[TML] Strange societys

[Jerry W Barrington]

On 3/3/08 9:50 AM, "darby eckles" <darbyeckles at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I've been reading the Vattas War series by Elizebth Moon.  Just finished the
> 4th book, and in it are these flashy rich guys, who come from a very odd
> society.  FOr those of you who have read it, of course I'm talking about
> Ransom's Rangers.  For thos of you who haven't read it:  people in a
> particular society spend chunks of their lives living in 4 specific "rings"
> (they call them) or states of living in the world.  One is Irrationalism,
> where the person is legally considered insane and is expected to act strange,
> goofy, and, well, irrational.  There is also Rational, which is the direct
> oppoite of Irrational, where they are expected to be super resposible, etc.
> Another "ring" is Romantic.  Not in the lover sense, but in the
> dashing-sword-wearing-super-adventure-and-flashy-dressing sense.  I don't
> think they mention the 4th "ring".
> 
> Anyways, I've been trying to picture how this kind of society could function.
> I would think that not everyone would be off on a tear in one of these "rings"
> at once, that they'd have to be intermitent in someone life in order to absorb
> the goings on when in that state, and to be reflected on.  I mean, you can't
> have a whole planet going Irrational or Romantic at once, it just wouldn't
> tick...
>  
> Anybody ever use a highly unusual society in your games?

I haven't read that one yet (I usually wait for the paperback), but that
society sounds... bizarre.  I'm not sure it *can* work.  And Romantic
doesn't seem far from Irrational anyway.  Societies, by there nature, depend
on structure, expectations of interactions between people.  If a major
percentage of you populations is insane at a given time, and you know
everybody will be at some time, it seems kind of hard to set up a society.

I guess I'll have to get the book as soon as I can.