
* There was also an outbreak of Bank Robbery during the 1930s that was later romanticized, with such names as "Pretty Boy" Floyd, John Dillinger, "Baby Face" Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, and Willie "Falsely Attributed as Saying 'I Rob Banks Because That's Where the Money Is'" Sutton.
* Mexican history is positively littered with bandit revolutionaries; [[wikipedia:Pancho Villa|Pancho Villa]] is probably the most notable, and among other things, he actually starred in a few Hollywood films about his exploits (yes, seriously), and provoked [[Wikipedia:Pancho Villa Expedition|a full military response]] when he attacked the US town of Columbus, New Mexico.

== Role in Tabletop Games ==
Bandits are great upper-low tier villains for a campaign, as they can come from diverse backgrounds with plenty of legroom to work with and typically don't lend themselves to sympathetic views. They can either be desperate townsfolk mugging passers-by to survive, a couple of assholes who can't be bothered to earn an honest living, to a unit of veteran soldiers who went rogue after realizing banditry is more favorable than serving in the military, or just having no other choice, either due to being on the losing side, or due to winding up on the wrong side of the law for some other reason. Additionally, just about any race with some semblance of sapience can become bandits. As intelligent human(oid) foes, they can employ nearly any tactic humanoids are capable of and are the only real option for low level humanoid enemies aside from [[Cultist]]s.

This leads to a variety of quest ideas from: some guys jump the party wanting to loot your stuff, there are some jerks out there robbing people on the highways that the King wants taken care of, to a well-organized crime syndicate who has total control over the region that you have to bring down or play nice with.

==Popular bandit archetypes==
*Mugger - Lowly miscreants who prey on civilians in a population center for petty valuables, relying on the element of surprise and a settlement's weapon laws to ensure that their victim doesn't retaliate. They usually don't put up too much of a fight and will run if they realize there's even a hint of risk they'll get caught (or worse, mobbed by the angry citizenfolk).

*Highwayman - Your stereotypical fantasy bandit. Highwaymen prey on travelers, primarily on unsecured highways (as highways linked to major cities and were established trade routes: a lot of money, rich folk, and trade goods regularly flowed through them), holding them up for whatever they can carry and disappearing into their hideout to count and distribute the spoils. That said, they're fully capable of sticking people up in any other location that suits them.

*Raider - Bandits who take a more direct approach and the other common archetype. They're much like highwaymen, but they prefer to invade poorly defended areas (like villages and small encampments) to pillage their goods and retreat to their hideout before an armed response force is mustered. Rinse and repeat. Also, throughout history but most commonly in the Bronze and Dark Ages, raiding was the most common type of warfare conducted, so the difference between state-sanctioned raiding and actual bandit raiding was very often pedantic. In fact, the former tended to devolve into the latter as soon as the raiders noticed they could get more money by raiding than they could from military pay- or when a war ended and left the raiders with no skills they could use in peacetime.

*Bank robber - One of the most popular in the list. Bank robbers are groups of men who rob banks by: going inside weapons drawn, and forcibly steal the bank's contents using brutal force, then making a quick getaway whilst attempting to evade the law. They're pretty popular in modern settings, getting into intricate planning segments to ensure they get in and out as quick as possible, high-speed vehicle chases, and heated gunfights with the law as they fight tooth and nail to escape with their haul.

*Train robber - Popularized by old American wild west movies. Train robbers basically rob moving trains of any loot they might have, and since trains were the most reliable form of quick transportation between cities in the old west: they normally carried plenty of valuables (and trains were also normally boarded by rich folk wishing to cross the country). Contrary to popular belief, they rarely jumped from their horses to get on trains (as this was incredibly risky, and hard to pull off from a physics standpoint), and would normally board the train like regular passengers, before signaling to the gang to commence the heist. To get off the train: they normally forced the engineer to engage the brakes. Alternately, they had some way to stop the train at roughly the right point (again, confederate who boards and then holds up the engineer, or one of the many legitimate ways to get a train to stop (doing stuff to the rail, etc.)), or alternately derail the train; either way, historically, passengers were small fry that a robber wouldn't be that interested in; the focus was usually on gold or payroll that was being shipped alongside them in safes.

*[[Slavery|Slavers]] - Normally considered the most despicable of all bandits. Bandits don't usually bother with kidnapping, as a ransom is typically too problematic for anyone but a well-connected syndicate to handle (as you need to find someone willing to shell out a lot of money for this person, then ensure they can't trace you back), and taking captives brings in a lot more heat than than usual. And even then, trying to move live cargo around and trying to find a good buyer for them comes with it's own sets of problems. Its simply a lot more efficient for most groups to hold people up and take their good stuff, then leave them alone; after all, inanimate goods generally don't fight back or escape (although see "Cattle Rustlers" below).
:Slavers however, say "fuck that", and in addition to the usual fighting and looting, they'll take prisoners home to sell on the slave market, with their captives' welfare usually being an afterthought, unless they were important/valuable enough to ensure the extra hassle of keeping them well fed and maintained. Slave raiders are terrifying to civilianfolk: while its depressing you can always get material possessions back one way or another. But how're you going to cope with losing friends and family? Once they're sold off, it's highly likely you're never going to see your loved ones again, and you'll be tormented to death not knowing if they're still alive or not. Hence, slave raiders typically attract the most attention, either from law enforcement and or local militia, as anyone incharge will want them gone as soon as possible (and from a less moral PoV but one that might be more common in a society that uses slaves itself: slavers are taking away your workers and taxpayers, how dare they cut into your fortunes and cost you good money to hunt them down?).

*[[Viking|Sea Raider]] - A fearsome cross with a [[Pirate]]. A Sea Raider raids coastal settlements then gets on their boat and runs away before the local lord can assemble his forces to deal with them. Among bandit types they have the narrative advantage of not needing even a temporary settlement to engage in their acts (allowing them to not just be criminals but ''foreign'' criminals) and being able to rip off all that cool Viking stuff. It was also believed for decades that sea raiders caused the collapse of several civilizations at the end of the Bronze Age.

*Banditos - Bandits with a little more ethnic flair thrown in, these are wild-west bandits with ponchos, sombreros, and pistolés representing the general lawlessness of the early Texan border (and then romanticized in western fiction.) They're also known for their ravishing handlebar mustaches. Actors that are actually Hispanic are completely optional. [[Webcomics|May or may not ride raptors into battle.]]

*Marauders - In the middle east there were a fair number of places where it was too dry to raise crops but you could raise sheep, goats or camels which were home to various nomadic pastoral peoples who'd supplement their income by trade, weaving, dealing in odds and ends and some banditry on the side. Since a tribe of nomads would be a set of family units who'd been at this way of life for centuries or millennia, they tended to have a more sustainable outlook about things: kill a merchant and you can rob for everything once, shake his caravan down and let him go and you can do it again and again.

*Cattle Rustlers - Men who steal cows. Common in Westerns, but were a problem wherever free range animals were a thing (sheep rustlers were and are a thing, for example, and in fact are still a problem in Scotland as of 2019). Cattle were just the most valuable animals, and the most likely to require a gang to steal; domesticated cattle are goddamn '''big'''--small cows weigh "only" 600 pounds(270 kg), but the big ones can get up to 2500 pounds (1100 kg). Why all the risk for cows, though? Well, back in the olden days a single healthy specimen of cattle would fetch anywhere between $20 (or around $500 today, adjusted for inflation) to $90 ($2,300 adjusted for 2020 inflation). And if you wanted to diversify your earnings, you could always process them for milk, meat, hides, and fertilizer (bones and unusable organs). As you can imagine, whatever you did: you had a lot of mileage with cattle, and any cattle rancher worth their salt would gladly put a round through you in a heartbeat, if you so much as think of stealing one of their livestock.

*Any Asian historically set action-focused work will usually have bandits, due to the usual reasons: They make good asskicking-fodder, and in most historical eras require almost no setup or explanation. Usually more likely to be de-romanticized and non-glamorous than American or European bandits. While there are some heroic bandits in such works, they are usually either cases of the Bandit being misguided (and thus become Heroes under the patronage/tutelage of an Old Master(tm) or other parochial figure), or the result of state corruption (and thus usually willing to turn away from banditry when that becomes a realistic option); either way, if they're to be in any way Heroic, the Banditry is an act of desparation. As mentioned above, China had frequent bandit problems in its history, leading, among other things, to the rise of the Shaolin monks and their brand of Kung-Fu for self defense.

== See Also ==
*[[Pirate]] - The bandits of the sea.

[[Category: History]]

Bandit

2021-10-07T05:39:52Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* History */

[[File:Skyrim bandit.jpg|thumb|right|300px|"Never should have come here"]]

For the sake of this article a '''Bandit''' is a type of criminal which has removed him/herself from the bulk of society, dwells mainly in the wilderness (or in the seedier parts of a population center) and makes a living engaging by various means of armed robbery (or "banditry"). Since there is strength in numbers, bandits will often gang up, and depending on their infamy and wealth these numbers can range anywhere from a handful of thieves, to having enough to rival a nation's armed forces and possibly seize power. Solo bandits also exist, although they're either such highly proficient robbers that they don't need any help (or against the idea of sharing their spoils), or a rookie with more balls than brains.

There are various permutations of this, but the common theme is that if you traveled from town to town there was a good chance that you'd be waylaid by armed people which would try to extract the valuables from your person by force.

== History ==
In general for most of the history of civilization crime was bad. '''Really Bad.''' The worst areas of the modern first world pale in comparison to that of the middle ages as far as crime goes. This was a time where most people were dirt poor and for most civilizations there was no form of police that cared about anyone other than the nobility or do more than nab the odd fellow they deem suspicious and scare a few more for a bit. In the Middle Ages, towns would have guards who'd protect the gates and deal with riots, laws that required that random townsfolk or volunteers to patrol the streets at night with torches and chase away suspicious people, bounties were put out for thieves captured and rich people would have guys patrol their neighborhoods to catch anyone who looked suspicious. The countryside did not even have that and there were many nooks and crannies were ne'er-do-wells could lurk. And since most people lived in the countryside or sparsely populated villages, outlaws were an ever-present danger outside the boundaries of their homes. Empires such as Rome or China during the high points of the various dynasties and countries where things were stable like Edo Japan were somewhat better as they could have law enforcement forces, garrisons and patrols of rural areas, though they'd still be considered lawless by modern standards. The development of even somewhat modern policing (in terms of a dedicated full time professional law enforcement agency funded and run by the government, and who weren't just part of the army), which only really began to happen after the [[Renaissance]], led to a reduction; even then, the problem of banditry was a serious one well into the [[Industrial Revolution]], and in some places, the 20th century and/or the present day.

On the same note the worse off a country was, the more bandits it produced. In particular, armies, particularly mercenary armies, had a tendency when ill-disciplined or when badly losing to spin-off into banditry; until the 18th century, it was a common and frequently necessary tactic to pillage the countryside in order to support an army on foreign soil, and, well, people tend to do what they know.

For a further example of "war leads to bandits", if your cottage gets burned by a party of knights (possibly the ones who are supposed to be protecting ''you'') on a raid and the choice is letting your family starve or stealing some stuff from some passing merchant who never sold anything you could afford or a tax collector who's been bleeding people dry at the best of times, a fair number of people would steal from them. Robin Hood might have been a work of fiction, but men who steal from the rich and give to the poor when taxes were too high are not unprecedented. How much of this is altruism and how much of it was public relations would be something that varies from case to case. After all, if you provide a bit of treasure to people who have little enough to begin with, they're less likely to rat you out to the local knight (who they probably hate anyway for taxing them to hell and back, as mentioned above).

The above took on a further twist in the context of regions that had recently been conquered by rival countries (e.g. Greece following its conquest by the Ottoman Empire). Deprived of direct military force and with no other options to retaliate against their occupiers, their inhabitants sometimes took to banditry as a form of guerrilla warfare. As above, this was frequently supported by the commoners, who had no love for their new masters.

