To be a hybrid or not to be?

That is a question.  It's one that comes up often in SL, particularly in RP, though sometimes in non-RP areas as well.  It's kind of a mixed bag, regardless of whether you RP or not.  Though I would say that there is more room to move about as a hybrid in general SL than RP.

Why is it harder to RP as a hybrid character?  It's both a mixture of IC and OOC issues.  ICly, if you play it right, a hybrid is somewhat like a second class citizen in RP.  I tend to consider it much like African Americans from Civil War times on up to the Civil Rights.  I'm not saying a Hybrid has to be African American, nor originate out of Africa, though Ioh does happen to derive from North Africa in the area around where St. Augustine of Hippo came from.  There's many reasons for that choice beyond some connection to a 'out of Africa theme.  And those choices are personal and intimate to Ioh's character.  But this I think is not so uncommon for most mature RPers.  If you want a 'real' character, one that comes 'alive', you have to put that sort of depth and history into a given character you choose to create.  I could have just as easily made him some African tribesman, or Hungarian Viking, and all this would still apply.  Whether black, white, furry leopard hide with spots.  There has to be some sort of realism/verisimilitude to the character for someone to buy in to their authenticity.

This by no means implies 'acceptance'.  At the very least, I am not asking for a favorable reception of my character from all other characters he comes across.  And, honestly, I never did find that ever to be the case in places like Midian, where there was the UAC actively persecuting hybrids, and Human's First that was a political activist movement against hybrids.  These may, or may not have been OOC realities of the persons behind the characters in these given groups, but they were very real reactions within the IC.  They were things that Ioh had to interact with, and chose how to respond.  And I was fine with that, as it was all part of the story.  It was part of how the RP worked.

But, it's not just on the human side of things that hybrids have difficulties.  There are also the characters that are under a mask or stay hidden in the shadows.  Is it fair to have lycans always hiding their beast-like appearances when a hybrid can run about with ears and tails?  Why can't a vampire always show their fangs and be all vampirey all the time?  Or what about fae and glamour?

These are all good questions, and on the surface, it may seem like a hybrid gets favorable treatment to be able to have their ears, tail and fur shown to everyone.  But if that's the case, then why is it that hybrids have to be limited to a second class citizen and constantly being questioned about whether they are more animal or beast - whether they have a soul and can have equality with humans.  Consider then, that the non-human races that can more easily disguise themselves have it better off.  They can hide what they are and not have to deal with the constant questioning out in the open.  Sure, they may have ideas that humans would not accept them, but hybrids know for a fact that they are not accepted.  They are confronted with it.  The discrimination is right out in the open as much as their particular features are there to be examined and disapproved by a human oriented society.  All the other non-human races that can hide themselves get a pass from such open hostilities, for as long as they can keep their existence hidden.

Of course, the other races may question, "Why hide?"  If they are indeed so superior to humans, then why hide?  This is always a curious question.  The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs explores this concept pretty well.  At the beginning of the series, the fae wind up having to come out.  It started with a case where a fae was put on trial for murder.  It wasn't known at the time that the person suspected of being the murderer was fae.  He was a gardner for some rich person, and this person got murdered by use of gardening shears.  The only way to prove the gardener's innocence was for him to drop his glamour to show what he is.  For, as a fae, he could not use items made of metal, so he couldn't possibly have used the shears without them harming him.

The story goes on to talk of how the werewolves decided they had to come out.  And yes, there was conflict there, even among the wolves as some of them did not want the wolves to be outed to the public.  Part of this was from watching the treatment of the fae, how in many places, humans sought to harm them due to fears and prejudices.  Of course, the not so great history of the fae and their encounters with humans don't help much either.  Yet the Gray Lords deemed that lesser fae, such as brownies and whatnot out themselves.  Eventually, for 'security reasons' the fae were placed in reservations, and, while outed, they generally keep to themselves.  The wolves against werewolves being outed did not want to go through such things.  Yet, there were wolves in certain professions of law and medicine that were realizing that the abilities of modern technology were starting to make it harder for them to stay secret for much longer.

And so the Marok, the head wolf of the North American Werewolves selectively had certain wolves come out to act as representatives of  the werewolf population.  They put on the front that wolves are protectors - they are among your cops, your military, your firefighters - and are all out to serve and protect as outstanding heroes in your community.  Of course, wolves have many dark elements underneath that front.  But that is how the Marok chose to portray the wolves in hopes of trying to gain acceptance for the existence of werewolves among human society.  Yet, there were opposing groups that looked to find instances of werewolf attacks, and other ways to discredit the werewolf image.  More so, laws were being pushed to consider that werewolves are more animal, or at least not human enough to be regarded as citizens or to have equal rights to humans.

