Wasteland Arcana (D&D 5 homebrew) (Warning: extreme content including slurs)

[Soveliss]

Both racial and xeno slurs/stereotypes (pretty much racial slurs/stereotypes against non-human species, or from non-humans towards humans) will happen. Besides, it's the wastelands, lots of messed up people doing messed up things. So extreme content warnings in general.






Alright, as it has been brought to my attention that some context may have been missed, I'm gonna explain myself.

1) Humans have come up with slurs for anything and anyone who is in what we perceive as an "out" group. We have made up slurs related to clothing, phenotype, place of origin ("Barbarian" originally being a slur against anyone not from Ancient Greece for instance), and so on. This is unlikely to die after a nuclear war, but who knows. In this fictional setting, it didn't die.
2) In a first contact scenario with a quasi-human species (like elves, dwarves and so on...), xeno slurs are likely to come up.
3) In the time it will take for people to realize they're dealing with quasi-human species and then in the time xeno slurs will take to be standardized, current "close enough" slurs (related to skin color for drow, or size for dwarves/halfelin/gnomes) will likely be used.
4) The "characters" (they're literally plot devices to show that shit just got really weird by both wasteland and D&D land standards, so calling them characters is extremely generous) presented there are quick to resort to slurs and stereotypes, and again, are blaming the closest convenient target for shit just going really weird really fast. On the topics of slurs/stereotypes, while it is not a real world racial stereotype, if it were, associating dwarves with alcoholism would be just as much of a racist slur/stereotype as associating African Americans with watermelon and chicken. Slurs targetting and/or origination from quasi-humans are referred under the catch-all term "xeno slurs". From minor things ("We all know all elves are vegetarian") to things that would be frankly offensive if targeting a real group (mocking the supposed extreme promiscuity of humans since "they breed with anything that moves" or a genocidal movement targeting orcs because of their supposed "inborn violence"), in-game messed up attitudes are somewhat common. Also, the named "characters" use what counts as generic names (like "John Smith") in-verse. Urist is the name used by the Dwarf Fortress community to the point that they refer to any specific dwarf as "Urist McProfession" (Urist McBlacksmith, Urist McSoldier, Urist McUselessNoble...), and the other two names come straight from two iconic characters from the D&D book. As an aside, Soveliss, being the name of the Iconic elf Ranger from D&D, is pretty much the "John Smith" of D&D elves at this point, which is why as a D&D fan and fan of elves in general, I picked it as my nickname. Lastly, just because I am willing to play with and not hide harmful things doesn't mean I think they would be a good idea in real life, nor do I encourage them off the game table.
5) Having been warned this is a sensitive subject, I am adding this huge warning/disclaimer to my post. I am not holding this against anyone, just as this site has a split between light/Bondage/NC/Extreme, well it is common courtersy to warn people about these things.
6) As I am sleep deprived and need sleep very soon, I may have forgotten a few things in my long warning. Feel free to bring them to my attention and I will address them when I wake up.



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Still with me? Have read the disclaimer that has been added? Well, you can have a read of the in character (first for the wasteland side, then the "D&D land side) narration that gives a short description of a drow slaver party ending up in the Nevada Wasteland and doing what a raiding party worshiping Lloth does (including giant spiders), and a D&D adventuring party ending up in Boulder City and picking up enough context clues to figure out they're dealing with drow slavers and giving chase as they listen to a panicked survivor trying to put the blame for things going sideways on something, while not being familiar with the local slang and slurs. The rest of the post has been kept "as is" because I do not believe in covering up mistakes, including me being too reckless and scatterbrained that I forgot to put a disclaimer for potentially sensitive topics being freely brought up in the fictional setting, and also because in my sleep deprived state, aside from fully deleting it, or putting a long disclaimer before it, I wouldn't know what to do with it.






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50 years ago, the world ended. North Korea had some success with their nuclear programs, but diplomacy kept it in check somehow. But their early warning system was notoriously poor. It probably glitched up and that glitch resulted in a false alarm. So North Korea, believing nukes were headed for them, launched theirs. In a few hours, most of the world burned in nuclear fire, and the skies were filled with debris, causing a nuclear winter. Society broke down, raider gangs became commonplace. Food and medicine shortages. But humans are pretty much the galactic cockroaches. Nothing keep them down for long.New settlements were formed, and life became mostly normal, with a lot of scavenging, bandits. What came next was a curveball no one saw coming. It started with rumors of "nigger slavers" with "psychic powers" and using "mutated spiders" to take captives. Some of these "niggers" were rumored to have the lower body of spiders. They were just crazy rumors. And then other psychics swore to "drive them back to the "underdark"". The wastelands became a much crazier place with no warnings.

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"Soveliss, what the fuck happened?
-I don't know Urist! That's your fault for giving us the beer from your homeland!
-Lay off Urist, Soveliss! We have gotten drunk quite a few times, and this is the first time we wake up in a desert despite going to sleep in the Frostlands! Something is going seriously wrong, and not in the usual "we got up to something crazy while drunk"!
-Fine, Gimble! So, what do we do?
-Take inventory. You can still pray for Sehanine's blessings?
-Yes. Urist, I hope that you are still a paladin of Moradin?
-Yes Soveliss! Gimble, do your spells still work?"

Gimble muttered an incantation, and a shower of sparks came from the gnome's hands.

"That's a yes! Now, let's go! This trail has a lot of activity, it must lead to a city!"

The adventuring party then started walking. After a few hours, they saw a very damaged city.

"Welcome to "Boulder City"?
-Yeah, Soveliss, whomever came up with that name deserves to be kneecapped with Moradin's hammer!
-At any rate, we have arrived. Let us find the tavern."

Soveliss approached a local, who seemed to be holding a strange musket.

"Hello! We are somewhat lost and would love if you could point us to the nearest tavern.
-The fuck is a "tavern"?
-You know, the place where you order alcoholic beverages?
-You mean the Warhead Saloon?
-I guess. Could you bring us there please?
-Of course!"

"I swear it Sheriff! Giant spiders lead by a gang of psychic niggers!
-You are aware I'm black right?" the "sheriff" pointed out.

"Yeah, well you may be black, but you're not abducting people to sacrifice to a spider goddess! So the slur is justified!
-A spider Goddess? You mean Lolth?
-Yeah... Wait a second, how do you know?
-Alright team, let's drive these drow back to the Underdark!
-At least we agree on something!
-Everyone would agree that drow are bad news Urist! So, where have you seen these "niggers" last?
-They were headed towards Vegas! Or what little was left of it anyways!"



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Because why not add creatures and magic from D&D to a post apocalyptic wasteland?