When did the age of banditry end? Well, that varies according to your definition of "banditry". The three most notable permutations of the concept for our purposes are:
* Highwaymen and Muggers, who target travelers.
* Robbers, who target individual buildings (banks, jewelery stores, etc).
* Raiders, who target entire towns and farms.

The era of Raiders ends with the birth of the modern army, who no longer needed to plunder in order to eat. The era of the Highwayman ends with either the train (train robbers are usually, well, more Robbers than Highwaymen; see below for more) or the invention of an effective Highway Patrol. Large scale robbery usually ends with the birth of the aforementioned dedicated police, with at least some people who follow up on things; nowadays the most important part of robbery planning is ''getting away with it'', which requires either a safe place to hide (a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty, forex) or good anonymity.

Some notable Real Life historical banditry:

* The Qin Dynasty fell in part because the penalty for reporting late (death) was the same as that for rebellion (death again), thus neatly creating a bandit and rebellion problem, among other things.
** Banditry was usually a part of the negative feedback loops which did Chinese dynasties in: corruption leads to a lack of funds for police and infrastructure projects in X province, infrastructure decays and the police spend more time shaking people down than fighting bandits, bandits operate unimpeded while the economy suffers (incidentally leading more people to get into banditry because there's no legitimate work to go around), which leads to budget cuts across the board which leads to more corruption.
* Alexander "Sawney" Bean, a guy in 16th century Scotland who started a whole family of bandits who decided that they didn't need the gold so much as they just wanted to eat people. And most of the grandchildren were the products of incest. I mean, if you're going to break one law, why not break them all? It took a manhunt led by the king himself to track them down.
* There were many outlaws during the period of the Wild West (in no small part due to the absence of an established police force) who get romanticized, like Billy The Kid, Jesse James, and Butch Cassidy. Many of them were portrayed as either Americanized Robin Hoods or free, unbound spirits that exemplified the Wild West, among other things. Although going past the romanticism, there was little evidence (if any at all) that proves they were anything more than proficient, opportunistic bandits that the simplefolk made stories about and eventually caught on as fact in the public mind. People tend to, incorrectly, take their existence and fame as evidence the west was swarming with criminals when it statistically had far lower crime rate than the east and most settlements went years without major crime.
** Side note: Many of the most notable figures had their origin in small scale "range wars", usually with both sides reaching for legal justification for their acts. [[Wikipedia:Category:Range_wars_and_feuds_of_the_American_Old_West | Wikipedia has articles on these conflicts]].
* There was also an outbreak of Bank Robbery during the 1930s that was later romanticized, with such names as "Pretty Boy" Floyd, John Dillinger, "Baby Face" Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, and Willie "Falsely Attributed as Saying 'I Rob Banks Because That's Where the Money Is'" Sutton.
* Mexican history is positively littered with bandit revolutionaries; [[wikipedia:Pancho Villa|Pancho Villa]] is probably the most notable, and among other things, he actually starred in a few Hollywood films about his exploits (yes, seriously), and provoked [[Wikipedia:Pancho Villa Expedition|a full military response]] when he attacked the US town of Columbus, New Mexico.

== Role in Tabletop Games ==
Bandits are great upper-low tier villains for a campaign, as they can come from diverse backgrounds with plenty of legroom to work with and typically don't lend themselves to sympathetic views. They can either be desperate townsfolk mugging passers-by to survive, a couple of assholes who can't be bothered to earn an honest living, to a unit of veteran soldiers who went rogue after realizing banditry is more favorable than serving in the military, or just having no other choice, either due to being on the losing side, or due to winding up on the wrong side of the law for some other reason. Additionally, just about any race with some semblance of sapience can become bandits. As intelligent human(oid) foes, they can employ nearly any tactic humanoids are capable of and are the only real option for low level humanoid enemies aside from [[Cultist]]s.

This leads to a variety of quest ideas from: some guys jump the party wanting to loot your stuff, there are some jerks out there robbing people on the highways that the King wants taken care of, to a well-organized crime syndicate who has total control over the region that you have to bring down or play nice with.

==Popular bandit archetypes==
*Mugger - Lowly miscreants who prey on civilians in a population center for petty valuables, relying on the element of surprise and a settlement's weapon laws to ensure that their victim doesn't retaliate. They usually don't put up too much of a fight and will run if they realize there's even a hint of risk they'll get caught (or worse, mobbed by the angry citizenfolk).

*Highwayman - Your stereotypical fantasy bandit. Highwaymen prey on travelers, primarily on unsecured highways (as highways linked to major cities and were established trade routes: a lot of money, rich folk, and trade goods regularly flowed through them), holding them up for whatever they can carry and disappearing into their hideout to count and distribute the spoils. That said, they're fully capable of sticking people up in any other location that suits them.

*Raider - Bandits who take a more direct approach and the other common archetype. They're much like highwaymen, but they prefer to invade poorly defended areas (like villages and small encampments) to pillage their goods and retreat to their hideout before an armed response force is mustered. Rinse and repeat. Also, throughout history but most commonly in the Bronze and Dark Ages, raiding was the most common type of warfare conducted, so the difference between state-sanctioned raiding and actual bandit raiding was very often pedantic. In fact, the former tended to devolve into the latter as soon as the raiders noticed they could get more money by raiding than they could from military pay- or when a war ended and left the raiders with no skills they could use in peacetime.

*Bank robber - One of the most popular in the list. Bank robbers are groups of men who rob banks by: going inside weapons drawn, and forcibly steal the bank's contents using brutal force, then making a quick getaway whilst attempting to evade the law. They're pretty popular in modern settings, getting into intricate planning segments to ensure they get in and out as quick as possible, high-speed vehicle chases, and heated gunfights with the law as they fight tooth and nail to escape with their haul.

*Train robber - Popularized by old American wild west movies. Train robbers basically rob moving trains of any loot they might have, and since trains were the most reliable form of quick transportation between cities in the old west: they normally carried plenty of valuables (and trains were also normally boarded by rich folk wishing to cross the country). Contrary to popular belief, they rarely jumped from their horses to get on trains (as this was incredibly risky, and hard to pull off from a physics standpoint), and would normally board the train like regular passengers, before signaling to the gang to commence the heist. To get off the train: they normally forced the engineer to engage the brakes. Alternately, they had some way to stop the train at roughly the right point (again, confederate who boards and then holds up the engineer, or one of the many legitimate ways to get a train to stop (doing stuff to the rail, etc.)), or alternately derail the train; either way, historically, passengers were small fry that a robber wouldn't be that interested in; the focus was usually on gold or payroll that was being shipped alongside them in safes.

*[[Slavery|Slavers]] - Normally considered the most despicable of all bandits. Bandits don't usually bother with kidnapping, as a ransom is typically too problematic for anyone but a well-connected syndicate to handle (as you need to find someone willing to shell out a lot of money for this person, then ensure they can't trace you back), and taking captives brings in a lot more heat than than usual. And even then, trying to move live cargo around and trying to find a good buyer for them comes with it's own sets of problems. Its simply a lot more efficient for most groups to hold people up and take their good stuff, then leave them alone; after all, inanimate goods generally don't fight back or escape (although see "Cattle Rustlers" below).
:Slavers however, say "fuck that", and in addition to the usual fighting and looting, they'll take prisoners home to sell on the slave market, with their captives' welfare usually being an afterthought, unless they were important/valuable enough to ensure the extra hassle of keeping them well fed and maintained. Slave raiders are terrifying to civilianfolk: while its depressing you can always get material possessions back one way or another. But how're you going to cope with losing friends and family? Once they're sold off, it's highly likely you're never going to see your loved ones again, and you'll be tormented to death not knowing if they're still alive or not. Hence, slave raiders typically attract the most attention, either from law enforcement and or local militia, as anyone incharge will want them gone as soon as possible (and from a less moral PoV but one that might be more common in a society that uses slaves itself: slavers are taking away your workers and taxpayers, how dare they cut into your fortunes and cost you good money to hunt them down?).

*[[Viking|Sea Raider]] - A fearsome cross with a [[Pirate]]. A Sea Raider raids coastal settlements then gets on their boat and runs away before the local lord can assemble his forces to deal with them. Among bandit types they have the narrative advantage of not needing even a temporary settlement to engage in their acts (allowing them to not just be criminals but ''foreign'' criminals) and being able to rip off all that cool Viking stuff. It was also believed for decades that sea raiders caused the collapse of several civilizations at the end of the Bronze Age.

*Banditos - Bandits with a little more ethnic flair thrown in, these are wild-west bandits with ponchos, sombreros, and pistolés representing the general lawlessness of the early Texan border (and then romanticized in western fiction.) They're also known for their ravishing handlebar mustaches. Actors that are actually Hispanic are completely optional. [[Webcomics|May or may not ride raptors into battle.]]

*Marauders - In the middle east there were a fair number of places where it was too dry to raise crops but you could raise sheep, goats or camels which were home to various nomadic pastoral peoples who'd supplement their income by trade, weaving, dealing in odds and ends and some banditry on the side. Since a tribe of nomads would be a set of family units who'd been at this way of life for centuries or millennia, they tended to have a more sustainable outlook about things: kill a merchant and you can rob for everything once, shake his caravan down and let him go and you can do it again and again.

*Cattle Rustlers - Men who steal cows. Common in Westerns, but were a problem wherever free range animals were a thing (sheep rustlers were and are a thing, for example, and in fact are still a problem in Scotland as of 2019). Cattle were just the most valuable animals, and the most likely to require a gang to steal; domesticated cattle are goddamn '''big'''--small cows weigh "only" 600 pounds(270 kg), but the big ones can get up to 2500 pounds (1100 kg). Why all the risk for cows, though? Well, back in the olden days a single healthy specimen of cattle would fetch anywhere between $20 (or around $500 today, adjusted for inflation) to $90 ($2,300 adjusted for 2020 inflation). And if you wanted to diversify your earnings, you could always process them for milk, meat, hides, and fertilizer (bones and unusable organs). As you can imagine, whatever you did: you had a lot of mileage with cattle, and any cattle rancher worth their salt would gladly put a round through you in a heartbeat, if you so much as think of stealing one of their livestock.

*Any Asian historically set action-focused work will usually have bandits, due to the usual reasons: They make good asskicking-fodder, and in most historical eras require almost no setup or explanation. Usually more likely to be de-romanticized and non-glamorous than American or European bandits. While there are some heroic bandits in such works, they are usually either cases of the Bandit being misguided (and thus become Heroes under the patronage/tutelage of an Old Master(tm) or other parochial figure), or the result of state corruption (and thus usually willing to turn away from banditry when that becomes a realistic option); either way, if they're to be in any way Heroic, the Banditry is an act of desparation. As mentioned above, China had frequent bandit problems in its history, leading, among other things, to the rise of the Shaolin monks and their brand of Kung-Fu for self defense.

== See Also ==
*[[Pirate]] - The bandits of the sea.

[[Category: History]]

Bandit

2021-10-07T05:38:51Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F:

[[File:Skyrim bandit.jpg|thumb|right|300px|"Never should have come here"]]

For the sake of this article a '''Bandit''' is a type of criminal which has removed him/herself from the bulk of society, dwells mainly in the wilderness (or in the seedier parts of a population center) and makes a living engaging by various means of armed robbery (or "banditry"). Since there is strength in numbers, bandits will often gang up, and depending on their infamy and wealth these numbers can range anywhere from a handful of thieves, to having enough to rival a nation's armed forces and possibly seize power. Solo bandits also exist, although they're either such highly proficient robbers that they don't need any help (or against the idea of sharing their spoils), or a rookie with more balls than brains.