Vampires in the Mercy Thompson world did not want to be outed at all.  After all, it becomes harder to feed off humans when they become aware of what you are.  And despite their greater strength, it just wouldn't benefit them to wipe out their food.  So they came to prefer the shadows over coming to the light.  The obvious reason about light and all is because most vampires are not able to go out by day, unless they want to die - er, no longer exist to be animated undead.

For me, you cant spotlight just one race, such as hybrids, and say because they can do something another race can't (such as have ears and tails showing) , and call it unfair or preferential treatment.  In the long run, and looking at each particular race from its own individual traits and unique aspects, you can't say that is being treated with more or less preference.  They each have their own abilities, their own reasons to do things, their own motive and individual characters and depth of play.

If there's anything I would ask of a human, or non-human, but also non-hybrid character to consider is that it's quite alright to have IC reasons to hold prejudice against hybrids.  It's another thing to hold them in OOC.  If you would like to have hybrids as part of the general reality of your RP, then by all means.  I may even enjoy RPing there.  But, don't measure the quality of a hybrid, or any character by the personal perceptions that come from a singular experience or stereotype.  Be true to your character's genuine reactions, but don't let that flow into OOC.  Assuming we all want to make good stories, we have to step away from the first person or our character and take a look at the big picture as well.

However, I will admit that I have my particulars.  They almost have become personal rules.  If I find a place doesn't fit how I would like to RP, then I move on.  It's a hard road to travel on, and it often can leave me with times when I can't find places to RP.  But, I figure it's a quality measure.  If I can find a place with the right balance for my character and can enjoy the RP there, then isn't it worth the wait?  It's a discerning, not a discriminating, to be able to know when a place fits for your character or not.  It's similar when it comes to creating a place as well.  You;re choosing, you're discerning what is going to be the reality of the place you're trying to create.  Granted, it gets frustrating as a seeker who's found so many places that look nice, but don't fit, or seem to not want me to fit.  It's also hard on the other end when you try to fit as many as possible, but still try to figure out how to maintain the integrity of the RP.  And let's face it, RPers can be very picky.

Apologia

First things first. This is not meant so say, “I'm sorry.”  It is just to explain. I'm not asking for forgiveness, nor do I expect for much to change from putting this up in the Acta. But I'm putting it up anyways. It's how I do things.

The first part goes to Midian. Ioh had spent three years there. Had become a prominent character there. Have to admit, I did like some of the prestige that came with it. Doesn't mean I liked everything about it. Nor did I  like everything Ioh did. But he did what he did. I'm not going to defend nor deny him as a character. He was who he was there. OOCly, I got into a few arguments. Bit off more than I could chew, and, certainly, the whole drama with Bails blew a lot of cans out of the water.

Towards the end, I resented a lot of things. Was very angry, and hurt. I lost a lot. Sure, some of it was from my own pride, and letting the anger and hurt guide me. I shouldn't have, but I did. Even so, I will not retract the Latin in which I essentially said Midian must be destroyed. Why? Because it was true. And apparently, Midian itself came to realize that. The Midian that was at the time indeed needed to be destroyed.

To that end, Levi, then Apoc faded away from the landscape, as far as I understand. Now, most RP in the reboot is centered around the main sim. Before, that's generally what happened anyways. Granted, when Midian had a population to where when Midian main became full, Apoc would find some people to head there, and certain factions and events made sense over there. But, Levi had spread things too thin, and brought in things that didn't quite mix too well with the general theme of Midian. Sure, Levi had more of an appearance of Blade Runner, but not quite the theme of Midian. Blade Runner itself wasn't all that much about Nazis either, nor about holding hybrids as slaves. Blade Runner had more to do with cyber punk. It is a (as in once of many) post apocalyptic theme where cyborgs that were aging were going mad and growing murderous as they sought out to rid themselves of the aging process and seek out survival as near immortals. This is hardly the theme of Midian – at least not a main theme. There were all sorts of stories within a diverse number of themes that happened in Midian 2.0 (Midian 1.0 being the sky box, and the reboot, somewhat of a 3.0 - but it seems like it may be more like a 2.1). One of the themes had to do with hybrids, to which Ioh was a part of.

