Handling Racism within Adventure - Possible and Permitted?

[Rhialto]

The story that I am writing is about an attempt by the player character’s friend Prudence to gain help with a problem. During their discussion about her problem, the player character and Prudence meet Oan Sung (the one who tells the player character almost as soon as they first meet that yes, she is from a distant land and that the player character can now tell everyone this, but that she does not like talking about this). I am thinking of writing an outcome in which, if a player character has a reputation as a flirter (which can be chosen during Academagia’s character creation process), and has affection with one of the Asian-looking students (i.e., Sima Vensico or Miya Hikari), and became a friend to Oan, Prudence, once the two of them are alone, asks him whether becoming a friend with the person whom they just met allowed the player character to develop a strong relationship with his crush rather than seeing her purely as exotic. Within the story that I am writing, this comment as presented as a very foolish remark that horrifies the player character, who condemns Prudence for such stereotyping/homogenization and asserts that in some ways, Prudence may seem exotic to others and says that his relationship with students is based upon their personalities, not their appearances. Then Prudence says that she was trying and failing to use a type of logical analysis that she learned in class and apologizes for her remark. I am worried that this treatment of racial exotification/homogenization is insensitive and might not be permitted within Academagia Y2. Any thoughts?

[Metis]

Prudence has an Int of 1, minimal interest in Dialectic and Professor Sido is a shoddy teacher besides, so her not understanding a dialectic analysis fits. In addition, Professor Sido's classes are basically a long string of exciting stories that build up the allure of all things exotic, because of all the cool stuff he's seen and done out in the wide open world. So I can see Prudence getting the impression of the PC hooking up with Miya/Sima as a way of getting into contact with someone who, by their appearance, are of the exciting outside world that Professor Sido so often describes.

The issue I see is one of assuming part of the PC's character. If the PC is (or rather, was) the kind of character that would have seen Miya/Sima as a trophy rather than a person, than yes, Oan is as good a guess as any as to who helped the PC to grow out of it, and it's a valid question to ask. However, if the PC isn't and never was that kind of character, Pru would probably know that, and her asking that question regardless just comes out of nowhere. And a PC responding in kind would than be even more left field, because that's not an issue of the PC being racist, that's an issue of Pru being dense, which she's entirely capable of coming off as if she tries to rely on her downright abysmal Int/Dialectic scores.

[Rhialto]

20 minutes ago, Metis said:

The issue I see is one of assuming part of the PC's character. If the PC is (or rather, was) the kind of character that would have seen Miya/Sima as a trophy rather than a person, than yes, Oan is as good a guess as any as to who helped the PC to grow out of it, and it's a valid question to ask. However, if the PC isn't and never was that kind of character, Pru would probably know that, and her asking that question regardless just comes out of nowhere. And a PC responding in kind would than be even more left field, because that's not an issue of the PC being racist, that's an issue of Pru being dense, which she's entirely capable of coming off as if she tries to rely on her downright abysmal Int/Dialectic scores.

@Metis: Thank you very much for your analysis. I think that Prudence's lack of introspectiveness/thoughtfulness could be accounted a good explanation for why she would not ask a PC who is a close friend about why he would have such an exotic crush until triggered by seeing how well the PC gets along with Oan, following which Prudence, in her usual blunt impulsiveness, would ask the PC this question (inspired by the sight and a hazily remembered Dialectic lesson). Does this explanation make sense?

[Metis]

I could see that working, though even if not, at the end of the day Prudence, at that point, would be thirteen. It doesn't take an alignment of several planets for a thirteen year old to say something less than well thought through.

[Rhialto]

@Metis: yeah. But I thought that the characters (excepting extreme outliers Kurt Henning and Jere Niemala) would be 14 during Y2.

[Metis]

IIRC, students generally are thirteen on the Juvenalia of their second academic year, and turn fourteen over the course of that year if their BD doesn't fall within the two summer months after their second year is over. Pru's BD is...Nivelos 16, so she's thirteen until about four and a half months into Y2. At least, technically. Maturity doesn't work on a Floor(time since date of birth) function, so your call as to how much it counts for.