There are various permutations of this, but the common theme is that if you traveled from town to town there was a good chance that you'd be waylaid by armed people which would try to extract the valuables from your person by force.

== History ==
In general for most of the history of civilization crime was bad. '''Really Bad.''' The worst areas of the modern first world pale in comparison to that of the middle ages as far as crime goes. This was a time where most people were dirt poor and for most civilizations there was no form of police that cared about anyone other than the nobility or do more than nab the odd fellow they deem suspicious and scare a few more for a bit. In the Middle Ages, towns would have guards who'd protect the gates and deal with with riots, laws that required that random townsfolk or volunteers to patrol the streets at night with torches and chase away suspicious people, bounties were put out for thieves captured and rich people would have guys patrol their neighborhoods to catch anyone who looked suspicious. The countryside did not even have that and there were many nooks and crannies were ne'er-do-wells could lurk. And since most people lived in the countryside or sparsely populated villages, outlaws were an ever-present danger outside the boundaries of their homes. Empires such as Rome or China during the high points of the various dynasties and countries where things were stable like Edo Japan were somewhat better as they could have law enforcement forces, garrisons and patrols of rural areas, though they'd still be considered lawless by modern standards. The development of even somewhat modern policing (in terms of a dedicated full time professional law enforcement agency funded and run by the government, and who weren't just part of the army), which only really began to happen after the [[Renaissance]], led to a reduction; even then, the problem of banditry was a serious one well into the [[Industrial Revolution]], and in some places, the 20th century and/or the present day.

On the same note the worse off a country was, the more bandits it produced. In particular, armies, particularly mercenary armies, had a tendency when ill-disciplined or when badly losing to spin-off into banditry; until the 18th century, it was a common and frequently necessary tactic to pillage the countryside in order to support an army on foreign soil, and, well, people tend to do what they know.

For a further example of "war leads to bandits", if your cottage gets burned by a party of knights (possibly the ones who are supposed to be protecting ''you'') on a raid and the choice is letting your family starve or stealing some stuff from some passing merchant who never sold anything you could afford or a tax collector who's been bleeding people dry at the best of times, a fair number of people would steal from them. Robin Hood might have been a work of fiction, but men who steal from the rich and give to the poor when taxes were too high are not unprecedented. How much of this is altruism and how much of it was public relations would be something that varies from case to case. After all, if you provide a bit of treasure to people who have little enough to begin with, they're less likely to rat you out to the local knight (who they probably hate anyway for taxing them to hell and back, as mentioned above).

The above took on a further twist in the context of regions that had recently been conquered by rival countries (e.g. Greece following its conquest by the Ottoman Empire). Deprived of direct military force and with no other options to retaliate against their occupiers, their inhabitants sometimes took to banditry as a form of guerrilla warfare. As above, this was frequently supported by the commoners, who had no love for their new masters.

When did the age of banditry end? Well, that varies according to your definition of "banditry". The three most notable permutations of the concept for our purposes are:
* Highwaymen and Muggers, who target travelers.
* Robbers, who target individual buildings (banks, jewelery stores, etc).
* Raiders, who target entire towns and farms.

The era of Raiders ends with the birth of the modern army, who no longer needed to plunder in order to eat. The era of the Highwayman ends with either the train (train robbers are usually, well, more Robbers than Highwaymen; see below for more) or the invention of an effective Highway Patrol. Large scale robbery usually ends with the birth of the aforementioned dedicated police, with at least some people who follow up on things; nowadays the most important part of robbery planning is ''getting away with it'', which requires either a safe place to hide (a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty, forex) or good anonymity.

Some notable Real Life historical banditry:

* The Qin Dynasty fell in part because the penalty for reporting late (death) was the same as that for rebellion (death again), thus neatly creating a bandit and rebellion problem, among other things.
** Banditry was usually a part of the negative feedback loops which did Chinese dynasties in: corruption leads to a lack of funds for police and infrastructure projects in X province, infrastructure decays and the police spend more time shaking people down than fighting bandits, bandits operate unimpeded while the economy suffers (incidentally leading more people to get into banditry because there's no legitimate work to go around), which leads to budget cuts across the board which leads to more corruption.
* Alexander "Sawney" Bean, a guy in 16th century Scotland who started a whole family of bandits who decided that they didn't need the gold so much as they just wanted to eat people. And most of the grandchildren were the products of incest. I mean, if you're going to break one law, why not break them all? It took a manhunt led by the king himself to track them down.
* There were many outlaws during the period of the Wild West (in no small part due to the absence of an established police force) who get romanticized, like Billy The Kid, Jesse James, and Butch Cassidy. Many of them were portrayed as either Americanized Robin Hoods or free, unbound spirits that exemplified the Wild West, among other things. Although going past the romanticism, there was little evidence (if any at all) that proves they were anything more than proficient, opportunistic bandits that the simplefolk made stories about and eventually caught on as fact in the public mind. People tend to, incorrectly, take their existence and fame as evidence the west was swarming with criminals when it statistically had far lower crime rate than the east and most settlements went years without major crime.
** Side note: Many of the most notable figures had their origin in small scale "range wars", usually with both sides reaching for legal justification for their acts. [[Wikipedia:Category:Range_wars_and_feuds_of_the_American_Old_West | Wikipedia has articles on these conflicts]].
* There was also an outbreak of Bank Robbery during the 1930s that was later romanticized, with such names as "Pretty Boy" Floyd, John Dillinger, "Baby Face" Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, and Willie "Falsely Attributed as Saying 'I Rob Banks Because That's Where the Money Is'" Sutton.
* Mexican history is positively littered with bandit revolutionaries; [[wikipedia:Pancho Villa|Pancho Villa]] is probably the most notable, and among other things, he actually starred in a few Hollywood films about his exploits (yes, seriously), and provoked [[Wikipedia:Pancho Villa Expedition|a full military response]] when he attacked the US town of Columbus, New Mexico.

== Role in Tabletop Games ==
Bandits are great upper-low tier villains for a campaign, as they can come from diverse backgrounds with plenty of legroom to work with and typically don't lend themselves to sympathetic views. They can either be desperate townsfolk mugging passers-by to survive, a couple of assholes who can't be bothered to earn an honest living, to a unit of veteran soldiers who went rogue after realizing banditry is more favorable than serving in the military, or just having no other choice, either due to being on the losing side, or due to winding up on the wrong side of the law for some other reason. Additionally, just about any race with some semblance of sapience can become bandits. As intelligent human(oid) foes, they can employ nearly any tactic humanoids are capable of and are the only real option for low level humanoid enemies aside from [[Cultist]]s.

This leads to a variety of quest ideas from: some guys jump the party wanting to loot your stuff, there are some jerks out there robbing people on the highways that the King wants taken care of, to a well-organized crime syndicate who has total control over the region that you have to bring down or play nice with.

==Popular bandit archetypes==
*Mugger - Lowly miscreants who prey on civilians in a population center for petty valuables, relying on the element of surprise and a settlement's weapon laws to ensure that their victim doesn't retaliate. They usually don't put up too much of a fight and will run if they realize there's even a hint of risk they'll get caught (or worse, mobbed by the angry citizenfolk).

*Highwayman - Your stereotypical fantasy bandit. Highwaymen prey on travelers, primarily on unsecured highways (as highways linked to major cities and were established trade routes: a lot of money, rich folk, and trade goods regularly flowed through them), holding them up for whatever they can carry and disappearing into their hideout to count and distribute the spoils. That said, they're fully capable of sticking people up in any other location that suits them.

*Raider - Bandits who take a more direct approach and the other common archetype. They're much like highwaymen, but they prefer to invade poorly defended areas (like villages and small encampments) to pillage their goods and retreat to their hideout before an armed response force is mustered. Rinse and repeat. Also, throughout history but most commonly in the Bronze and Dark Ages, raiding was the most common type of warfare conducted, so the difference between state-sanctioned raiding and actual bandit raiding was very often pedantic. In fact, the former tended to devolve into the latter as soon as the raiders noticed they could get more money by raiding than they could from military pay- or when a war ended and left the raiders with no skills they could use in peacetime.

*Bank robber - One of the most popular in the list. Bank robbers are groups of men who rob banks by: going inside weapons drawn, and forcibly steal the bank's contents using brutal force, then making a quick getaway whilst attempting to evade the law. They're pretty popular in modern settings, getting into intricate planning segments to ensure they get in and out as quick as possible, high-speed vehicle chases, and heated gunfights with the law as they fight tooth and nail to escape with their haul.

*Train robber - Popularized by old American wild west movies. Train robbers basically rob moving trains of any loot they might have, and since trains were the most reliable form of quick transportation between cities in the old west: they normally carried plenty of valuables (and trains were also normally boarded by rich folk wishing to cross the country). Contrary to popular belief, they rarely jumped from their horses to get on trains (as this was incredibly risky, and hard to pull off from a physics standpoint), and would normally board the train like regular passengers, before signaling to the gang to commence the heist. To get off the train: they normally forced the engineer to engage the brakes. Alternately, they had some way to stop the train at roughly the right point (again, confederate who boards and then holds up the engineer, or one of the many legitimate ways to get a train to stop (doing stuff to the rail, etc.)), or alternately derail the train; either way, historically, passengers were small fry that a robber wouldn't be that interested in; the focus was usually on gold or payroll that was being shipped alongside them in safes.

*[[Slavery|Slavers]] - Normally considered the most despicable of all bandits. Bandits don't usually bother with kidnapping, as a ransom is typically too problematic for anyone but a well-connected syndicate to handle (as you need to find someone willing to shell out a lot of money for this person, then ensure they can't trace you back), and taking captives brings in a lot more heat than than usual. And even then, trying to move live cargo around and trying to find a good buyer for them comes with it's own sets of problems. Its simply a lot more efficient for most groups to hold people up and take their good stuff, then leave them alone; after all, inanimate goods generally don't fight back or escape (although see "Cattle Rustlers" below).
:Slavers however, say "fuck that", and in addition to the usual fighting and looting, they'll take prisoners home to sell on the slave market, with their captives' welfare usually being an afterthought, unless they were important/valuable enough to ensure the extra hassle of keeping them well fed and maintained. Slave raiders are terrifying to civilianfolk: while its depressing you can always get material possessions back one way or another. But how're you going to cope with losing friends and family? Once they're sold off, it's highly likely you're never going to see your loved ones again, and you'll be tormented to death not knowing if they're still alive or not. Hence, slave raiders typically attract the most attention, either from law enforcement and or local militia, as anyone incharge will want them gone as soon as possible (and from a less moral PoV but one that might be more common in a society that uses slaves itself: slavers are taking away your workers and taxpayers, how dare they cut into your fortunes and cost you good money to hunt them down?).

*[[Viking|Sea Raider]] - A fearsome cross with a [[Pirate]]. A Sea Raider raids coastal settlements then gets on their boat and runs away before the local lord can assemble his forces to deal with them. Among bandit types they have the narrative advantage of not needing even a temporary settlement to engage in their acts (allowing them to not just be criminals but ''foreign'' criminals) and being able to rip off all that cool Viking stuff. It was also believed for decades that sea raiders caused the collapse of several civilizations at the end of the Bronze Age.

*Banditos - Bandits with a little more ethnic flair thrown in, these are wild-west bandits with ponchos, sombreros, and pistolés representing the general lawlessness of the early Texan border (and then romanticized in western fiction.) They're also known for their ravishing handlebar mustaches. Actors that are actually Hispanic are completely optional. [[Webcomics|May or may not ride raptors into battle.]]

*Marauders - In the middle east there were a fair number of places where it was too dry to raise crops but you could raise sheep, goats or camels which were home to various nomadic pastoral peoples who'd supplement their income by trade, weaving, dealing in odds and ends and some banditry on the side. Since a tribe of nomads would be a set of family units who'd been at this way of life for centuries or millennia, they tended to have a more sustainable outlook about things: kill a merchant and you can rob for everything once, shake his caravan down and let him go and you can do it again and again.

