Indigenous RP Guide

These were not things tribes wore on a day to day basis. In fact, most tribes didn’t wear them at all. This would have been a strict taboo for The Apache and Navajo peoples, plus other neighboring tribes. This is because people that dressed in these animal parts were viewed as witches or “Yee Naaldlooshii”, otherwise known as "Skin Walkers".

Those who did wear these things, typically reserved headdresses and furs for rituals, ceremonies, or war intimidation.

Make sure you understand why your character is wearing or using these things before doing so.

This depends upon the tribe. The Lakota People were not known for these, but the Nishnabe People were, and their sashes were also utilitarian. Wear them for personal fashion if it makes sense, but you should avoid wearing colored sashes or wearing matching attire to represent your tribe as a whole as this fits more into gang mentality than actual tribal representation.

The word 'Shaman' is a primarily European word, introduced by settlers. Each tribe has their own word in their language for a medicine man. For example, in Comanche, the word was Puha tenahpʉ(m) or Puha waiʔipʉ(f). In Lakota, Waphíye. In Chickasaw, Alikchi was a gender neutral term meaning 'Doctor'. Jicarilla Apache used 'é'disóóå'ï' for 'Medicine Person'. Medicine Men and Women were often also responsible for spiritual healing, but these were not mutually exclusive.

It is more than acceptable for a character to come across as naive to a certain degree, not knowing how to read or write English, or perhaps still learning English, so long as you do not force a language barrier into RP. You should also avoid overdramatized Rez accents or broken English caveman speech.

This should also include how your character speaks about and refers to technology. In the time period of our server, many of the things a character would be exposed to have been around for several years. It's one thing to not know the name for something in English or be unsure how to use it the first few times, but treating things like telephones or trains like they're mythological monsters is not acceptable behavior or portrayal.

Another issue that has been seen with inaccurate portrayals is the refusal to utilize certain inventions. 

• Refusal to use a saddle and only protected their horse's back with a blanket or fur pelt.
• Refusal to use any form of firearm, only using bows, knives, and tomahawks.
• Refusal to use or ingest anything but Natural Medicines even when greviously injured or ill.

The issues with the above examples is that Native Peoples would not intentionally leave themselves at a disadvantage. 

• Saddles ensured balance of the rider and protected the horse's spine.
• While bows and tomahawks had certain advantages such as silent attacks, they weren't as powerful and when facing enemies armed to the teeth. Firearms put enemies on equal footing in combat. Besides, many Plains Natives were utilizing Muskets and Rifles since acquiring them in trade with the Spaniards well before the 1600's.
• Many natural medicines would absolutely be prefered over unknown remedies, but complete refusal to accept certain medicines when in pain or in a life or death situation does not fit within Suspension of Disbelief.

This is a concept that has been seen across many servers for years.

It’s the idea of playing a made-up people in the hope your tribe's actions won't be seen as offensive since they don’t actually represent real Indigenous Peoples. While this may sound great in theory, you actually risk damaging the portrayal of other Indigenous Peoples both in character and in real life.

You further risk feeding into the stereotypes that paint Indigenous Peoples as a fantasy or Hollywood depiction and not real people, further damaging the already tainted view others have of the culture and directly participating in Cultural Genocide by misrepresentation and misinformation. It's not a good look.

This server is not set in the 1700’s - 1850’s. This is also a RolePlay server, not a John Wayne Film. Your conflict with a character should arise from actions which have occurred in game and have NOTHING to do with a character's ethnicity or culture.

There will be plenty of opportunities and reasons to create conflict in roleplay. Racisim and Biggotry should never be one of them.

The word ‘Injun’ is actually an offensive term and not permitted in this server. If you use this word normally due to region or “accent”, it is highly recommended that you educate yourself and remove this from your vocabulary. "Indian" is less offensive but still incorrect. Native / Indigenous Americans were originally called "Indians" because the first settlers who encountered them thought they had sailed to India, not a whole new uncharted land.

The word "Eskimo" is also inappropriate to use when refering to Inuit people. It was a word used to describe them by settlers, but is not what the Inuit people call themselves.

It’s similar to calling a Scottsman "English". It’s more offensive than you may realize.

There will be some items incorporated into the server intended for use by our Native Character and Tribe RPers. These things may include War Paint, Head bands, Feathers, etc. Any character, native or otherwise, brazenly wearing these things without any understanding for their meaning or utilizing them in sterotyped or disrespectful ways is committing cultural appropriation.

This will not be tolerated ICly or OOCly.

As explained in the segment above regarding how Native RPers should approach conflict, Non-Native character players must also keep the following in mind. Racism in any format is expressly forbidden. Your issues with another character should be solely because of actions exchanged in game, not because of their race, beliefs, or lifestyle.

This conflict should stem from tactful and legitimate reasons, and you shouldn't be reaching to create conflict. You must also be mindful in the the methods you choose to create said conflict.

A common example Non-Indigenous players will often employ to try and create conflict is hunting and killing Bison with the intent to antagonize indigenous characters into reacting. This is small minded thinking for two reasons:
1. Killing a Bison to target Natives could be seen as a racially motivated action.
2. The Bison is not considered a "sacred" animal to every tribe. Specifically, it's a White Bison that is considered sacred to those that do revere it.

If you see a Tribe’s Camp or Village, do not just waltz in and treat it like a tourist attraction. This is someone’s home.

It’s not the NPC Wapiti Village, and even then, Wapiti should be treated with respect as if the NPCs there were real people. You wouldn’t just march into a complete stranger’s home without being invited, don’t do so with these camps or villages.

This is also for the sake of immersion that just because the players may currently be offline, these places should be treated like someone is living there and potentially present, or could wake at any moment. 

Please do not approach a native character and try to get them to ‘teach you their ways’, get them to take you on a ‘spirit walk’, reveal your ‘spirit animal’ or try to force your way into being adopted or taken in by a tribe. Many Native RPers take their role very seriously and should not be treated like performing monkeys to further your personal story growth.

If a native character wants to initiate this kind of RP, that should be up to them and the kind of RP they wish to offer. But if this is something you’re interested in pursuing, your character should actually get to know these people first.