Now, I'm not going to lament the sanitizing that has happened to hybrids. Maybe it was time to put an end to some age-old rumblings in the city. Although, there should be no surprise that new rumblings will likely arise in the reboot as well. But, I will say that the destruction of Midian was needed, and Midian came to believe that too, even if it came from the bad economy irl. Certainly an irony in itself, what with all the talk of how OOC should never effect IC, and you can't get much more of an example of OOC doing just that than a sour economy taking down at least two expansion sims.

One can say what they want about my drama doing harm to the sim. But Midian was already heading for a fall before I did. I just happened to point that fact out one too many times. It's just funny that it turned out that the only way to (possibly) save Midian was to do something I said ought to be done, in that Midian must be destroyed. Now that it pretty much has been destroyed, the question I have now is what will happen in the reboot? Will it provide sufficient enough change to bring Midian back to life?

Oddly enough, I hope so. Even if Ioh may never be able to set foot in Midian again. I hope some good will come out of the destruction of Midian. And no, I'm not asking for Ioh to be able to return. And certainly, I am not begging and pleading for such. As far as I'm concerned, Ioh's time in Midian has passed. It would take certain things that I don't percehF� happenin� any t�me soon, if ever, to happen. The biggest one being a lift of the ban upon him.

Of course, with Midian, there also comes Bails. She had an impact on my life for nearly a year. Ten months to be exact. That's the longest running relationship I have had ever. I had a couple that were promising after that, but didn't quite work out. So even though there can be some resentment in admitting it, Bails was among the best I've ever had. And yeah, I blew it. Big thUw.

No, I'm not going to ask for her back. No begging, no pleading. What we had is lost and I'm certain it can't be recovered. And I won't ask of it. Regrets? Plenty. But there's nothing to be done about it now. It's in the past. I have to be in the present. I may hope for a better future, but I'm not holding my breath for any reunion to happen between me and Bails. What's been said has been said. And apparently some of it can still be found of a PDF made of a long since deleted post I had in the Acta. I won't say any more on it. If you're really that curious about it, you can do a search, if you like. Finding it was partly what inspired this apologia. Just felt I ought to update where I'm at on things. People will make their judgments regardless what I say, but I'll have my word. I'll speak my voice. Because I have one. I just don't mean any ill will to anyone by saying what I have to say. That goes for you as well, Bails, if you happen to read this. I mean no ill will to you either and hope you're getting along fine now.

Amara. If there's anyone I feel an 'I'm sorry' type apology should go to, it would be to you. In what way? I'm sorry that things have led to some disappointments in the Project, and I'm sorry I can't help give you more than words of advice on things. You are a dear friend, and I really hope you the best. You are in my thoughts, and I have hope for good things to come to you. Maybe I should just be straightforward and say, “Stop worrying!” But I don't know how much that would help. But, if it means anything, I hope that it does help.

Beast. I do miss you. Been so long since we've RPed, let alone talked much. Things had always been kinda quirky with us. But eh. Guess it is what it is. You were my first Kitten in the Honorarium, and I can never forget you, regardless of all the stupid shit I put you through. Maybe we kinda put ourselves though it. Though we did have some fun times along the way. You taught me that people from Main are indeed insane, but funny as hell too! I'm sure you might want to kill me after I say this, but I'd let you take all of Ioh's nine lives so I could tell you I still care for you, you crazy bish cat! XD

Ok, fine. I'll add it. Not only were you the first Felix, you were also the Felix who's memory they all had to contend with. All of them had a bit of something that reminded me of you, Beast. But none of them were you. None of them ever could be. And only maybe one of them could possibly understand this. But I still care for you and hold a piece of you in my heart. Call me insane, or too much of a sentimental bastard, but hey, as long as you still call me, I'm fine with that.

Elise. It's hard. Ioh considered you the Godmother in dual capacity, as Matron and as his Godmother in the Midian Baptism. My biggest regret is knowing that someone I thought in many ways as a mothering sort of soul had to come to hate me so vehemently. I don't know if it will ever change. And I can't ask it of you, nor anyone to do something their heart won't allow them to do. Just know that, despite it all, I did respect you, even if it apparently didn't come out that way.

Eamon. I said much of my raw, wounded feelings about things already. No, I'm not going to take those out of my postings here just yet. As much as I don't like those feelings, they were earnest for what they were. That feeling of being betrayed and having so much taken out from under me. Much of it had little to do with you. There were certainly some personal areas. But I did once trust you and considered you a fatherly figure in RP. May not mean anything any more. But it was what it was.