*Cattle Rustlers - Men who steal cows. Common in Westerns, but were a problem wherever free range animals were a thing (sheep rustlers were and are a thing, for example, and in fact are still a problem in Scotland as of 2019). Cattle were just the most valuable animals, and the most likely to require a gang to steal; domesticated cattle are goddamn '''big'''--small cows weigh "only" 600 pounds(270 kg), but the big ones can get up to 2500 pounds (1100 kg). Why all the risk for cows, though? Well, back in the olden days a single healthy specimen of cattle would fetch anywhere between $20 (or around $500 today, adjusted for inflation) to $90 ($2,300 adjusted for 2020 inflation). And if you wanted to diversify your earnings, you could always process them for milk, meat, hides, and fertilizer (bones and unusable organs). As you can imagine, whatever you did: you had a lot of mileage with cattle, and any cattle rancher worth their salt would gladly put a round through you in a heartbeat, if you so much as think of stealing one of their livestock.

*Any Asian historically set action-focused work will usually have bandits, due to the usual reasons: They make good asskicking-fodder, and in most historical eras require almost no setup or explanation. Usually more likely to be de-romanticized and non-glamorous than American or European bandits. While there are some heroic bandits in such works, they are usually either cases of the Bandit being misguided (and thus become Heroes under the patronage/tutelage of an Old Master(tm) or other parochial figure), or the result of state corruption (and thus usually willing to turn away from banditry when that becomes a realistic option); either way, if they're to be in any way Heroic, the Banditry is an act of desparation. As mentioned above, China had frequent bandit problems in its history, leading, among other things, to the rise of the Shaolin monks and their brand of Kung-Fu for self defense.

== See Also ==
*[[Pirate]] - The bandits of the sea.

[[Category: History]]

Setting Aesthetics

2021-10-07T05:24:43Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* Sci-Fi */

[[File:Yvgg0vixpa341.png|thumb|right|520px|How it works. And if you're thinking there's only like five original settings in the world, you're absolutely right.]]

Worldbuilding can be hard. If you're creating a story that isn't already set on Earth at some point in history, you'll have to come up with a lot of different things on your own. And not just the names of places and what transpired, or what kind of culture each different people has, but also the more subtle parts of a setting that include tone and visual aesthetics.

That's why a lot of fictional worlds tend to cling to a particular '''setting aesthetic''', an amalgamation of different ideas that can loosely be thought of as "setting genres". These aesthetics aren't set in stone, as the edges of one aesthetic frequently blend into another. Writers do generally tend to stick (primarily) to one type of aesthetic, because all aesthetics are just amalgams of individual characteristics, and the popular ones tend to be the most coherent or compelling. Remember that when talking about genre, terms can be applied across all media: literature, movies, games, etc.

==Fantasy==
*'''[[High Fantasy]]''' - The default type of setting for most fantasy settings. Magic is commonplace, as is anything we normally associate with fairy tales and mythology. High Fantasy tends to be a bit more upbeat, as many civilizations tend to exist quite comfortably (apart from the odd dragon or zombie attack). Big focus on cosmological conflicts, namely Good vs. Evil.

Examples: [[Lord of the Rings]], [[Dungeons and Dragons]], [[Age of Sigmar]] for a particularly High Fantasy, [[the Stormlight Archive]]

*'''[[Low Fantasy]]''' - The dark and gritty counterpart to High Fantasy. Not necessarily Grimdark, although life does tend to be harsher. The biggest exemplar of Low Fantasy is [[Conan the Barbarian]]; magic is uncommon but very powerful, political strife is more commonplace, and violence is the norm.

Examples: [[Conan the Barbarian]], [[Game of Thrones]], [[Mistborn]]

*'''[[Heroic Fantasy]]''' - Intermediary point between High & Low Fantasy; High Fantasy backdrops and upbeat take on the world, but Low Fantasy-esque focus on [[Your Dudes]]. Grittier and more grimdark examples do exist - Warhammer Fantasy Battles and Roleplay are technically Heroic Fantasy.

Examples: [[Dungeons & Dragons]], [[Exalted]]

*'''[[Sword & Sorcery]]''' - The pulp magazine version of [[Heroic Fantasy]], traditionally leaning more towards the Low end of the scale and incorporating some level of [[Science Fantasy]] elements in it.

*'''[[Dungeonpunk]]''' - [[Heroic Fantasy]] with Punk stylings and [[magitek]], usually of the "industrialized magic" variety.

Examples: [[Eberron]], [[Planescape]], [[Iron Kingdoms]]

*'''[[Gaslamp Fantasy]]''' - Victorian-themed (or at least painted) world with magic in it, the fantasy analogue to [[steampunk]].

Examples: [[Masque of the Red Death]], [[Castle Falkenstein]], [[Unhallowed Metropolis]]

*'''[[Dark Fantasy]]''' - Grimdark or Horror take on your standard fantasy world. This can be either Low Fantasy or High Fantasy, it does not strictly preclude it.

Examples: [[Warhammer Fantasy]] for Low-Dark, [[Age of Sigmar]] for High-Dark

*'''Modern Fantasy''' - An alternate take on [[Urban Fantasy]], where you have a fantasy world that's developed magic and/or technology until it's reached a semblance of the modern world. Or at least a historical/futuristic analogue to our world.

Examples: [[Arcanum]] (fantasy analogue to Victorian England), [[Shadowrun]] (fantasy world gone [[cyberpunk]])

*'''Weird Western''' - Either a Western version of [[Urban Fantasy]], or a fantasy world that has Western themes.

Examples: [[Deadlands]], [[Horizons]]: [[Spellslinger]]

==Sci-Fi==
*'''[[Cyberpunk]]''' - The original "-punk" genre, and the creator of the concept of naming aesthetics by ending in "punk". If you've ever seen The Matrix, that's pretty much Cyberpunk in a nutshell, although Blade Runner is probably a more classic example. Dystopian urban environments and highly advanced technology is commonplace, as are dark and brooding heroes wearing black trench coats and sporting unconventional haircuts, and megacorporations which have more power than any government. '''''High tech, low life.'''''
** Some modern Cyberpunk is called "post-Cyberpunk" and is not quite as pessimistic, though still pretty grim compared to other settings. In post-Cyberpunk, augmentation and technology is seen as a powerful tool that can be used to control or liberate people, and is used globally in political and economical powerstruggl- Wait, where have I seen this before?

Examples: The Matrix, [[Cyberpunk 2020]], Blade Runner, Shadowrun. Post-cyberpunk examples: Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, most modern shooters with robots and augmentations. And it's "just" a novel, but let's not forget the first cyberpunk, and his creator: William Gibson's Neuromancer.

*'''[[Steampunk]]''' - One of the first derivatives of Cyberpunk, at least in name only. In actuality, the aesthetic draws quite a bit from the works of Jules Verne, which taking place in Victorian times and features more advanced versions of the steam-powered technology of the day. These kinds of settings can swing between [[noblebright]] and dystopian, since the Victorian Era was a time of wondrous progress, ''and'' huge inequality.

Examples: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, [[Warmachine]], [[Dishonored]]

*'''[[Clockpunk]]''' - Steampunk's older brother. Borrowing aesthetics from the Renaissance Era, the Baroque Era, the Ming Dynasty, or the Song Dynasty, Clockpunk focuses on complex mechanisms made from wood or traditional metals, and is generally powered by water wheels, wind mills, draft animals, or slowly falling weights. This aesthetic is typically found in genres that don't explicitly focus on it, such as Historical Fiction works. Expect plenty of overlap with historical themes of the time period.

Examples: [[Deadlands]], [[Dragonmech]], [[Mechanus]], [[Mage: The Ascension]], [[Unknown Armies]]

*'''[[Dieselpunk]]''' - An aesthetic associated with Steampunk, but typically grittier, inspired by the era between the World Wars. Tyranny and warfare is commonplace, as are machines capable of deadly efficiency. Expect Noir cities, petrochemical engines, stamped and riveted metal, and the aesthetic synthesis between traditional rural lifestyles and mechanization. Typically features [[nazis]] in one way or another, sometimes as the winning side of WW2.

Examples: [[Command and Conquer|Command and Conquer: Red Alert]], Fullmetal Alchemist, Wolfenstein: The New Order, The Leviathan Series (partially)

*'''[[Decopunk]]''' - A [[noblebright]] version of dieselpunk. Art deco everywhere, hence the name. Not a particularly common aesthetic however.

Examples: Bioshock, especially before the fall of Rapture

*'''[[Atompunk]]''' - The name applied to anything inspired by the science fiction of the 1950s and early 1960s. Space exploration is the norm, and technology is mostly based on what was slowly beginning to emerge at the time that we would now take for granted (such as video chat, portable phones, robots capable of walking) or else has proven to be wildly impractical if not impossible (Jetpacks, flying cars, ray guns, robots capable of independent thought). Features a sub-genre named Raypunk or Raygun Gothic, which is similar in most ways but ditches references to nuclear power.

Examples: Buck Rogers, [[Fallout]], [[Star Trek]] The Original Series, too many 1950s movies to count

*'''[[Screampunk]]''' - A weird mishmash of steampunk with horror tropes, especially those associated with [[Gothic Horror]], which it is often conflated with. It is also commonly conflated with [[Dark Fantasy]] and [[Gaslamp Fantasy]] as well, due to being set in the same time period as the latter, and being very similar to the former. A very new genre that has yet to find large popularity.

Examples: [[GURPS]] Screampunk (where the name came from), [[Unhallowed Metropolis]], [[Magic: The Gathering]] (the plane of Innistrad specifically)

*'''[[Casette Futurism]]''' - An aesthetic based on the "futuristic" styles of the 70s and especially the 80s. This aesthetic also refers to the unique style of "futuristic-looking" devices made during that time. Expect CRT-screens, fake woodgrain, wedge-cars synthwave music, neon lights, hard-edged plastic shells on all technology, and ''of course'' VHS-tapes and cassettes.

Examples: Alien, Terminator, Stranger Things

*'''[[Biopunk]]''' - An aesthetic which revolves around use of biotechnology and DNA manipulation. Other than that core conceit, the actual look and feel of the aesthetic isn't set in stone. Some incarnations might look modern, some might look futuristic, some might look historical.

Examples: Bioshock, Resident Evil, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Leviathan Series (partially)

*'''[[Nanopunk]]''' - An aesthetic focusing around the use of nanotechnology. This aesthetic is still evolving, but typically features organic-looking machines, synthetic meta-materials used create "impossible" things (vantablack clothing, mono-molecular edged blades, synthetic muscles), and transhumanist themes. Can often share many themes with Cyberpunk, but the use of nanotechnology is what sets it apart. While a Cyberpunk setting would have cyborgs with cybernetic implants, a Nanopunk setting would instead have people with nanomachines inside them. Sometimes portrayed as a next step from cyberpunk, where cybernetics are becoming obsolete due to advancements in nanotechnology.

Examples: Crysis, [[Metal Gear|Metal Gear Solid]] (1,2, 4 and ''especially'' [[Meme|Rising: Revengeance]]), Deus Ex (First two games only, rest are cyberpunk)

*'''[[Space Opera]]''' - The grand-daddy of Sci-Fi, Space Opera features a multitude of worlds, races and technology that play loose and fast with the science part for the sake of a wide, bright adventure in SPAAAAACE! Space Operas are filled with larger-than-life characters, space-nations loosely based on different earth societies and great, galaxy-saving adventures, though it can easily be zoomed in to a planet- or even a party-focused story if needed. Can be split into three sub-settings: Hard sci-fi which tries to be as scientifically accurate as possible, soft sci-fi where technology works by it's own in-universe rules and science fantasy, which features stuff which is supernatural even by the rules of it's own universe.

