Since Kalashtar are being reclassified as Aberrations in this new book, concerns have been raised not only on the announcement article, but also on Tumblr & Bluesky, that making them "aberrations" is a bigoted dogwhistle because they are indigenous two-spirit people.
My argument is this:Given that the genocide of the quori who attempted to resist the mass manipulation of their kind are depicted as heroic, the Kalashtar are EXPLICITLY inclined to free their partners from oppression(Only rarely doing things on behalf of genuinely evil Quori, & even then wanting to save ALL quori from the control of evil colonizing creatures), & that Kalashtar are pretty explicitly seen as not being XP farms, I think that calling this a dogwhistle is premature.
I understand that the usage of "aberration" can be seen as Lovecraftian bigotry, but seeing as how the abberation creature type has long-since evolved past Cthulhu & worse, this is just a concern, & not a theory backed by evidence
Also, why the frick would indigenous two-spirit people be targeted by a DND book? That seems like a pretty niche, non-"trendy" target for a massive corporation to go after.
I understand what people are talking about, but given the clear lionization of the majority of Kalashtar & their quori partners while allowing for a extremely small amount to be cartoonishly evil, the ongoing evolution of Aberration as a creature type beyond Lovecraft's tropes, & the statistical improbability of such a random targeted attack, I think that not only is this concern not reality, but it's also wrong for them to simply assimilate into humanoid homogeny if they are indeed indigenous two-spirit people by the same logic people are applying as to why this(allegedly) is a dogwhistle.
I want to open the grounds for discussion on this, to be fair. So let's have a discussion of this.
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DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
The dictionary definitions of "aberration", and its root word "aberrant", are almost uniformly... not positive. HPL didn't invent those associations. If WOTC wants to get away from those associations, they should find a different word to use for the creature type, just as 'race' became 'species'. There's really no way to label a PC species as "aberrations" without saying, on some level, that there's something fundamentally wrong or deviant about them, because that's literally what the word means
Bigotry also doesn't have to be targeted or deliberate. It often isn't, especially in cases where someone doesn't just fail to see that 2 + 2 = 4, they didn't even realize that they were adding 2 and 2 together
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
"Kalashtar are individuals who have gained supernatural instincts and psionic abilities because they are bound to quori spirits from the plane of dreams."
This all we know about the lore provided in the book. Anything else is speculation and there are already enough people making wild assumptions to stir up the hate and anger. Don't be part of the problem by spreading their non-sense.
Also the D&D Definition of Aberration is
Aberrations are utterly alien beings, such as aboleths, beholders, flumphs, and mind flayers.
There is nothing inherently evil about them. Flumphs for example are Lawful Good.
Since Kalashtar are being reclassified as Aberrations in this new book, concerns have been raised not only on the announcement article, but also on Tumblr & Bluesky, that making them "aberrations" is a bigoted dogwhistle because they are indigenous two-spirit people.
My argument is this:Given that the genocide of the quori who attempted to resist the mass manipulation of their kind are depicted as heroic, the Kalashtar are EXPLICITLY inclined to free their partners from oppression(Only rarely doing things on behalf of genuinely evil Quori, & even then wanting to save ALL quori from the control of evil colonizing creatures), & that Kalashtar are pretty explicitly seen as not being XP farms, I think that calling this a dogwhistle is premature.
I understand that the usage of "aberration" can be seen as Lovecraftian bigotry, but seeing as how the abberation creature type has long-since evolved past Cthulhu & worse, this is just a concern, & not a theory backed by evidence
Also, why the frick would indigenous two-spirit people be targeted by a DND book? That seems like a pretty niche, non-"trendy" target for a massive corporation to go after.
I understand what people are talking about, but given the clear lionization of the majority of Kalashtar & their quori partners while allowing for a extremely small amount to be cartoonishly evil, the ongoing evolution of Aberration as a creature type beyond Lovecraft's tropes, & the statistical improbability of such a random targeted attack, I think that not only is this concern not reality, but it's also wrong for them to simply assimilate into humanoid homogeny if they are indeed indigenous two-spirit people by the same logic people are applying as to why this(allegedly) is a dogwhistle.
I want to open the grounds for discussion on this, to be fair. So let's have a discussion of this.
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
The dictionary definitions of "aberration", and its root word "aberrant", are almost uniformly... not positive. HPL didn't invent those associations. If WOTC wants to get away from those associations, they should find a different word to use for the creature type, just as 'race' became 'species'. There's really no way to label a PC species as "aberrations" without saying, on some level, that there's something fundamentally wrong or deviant about them, because that's literally what the word means
Bigotry also doesn't have to be targeted or deliberate. It often isn't, especially in cases where someone doesn't just fail to see that 2 + 2 = 4, they didn't even realize that they were adding 2 and 2 together
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Don't fall victim to rage bait.
This all we know about the lore provided in the book. Anything else is speculation and there are already enough people making wild assumptions to stir up the hate and anger. Don't be part of the problem by spreading their non-sense.
Also the D&D Definition of Aberration is
There is nothing inherently evil about them. Flumphs for example are Lawful Good.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master