Ethnicities

[Adrienne]

If this has been addressed somewhere, just bap me gently on the head and point me in the right direction.  :)

I'm putting my PbP players through character creation, and I realized that I'm not sure what effect Ethnicity has on the game.  The heading of the chart--"System"--implies that there is a game effect, but nothing concrete is mentioned that I can find.  I was considering treating it as a free positive descriptor.  So, for example, a Warrlachi character would get an extra die for hunting situations.  This strikes me as potentially unbalancing if one character happens to be more stereotypical of his Ethnicity than others (the Warrlachi hunter gets lots of extra dice, but his brother the tanner gets bupkis).  I suppose I could allow a player who didn't want the benefit to add another point to the Destiny Pool... hmm.

Anyway, those are my ramblings.  What do y'all think?

[Keith Senkowski]

Adrienne,

Ethnicities provide two things, the Descriptor and the general limits on social class (which provides the points you use to purchase the assets of the Cell when pooled together).  Ethnicity is tied to upbringing not just parentage.  For example, if Vladick was born to Dasian parents, but was raised by Navari, he would have the Navari Ethnicity Descriptor.

Keith