Rokugan and Homosexuality

Rokugan and Homosexuality

Postby Mindshred on Tue Apr 25, 2017 7:25 pm

Hello!

Welcome to this thread.

Here we are.

Yup.



Alright, so homosexuality in Rokugan is a surprisingly simple issue to address. Absent of puritanical values, pretty much nobody cares what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home (so long as it's not, you know, maho).

That being said, what happens in public is a very, very big deal. Samurai are supposed to be paragons of honor and virtue, and they're supposed to serve their lords.

For most samurai (excluding some weird quasi-monk situations like the Togashi and Henshin or the unique circumstances of the Suzume), one of their primary duties to your Clan is producing children that can serve the Clan in the future... ideally, a whole lot of children, as it helps the Clan to grow.

So long as you produce children, most of the people in the Empire don't really care what you do with your love life (which is a completely different thing from your married life). Homosexuality just doesn't really matter so long as the "produced some heirs" situation is addressed, and a romance between two men or two women is just as worthy of appreciation as one between a man and woman.

Even affairs really aren't that big of a deal (geisha and courtesans are a completely honorable thing), but because samurai are still people and people get jealous, it can still lead to awkward and dangerous situations, so fidelity is encouraged if only for the sake of Rokugan's #1 rule: "DO NOT MAKE A SCENE."

Also, most family lines sort of enjoy not having bastards running around, so there's that, too.



Now, all that being said, in Rokugan, it's not considered proper for anyone to really name the subject of their love. You get a bit of leeway if you're already married to that person, but even then, it's much more acceptable to write a poem about an undefined person that you love than to actually name a specific person, because at that point, the political traps snap open and anyone can push you into one without too much trouble (for just about any reason whatsoever).


Obviously, Moto power ballads sort of fly in the face of that entire concept. :P


So with regards to the current situation, you are absolutely allowed to be upset that the object of your attention chose someone else over you, and there's probably a case to be made that such characters are sort of spitting in the face of the miai by announcing that they don't think any of the opposite-gendered characters are worth their attention.

Maybe you're caught up in the story of lovers who are destined to marry and move across the Empire, never to see each other again. It's a popular theme in Rokugani literature and theater! The Rokugani love that sort of "doomed romance" stuff.


Whatever the case, please just take a few moments to understand that the cultural impact of homosexuality is a bit different in Rokugan than it is in our modern world. If you haven't given the matter thought, maybe take a few moments to consider how your character feels about such pairings, or the unconventional way in which they came to light.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~


All in all, as a GM team, my absent partner in crime and I are very accepting of... well, for lack of a better and more inclusive term, let's just say "alternate lifestyle choices" and leave it at that. We're all adults here, and generally speaking, we're fairly accepting of peoples' adult life choices. So with regards to OOC Chat, let's just be cool, neh?

So far, everyone's been addressing a sometimes complicated issue in a very positive way, so that's been good to see. Way to go. :)
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Re: Rokugan and Homosexuality

Postby Mindshred on Tue Apr 25, 2017 7:26 pm

Oh, and Unicorn ladies? Expect Ide Dabo to yell at you if you gets the chance.

Love is great and all, but this was not the example he wanted to set for the rest of the Empire, and you're sort of shooting the Clan's miai in the foot. :P
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Re: Rokugan and Homosexuality

Postby Suki on Tue Apr 25, 2017 8:35 pm

With GM permission, I wanted to post some stuff in here since Suki has given some advice to folks looking to see if their homosexual activities are okay. This has led to some moments where Suki has said (or not said) some things that may've seem like she was validating certain behaviors. As such, I wanted to shed some light on this issue and help people understand her viewpoint, and to perhaps understand what their characters may think of her advice.

As far as Suki is concerned (and I've been trying to take a fairly traditional, Rokugani viewpoint with her) there's nothing wrong with homosexuality or loving affairs. If you have love, that's great! The fact that it's with someone of the same gender or someone that isn't your husband/wife is irrelevant. But, as she has also said, the expectation is still that you get married, have kids, etc. This is because in Rokugan, love and marriage are not tied together like they are in our modern sensibilities. Marriage and procreation is a duty to your lord just like any other. You live, kill, die, and make babies because that's what you're expected to do for your clan. If you have a discreet thing on the side, that doesn't impact your ability to have said babies. If you're in love with someone other than the person you marry, that also doesn't stop you from performing your duty either. You may not enjoy doing it, but it's likely you also don't enjoy stabbing people in the face on the battlefield because someone else told you to.

When it comes to discretion in these affairs, Suki has stayed rather quiet. This isn't because she thinks you should run around all crazy-like. As a heimin, it's not her place to tell samurai how to conduct their literal or figurative affairs. She goes into any conversation about this stuff assuming that the person talking to her is otherwise being discreet. Even if she's given reason to think otherwise, there's not really much she can do about it. Tossing out a parable about being careful and keeping it in your pants when people are looking only goes so far.

This is not to say that anyone specific, or even anyone in general, has done things wrong or poorly. I just felt that with Suki giving advice on romance, in turn leading to advice on affairs, homosexuality, and sex. I'd offer some insight on her point of view, and how your average samurai would understand her position/ what she can or cannot say. Truth be told, I haven't been watching other people's threads as much as many people here, so I don't know all the steamy details. But again, wanted to offer some perspective as the person running the love-expert. :p

Love and sexuality in Rokugan are pretty complicated. That's especially true for us folks that have a modern mindset about these things. I've talked to multiple good, intelligent players over the years that still have a hard time grasping these concepts. Heck, I've been playing since the earliest days of 1st Edition and there are still times when I have to step back and remind myself that things I think are wrong (cheating on a partner, for instance) can be completely acceptable in Rokugan, under certain conditions.

If anyone has any questions on this sort of stuff OOCly, feel free to ask me. Shoot me a PM; I love to talk L5R. Otherwise, carry on, have fun, and I hope everyone is enjoying the game as much as I have. :)
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