[TML] Strange societys

[Stuart Frew]

> > 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 tend to use aliens for weird societies, I find it helps the players detach
their expectations.
Or perhaps I'm just not very good at weird human societies :^)

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 haven't read the book but I could see it working if it was accepted states
for people to be in rather than expected states.

For example, I would say a reasonable percentage of people in my real life
society are in the "irrational ring".
They are, mostly, functional but not necessarily, um, efficient at getting
what they want.

Its easier to work with them (them? an implicit assumption about myself :^)
if the vagaries of behaviour are accepted.
Of course there are limits, being a danger to others being one of them.

How does the book cover that?