Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:36 am
Here's a bit of editorial guidance on gender-specific pronouns, and how to use them when writing about doppelgangers:
1) If a doppelganger is in its natural form, or has assumed an identity other than its imago (= its favorite stolen identity, like Bloodsworth for Roja), or if the DM simply hasn't bothered to make up an imago for it, it's referred to as an "it" in OOC text.
2) If a doppelganger is operating wholly under the direction of its Clay (= its "inhuman monster" personality), it's an "it" OOC as well, regardless of its guise. This also applies in-character, during social interactions among doppelgangers that take place away from human witnesses (i.e. they call each other "it" in private).
3) If a doppelganger is in its imago form, and its imago personality is in the forefront, it's a "he" or "she", be it in-character or otherwise. Role-assumption in the case of an imago runs that deep.
4) Crazy doppelgangers who lose track of what they really are take on the appropriate gender, for purposes of all pronouns. Fellow dopps will still refer to the insane one as "it", rather than humor its delusion.
5) Juvenile doppelgangers are always "he" or "she" until their Wakening, when their true nature asserts itself. Their "child-face" identity retains a gender until they abandon their juvenile guise entirely, so a young dopp who tries to continue in its old life is called "he" or "she" while it's playing that role.
6) Doppelgangers who've permanently lost the ability to change shape eventually take on the gender of the form they're stuck in. This isn't immediate, however; dopps who haven't yet resigned themselves to their "crippled" status (like the PoM's prisoners from SotK) are still "it".
7) In-character "flavor text" in which a doppelganger is present, but has not yet been exposed as a dopp, should use "he" or "she" until such time as its true nature is discovered by the non-doppelgangers around it. No need to give away a nasty surprise too soon, after all.
8 ) Non-doppelgangers should always refer to doppelgangers as "it", or as he/she in quotation marks (e.g. "It was then that I realized 'she' was a monster, and 'her' feelings for me, naught but a cruel lie...."), once they know the truth. This is how the human mind subconsciously distances itself from the alien, particularly if the human in question feels betrayed by the dopps' deceptions.
9) Sodo is always a "he", no matter what form he assumes. Sodo's personality (gender included) is about the only thing the Paridon darklord has to cling to for stability in his life, so he always thinks of himself as a male, and compels his underlings to refer to him that way as well.
---
If anyone has questions about these guidelines, or if any of them need clarification, please post your queries here where others can see them.
(Heh. For once, a "pronoun/gender question" came up about a game-book, that wasn't about being 'politically correct'! Who woulda thunk it?
)
1) If a doppelganger is in its natural form, or has assumed an identity other than its imago (= its favorite stolen identity, like Bloodsworth for Roja), or if the DM simply hasn't bothered to make up an imago for it, it's referred to as an "it" in OOC text.
2) If a doppelganger is operating wholly under the direction of its Clay (= its "inhuman monster" personality), it's an "it" OOC as well, regardless of its guise. This also applies in-character, during social interactions among doppelgangers that take place away from human witnesses (i.e. they call each other "it" in private).
3) If a doppelganger is in its imago form, and its imago personality is in the forefront, it's a "he" or "she", be it in-character or otherwise. Role-assumption in the case of an imago runs that deep.
4) Crazy doppelgangers who lose track of what they really are take on the appropriate gender, for purposes of all pronouns. Fellow dopps will still refer to the insane one as "it", rather than humor its delusion.
5) Juvenile doppelgangers are always "he" or "she" until their Wakening, when their true nature asserts itself. Their "child-face" identity retains a gender until they abandon their juvenile guise entirely, so a young dopp who tries to continue in its old life is called "he" or "she" while it's playing that role.
6) Doppelgangers who've permanently lost the ability to change shape eventually take on the gender of the form they're stuck in. This isn't immediate, however; dopps who haven't yet resigned themselves to their "crippled" status (like the PoM's prisoners from SotK) are still "it".
7) In-character "flavor text" in which a doppelganger is present, but has not yet been exposed as a dopp, should use "he" or "she" until such time as its true nature is discovered by the non-doppelgangers around it. No need to give away a nasty surprise too soon, after all.
8 ) Non-doppelgangers should always refer to doppelgangers as "it", or as he/she in quotation marks (e.g. "It was then that I realized 'she' was a monster, and 'her' feelings for me, naught but a cruel lie...."), once they know the truth. This is how the human mind subconsciously distances itself from the alien, particularly if the human in question feels betrayed by the dopps' deceptions.
9) Sodo is always a "he", no matter what form he assumes. Sodo's personality (gender included) is about the only thing the Paridon darklord has to cling to for stability in his life, so he always thinks of himself as a male, and compels his underlings to refer to him that way as well.
---
If anyone has questions about these guidelines, or if any of them need clarification, please post your queries here where others can see them.
(Heh. For once, a "pronoun/gender question" came up about a game-book, that wasn't about being 'politically correct'! Who woulda thunk it?
)
So it's very close,
, plus I'm in the process of filing my first ever promotion-application with my college 
-- but rest assured, I am working on the VRF:D as often as possible. I'll try to get back to each and every one of you over the next few days, to let you know what needs revising or could be elaborated upon.
I really do appreciate what you're doing here Rotipher