>Its a cultural truism: All foreigners are crazy - Romans, Lunars, Noo
>Yawkers, Melbournians, whatever. :-)
I agree with John. Most Gloranthans suffer from inbred xenophobia. Nobody trusts a stranger, unless said stranger has proved himself worthy of trust. He is still a furriner though, and thus socially awkward.
He might become more or less assimilated, but for a long time he'd still be one of Them, not one of Us (not Uz).
The categories of Us and Them are incredibly important for individuals and societies - it is a way of ordering a disorderly world into easily classified bits of didactic lego, with which to understand the world.
The distinction of Us and Them is of course in itself a piece of didactic lego - the degree of the sense of separation and otherness between people is of course relative. A Vantaros tribesman feels that a Princeros tribesman belong to Them when he is raiding their herds, but belongs to Us when they together are fighting against Kerofini robbers.
I'd posit two [highly related] types of identity-creating phenomena (and thus two ways of dividing people into Us or Them):
I guess looks and language are most important when it comes to accepting outsiders - if they look and talk like you they're OK, even if they wash themselves in a rather special way and keeps mispronouncing Ernalda's name.
2) Cult
Belief system, strictures, myths (didactic and iconic) and magic also shape
most of what the person is, or sees herself as. You want to be and act like
your eidolon. The myths of the cult give a sense of what other cults are
with or against your own.
Some cults are local and is thus part of the Home. But more widespread cults like Seven Mothers and Stormbull can create a sense of Us if the cultists are from different Homes.
What does it all mean? Well, it can be a handy tool for labelling people and thus making them known and predictable entities. If you don't have a clue about a specific individual you won't be able to relate to them or predict if they are friend or foe, which is a very annoying situation.
But if you know he is a Tovtaros Hunter you know what to reasonably expect in dealing with him.
If we take my and, to a certain degree, John's, Far Point as an example, there are at least 5 labels to name the degree of separation (differences in cult can aggravate or mollify the sense of estrangement) loosely based on the myth of "the First Hospitality":
Usually this is for the various non-human tribes and magical people like dryads and serpent women. Individual non-humans can of course be more accepted.
2) OUTLANDERS
At least they look like you, so you can be a bit more relaxed in delaing
with them. Still, they dress, talk and smell wrong and follow strange gods.
You can probably tell their emotional state, but you still don't know what
magic they have and can zap you with, or what might provoke them, so avoid
them if possible.
Lunars, Esrolians, Hsunchen and Praxians are all Outlanders.
3) STRANGERS
Strangers can be expected to be weird and do strange things, but usually
you can reason with them as you've heard the traders and skalds talk a bit
about them. Still they dress, talk and smell funny, and they have weird
ideas about gods, even if you recognize some of them. They don't even have
a Spring Festival. You'll better be prepared for irrational behaviour and
magical surprises. They can't be trusted, even if they speak your tongue.
Kerofini, Sartarites, Tarshites and Praxians are all strangers
4) [From other tribe in Far Point]
>From a Vantaros perspective, the smelly lot of the Tovtaros and Princeros
dress and talk a bit weird, but at least you know what to expect from these
thieves and bandits. They don't know the proper ceremonies for the gods and
celebrate the Spring Festival all wrong. At least you understand what they
say. They won't speak the truth, of course.
5) TRIBESMEN
The other clans in the tribe are OK, at least they're better than the
thieving Princeros clans. Mind you, they don't know the proper way of
greeting the Lady of the Wild, but you know they'll back you up in a fight
against the Tovtaros.
The other clans will try to trade you the cattle they raided from the Apple
Stead, but that's nothing to be surprised of - you can't trust someone who
don't know Vinga's daughter is Silver Tongue and not Honey Words.
Of course there are lots of other things that you can use for labelling people into Us or Them - urban/rural, various taboos, weaponry, favored animals, beard fashion, straight or curved swords, preferred diet, traditional greetings and so on. But it is difficult to make general categories of people.
If share my view that most gloranthans are suspicious of strangers, my advise is that you should your own mind up about what things are relevant for labelling different categories of Them and Us.
I know this article isn't brilliantly written, but i think it contains a few good ideas. Use, abuse or ignore as you will.
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