Saint Joseph School

Oh, hey, look, something to post about.

I treated the NHSA as more or less a little RP detail. I never envisioned people getting together in game or anything. Just sortof "the B-Movie Madness" club that people referenced in the yearbook thread, the NHSA was just sortof a thing. It existed to be a place where Faster could listen to other people vent and quietly mock them for crying about it. She was in the NHSA because Valerie Atwood felt it could help her grow.

I will also say this-- for a LONG time, the only player characters in the NHSA was just me and Lizardess, and the rest were unnamed NPCs. These days, it'd be like half the active players. I'm not sure it continues to have meaning. Whenever Persiflage has gotten a burr in her fur about being "mistreated" as a catgirl, she gets an OVERWHELMING show of support and almost no dissenters at all. People are already saying on this thread that they're interested in having their perfectly human-looking character join to show "support". That much support squeezes the life out of the idea.

You're all too nice, is what I'm saying.

There is very little purpose for a Women's Issues Alliance at Wellesley or Smith. There's very little purpose in starting a support group for people against the war in Iraq at the Democratic National Convention. I'm not positive, given the current climate at SJS, that the NHSA matters. Nonhumans already get support from everyone except High Tower and Tolliver.

While it's all well and good to RP that there are all these insensitive types roaming the campus, until it bleeds into game, actually making a big deal about the NHSA seems like a pretend pity-party.

And to nip it in the bud-- no. Team Cock Block is not currently searching for new members.

I agree with Faster. Never thought I'd say that.

I don't see that much conflict in the school about non-human looking characters.

Maybe it could have more to do with prejudice they might encounter outside school?

I personally think it is a fabulous idea, and i'm all for joining it!

Most of our unusual looking toons are human, or at least partly human. For instance. I've always considered catpeople to be human. They're certainly not another species. Now, maybe in some individuals' RP they are -- that's fine -- but by and large? That's not how I had envisioned it. Similar with other concepts.

And in Persiflage's case, I'm pretty sure she's got a large dose of human DNA in her, doesn't she? She's not fully human, but she's also not fully non-human. If the alliance is restricted to literal non-humans, I'd really have to wonder just why she's in it. (OOCly anyway)

I think "non-human" is the wrong focus, as I've reflected on this. I think it'd be better to shift the focus to students who are morphologically unusual, whether human or not. The ones who are visibly not a normal, average human being. This would let mutants who looks really freaky come in too, and I think they would benefit from it just as much as the non-humans.

I also wonder about the school's involvement in it. I can't see the school sponsoring something called the "non-human alliance". It risks creating too much division. If it's school sponsored, it'd probably be more inclusive--students with unusual morphologies and their allies.

If the club isn't inclusive, and especially if the club fosters division (even accidentally), I would expect SJS to eventually attempt to shut it down, or at the least, refocus it into something more positive for the whole community.

You might consider giving it a name that doesn't necessarily sound like it connects in an obvious way. For a bad example, the Rhino Club. Then give it a meaning that makes sense when it's explained. For a bad example, we're called the Rhino club because rhinos often get pooped on by birds. (Yes, that makes no sense. I'm not claiming to have a good example!)

I think the idea has lots of potential, but it's still kind of rough. I'm not a fan of a literal "non-human alliance", but I like the spirit behind it enough that I'm hoping it blossoms.

Well, actually, I would be a fan of a literal non-human alliance if it formed underground, caused tensions, and eventually got redirected into a more positive, expansive club by school intervention. That could make for some interesting stories along the way.

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In the time it took me to write that, Faster posted. Reflecting, I agree, there's probably not much need for the club within super-supportive SJS. But I'm leaving the rest of what I wrote stick in case the ball keeps rolling. The club could serve purpose for RP involving the non-SJS world.

Posting late here... But I would say sign Kai up.. he qualifies anyway ya slice it.

And I do see a need for this. I role play Kai to be different and odd. As a result he gets treated different. Jimbari gets treated different. Most the popular students look normal or at least can look normal. The exception seems to be the cat girls, but that's for all the reasons that Faster Hates being a cat girl...