Actual Racial Diversity in My Characters
In an other post I talked about gender diversity in my cast of characters. That is all well and interesting and relevant to current society and the state of media, but a bit immaterial in the Empire of my world as gender doesn't really have meaning asides from personal preference. A moot issue.
A issue that is slightly less moot in the Empire is a individual's race (species, if you are unfamiliar with my lingo.) As in, whether an individual is a Sacon or a Dracite. That type of racial diversity. Depending on the race of the individual, they will, of course, have a different body type, and they will have a specific cultural outlook. They will all be Empirian, that is a given, but the flavor of Empirian will differ. The Empire is a diverse place in opinions and schools of thought.
So, how diverse is my cast racially/culturally? Well, it depends on your perspective.
Main characters (like the super core cast) are for this analysis:
- Cyclone
- King
- Spellbinder
- Farrco
- Hequera
Cyclone is a Jalon, King Fla'neiel is a Flana, Spellbinder and Farrco are robots, but are extremely different from each other, and Hequera is a Dracite (aka Dragon.) So each one of them is unique racially in a sense. Yay racial diversity. But unique physically? Well. Yea. I guess. Only two are 'humanoids' in a loose sense. Three bipeds. Farrco has four legs and so does Hequera.
I mean, look at them.
Shape wise and organic v non-organic, the cast has some robust racial diversity. Fla'neiel straddles the line and there are two non-organics and one organic and one dead organic. The character that will be joining the cast, alluded to here, eventually is another organic vague humanoid (somewhat to my chagrin.) I can't really say I'd change it to make it more 'diverse' because their race is critical to their identities.
With their race comes other factors that make up who they are---culture!
I'll break this down by character.
Cyclone
Cyclone is a Jalon. Jalon value duty and honor and are rather rigorous and pious. That does not mean they are not of a wild Empirian type--they are just dogmatic in principles. Cyclone exemplifies this exceptionally. He isn't afraid to be funny and chaotic, but he has a series of values he adheres to strictly. Loyal.
King Fla'neiel
King Fla'neiel--the last of Flana. What are the Flana like? Well, from Fla'neiel we get a decent idea and, well, I know because I know everything so I'll tell you. Flana are reserved, sort of secretive, pride themselves in their work, and hard working. They had a reverence for Malihflacite (of course) and earth, metal, and the like. Stoic, in a way. Not very Empirian, in a general culture sense. Although they are part of the Empire, they did not share many of the cultural values of violence, dominance, Empirian brand piety, and mockery.
Spellbinder
Now Spellbinder---she is a robot, but she falls strongly on the Magaya-Paeyk line of thought. Magic is might. Dogmatic in spirituality and titles and 'divinity.' Elemental balance and awareness. Contrasting from Cyclone, who is more focused on a macro-divinity scale, Spellbinder is attuned to micro-instances.
Farrco
Farrco is basically a baby in all this. His culture is pure. He is a rational, romantic mind with a clean slate. His opinions are based on his environment and scant personal history. Not much there to bias him.
Hequera
Hequera has baggage and is very traditionalist-Dracite. Due to her upbringing, she really didn't develop any core Empirian traits. She is slowly getting them, but for the most part she sees things through the sheltered lens of the Yiusha-Waalar and her mother's craziness.
I can't go into much detail, but new POV char that will debut in book 6 is very Empirian, like Cyclone. Militaristic. Very interesting. I'll go into her when she is well, in the story. She is interesting.
Speaking of Empirian ratings, ranking them is difficult, because Empirian means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It is a catch-all term. I'll think about this more and maybe create a scale for it later. Empirian is a pretty diverse term in its definitions.
But anyway. Racial diversity seems alright in the cast. They have different values and appearances. They contrast and bring interesting point of views to the table, so to speak. I like it and it works. Wouldn't and couldn't change a thing. It is what it is.
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