Just some thoughts on Filipinos...

[Wu Han]

Click-bait title, but now that you're here...

I just wanted to raise some thoughts and few loose proposals regarding Filipino culture in-game, as it is a matter I've thought about occasionally over the years, and more so lately.

For the longest period I can remember, Filipinos were included in Particracy as the real-world equivalent of "Dranianos," a mestizo culture born out of exchange between Kyo (Korean) and Egelian (Spanish) peoples (primarily during the period of Egelion's colonization of Dankuk/Baeguk), and to a lesser extent  Draddwyr people as well(Celtic, mainly Welsh). I think this was problematic in at least a few ways: firstly, it collapsed the diversity of Filipino cultures (Tagalog, Ilocano, Bicolano, Moro, and Visayans, among at least 180+ others) and failed to do justice to the uniqueness of Filipino cultural identity itself; secondly, it used Filipino culture to serve as a "mixed" Korean-Spanish culture, ignoring the Austronesian origin of most Filipino languages and peoples, and the differences between two rather distinct Asian cultures; thirdly, it dislocated Filipino peoples and cultures from the Austronesian cultures in Temania (formerly the continent of Squibble).

At some point in the history of Dankuk/Baeguk, around 3200-5000, there was a period in which Dankuk's ruling House of Ryeo had a close dynastic relationship with Tukarali (ultimately absorbing its former ruling dynasty, the House of Aynako), and the immigration of Dranianos (Filipinos) to Tukarali was role-played to have occurred during this time under the heavy influence of Dankuk. This was done by the former player Ryouta, who played in both countries at various times.

Tukarali, for its part, had long been a country explicitly based on Brazil, with its language, Tukarese, being Brazilian Portuguese. Tukarali had always been a multi-ethnic society, which divided itself into the following ethnic groupings: pardos, orientais, brancos, indígenas and pretos. Older sources are lost, but the Draniano migrants who retained their cultural identity were always considered part of the "orientais" grouping.

Fast-forward to today, and the real-life equivalents index lists Filipino as the real-life equivalent of both Draniano and Tukarese. The cultural protocol of Tukarali now states that "pardos" means "Filipinos and Mixed-race people" (emphasis added, a massive category), and that "Tukarali is a Portuguese-speaking country with a Filipino native population." Meanwhile, the Baeguk cultural protocol has removed any mention of Filipino culture, reinterpreting Dranianos as "Creole Korean with Hispanic-Influenced Culture." I am not sure exactly when these changes occured.

I think these are moves in a better direction, but they leave me personally a bit unsatisfied... firstly, because it alters the identity of Tukarali by making a Filipino country without Filipino language; secondly, because it still creates a geographical distance between Filipinos and other Austronesian languages/cultures (Indonesians, Malaysian, Malgasy, Polynesian), all of which are located on the continent of Temania; finally, I still feel that Filipino culture (and its diversity) is underserved by locating it in a Tukarali context, and containing it within a group that traditionally referred to mixed-race peoples at large.

On to my loose proposal... hear me out...

I think Filipinos should be retconned to be indigenous to New Alduria, (Aldurianos?) representing ~55-60% of the country there, with the remainder remaining Haitian. Tukarali should revert to being primarily based on Brazil, with Filipinos constituting a large and influential national minority.

• This resolves the issue of geographical distance between Filipino culture and other Austronesian groups;
  
• It offers a bit more flavour to New Alduria, rather than being strictly based on Haiti; of course, it is not bad that it is based on Haiti, but in a game world with far fewer countries than in the real world, some accommodations must be made...
  
• The colonial history of Lourennais and other Canrille imperialism in New Alduria can be understood in both Haitian creole, and the adoption of certain loan words in Tagalog, as well as in the introduction of Haitians to New Alduria through slavery (as is established in the New Aldurian history) and the forced migration of Filipino workers (to Tukarali and/or Baeguk, historically).
  

