Starstruck
Member
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Well, I enjoy Western settings probably better than anyone. Cowboys, horses, free-range, ghost towns, mining towns - it's all wonderful to me. I'll never tire of reading fanfiction about Pride and Prejudice reimagined in a Wild West context. However, I reckon I'm just about the only one who would actively prefer having a gritty, realistic setting, tumbleweeds and tombstones and all of that. Most of y'all would probably rather have spells, swords, thievery, and other classical forms of combat like crossbows or crumpets. So I'd be perfectly willing to revamp the setting a bit to make it more applicable to your tastes, and then once that's done I'll see what can be done about a dust and grit Western RP. The defining characteristics of the Western are a combined desire to explore the unknown and a stubborn cling to tradition. This basically describes everything about the USA, by the way, but it is at its strongest in the Western, which is probably why Americans think of the Wild West as an influential period of history...even though the whole thing lasted maybe 20-25 years, a trifling matter in the grand scheme of things. Southern belles took up shotguns and defended homesteads, becoming something else entirely and irrevocably transforming their archetype from a soft and dainty garden party lady to a tough and dangerous woman who wears classical, fine dresses and keeps her manners intact. Some men drove cattle for a living; others stole cattle for a living, creating a dichotomy of law and lawlessness that gave "outlaw' its specific connotations. Railroads were beginning to arrive, prompting the creation of myths and tall tales of strongmen and explorers who were gradually outpaced by the Victorian ideals of progress, remembered wistfully even as the new age of glorious technology was ushered in. The actual details of technology are irrelevant to a good Western - you could do steampunk, medieval, cyberpunk, punkpunk, or even fantasy and the Western magic could be kept alive through the magic of the style. oops, I've caught the blab from Isis. Her return has disorganized us all!
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