On PoE's lore, part 1
Whenever I try to think of the "good" things about Pillars, I quickly end up on its cons, because the game often comes up short of being good at anything.
Take its lore and historical accuracy, for example. At first I'm tempted to write it down in the "pros" column. A setting reproduced from a concrete historical foundation
can offer a unique glimpse into the cultural code of another time period. Game of Thrones does this, and it's one of the reasons of its immense success. Martin has
studied history very thoroughly, and his world is truly medieval to the bone.
Sawyer decided to attempt something similar, but
wer A sagt, muss auch B sagen (whoever says A, must also say B). Yet PoE never says "B". He doesn't see it through.
For instance, women in history generally weren't equal to men in rights, no matter what period you take. In Archaic Greece, women weren't considered citizens
and lived in separate "
women's quarters", where men only went for one purpose - procreation. Women were forbidden to go into the "men's quarters". They lived
so much apart, that it is suspected women had their own version of the Greek language.
In Medieval Europe, on which Pillars is more often based, wives were considered their husbands' property. In the 1500s, a Marital Exemption for Rape was passed:
forced sexual intercourse was considered a husband making use of his property.
Married women were legally considered subordinate to their husbands, and a woman's land automatically became the property of her husband on marriage.
Medieval Canon law allowed a wife to be punished publicly, e.g. with iron muzzles:
Pillars gives no indication of any this. The NPCs you encounter act as if there is and always has been equality between men and women. The subject of inequality, even if in a past tense, is not brought up.
Except in places, where the game suddenly remembers we're in feudalism - Raedric stabs his wife for bearing him a soulless child and it's not considered anything out of the ordinary by anyone, to their credit.
The inconsistency makes the world come apart at the seams. You either have free strong women or you have feudal women who wouldn't dream of disobeying their husband or father.
"Who hit you?"
"Have you tried calling to the police??" - Back in real life: Wife Beating Made a Crime in Maryland in 1882 - first state to make wife beating a crime.
Sagani is particularly grating, but it's not just the women are modern - instead of rearing children, she LEFT HER HUSBAND AND CHILDREN to travel around. The unrealistic ease of travel is another subject I'll discuss later.
There are no racial or ethnic tensions. Religion and society as a whole is modern to its core, but what's worse, it's
boringly modern. Internally I started calling it Netflix fantasy.
It deserves its own post, and I'll talk about it after completing the game. (if I manage to)
For now, enjoy this little exposition - when asked about his home town, the rioter decides to speak in encyclopedic:
*In hushed tone* Sawyer's touch
