Aracoix: Views of the Bird Men
Aracoix: Views of the Bird Men
Whoa - I couldn't just let this one pass me up!
First off, I want to commend you for your painstaking research not just into all the Lore offically on the site but also my random posts and comments all over the place. Good job, and some very thoughtful analysis, too.
I'd like to open by confirming one thing: in my mind, just about all PC Aracoix are going to be assumed to be the "radical breakaway youth element" born on Aerynth, who have never had the glorious experience of seeing the Homeworld. Why am I assuming this? Frankly, to do the Imperial Aracoix culture justice, we would need an entire suite of props/costumes/armors/weapons that we simply don't have the time to produce before we ship. That's not to say they won't EVER appear - our current plan is to have an ongoing content program a lot like AC's, but perhaps even more aggressive. Someday those gates will open, and the Winged Legions will arrive. Who knows what kind of goodies they've got hidden away back home?
Also, being a restricted race (and one that has few obvious analogs in the realms of fantasy fiction) we figure that strictly RP'ing an Imperial Aracoix will be difficult since players definitely have an info and lore gap to overcome. The Aracoix are mysterious - how can we keep them so without making them unplayable (from an RP standpoint at least). Again - it'll be easier just to play a Bird Man gone native until more lore and material comes out. If you want to play "true" Aracoix though, by all means go ahead! By release I hop to be able to give that segment as much to work with as the Elves and Irekei had when they built their communities.
Anyway, that said, most of the odd class/discipline combinations you point out can be explained as simply young rebel Aracoix who've "gone native." The notion that even these rebels might be just faking, and working as infiltrators to soak up mystic lore is a fine idea, very worthy of the Aracoix.
Other class and discipline choices, however, cannot. You have to remember that these descriptions were written a long time ago, and a lot of development (mechanics wise and lore wise) has gone on since then. One of my near-future tasks is to go over the races again, specifically their promotion classes and discipline choices, to see if they jive with the lore. There are more than a few odd choices on the lists as they are posted today: they will change. You can expect the most oddness in the Restricted Races, btw. So yes, there will be changes to those lists (every page on our site warns you that change is a possibility) and no - it's not a conspiracy, it just means that the time for final polish has finally come. Every race is going to get adjusted. I know, it doesn't make much sense for Irekei to be Black Masks either, given the lore I leaked about the origins of that order. Perhaps Irekei won't get to be Black Masks, or someday down the pike an Irekei-only assassin style Discipline won't appear. We'll find a way.
Incidentally, come release adding things like specialized disciplines to add color to races is not going to be too hard. Filling in some gaping holes in the selection lists will be a top priority.
About the clumsy flying thing: as originally spec'd, Aracoix couldn't attack from the air. Right now in the beta (and as seen in some E3 videos) we've been playing around with that, seeing if we like it or not. They certainly don't fly very quickly, they're not capable of much at all in the way of maneuvering, and flying does wear them out pretty quickly. So just take the gliding thing as fictional embellishment: the Aracoix are always lamenting how hard it is to fly in the still, thin air of Aerynth - back home it's much easier, and they're much better at it. Will Aracoix attack from the air come release? Don't know - we're seeing what kind of balance effects it has.
As far as the magic thing goes, you also must consider the possibility that what Aracoix consider Magic and what the people of Aerynth consider magic may be two very different things. The Runegates, to an Aracoix, are not magical at all. Clarke's Law may well be at work here. As the Aracoix culture gets fleshed out, things may come to light that the folks of Aerynth think are profoundly magical but the Aracoix see as mundane and perfectly "natural". The Aracoix are well aware that they can't deal with magic very well - they're trying to learn as much as they can about the problem, and find means of covering their weakness. Suddenly an alliance with the Elves doesn't seem so crazy... Who knows, someday the Aracoix may unravel the riddle and figure out how to use Aerynthian magic. Talk about death from above...
Two quick responses:
1) What's happening to the Aracoix homeworld? Something bad. They won't say - but at some point in the future, Aerynth may find out the hard way...
2) Elf/Aracoix relations are a scary thing - each of them are as machiavellian as their partner, and both are maneuvering so that their ally is the one who gets pasted in any coming conflict. It can't go as they plan for both of them...
