Goonhub
03-05-2022, 07:08 AM
Thanks for the response Mouse, that's some good points.
re: the considerable variation - I definitely agree and it seems that whoever implemented this mob in years gone took a few common bits and made them into This Thing. I'm not arguing that there *is* a correct way to portray it in are spessgame, or a Correct Wendigo at all. It's just that it's not our story to tell or to decide how to portray it. Taking inspiration from it and basing a mob off of it is one thing, but by assigning the name of Wendigo, we indirectly do define the myth to an audience of hundreds.
The story of the wendigo is, largely, a cautionary tale about greed, selfishness and taboo in times of famine - and one of extreme cultural significance that seems to be only vaguely passed-over in favor of a traditional Hollywood-esque "theres a bunch of monsters" story.
Not necesarilly just in what's on the Ice Moon (where it's unclear if the wendigo are the crew of the outpost or just Things that Were There and Want To Kill You)- but in their adoption into Spessman the Griffening and the Monster Manual. In this sense, even if their portrayal was respectful as a mob, they're being in-universe exploited in commercial products as a glorified pokemon.
adding to that the whole "sewing wendigo arms to yourself" - which is tone deaf to say the least, considering the subject matter.
and wendigo hides as a material, again.
as for "if someone has complained" - this was brought up to me by good friend and respected opinion-haver AtomicThumbs, whose judgment I have come to trust deeply. He provided some reading material that helped us understand why it was best to dissassociate our creature from the myth, and ill link those here.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/8...200423.pdf
https://www.backstoryradio.org/blog/the-...e-windigo/
I don't want to remove the creature or change it, and perhaps one day we'll have a reliable consultant on Native culture and how to do it respectfully, but in the absence of a better alternative, I think the least we can do is make it less explicitly exploitative.
re: the considerable variation - I definitely agree and it seems that whoever implemented this mob in years gone took a few common bits and made them into This Thing. I'm not arguing that there *is* a correct way to portray it in are spessgame, or a Correct Wendigo at all. It's just that it's not our story to tell or to decide how to portray it. Taking inspiration from it and basing a mob off of it is one thing, but by assigning the name of Wendigo, we indirectly do define the myth to an audience of hundreds.
The story of the wendigo is, largely, a cautionary tale about greed, selfishness and taboo in times of famine - and one of extreme cultural significance that seems to be only vaguely passed-over in favor of a traditional Hollywood-esque "theres a bunch of monsters" story.
Not necesarilly just in what's on the Ice Moon (where it's unclear if the wendigo are the crew of the outpost or just Things that Were There and Want To Kill You)- but in their adoption into Spessman the Griffening and the Monster Manual. In this sense, even if their portrayal was respectful as a mob, they're being in-universe exploited in commercial products as a glorified pokemon.
adding to that the whole "sewing wendigo arms to yourself" - which is tone deaf to say the least, considering the subject matter.
and wendigo hides as a material, again.
as for "if someone has complained" - this was brought up to me by good friend and respected opinion-haver AtomicThumbs, whose judgment I have come to trust deeply. He provided some reading material that helped us understand why it was best to dissassociate our creature from the myth, and ill link those here.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/8...200423.pdf
https://www.backstoryradio.org/blog/the-...e-windigo/
I don't want to remove the creature or change it, and perhaps one day we'll have a reliable consultant on Native culture and how to do it respectfully, but in the absence of a better alternative, I think the least we can do is make it less explicitly exploitative.