Ashur. You may find this apologia betraying yourself. But, I just can't hold these things much longer. Sure, a lot of things were screwed up in Midian when we were there. A lot of things are probably screwed up in Midian now. But, I just can't hold all those things in. People are assholes, including me. We do stupid things. Like the people that keep calling to activate their cards, even though the sticker says nothing about having to do so. And how these people get angry at you for just doing your job. And I'm fairly certain that a few of those cranky sorts have tried to get me fired just for doing my job.

It's much like rooftop patrols as a Catwalker. People knew we were up there. They got warnings about getting on the roofs, and we're hated for doing our jobs in keeping people off the rooftops. And yet, people tried to get us fired. And sadly, people succeeded in doing so. But even so, I can't stand to continue being angry over it. We got screwed, and not in the best way. But, maybe forced leave from Midian was the best thing? Only time can tell. But I do miss RP with you, and hope things are going good with you.

With Chamber, I regret that I couldn't do more. Yet at the same time, I only heard about what things may happen through rumors first. And when I asked what I could do to help, it went from asking to try to build up traffic to trying to help pay for the sim, and with a limited time to do so. I really wanted things to work though. They just didn't.

Custos Noctis. I was glad to be a part of it. Even lead it. Now, regardless of what anyone says, whether the Catwalkers or otherwise, I never asked, nor wanted to be Patron. But I became Praetor of the Custos Noctis, which made Ioh basically the same thing as a Patron. It was an enjoyable role, and I have all in the Custos Noctis to thank. I also hope those kits, who may not all be kits any more, will understand that I cared for them, regardless of what happened. I would have loved to have kept the group, but it belonged in Chamber, and there was no home elsewhere. Maybe that is my fault, for being short-sighted. But I hope those in the Custos Noctis do find a new home. If I can help with that, I will try. But you have to communicate with me, as I do with you.

Angel, I know things didn't work out for us in SL. But, I still consider you a good friend. You cared for me, and were far more patient with me than I was with you. I can only thank you for that, and hope things are going well for you. Maybe will see you again. But even if not, I wish the best for you.

Az, I hope I haven't tried your patience too much. I know you would like to see the Project revitalized in some manner. Not sure exactly where it might go, or what it might do, but I'm considering it. The one thing that I strove to make clear from the beginning of it was that collaboration would have to be a key to its success. I've had my failings on that. My greatest regret is not being able to effectively present things in a way that would help people understand the importance of participation. And maybe I had been too overbearing in my attempts to communicate. There were people in the group that did indeed want to see something grow from our funky multi-dimensional ziggy-thing-a-ma-doodle. But frustrations got the best of me. However, maybe we can still try to create something out of nothing, eh? ;)

Imari, I know you wanted to see the Custos and the Project become a success. You worked hard on your concept, and it was one that I thought to be very good. Maybe, if you're still interested, we can consider how to make it applicable in the revision of the Project. I would like to see that come to fruition, because, in my books, you earned it by merit of your efforts to write it up.

I could go on with an apologia on many things. But I think I'll end here for now.  

The Singing Cat

These lyrics came practically from nowhere, but they are funny.  I'll go with the Spanish first, then to the English.  And without further adieu, here is The Singing Cat.


El Canto Del Gato


La cola de un gato se está moviendo a la izquierda y a la derecha,
a la izquierda y a la derecha.
Está maullando a la luna ya que está brillando en la noche,
ya que está brillando en la noche.


Le encanta cantar sus canciones de amor y canciones de un corazón roto,
de amor y de un corazón roto,
que brilla sobre él como ella se ilumina con un brillo en la noche,
se ilumina con un brillo en la noche.


El gato es un gato gentil, palabras dulces cantando aunque agridulce,
palabras dulces aunque agridulce.
Un aristócrata que el gato, que nació con una cuchara y una lengua de plata,
con una cuchara y la lengua de plata.


Silvestre le llamaban, aunque nunca se encontró en el bosque,
nunca se encontró en el bosque.
Plata pelaje era, Selene la llamó, como lo hicieron hace mucho tiempo,
lo hicieron hace mucho tiempo.


Y la luna, llorado cautivado por sus cantos que hizo cantar,
sus cantos que hizo cantar.
Arrobado por la rapsodia, en éxtasis, como la cola que hizo influir,
la cola que hizo influir.