Examples: [[Star Wars]], [[Star Trek]], [[Warhammer 40000]], Mass Effect, [[Twilight Imperium]], [[Cosmic Encounter]]

*'''[[Solarpunk]]''' - The most [[noblebright]] punk of them all. An utopia for all environmentalists, this aesthetic features a world driven primarily through use of renewable energy and people live harmoniously with nature. Expect to see windmills, solar panels, individualized replacements for infrastructure (home-sized wastewater treatment, people sewing their own clothing, household battery walls, etc.), farming and large gardens, and ''lots of plants everywhere''. Settings using this aesthetic are frequently post-apocalyptic.

Examples: All the Good Futures from Sonic CD

*'''[[20 Minutes into the Future]]''' - An aesthetic that is definitely in the future, but not by much. Things are not too different from how they are today. For someone living in the 80s, the 2000's would be this aesthetic. This is a very hard-to-define aesthetic, because it keeps moving as time goes on. Most media written with this aesthetic are archetypical science fiction stories, speculating and warning about how present trends will extrapolate.

==History==
Want to make something in a real world setting? Here's some setting aesthetics from real world history.
Are you making a fictional world? Sometimes worldbuilding doesn't have to go into fantasy or sci-fi. Instead, you could also simply make a world inspired by real history. Some might find this pointless, believing that if they are making a story in a medieval setting for example but with no fantasy or sci-fi elements, why not simply set the story in the real medieval period rather than a fictional world? Well the answer to this is simple: Making a story in the real middle ages needs to be historically accurate and making it so requires lots of research into the period.
On top of this, making your own world also allows for you to come up with all the [[fluff]] yourself, something real world historical settings inherently do not allow for, even if you go for alternate history, you must still account for everything from before the point of divergence and are also limited to the geography of Earth.
So if you just want to tell tales of knightly heroism or clashes of empires without fantasy or sci-fi elements but also without feeling constrained by having to make it fit in with real history, making a fictional world based on these settings might be the thing for you.

*'''[[Stone Age]]'''
*'''[[Bronze Age]]'''
*'''[[Classical Period]]'''
*'''[[Dark Age]]'''
*'''[[High Middle Ages]]'''
*'''[[Renaissance]]'''
*'''[[Age of Enlightenment]]'''
*'''[[Industrial Revolution]]'''
*'''[[Victoriana]]'''
*'''[[The World Wars]]'''
*'''[[The Cold War]]'''
*'''[[Post-Cold War]]'''

===[[Western]]===

:''See also the article [[Western]]''

One term that gets bandied a lot in discussions of Setting Aesthetics is "[[Western]]", which originally referred to stories that took place in the American West in the years between the American Civil War and World War I (although there is also the "Modern Western", which usually takes place sometime after World War II). The most important aspects of a "Western" aesthetic are roughly as follows:

* The single most distinguishing feature of a Western: Outposts of Law exist, but are far apart. While the region is somewhat lawless, this is a factor of the fact that places are distant from each other; the next town could be a week's ride away in some places, meaning reinforcements may be a very long time in coming, so the Sheriff or Rancher is more or less on his own if he can't get local support. The fact that this is actively changing is a frequent plot point of many actual historically-set-and-based Westerns.
** Yes, this means a lot of Westerns center around either [[Bandit]]ry or other outlawry, either as pro- or antagonists, and feature a certain degree of lawlessness.
* Next most important: Open ranges. Large areas where the nearest human being could be miles away. Sort of a consequence of the above, but worth mentioning on its own.
** This low population density leads to a certain degree of casual brutality and cruelty which is a frequent side-aspect of the aesthetic; with very few people to call a body out on their ugly behavior, such behavior is likely to grow into at least a minor problem of many people.
* Usually the next most important after those two: Guns, saloons, and horses. While it's possible to have a "Western" without much of one, you'll need a lot of the other two to cover for the absence.
** If you're doing a pseudo-Western, you may need substitutes for all three. For example, Samurai-themed works usually use swords in place of guns, and limit the availability of horses, but still have some degree of all three.
*** In Science Fiction or Modern Westerns, "Off-road vehicles" can be substituted for horses.
*** Trading outposts can be freely substituted for saloons in sufficiently unsettled regions, or churches in more Christian or poverty-themed works. What matters is that it's a gathering place that's also somewhat neutral ground, where violence more serious than a fistfight is frowned upon.
** Side note: Railroads and stagecoaches are (in historically-set Westerns) the only alternatives to horses (besides donkeys and mules), and both are very restricted in how far away from their paths they can go (stagecoaches are ''heavy'', so hills can act as major barriers), so horses, donkeys and mules are your main travel options if you need to get away from those paths.
* Occasional feature of Fantasy/Science Fiction "Westerns": Natives, along the line of American Indians.
** Historically-set Westerns have plenty of American Indians, historically. It's just that, by the 1960s, most writers decided it was a better idea to center around subjects that weren't so likely to be read as making their protagonists "the real bad guys". Thus, most post-1970 westerns center purely on White vs. White conflict, or have protagonists who are sympathetic with the Indians, with a smattering of works centered on Black characters (most notably ''Blazing Saddles''). (Historically speaking, there were plenty of black cowboys, but this was ignored by most writers and producers historically, and frequently still is in the present day.)

If the above is longer than anything else on this page, it's because the "Western" aesthetic gets glued onto a '''lot''' of stuff that's very different from its historical roots. To give one example, there's been a non-trivial amount of works set in (something based on) historical Japan that have a heavy Western aesthetic--to the point that some of the earliest examples (Kurosawa films) were directly remade into Westerns, with very few changes.

==Other==
*'''[[Science Fantasy]]''' - Science Fiction and Fantasy gleefully mashed up, so you can wind up with [[Awesome|elves with laser pistols, sword-wielding robots, and dragons flying between the stars]].

Examples: [[Dragonmech]], [[Dragonstar]], [[Spelljammer]], [[Numenera]], [[RIFTS]], [[Shadowrun]], [[Warhammer 40,000]], [[Starfinder]]. arguably [[Star Wars]].

*'''Lovecraftian''': A type of horror setting that is either directly based on or inspired by the works of [[H.P. Lovecraft]], especially the Cthulhu Mythos. The main concepts revolve around monsters and deities whose mere existence is so horrible that knowledge or direct perception of them drives people insane, and feature copious amounts of existential dread.

Example: [[Call of Cthulhu]], [[Delta Green]]

*'''[[Supers]]''' - AKA Superheroes, Capeshit. Superpowers and melodrama. Frequently mixed with another aesthetic (Urban Fantasy, Science Fantasy or Science Fiction, usually).

Example: DC and Marvel, [[Worm]]

*'''[[Cattlepunk]]''': Western setting with [[Steampunk]].

Example: [[The Dark Tower]], [[Deadlands]]

*'''Space Western''' - Western elements in a science fiction or [[Space Opera]] setting.

Examples: [[Firefly]], Borderlands, The Mandalorian, [[Star Trek]] was originally pitched as such but doesn't really fit the modern definition

*'''[[Magitek]]''' - Magic has either replaced technology or been assimilated into it. Clarkes third law turned on it's head.

Examples: [[Eberron]], [[Deadlands]], [[Rifts]], [[Iron Kingdoms]], [[Exalted]], [[Hollow World]]

*'''[[Urban Fantasy]]''' - Our world, but with magic and/or science fiction added to it. Considered by many the "easiest" sort of setting to get into by casuals & normies. Can be further seasoned with many other aesthetics. Despite the name, it really just means that it takes place in a post-Industrial-age world<ref>Although if you're more advanced than the current technology, you're either veering into [[Supers]] or [[Science Fantasy]]</ref> and doesn't have to take place in a city.

Examples: [[D20 Modern]], [[Mutants & Masterminds]], [[World of Darkness]], [[Dark Matter]]

*'''[[Weird Wars]]''' - [[Urban Fantasy]] meets war stories, when one of our world's wars gets magical and/or super-science added to it.

Examples: Pinnacle Games' lines of the same name, [[Wolfenstein]], [[Call of Cthulhu]], [[GURPS]]

*'''[[Isekai]]''' - Your dudes come from the real world, but have been sent to a fantasy (or, more rarely, sci-fi) land.

Examples: Sword Art Online, GATE, way too many anime from the 2010s

*'''[[Post-Apocalyptic]]''' - The world ended, and now it's time for adventure! Expect rusted metal, moral ambiguity, relatively high-tech, mutants and lots, ''lots'' of sand. Can effectively be divided into three sub-settings: in post-apocalypse, the apocalypse happened fairly recently and as such people are mostly just concerned with simple survival. In post-post-apocalypse, a lot of time has passed since the apocalypse and people have started to rebuild civilization, though it is definitely still a work in progress. In post-post-post-apocalypse, the apocalypse is a distant memory and the world has largely recovered from it.

Examples: [[Fallout]], Mad Max. Commonly combined with sci-fi, but also sometimes with [[Dark Souls|medieval stuff]].

*'''[[Alternate History]]''' - One event in history went differently than in our timeline and this change caused the events past that point to be wildly different from our timeline. What if Rome didn't collapse and survived to the 21st century? What if Nobunagas ambition was realized and after conquering Japan, he went on to successfuly conquer Korea and China? Germany winning WW2 is a particularly popular one. Alternate history can effectively work with anything from real world history, fantasy settings to sci-fi settings but it's usually based on real world history. Alternate history based on real world history does have a tendency to feature sci-fi elements however.

Examples: Command & Conquer: Red Alert, The Man in the High Castle, Wolfenstein The New Order

*'''[[Retro-futuristic]]''' - Setting that tries to imitate how people in the past saw the future. Many of the punk-genres fall under this. Often features technology that would have been futuristic at the time but now are either commonplace or outright outdated. A good example of this is a mobile communication device, something quite futuristic in the time of wired phones and payphones, which often in these types of settings is portrayed as quite cumbersome or of limited functionality, paling in comparison to smart-phones or even mobile phones from the 90s since they allowed for sending of text messages in addition to calls. There is also a type of retro-futurism known as [[TVTropes|Zeerust]] which refers to stuff that was actually made in the past and felt futuristic back then but now feels retro-futuristic.

Examples: Fallout, Alien, Star Trek: The Original Series (Zeerust)

==Footnotes==

[[Category:Gamer Slang]] [[Category: Setting Aesthetics]]

Clockpunk

2021-10-07T05:21:59Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F:

{{Stub}}

Clockpunk is a setting aesthetic related to [[Steampunk]] and [[Dieselpunk]], but even older. Like its kinfolk, it runs on the premise of using archaic technology - in this case clockwork - to achieve feats equal or superior to modern technology. Clockpunk is undoubtedly regarded as one of the cooler-looking forms of aesthetic-punk among high schoolers and tumblr cosplayers looking for some nerd cred. With its emphasis on shiny gears and springs and levers, it is particularly popular in more [[magitek]] type settings. The problem is that, even more so than the other aesthetic-punk styles, it runs into the whole "that's scientifically impossible!" protest. After all, the generative motion for all that clockwork has to come from ''somewhere''.

Whereas Steampunk is a distinctly Victorian aesthetic, Clockpunk goes back further and typically draws from Baroque or even Renaissance sources. One common source of inspiration is the famed Italian inventor Leonardo Da Vinci, who drafted a wide variety of advanced machines, many of which never came to fruition but would have been the ancestors of many modern machinery (ie Tanks, Helicopters, machineguns, etc). Real-life clockwork machines (specifically, not including clocks themselves) could have been surprisingly complex and capable of very intricate and subtle movements, though they were also prone to failure and the extreme precision needed made them prohibitively expensive; as such these clockwork machines would be limited to novelties for the rich, rather than practical applications like self-powered vehicles or other industrial machinery.

