Kafers

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Gnusam Netor:
It is not pronounced exactly the same... it probably even differs among germans.

Gnusam,

Tell you what...

Build a time machine, travel back to the late 1980s, re-write 2300AD in German, release your version before GDW releases their version, support it with all the follow-on products, games, and magazine articles, have it sell well enough for an updated d20 version to be released nearly 20 years later, and we'll all spell and pronounce the word kafer 'correctly'.

Okay?

2300AD was written by English speakers and therefore uses English spelling and pronunciation. When we all start playing a RPG written by German speakers, we will all start worrying about German spelling and pronunciation. Until then; Who Cares?


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Uncle Bob]

Kafir/Kaffer is an Africaaner Dutch word, a derogtory term applied to black Africans. Basically the South African "n" word.

It comes from the Arabic kafir or kufr, an "unbeliever", particularly a pagan/polytheist. A word that applied to the native people of sub-saharan Africa who fed the arab slave trade in East Africa. Hmm, the German usage may date back to their own colonial days, when they got it straight from the Arabs...

But English or German, unless you are writing it in Arabic you can't claim the one, true spelling.

 

[Chaos]

Sorry, Uncle Bob, but "Käfer" simply means "bug" or "beetle". As in "ladybug" or "dung beetle".

Sorry, Gnusam, but the pronouncation for "Käfer" and "Kafer" (just like "wafer", but with a "k" in front) is almost exactly the same. And, as a German native speaker, I immodestly consider myself as something of an expert in German pronounciation.

 

[Ran Targas]

^ As a German-American with only limited exposure to my mother tongue (you know, Hogans Heroes, Ah-nold, Das Boot, Heidi Klume, etc.), I am forced to agree!

 

[sid6.7]

i was looking at kafer the other day and was suprised they would make it so close in spelling
and sound? to kafir/kaffer...LOL

i suspect its different in sound as in:
kay fur...VS ka fir / kaw fur?

someone was either alseep at the wheel
in editing/review...or not to bright..
only becuase people take offense at the
littlest things anymore....and start sceaming lawsuit..

 

[Gnusam Netor]

Originally posted by Bill Cameron:

Build a time machine, travel back to the late 1980s, re-write 2300AD in German, release your version before GDW releases their version, support it with all the follow-on products, games, and magazine articles, have it sell well enough for an updated d20 version to be released nearly 20 years later, and we'll all spell and pronounce the word kafer 'correctly'.

Why do you take one line and blow it out of proportion Bill? My post contained far more on a different matter, something I think is far more important for the setting. I know perfectly well that it is unreasonable to demand that someone is familiar with something they are unfamiliar with.

The name is Kafer because that is the name given to them.

 

[epicenter00]

Originally posted by Gnusam Netor:
Further why why don't they manufacture artificial intelli-adrenaline? That has a good answer too, they have stone-age medical technology. Why do they have that? The pain from wounds or sickness raises their temp-intelligence. They don't want to get better or be treated, nor has there been any evolutionary drive for it. Thus, medical tech never advanced. Brilliant!

Now here is an idea i thought of. What if the Humans started manufacturing artificial Kafer-adrenaline? After 20 years humans would have chemically identified the Kafer-smart-adrenaline for sure. I'm sure the Kafer Suzerains(?)/their government would see this as the ultimate biological weapon. A concept of warfare they have the know-how to do themselves surpisingly. If they don't know their own biology, why would they understand what effects humans?

Anyway, they would certainly try to stop human-smart-drugs from spreading in their civilization. If the spread is successful however, artificial smart drugs for the Kafers would inhibit their prime motive for wanting war. If I lived on Aurora and wanted peace with the Kafers, I would definatly try to make smart-drugs for the Kafers, perhaps distributing it among captured Kafers while conditioning them to be flower-picking Buddhas. I would go Hiver on their ass in short.

They actually discuss that in the said guidebook. Even with an artificial drug, they would probably still want war, simply because violence is linked to all the good things in life. It would be like asking you to give up sex since we can do procreate these days via in-vitro fertilization. Would you? Probably not.

And the Kafers do try "smart drugs" on their own in one of the Challenge Scenarios, "Lone Wolf." So obviously someone, the smart money being on the Ylii, has developed something as you describe for Kafers.

As for chemical warfare, the easiest way to control a Kafer? Introduce a drug that inhibits the natural neural stimulant, like a painkiller does with pain receptors. Suddenly Kafers can't get smart even when under fire. Then the real party begins, at least until the NARL and the Life Foundation pitch a fit about genocide. (And they'd be right...)

 

[Gnusam Netor]

Originally posted by epicenter00:
They actually discuss that in the said guidebook. Even with an artificial drug, they would probably still want war, simply because violence is linked to all the good things in life. It would be like asking you to give up sex since we can do procreate these days via in-vitro fertilization. Would you? Probably not.

Yes, on page 26, haven't seen it before. Well, well, there goes my "original" idea.

I think brainwashing, Pavlovian-conditioning or something like that can eradicate most urges in humans, including the sexdrive. It could very well work with Kafers too, especially if used together with various mind-altering drugs.

And the Kafers do try "smart drugs" on their own in one of the Challenge Scenarios, "Lone Wolf." So obviously someone, the smart money being on the Ylii, has developed something as you describe for Kafers.

Didn't know that either.

It doesn't seem to add up when I think about it a bit more, the Ylii that live with the Kafers shouldn't have the freedom to do research on their own (if it was them). The Kafers are more or less unaware of their own biology, so they shouldn't be very interested anyway, why should they allow the Ylii to work on something "meaningless"?

Who knows, the Kafers have many fractions, just like the Humans have so anything is possible i guess.

 

[Lord Iron Wolf]

Hi Colin,

A couple of odd thoughts. Humans also have non lethal wars: Rugby, Soccer, Football (American), Hurling, Sumo Wrestling, ect. Tapes of these things that have been captured by the Kafers could have very interesting consequences/results. Most military units have some movies/holovids that would include action/adventure/war films; curious how those would be interpreted.

Another possiblilty for higher tech raids by humans would be the development of a "Prosac" gas/vapor to use before striking a kafer settlement or research station. The kafers would be kept dumb and dumberer while they were being slaughtered/tricked. High tech gas warfare and the airplanes/special ops to disperse it at the right moment. The punch and counterpunch of this type of warfare would not only involve soldiers but scientists and technicians as well.

A few thoughts for now,
Good Luck,
Lord Iron Wolf