A través de la noche, la luna de Selena a su tono se hizo escuchar,
su tono se hizo escuchar.
También el hombre en la luna, y su zapato a la gata, que hizo lanzar
su zapato a la gata, que hizo lanzar.

And now the English:



The Singing Cat


The cat's tail swings to the left and to the right, 
to the left and to the right.
He is meowing at the moon as she shines in the night, 
as she shines in the night. 


He loves to sing to her songs of love of broken heart,
of love and of broken heart.
She shines upon him, glowing with brightness in the night,
glowing with brightness in the night.


The cat is such a gentlecat - singing sweet words while also bittersweet,
sweet words while also bittersweet.
An aristocrat that cat, born with a spoon and tongue of silver,
with a spoon and tongue of silver.


Sylvester they called him, though never to be found in the woodland,
never to be found in the woodland.
Silver furred was he, Selene he called her, as they did so long ago,
they did so long ago.


And the moon she wept, enthralled by his cantos he did sing,
his cantos he did sing.
Enraptured by the rhapsody, in ecstacy as his tail he did sway,
his tail he did sway,


Through the night, Selena the moon to his tune she did listen,
to his tune she did listen.
As did the man on moon, and his shoe at the cat, he did throw
his shoe at the cat, he did throw.

Old Conversation

This was a dialogue from back when trying to figure out how to get some traffic into Chamber.  But yes, it does go back to aspects on Midian.  It's pretty much generic to any RP.  

Ioh: Midian started in a sky box, did you know?

***** ***** I did. I'm sure they had people though.

Ioh: well, they had a small group.  The original leaders of the first factions - CWs, Hounds, Night Breed (I think it was among them),  MPD, and the Dolls.  Most of what is Midian main was on the skybox. Not all, but most. And once it outgrew the skybox, and they were able to get the funding for it, they went to the full sim, then eventually Apoc about the time I started there, and then Levi and the swamp.

On the other hand, Chamber is like a retro fit.  We have a full sim, and a lot of things are in place.  It's just a matter getting that right nudge to get the momentum going. We got RP we want to do, and have been partially putting it off to get clearance on this and that.  And, if we can set these certain things in motion, we should be able to get the boost needed to get traffic flowing. So, from my perspective, our challenge is to set the wheels in motion, and once it flows, who knows... anything goes.

***** ***** but it can't just be us

Ioh: you know how many times, whether it was in Midian, or Everwind, or Perdition, or even here in Chamber that I have started up RP with one person, and within an hour or two, it's grown from 2 to 4 to up to 10 people seeking to RP?

***** ***** yes. That happens when there are people passing by
Ioh: I used to have Ioh or Luke just lay on the bench near the beach and in front of the Doll house, and people would just start up idle RP which would grow just from my characters being lazy and giving way for opportunity.  People come into a sim, see dots, and huddle to them.  Midian has grown to a point where they complain about that flocking phenomenon, because they have enough players to show disinterest in having people do that. But, it's exactly that phenomenon by which RP first grows

***** ***** I think they dislike the flocking phenom when those people barge in on a scene not meant to be barged on. Some do it by mistake, others try to be some kind of hero before they know what's going on.

Ioh:  True.  There is that.  Because there is RP there already to be barged in on.  When you have a population, you can be more picky about such things, because it deters particular RP of interest to an established group.  In Chamber, well, pretty much the vamps and nekos are about the most established groups out there.  And that's pretty much because we have a certain reciprocal relation to each other's survival, both IC and OOC. Because, without either of us there, there's no 'food', both in the IC literal, and OOC figurative in meaning of that which fuels RP and brings growth.

***** ***** I see
Ioh:  Otherwise, if neither of us are around, there's no RP to 'barge in' on.  There's nothing to draw on, or otherwise manipulate into one stream of storyline, or break into multiple storylines that came from that one initial interaction that started it all

***** *****  Doesn't that mean that we need more groups and variety to bounce off of too? There is only one human. There are a few supernatural types - a demon, one or two lycans maybe, then your choice of vamps or nekos

Ioh:  True, but that comes with time.  Just think of how many groups merged and spawned from the Pack in Midian, or even the CWs, or the Hounds, and MPD. Hounds, I remember the Sarcina was an offshoot of them via Oceana, who was a pet of sorts to Damian when he was the Canis. Then, later, another women's group started called the Phoenix.  MPD, well, there was the UAC to which some would say the anti-hybrids went to when MPD went soft on cats.  And then the Judges and the Midian Militia as well.