Lenses and mirrors are another key part of the clockpunk aesthetic. Glass blowers had known since antiquity that curved shapes can distort light. But as soon as the technology to make geared machines appears, it becomes possible to precisely polish curved glass into exact shapes, which is exactly what happened in the 14th and 15th century. By raw trial and error, lensmakers figured out the mechanics of optics literally hundreds of years before they understood what light actually was.

[[Category: Gamer Slang]]

Dieselpunk

2021-10-07T05:07:33Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* Aesthetics */

Dieselpunk is like [[Steampunk]], but instead of the Industrial Revolution, we got both World Wars and period between them. Moreover, Dieselpunk is used far less in popular media than its brass and goggles counterpart.

== Aesthetics ==
[[Image:388036822935be4de70abc5f07b6969e.jpg|500px|thumb|right]]
If steampunk is all about brass, steam, blimps and clockwork robots, then dieselpunk is steel, gas masks, dark smoke, oil stains, tanks and dreadnoughts (of the naval kind, ''and'' [[Dreadnought|the walking boxes kind]]).

Whereas Steampunk borrows the fashions and aesthetics of the Victorians, Dieselpunk's primary aesthetic is Art Deco. Anything not related to machines will be very ritzy and flashy, jazz will be the dominant form of music and futurism will be the dominant form of architecture. Expect a lot of pressed and stamped metal. Thin, gilded veneers concealing oily machines (both literally and allegorically). Decopunk describes a setting which has all the flashy and the futuristic aesthetics found in parts of Dieselpunk, but none of the grime and realism that characterises most Dieselpunk works.

The overall technology level hovers around 1935: we got machine guns, cars, piston planes (and jets, but they're bleeding-edge tech that isn't found outside the military or corporations), radios and black-and-white TV sets. Electronics are something of a gray area: they exist, but they can't be very advanced. You can expect radio, radars, alarms, simple encrypting/decrypting machines and so on, but no portable phones, detectors, transistors and computers (barring occasional [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC ENIAC]-styled vacuum tube monstrosities that take up ''at least'' an entire room). In a nutshell, if it looks like your great-granddad would like it, that's steampunk, if it looks like it belongs to your grandpa, that's dieselpunk, and if it looks like your dad used it, that's early [[Fallout|Atompunk]], assuming you're about 40 (which you are, unless you're a newfag).

Also worth mentioning that there is a significant difference in mood: steampunk stories often lean on the romantical side of things, adventuring with the science of the future and all that. Dieselpunk, on the other hand, gets [[grimdark]]er with industrialized warfare, totalitarianism, and nihilism. Even without the shadow of "The Great War/s" looming over the setting, you have the social unrest of the Roaring 20's, the Great Depression, Gangland, and ruined continental Europe rebuilding in the background to temper your optimism. Steampunk is "The Time Machine" and "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea", Dieselpunk is "All Quiet On The Western Front" and "Catch-22".

== In Tabletop ==
[[Image:Martynas-latusinskas-cs-redesign-01.jpg|200px|thumb|right]]
Much like in popular media, Dieselpunk only has a few tabletop titles to its oil-smeared name.
* [[Crimson Skies]] is a board game from '98 which focused on 2-player aerial dog fighting with nice cardboard models and while it was decent, copies now are hard to find, unfortunately. The IP was since adapted into a video game, both in 2000 and 2003. Perhaps surprisingly, both titles are highly reviewed.
* Age of Steel is an RPG released in current year+3 which promises a [[D6]]-system mixed with Dieselpunk and the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]. However, the core rulebook is only a paltry 123-pages.
[[Image:Dust-Tactics-units.jpg|200px|thumb|right]]
* Scythe was released in 2016 and is an alternate retelling of the 1920s featuring deadly walkers and [[Slavery|serfdom]]. The strategy board game has garnered lots of awards and is getting several expansions as well as a digital release.
* Dust Tactics is a board game from 2010 featuring an alternate take on WW2 where alien tech made walkers, [[Awesome|minigun-wielding gorillas]], and tesla cannons possible. The game is for 2-4 players and has models representing American, [[Nazi|German]], and Soviet units. The game since tried to expand into a full [[wargame]], but it failed to grab an audience. The game has since been unlisted from [[FFG]]'s website.

== Examples ==
[[Image:48526b03d18004c9837a57d9be8e7b85.jpg|300px|thumb|right]]
* [[Imperium|Imperial technology]] (and, by extension, [[Chaos]] and [[Ork]] tech, since they like to loot their tech) is the embodiment of this. Rule of thumb: if it doesn't look like it came out of [[Force Weapons|Renai]][[Power Weapon|ssance]] Fair or [[Lasgun|cheap]] [[Titan|80'ies]] [[Plasma|sci]]-[[Melta|fi]] [[Adeptus Mechanicus|show]] ([[Power armor#Warhammer_40.2C000|or]] [[Imperial Knight|both]]), it's probably a Dieselpunk design. The [[Imperial Guard]] is literally runs on it, special mention goes to [[Death Korps of Krieg|Kriegers]], [[Armageddon Steel Legion|Armageddoners]], [[Mordian Iron Guard|Mordians]], [[Valhalla]]ns and the entirety of the [[Schola Progenium|Commissariat]].
* Generally, every [[Communism|Russian]] or Russian-equivalent faction in a sufficiently advanced setting is this; see [[Khador]], [[AT-43|Red Bloc]]; good vidya examples are Soviets from [[Command_and_Conquer#Red_Alert_series|Red Alert]] and China from [[Command_and_Conquer#Generals_series|C&C:Generals]].
** [[Nazi]]s and similarly themed factions tend to share this property whenever they're not too busy playing with occultism, eugenics, and Tesla weapons. Kinda understandable: would you [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bertha_(howitzer) look] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_VIII_Maus at] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1500_Monster these] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elefant penis] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Ger%C3%A4t compensators].
* In /v/, examples are [[Fallout]] (albeit if you're inclined to split hairs, that's Atompunk (50'es to 70'es)), first two Bioshocks (Infinite is more steampunky), Dishonored and [[Wolfenstein]] (from "Return to" and onwards). Primorida also covers this aesthetic, though mixed with some very mother-of-pearl sculpting and hiding beneath the post-apocalyptic surface. The Hungarian shmup Sine Mora EX also deserves mention for its many stylish designs of planes, tanks, and warships. Although, it also has [[furries]] committing [[Exterminatus|genocide]]. Make of that what you will.
* Dieselpunk has also reared its head in Hollywood. The movies [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102803/?ref_=nv_sr_1 The Rocketeer] and [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346156/?ref_=nv_sr_1 Sky Captain and the World Tomorrow] are both aesthetically accurate but suffered mediocre reviews.
* For [[weeaboo]]s goes the non-alchemy bits of Fullmetal Alchemist, half of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki Miyazaki's] creative output, [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Avatar's]] Fire Nation, most of The Legend of Korra, and the 2001 animated (pseudo-remake) Metropolis.
* A new RTS game called Iron Harvest. Literally a dieselpunk WW2, in a world where we made humanoid mechsuits instead of tanks. Based off of the 1920+ universe.

== Gallery ==
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[[Category: Gamer Slang]] [[Category: Setting Aesthetics]]

Blood Gorgons

2021-10-07T03:42:53Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F:

{{Cleanup}}
{{Heresy}}
{{Infobox CSM Warband
|Name = Blood Gorgons
|Heraldry = Gorgon head
|Battle Cry = Unknown
|Origin = [[21st Founding]]
|Warband Leader = [[Gammadin]]
|Base of Operations = Cauldron Born ([[Space Hulk]])
|Specialty = Piracy, looting, occasional witchery, doing strange things with each other's organs ([[Lucius|no]], [[Daemonculaba|not]] [[Emperor's Children|that]], [[Slaanesh|you]] [[Fulgrim|sick]] [[Fabius Bile|fuck]])
|Strength = ~900 marines
|Allegiance = Themselves, though it is has been said they made a deal with [[khorne]] at some point.
|Colours = Burnt Umber with Brass trim
}}
[[File:CSMCodex6th.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|So awesome they got the cover of the 6th edition Codex. [[Fail|But no representation in said codex, nor in any codices that have followed.]]]]
The '''Blood Gorgons''' are generally considered to be a pretty [[awesome]] piratical, renegade chapter of [[Chaos Space Marines]] created by [[Henry Zou]] for his novel of the same name. In doing so, he also did something that defied the very laws of the universe and Chaos: he made a batch of Chaos Marines that actually have half a shit worth of sense and purpose left in them. Their leader, Gammadin, has a FUCKIN' CRAB CLAW HAND. Suck it, [[Yarrick]].

The Gorgons' patron is Yetsugei, a powerful daemon independent of the major Gods, who actually seems to be a pretty cool guy (by daemon standards) who doesn't afraid of no big four, relatively speaking that is, for being a manifestation of purest darkness and evil and Chaos and all. It's worth noting in passing that he’s named after the eldest son of (the historical) Genghis "[[Genghis motherfucking Khan|muhfuggin]]" Khan. Whatever can be said about Yetsugei, though, who is summoned by the Gorgons in moments of crisis for help and consultation (but is written as thinking to himself he'd just as well NOM their souls), he and the chapter have apparently had a long and mutually beneficial relationship (although to the daemon the "beneficial" part seems to be just [[Troll|doing it for the lulz]]). Other daemons talk shit about him and take their shots, and turns out Yetsugei apparently isn't all that much of a badass among daemons after all; despite talking a good game he fucks right off when more powerful forces intervene.

Badass Mongol name he is not, of course, to be confused with that [[Jaghatai Khan|a certain swift and inscrutable Oriental]], nor the historical Terran personage; presumably he withholds his true name, as daemons are wont to do, and comes up with something that might be evocative to human ears (as Genghis "motherfucking" Khan is apparently known about even 39,000 years after his death, as mentioned in more than a few books.) The daemon Yetsugei, though, is said to be older than humanity itself. To be fair, it ''is'' a pretty badass name though. Yep, '''''YET-YET-YET-Yetsugei!''''' could work for me if I was a hundred millenia old malevolent preternatural entity who wanted to call myself something when doing sneaky business with some puny mortals.

== The Blood Gorgons as a Chapter ==

While most Chaos Space Marines lose their minds and become deranged sex pests, axe murderers, plague carriers, or hand wringing wicked wizards with no greater goal in life than to wear the skin of their enemies, bathe in the blood of virgins, tote around scary books and write odes to their own phlegm or engage in all sorts of other crazed theatrics, the Blood Gorgons, after telling the Imperium where to shove it became instead rather boring, as they kept, more or less, their sanity, using the Warp but not going full retard. Consequently, they depart from their brethren by doing silly things like maintaining a functional (and fairly successful) renegade Space Marine chapter that gets shit done for fun and profit, mostly on the piratical side of things with occasional incursions of small numbers of Marines onto Imperial worlds to stir the pot a bit in favor of [[Chaos Undivided]]. Still, though, as a whole, they don't really go into Chaos worship, but seem to (having long ago discarded any moral compunctions) just use the "gifts" of Chaos as a tool.

That being said, the Gorgons are definitely corrupted: mutations are almost omniprescent and seen as gifts; their ships and power armour are possessed by daemonic spirits (presumably nonaligned ones like Yetsugei), but nonetheless, they are neither fanatically loyal to Chaos as a theology, like the Word Bearers, nor are they interested in staging mass war against the Imperium, like the Black Legion; and what's more, they've no particular allegiance to any of the Big Four. They seem to have a bit of a beef with [[Nurgle]] and the [[Death Guard]] (this is a big part of the plot of one of their books, but even before the Blood Gorgons they raided a Death Guard ship. Maybe that started the beef. Why one would want to raid a plague-ridden Nurgley ship is anyone's guess.)

