#felix knows thieves' cant! he's not A Thief but he's part of a class of people who are typically on the fringe of society!

[blujayonthewing]

I just feel like it'd be interesting to look at, and try to figure out how to marry these real world concepts with the in-world assumptions implied or outright stated to be held by most people about Gnomes Specifically. my VERY SURFACE LEVEL understanding of real world Wanderers throughout various cultures and time periods is that they're often both mythologized and villainized; you know-- they'll sell you exotic wares and Read Your Fortune but watch out!! they'll also trick and swindle you, or curse you, or whatever. there's a general sense of distrust for outsiders of all stripes, even when there's also an allure to them, which dovetails neatly with 'felix is a nice boy but often tends to be met with distrust and dislike, when he isn't overlooked altogether.'

HOWEVER, there IS something to be said about the place GNOMES occupy in their world's general cultural views, where they're said to be quite uncommon out and about beyond their home communities, but are usually met with curiosity at worst, and generally liked. so-- what's the synthesis of those concepts look like? do we loop back to felix, personally, being Uniquely ostracized for having poor social skills in a way that people perceive as creepy or shifty? do strangers tend to treat him like a child? like a joke? like he ought to be a riddle-master and wonder-maker? and how does all of that intersect with his physical size-- how do people view and respect (or not) his personal space and bodily autonomy? with, again, nothing more than VERY surface level research, the way little people get treated in real fucking life is Buck Wild. and they don't even have real literal magic powers and their own separate (foreign/ weird) culture and language. you know? are you more or less likely to pick up and try to throw(!!) a complete stranger(!!!) if you think they might also know magic, which in theory is uncommon and mysterious for most common folk, and maybe scary? or if you believe they and everyone like them are merely friendly and harmless silly little fiddle-dee-dee leprechauns?

IT'S JUST-- [rolling around] IT'S JUST INTERESTING I JUST THINK MULLING OVER STUFF LIKE THIS IS INTERESTING!! and people always default to 'dnd is Generic Surface-Level English Medieval Fantasy and also All The Races Are Basically The Same,' but we're so rarely looking at real-world anthropology or sociology for inspiration even within the alleged 'medieval europe' framework, and it's a shame! nothing happens in a vacuum! cultures and material realities about the world connect and inform one another! don't you wanna explore some of that in a world where wizards and elves are real? don't you wanna play in the space with me??

sudden urge to do a deep dive researching various types of itinerant tinkers and vagabonds in both historical and folklore contexts VS the feeling of 'what would be the fucking point' futility in the campaign I'm in