I also think this retcon would be compatible with the more recent Filipino-centered roleplay in Tukarali (with player EMENITY clearly drawing on National Democratic, Anakbayan-style aesthetics/theory/policy in their role-play), given that Filipinos in Tukarali would still be a large, though not majority, ethnic group in Tukarali (as they are currently according to the CP), and in turn part of a broader Filipino diaspora (which is in itself reflective of modern Overseas Filipino identity). The National Democratic Revolution which has taken place in Tukarali has (as far as I can tell) been a multiracial movement grounded more in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism than distinctly Filipino culture/identity/nationalism (aside from a mention of 'barangay' level administrative units, which could, for the sake of cohesion, be retconned to "Bairro," a loosely similar concept).

I was the last player in New Alduria as far as I am aware. I want more for it, and I think this is a good solution for a number of issues. I'd be happy to take a second primary there to oversee this change, or contribute to it in any useful way, but want to know the thoughts of others...

[Polites]

I'm not necessarily opposed to this proposal, but I wanted to point out that Tukarali's CP does mention Filipino languages 

The official language of Tukarali is Tukarese (Portuguese). The native Tukarese languages, primarily Datang (Filipino/Tagalog), Borusian (Cebuano), and Kwanto (Ilocano), are spoken by a significant part of the population. Many Esinsundu languages are spoken by the Pretos community, including Orun (Yoruba), Keobi (Igbo), Watembo (Swahili) and Ibutho (Zulu). Panmuan (Mongolian) is spoken by many Mu-Tze. The vast majority of Tukarese speak Tukarese as a first or second language.

If I remember right, the original plan for Tukarali was in fact for it to be Filipino, and only became Brazilian afterwards (though both were introduced by the same player). When I wrote Tukarali's CP I tried to account for both, making Tukarali based on the Philippines if they had been colonized by Portugal instead of Spain, and with a substantially larger immigrant population. As to how they got there, imo James suggested that Yingdala could be the Urheimat of the Nautic (Austronesian) peoples, so that some went west to Seleya and some migrated south to Temania. 

Though if everyone agrees I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to just more Filipino culture to New Alduria and leave Tukarali based only on Brazil.

[Wu Han]

I’ll leave the question of language aside, as it reveals how inattentive I was in my initial read of the Tukarali CP (oops), but on closer examination of the CP, I’ll note a few other points:

The Brazilian-based racial classifications make little sense in the context of the Filipinization of Tukarali:

• Why are the Indigenous people of Tukarali (in this case Filipinos) also lumped with all mixed-race peoples? Are all mixed-race peoples in Tukarali culturally Filipino (further then, are they Tagalog? Visayan?)? What is the breakdown of the percentage of the population that speaks a Filipino language, vs. pardos who only speak Tukarese? Can I be a pardo of only preto, branco, and orientais heritage? What is "Tukarali national identity" in this context?
  
• Why does Orientais (meaning “Easterners” as per the CP) apply equally to migrants from Asian cultural backgrounds and “the Mu-Tze (Mongols), native to parts of Tukarali” (emphasis added)? Why are the Mu-Tze “Easterners” and not Indígenas, if they are native to the country? Is it because they are considered racially “Asian”? Why then have this culturally distinct racial classification system?
  

Again, fundamentally I have no horse in the race and am not formally proposing anything, but I do feel the changes made to Tukarali are not fully considered, for the reasons listed here and above, among others… and the result remains the dilution of Filipino culture(s) to serve a secondary purpose (to represent a part of the mixed-race plurality, rather than being a more distinct cultural/national identity of its own).

As to how they got there, imo James suggested that Yingdala could be the Urheimat of the Nautic (Austronesian) peoples, so that some went west to Seleya and some migrated south to Temania.

I appreciate that at least some consideration was given to this, and the explanation makes me feel a bit more at peace with the change if nothing further happens in this regard – though this is the first I've heard of the Austronesian origin being placed in Yingdala – but I still feel the best solution is sometimes the easiest (to my mind, the New Alduria retcon).