As for the other three, the Gorgons probably make a good enough impression but are either wise enough or insignificant enough not to get trapped into a relationship with such a patron. Their affinity for the main Chaos Gods is obvious, though: they are mentioned as having Slaaneshi <s>sex slaves</s> concubines among their retinue. "accepted according to the nine Slaaneshi principles of beauty, they set those principles themselves" they are said to be, of course they were [[looted]] from other chaos cults, (giving new meaning to the term [[/d/|War]] [[Hot Chicks|Booty]]). Khorne <s>probably</s> definetly digs their style in terms of warfare (one dude has "''forty metre stacks'' of plundered weaponry" sitting around in his closet.) Meanwhile in ''Flesh and Iron'' they have a really heavy Tzeentchian flavour, not only doing sneaky plots and stuff but repeated references to "change" and loads of mutations.

So really they could be considered to be all over the place. Three quarters of it anyway, which is pretty interesting given how almost every other chapter of ''Astartes traitoris'' either hate Chaos despite their corruption, embrace Chaos Undivided, or give themselves entirely over to the Big Four.

What their (loyalist, presumably?) genestock is is anyone's guess. Ultras? Salamanders? [[Iron Hands|Another Gorgon]]? Maybe even the White Scars? (''fanwanking intensifies...'') If traitor stock, then maybe the [[Iron Warriors]] or even [[Alpha Legion|XX]]th? This is probably not a question we'll see answered, so feel free to make up your own headcanon if you wanna make some of the Gorgons [[your dudes]].

==Ideology and battle doctrine (such as it is)==
[[Henry Zou#The_Books|They are described]] as having had "no limits, not physically, nor of time in their immortal age, nor of law or code to restrain them." This is described as "precisely that which made them Blood Gorgons, [raising] them above the loyalist Slave Marines [''their term for not just the Imperial Space Marines, but such Astartes as bound themselves to a God or a warlord like [[Abbadon]]''] who were no better than menials." Pretty harsh burn, and a badass attitude for a (relatively) small warband to take against hordes of Chaos fundamentalists and actual traitor ''legions'', not to mention the Imperials and just about everyone else in the galaxy from the [[Dark Eldar|drukharii]] to the [[tyranids]].

Still, the Gorgons are the closest chapter we're likely to see who look and act like Chaos [[Reasonable Marines]] - they even don't treat aligned mortals and slaves like shit (in fact, given the more martially inclined mortal slaves on their ships really quite significant "trustee" roles in terms of day-to-day security and things like that); and also, unlike [[World Eaters|some compulsively violent groups]], they pick their battles carefully. They constantly train to stay sharp, with live-fire exercises (using various captured people and creatures, in the confines of their ECKSBAWKSHUEG SPHESS HULK) pretty much constituting all their downtime (although one imagines the Slaaneshi sex slaves figure in somewhere, too...) Being nomadic space pirates, though, they never stick around too much in one place, neither putting down roots in the Eye of Terror or the Warp or any particular territory (although they took great offense when some [[Death Guard|slimy]] and [[Dark Eldar|knife-eared]] fuckers tried to mess with a planet that they used as gene-stock fodder for potential recruits and slaves).

What's more, they never placed their faith too much in one Chaos God (well, one of them did, and it didn't turn out so well, '''[[Henry Zou#The_Books|read the book]]''' (''no really, it's good''), which may not be available through [[Black Library|mainstream venues]] but is easily found in the [[Heresy|usual heretical places]]), and had a fine old piratical time. They've fought about every faction there is; Imperials of course (an episode is mentioned where they gave the [[Space Wolves]] a good licking, as well as the [[Ultramarines]], which had ought to let the heart of each and every anti-fan of the two chapters most often accused of [[Mary Sue]]-ness spring with joy.) Hell, they even got into it with [[Abaddon|good old Abby himself]] at least once (over what we don't know but they probably were just out to steal his shit.) They never shied away from getting into it with other traitor Marines, either, when it suited their purposes. All around they value their independence and perfection of the art of war above all, and seem to give a good account of themselves against anyone who fucks with their shit or has shit that they want.

To quote the man who developed the chapter and their story, they are interested "only training and fighting [with] were events in between, but those things did not matter." Going on, [[Henry Zou|he]] describes an exemplar of their chapter as "mentally sharpened to a singular focus [with] no remorse or guilt at [collateral damage]. There was no right or wrong, it had been an act of will in achieving a goal."

It's worth noting, though, that in the "losses" column, though, at least one squad, to their lasting shame, got their asses handed to them by [[Tau|some hoofed blue Asian people]] ("withdraw in good order," they said. The rest of the Gorgons wouldn't let them live it down, though eventually redemption came in dramatic form.)

Being headstrong, self-determined space pirates, they don't hold territory ''per se'', but ''do'' take it very personally when others mess with resources they consider themselves to have exclusive rights to. Also, while they generally aren't into rituals and such other than summoning their patron daemon and the occasional warpfuckery of their shamans, they're still perfectly happy to promote [[Chaos Undivided]] ideology (theology?) when it suits them, for example to recruit guerrillas for war against the Imperium on a planet with some resources that interested them. In the latter case, in a manner that would do the [[Alpha Legion]] proud, four Blood Gorgons (two "bonds", ''see below'', calling themselves the "two pairs") stealthily supported a Maoist-style insurgency <s>in an allegory for American involvement in Vietn</s>-{{BLAM|on an Imperial planet}} even turning <s>Jane Fo</s>-{{BLAM|some Imperials}} to their side (it didn't help that the <s>Ameri-</s>{{BLAM}} <s>Fren-</s>{{BLAM}} <s>Ecclesi-</s>{{BLAM}} ''wait, what were we talking about anyway?'' {{BLAM}}. Fuck it. {{BLAM}})

Okay, then. So anyway, the Gorgons get some with just about everyone (they even kept some [[Tyranids|big fuckoff 'nids]] around their Space Hulk [[Awesome|for live-fire practice sessions]]. Which as alluded to above is apparently a thing for them. They would even do things like leave a platoon of captured [[Imperial Guard]] in some nook or cranny of their ship, providing them with a couple of weeks rations and even rudimentary weaponry, then let them wander about so even the Gorgons themselves don't know their location, wait a week or so, and go hunting.

So in short, if you're looking to hear about some off-the-beaten-path [[Chaos Space Marines]], they're fuckawesome.

Whatever else can be said for them, the Gorgons who remained true to their chapter are loyal to their history and values, too even coming to defend a planet that they harvest slaves and potential recruits from, after the simple nomad folk there activated a weird 9,000 year old steampunk emergency beacon because [[Nurgle|some fat guy with a cauldron]] was fucking around with them. This got complicated, of course, by an intra-Chapter war which kicked off due to some of their chirgueon-witches getting too far into warpfuckery, but the course of events winds up showing that their cohesion and brotherhood is one of the most important things for them. This was apparently developed over millennia very purposefully, as in the beginning of their departure from the Imperial fold they did a lot of fighting amongst themselves and their leaders (or at least those who came out on top) decided to develop some structures and systems to prevent such infighting again. It didn't work perfectly (otherwise we wouldn't have their titular book to read) but it is a damn sight better than what prevails among a lot of other Chaos-aligned factions.

Sadly, after having hyped up this chapter, the writer must impart that unfortunately, their [[Meme|spiritual liege]], the former Black Library writer [[Henry Zou]], who was declared, just like his chapter, ''excommunicate traitoris'' for some arguably pretty egregious plagiarism in a passage from ''Flesh and Iron'', the book about the insurgency discussed above, so we may never know what actually befell them, or if they're still doing their thing. The especially stupid thing is that it was just one passage and not even a very compelling one, and Zou was a pretty promising writer.

==Notable Characteristics and Practices==

Created during the Cursed Founding, they either committed some act of heresy, decided they weren't being appreciated enough by the [[Imperium]] and promptly left to do their own thing, or, it is occasionally implied in the books (but never stated outright), did nothing wrong, but were declared ''excommunicate traitoris'' by the Inquisition because reasons. "Now," they inhabit a Space Hulk called the ''[[BattleTech|Cauldron Born]]''. This is not your ordinary battle-barge, even by the multi-kilometre-long standards of 40K. Not only being fuckhueg, it's a warp-tainted monstrosity composed of Emperor-knows how many ships and asteroids and who knows what else brought together by gravity and warpfuckery, bathed in the Eye of Terror, and then fused with the very soul and flesh of the Chapter Master, who's practically symbiotic with the thing, needing his genecode to really start the thing working. The ''Cauldron Born'' (awesome name innit?) is so big that even the Blood Gorgons themselves don't know the whole layout and it developed it's own ecosystem and evolved it's own organisms. Daemons love the place and the Gorgons have to be careful not to summon the wrong ones accidentally or fuck up some pentagrammatic wards or whatever. Every time the ship goes through the warp it gets a makeover, too.

The colour scheme of the chapter is a burnt bronze, and they wear war masks that they claim can scare even daemons, featuring lots of horns and scales and organic-seeming growths. Their unique, perhaps defining, ritual practice, is the Blood Bond, a process where two Blood Gorgons share organs, blood, and [[Slaanesh|other parts of their flesh with each other]], literally swapping body parts. This creates a [[gay|spiritual bond]] between the two, sharing feelings and sensations. This practice was apparently started after the resolution century-spanning, fratricidal, intra-Chapter war that came after their excommunication from the Imperium. It worked pretty well for thousands of years, and then enough stuff happened to write a novel about it. Go read it, it's pretty good. The title is... ''Blood Gorgons''. Go figure.

Another creepy practice, sort of thematically similar, that they engage in is implanting their slaves (and even a captured [[Dark Eldar|deldar]]) with tiny parasitic worms called "thrall-worms" or "slave-seeds" which are placed inside the cheeks or somewhere on the face of each slave. The thrall-worm is kind of like a cross between the chest-popping alien in ''Alien'' and the nightmare-fuel ear-worm from ''[[Star Trek]]: The Wrath of Khan'' (no, not the Primarch, the motherfucker, ''or'' the daemon; fuck, this is getting confusing.) Anyhoo, the worm swells if the slave is beyond a certain distance from his or her master. This swelling, within a day or so, leads to, well, it's [[grimdark]]. When the Gorgons deploy off-ship, they extract the parasites, to be replaced again on their return. If they don't return due to death in battle, then the slaves are all slain. Grimdark. (But not without parallels in historical human cultures, either.)

Of note, and of eventual particular significance, not all in the chapter are subject to the Blood Bond. The coven of Chirurgeon-Witches is a hybrid of Apothecaries and Chaos Sorcerers, led by one Anko Muhr. They are psykers responsible for preserving the gene-seed of the chapter, creating new space marines, and performing the ritual that binds brothers together. Between their lack of bonding and their studies of the deeper chaos arts which the other Gorgons distrust, there is a rift between them and the rest of the chapter.

In their eponymous book, Gammadin goes missing and they get [[Sindri|betrayed]] by Muhr, who was allied with a [[Nurgle|Nurglite]] warband to subjugate and turn the Blood Gorgons to Nurgle. Fortunately, a Blood Gorgon called Barsabbas manages to pull off some [[awesome]] feats like soloing a group of fifteen [[Dark Eldar]] Batman-style to free Gammadin. The passage written from the deldar's perspective when they realize they aren't fucking around with regular old mon-keigh is pretty neat, you can almost imagine the smugness wiping off their knife-eared little faces.

Once Gammadin returns, the Blood Gorgons (stripped of their weapons and held prisoner) manage to force the warband of 550 Plague Marines and 4 companies of Septic Infantry to GTFO the ''Cauldron Born'' in only nine days, killing their Terminator Lord and Muhr too. Unfortunately, given this pretty badass foundation, it is unlikely that GW will do much more with the Blood Gorgons in future fluff, since Henry Zou was dropped by [[Black Library]] for plagiarism. However, the cover art of the ''Blood Gorgons'' novel has been reused for every edition of the Chaos Space Marine codex since 6th, so GW hasn't quite forgotten about them yet.

