Overcoming faction divides

Presently: Hatred, pinned down by:

- Military divides. They make up the bulk of the enemy army in the north.

- Physical differences. They do not look human and hence can be classified as "monster." Easily treated as vicious animals without moral repercussions.

- History. They have badly injured friends and allies. They are responsible for the overrunning of various towns.

- Hate/fearmongering. Allied propaganda demonises them. Any shared aspects between the two species are carefully excluded from documentation to avoid cultivating any sort of rapport.

- Fear. Calysia is petrified of them. They come from beneath her feet and they are massively more powerful than she is. Fear makes her angry and she naturally points that anger at the Hakurians, where it flourishes into hate.

- Accepted standards of behaviour. Many soldiers happily joke and daydream about butchering and torturing Hakurians; it is an accepted social norm to want to harm them and to be quite open about this. Although Dayrin's unit includes several members with less violent attitudes - specificially Rethilmyrr, Vintner, Devine and Dayrin herself - Calysia is constantly exposed to rampant, unchecked, encouraged hate, and thus easily adopts it herself without any thought for morality or humanity.

- The situation. They're out in the middle of no-where, without reinforcements, with the constant threat of death maintained by the presence of Hakurians in the area. Most of the time they are heard and perhaps glimpsed at most (meeting them face to face would result in direct confrontation), allowing imaginations to run wild. Essentially hemmed in by nightmares, any possible point of identification or sympathetic contact removed.


How might this be overcome? Consider real life cases of racism/classism/sexism.

- Proper contact. Ignorance is a breeding pool for hatred. If they are allowed to see day-to-day, peaceful aspects of the Hakurians, they will be able to define them more specifically (and thus less damningly) in terms of concrete facts. Similarities between the factions might also show through.

- Active attempts by influential members of the community. Dayrin and Rethilmyrr in particular are respected, logical people. By undermining the hate culture that allows people to happily voice their violent views, they can introduce moral consequences to such bigotry.

- The censorship of negative influences, specifically allied propaganda. No longer being fed their opinions, the humans will have to forge their own. (Though this in itself does not necessarily cause progression, it does open the way for it.)

- Other threats. Presently the Hakurians are the only enemies in the area, which earns them all the animocity of the people. Once the party reaches the ruins they will have other things to worry about - their environment, the presumed "malevolent spirits" etc - which may reduce their fear of the Hakurians.

- Positive interaction. Although the war makes this difficult, scenarios where the two sides must band together will allow some of the historical divides to be replaced by the new. Even if they do not actively ally even for a short period of time, seeing the Hakurians working towards similar goals may also have this effect due to an element of kinship in their struggles.