Talk:Wanshou/Conflicts

Social hierarchy

Dragon Empires Gazetteer describes boggards and kappas as being favored agents of Zhanagorr. Tian Xia World Guide presents a different picture. Boggards and kappas still live within Wanshou (kappas are only mentioned in a paragraph about Lamashtu's faith, p. 46) but are not described as being part of an elite class. Four non-Zhanagorr named NPCs hold a political position, and they consist of three humans (two of which are nobles) and one merfolk. The noble and working classes do not seem to be divided by specific ancestries. -Ravenstone (talk) 02:44, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Slavery

Slavery or compulsive labor by any name is not mentioned or alluded to in Wanshou's section in Tian Xia World Guide. Citizens are described as working for personal and community survival, not necessarily for any taskmasters. As Meta:Slavery details, Paizo no longer focuses on slavery, but historical slavery is still occasionally referred to, such as in the Valashai Empire. It is unclear if the removal of slavery in Wanshou is a retroactive change or an in-universe change. -Ravenstone (talk) 02:44, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Madness

Dragon Empires Gazetteer describes a number of citizens succumbing to the "madness" and subsequently revering Zhanagorr as a deity. In Tian Xia World Guide, the common citizen's reverence of Zhanagorr is not depicted as wholly irrational but the result of propaganda and social infrastructure that has improved quality of life, as well as the very frequent covert disappearances of potential insurrectionists. This is the norm among common citizenry rather than an exception, and Wanshou's citizens are described as seeming "naive" to outsiders who don't fully understand the situation. There is a divide between this perception and the "zealots" such as Naoki Tanaka and the Tidecallers who seem more cult-like, though they are never referred to as "mad"–possibly a conscious effort to reduce real-world mental illness stigmatization. -Ravenstone (talk) 02:44, 29 March 2025 (UTC)