{{Template:Chaos-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Space Marines]]

Chapter Serf

2021-10-07T03:35:46Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D976:81BE:E654:D4F: /* Overview */

[[File:Serfs.jpg|300px|thumb|right|"Hail to thee, honoured mortal servant. Wouldst thou consider serving the [[Space Marines|Adeptus Astartes]] in Their daily routines and perhaps end thine life as the [[Space Marine Hunter|insides of an anti-air missile?]]]]

{{Topquote|Even a man who has nothing can still offer his life.|Thought for the day}}

[[Space Marines]] are big tough supermen and all, but even they need a helping hand. Someone has to to polish their armor and nob, cook their food, sweep their halls, clean their toilets, file their tax returns, and keep the [[fortress-monastery]] defended when the brothers are out stomping [[Bloodletter]] faces into the ground and tearing [[Ork]] rectums apart with [[chainsword]]s. After all, Space Marines are knights ''in spaaaace!'' and every knight needs his retainer. These people are '''Chapter Serfs''' and live comfortable, well-to-do lives... at least by [[Imperium of Man]] standards.
==Overview==
Chapter Serfs (formerly Legion Serfs), were originally picked from failed Space Marine Aspirants and other natives of Space Marine homeworlds who, though physically unable to become Space Marines, still wished (and were deemed able and worthy) to serve. The children of Chapter Serfs also often become chapter Serfs themselves. Generally speaking, Chapter Serfs are well-trained, highly educated, and treated well; they are officially part of the Chapter, and therefore get access to the fancy toys in the space marine armoury.

How well they're treated depends on the Chapter they serve. [[Ultramarines]], [[Blood Angels]], [[Space Wolves]], and [[Salamanders]] are well aware they couldn't purge aliens, mutants and heretics without the 'unglorious' support Serfs provide and [[this guy|treat them as equals to other Space Marines, like soldiers might treat their friends in the supply corps.]] The Wolves use their serfs as a defence force on Fenris, known as "Kaerls", though we don't know if they get to go on campaign or not except for those serving in the fleet. The [[Star Phantoms]] entrust them with maintaining the chapter's faith and up keeping their massive ossuary. [[Blood Drinkers]], being vampires, let them volunteer to be ritually drained of blood for them to (surprise surprise) drink to stave off the Red Thirst. [[Iron Hands]] and [[Imperial Fists]] and their countless successor chapters see them as just kind of there. They don't really care one way or another and form little bonds with them, considering service to be its own reward (think the way you treat the fast food workers and garbage collectors who make your comfy life possible). [[Marines Malevolent]], being dicks, treat them like slaves. [[Flesh Tearers]], being psychotic, treat them like stress balls to work out frustration on between missions. (Spoiler alert: a human can't usually survive being used as a stress ball by a Marine.)

As for the Traitor Legions, it varies from "tolerably bad" to "absolute hell", mostly depending on the guy in charge and what God(s) he worships. Most Chaos Warbands doesn't have actual Serfs but use Cultists, who are pulled towards the Warband to worship them as living avatars of the Chaos gods. Cultists are mostly treated like crap by the Traitors, since their own hubris and newfound freedom doesn't go well with 'being nice to people below you'. On the other hand, [[Chaos Lord|Chaos Lords]] know how important a healthy supply of fanatic cults is for the runnings of a Warband and the value of meatshields in combat; even bands of [[Khorne Berzerker|Khornate Berzerkers]] still have mortals tagging along with them despite their constant urge to kill anything crossing their path in the name of the Blood God, which means they do show ''some'' restraint. Of course, said mortals are just as bloodthirsty and just as often end up killing some of their own, but Khorne cares not from where the blood flows.

Of the various Traitor Legions depictions so far, the [[Emperor's Children]] are the worst, mistreating their "serfs" to death so hard they had to resort to stealing everyone else's during the Great Scouring (causing a huge civil war amongst the Traitor Legions). The Word Bearers mostly see mortals as a reserve of walking sacrifices waiting to happen. One band of Iron Warriors used slaves instead of chapter serfs, seeing them as nothing but replaceable cogs in their machines of war (and they ended up being just as reliable as you'd expect when the shit hit the fan); [[Honsou]] however sees the armies of cultists in his service as low-quality troops that nevertheless have their use so he values them a tiny little bit. The Thousand Sons use a combination of Tzaangors (who are actually voluntary employees treated relatively well and respected) and enslaved native human population from the [[Sortiarius]] (who, should they manage to escape and survive, become primary candidates for new Thousand Son marines. That's how Tzeentch rolls). The [[Crimson Slaughter]] has an entire city's worth of serfs in the depths of their battle barge that they just ignore most of the time (they tag alongside the Crimson Slaughter in battle hoping to get noticed, and those that somehow distinguish themselves get a shot at becoming new Crimson Slaughter marines). Talos Valcoran of the [[Night Lords]] treats his serfs surprisingly well (better than even some Loyalist Marines), and the others in his warband at worst see mortals as useful tools that shouldn't be wasted pointlessly.

[[Alpha Legion]] warbands operate at the [[Reasonable Marines|halfway point]], maintaining unaugmented operatives who, depending on the mission, stand a roughly fifty-fifty chance of being trusted with roles vastly more important than the Astartes themselves or being sacrificed to the enemy in interference action. Like the loyalists, these are considered members of the chapter. Like most other traitors, that makes then far from indispensable.

The [[Blood Gorgons]] have a unique relationship with their serfs amongst the [[Chaos Space Marines]]; they not only treat them with respect but actually do so with mortals in general. While this might sound a bit sueish it's actually a essential part of their war against the Imperium: this lets them act as military supporters for off-world rebellions, set up recruiting worlds much like their loyalist brothers and allows the chapter to control quite a number of planets despite being much smaller and weaker then their competition. It's implied that other Chaos Marine chapters give them shit for this, though it's unlikely they'll be changing their ways any time soon thanks to how this fair treatment came back around in their darkest hour. See, when the [[Blood Gorgons]] were betrayed from the inside and their space hulk captured by [[Death Guard]], not only did the population of their recruitment worlds fight back (as in, took on Nurgle Marines with bows and arrows) but the chapter serfs imprisoned aboard the hulk threw themselves at their captors and literally suffocated them under their mass of bodies, causing utter chaos all over the ship and allowing the Gorgons to break out and fight back. For the record the actual treatment of Blood Gorgon serfs involves acting like they were nine to five employees, letting them just do their damn job before having free time to chill and take drugs. LOTS of drugs.

In short, Chapter Serfs are the [[/co/|Alfred]] of 40k, because no fine superhero is without a friend/allies that would comfort them after all the grimdark shit happened outside to fight another day.

In 'Spear of the Emperor' by [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden|ADB]], the [[Mentors]] have a specialized subset of Chapter Serfs called "Helots" that are tasked with remotely controlling laser shooting [[Servo-skull]]s to give their Masters targeting information and suppressing fire (like those drone pilots in real life's M3 era), maintaining the Marines' gear, and fighting back against attackers in the case of their ship or base being attacked. While armed with [[Power weapon#Power Blade|power blades,]] [[Shotgun (40k)|armor piercing shotguns]] with vortex [[Grenade Launcher|grenade launchers,]] your basic assortment of [[laspistol]]s & throwing daggers, and [[Carapace Armour]] that's advanced enough to put [[Stormtrooper]] equipment to shame, they're still treated as peripheral (albeit useful) servants at best that are below their Masters' immediate concerns.

== Serf Roles ==
Granted, even serfs are specialized in specific roles and not an all-rounder 'slave'. Here are the most common roles that serfs might serve in a Chapter
*'''Artificers''' - Technicians and assistants to Techmarines. Routinely polishes and conducts minor repairs on their master's power armor and wargear while the Techmarines handle the more complicated tasks.

*'''Master of the Refectorium''' - These are the 'head chef' of a Chapter's kitchen, ensuring the hefty amount of food served is prepared at its highest quality. Some of the most prestigious position that a serf might get into since even Space Marines would love to have a well-served meal.

*'''Medicae''' - Nurses to the Apothecary's doctor. As the Space Marines' anatomy is complex beyond comprehension, these are often staffed by the most intelligent and dexterous serfs.

*'''Monitors''' - Messengers engineered to be able to remember pages long worth of information and somehow ENCRYPT THE TEXT and DECRYPT it when given correct verbal code. Fleshy 1940s Enigma Machines, creepy.

*'''Sacratium''' - Lay assistants to the Chapter's Chaplains. Tend Chapter relics and assist with ceremonious tasks. In chapters with strong religious leanings, these serfs can even outrank marines.

*'''Scribellum''' - Clerks to the Chapter's Librarians. Chronicle the Chapter's history and deeds and assist with creating Purity Seals.

*'''Shipmaster''' - The commanding officer of a ship in the Chapter's fleet -- they would be the Captain if that wasn't [[Brother-Captain|their boss' rank]]. They oversee the ship's operations, including combat when the Space Marines are engaged in fighting off opponents.

===Master of the Household===
Comes under a variety of different titles depending on the Chapter, like "Lord of the Household" or "Ordinator of the Household" etc etc. They act as the Chapter Master's personal teddy bear and equerry. Well-performing serfs (usually on the field of battle) can catch the attention of their Chapter Master lords and get promoted to this position. They act as the nominal head of the Serfs, overseeing the mundane duties of food preparation, hygiene, maintenance and construction tasks as well as overseeing serf recruitment in situations where selecting from failed Astartes candidates is not enough. These folks ensure that other Serfs are smoothly performing their duties and get the special privilege of being in the presence of the Chapter Master at any time.

Unusually for a position within the Chapter, this post can be filled by either a Serf or a full-fledged Space Marine. Back in the [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|old days]] this position was said to be difficult but mostly boring since it's not a frontline position. If a Marine took the position it was seen as allowing them to fulfill the necessary training that would enable them to progress to higher rank within the Chapter; for instance, 1st edition Marneus Calgar was Master of the Household before earning his promotion to Chapter Master. While this is less the case these days, Space Marines may still fulfill the role in different chapters; the [[Blood Angels]] and [[Dark Angels]] both have a brother titled '''Warden of the Gates''' in charge of their Chapter Serfs.

== Rules for Serfs ==

Chapter Serfs are represented with various rules both in the 40kRPGs and on the tabletop:

On the tabletop they are represented in battles where space marine capital ships get invaded by enemy forces, as the crew has to get involved by necessity. They come in squads of 6, are armed with either [[laspistol]] and a melee weapon or [[Shotgun (40k)|shotgun,]] and wear void-hardened [[Flak Armour|flak armour.]] However, they have the same statlines as Imperial Guard Conscripts because they aren't battle-hardened fighters, or expected to be.

The [[Deathwatch (RPG)]] does it very similarly, serfs having statlines weaker than starting [[Dark Heresy]] player characters, and if you take the tens digit of their statline it very nearly exactly follows the tabletop stats for them, too. The difference is that chapter serfs ''do'' have biological enhancements, and have the ''Unnatural Strength'', ''Toughness'' and ''Senses'' traits, as well as Dark Sight, which actually falls into line with how the main character of ''Prospero Burns'' is presented (though he's not strictly a Serf; his enhancements were apparently no great expense for the Legion because instead of giving him a augmetic eye they just rammed a wolf eye in there, but they replaced every organ system but his nerves with new ones).

With the ally rules, you could probably take them as Imperial Guardsmen, just modeled differently. What to do with all those Spare Marine and scout torsos? Give'em lasguns and play them as Chapter Serfs.

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

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[[Category: Space Marines]]

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