A Fantastical Caste System

 I am alive! I have recently been doing quite a bit of playtesting with my system, but I haven't wanted to commit any of my thoughts on it to paper yet, so I haven't had too much to write about. However, I recently came across a worldbuilding idea that I think would be very interesting to see implemented.

10-8-21 Update: After some discussions and feedback, I have clarified below the fact that in this system, everyone would be human (or whatever) and the Castes would just be named elves, dwarves, and so on. Hopefully this will make my intentions a bit clearer. 

What is a Caste System?

    Now, to most Western readers the idea of a caste system is very strange, so I will be doing some basic background before I get to the core idea. 

    Anthropologists generally classify systems of social organization into Open and Closed systems. An open system allows people to change their place in the structure, potentially moving up or down in terms of power or status. Not everyone is equal, but everyone has the chance to move around. A closed system, is none of that. You are set into a specific classification, usually it is given or "ascribed" at birth, and you can never leave it. For practical discussions, the an Open system is also known as a Class system and a Closed system is also known as a Caste system. There is some nuance in there (like that Caste systems are Closed, but not all Closed systems are Caste systems), but it is functional for the purposes of most discussion.

    Now, in a Caste system people are born into a specific caste and that is where they are for life. Castes usually have set roles or possibilities for what they can do, and you just don't get away from it. For example, India's system has Castes of Priests/Musicians, Warriors/Leaders, merchants/farmers, servants/workers, and those who are considered to be outside of the main Caste system (foreigners and those who do particularly "dirty" work like dealing with the dead). 

    Caste systems are powerful, because they are upheld by the people within the system and they have the ability to linger even after their abolition. India abolished their Caste system in 1949. Japan abolished their caste system in 1871 and the effects are still being felt. The reasons for this are multi-faceted, but can basically be summed up in that Caste systems group people together and those patterns have a habit of persisting.

    And of course, not everyone is happy with a Caste system. But, it is often a way of life that is so ingrained into people's culture that they don't even notice it, nevermind the ways that it is legitimized through religion and tradition. To most western readers, this will all feel very foreign, but I will do my best to relate it to our experiences. If, for example, you are born as into a very wealthy family, there will be expectations about what you do with your life. Private school, which will usually push you into advanced courses, followed by going to College to get a degree would be basic assumptions. Further, you would be expected to do a job with authority and money. The idea that a wealthy child would drop out of highschool and go do something like sanitation work would probably not even be a possibility. Contrast that with a child of a poor family. America, for example, has a long history of glorifying "hard work" and working your way into wealth. This would likely lead to dropping out of highschool, forget attending college, and doing "good" hard work to survive. Ending up in a cushy managerial position would be a pipe dream to most people in this kind of situation. 

    Now, imagine that system was formalized. The people in the bottom Caste know they aren't going to do what those in the top Caste will, and it is ok. It is the way things should be. It isn't as foreign as it sounds. Just looking back at the United State's history, being a woman or having colored skin used to be effective Castes. Legally, they aren't anymore. But like in India or Japan, the patterns still propagate forward.  

    How does this apply to RPGs?

    Well, I am glad you asked anonymous reader! The idea I had was a setting where elves, dwarves, and so on are actually different Castes. That is, everyone is human (or something else that fits the setting) and the Castes are named after traditional fantasy species which are somehow tied to what they do. For example, they might break down like so:

• Dwarves - Construction and Transportation of Goods
• Halflings - Hunting, Forestry, and Exploration
• Elves - Arts, Leadership, and Historical Knowledge
• Humans - Farming and Service Work
• Orcs - Combat and Enforcement
• Goblinoids - Various Foreigners and Undesirables

    As with a proper Caste system, people are born into these categories and basically stay there for life. Any statistical bonuses here, instead of being innate, represent the different patterns of how they were raised. However, there is two important problems that still need to be solved: marriage or children happen between Castes and how adventuring or adventurers interact with this system. 

    Lets start by considering the more gameable problem of adventuring. As I have described before, people are limited in their options by their Caste. That does not mesh well with the regular need for characters who are running off to go adventuring that is everywhere in tabletop games. Perhaps the simplest solution to this is the construction of an Adventurer Caste. For that to work, however, it would need to be an exception to how Castes normally work and allow people to declare themselves Adventurers (one time thing, no take-backsies). Alternatively, there may be a cultural concept similar to taking a Sabbatical, where people instead leave their lives behind to go adventuring for a while. I'm not super sold on the idea, but I also think it could be workshopped into something functional. 

    As for the other problem of marriage and children between Castes, I can think of two main solutions. One, is that officially this never happens. In the few instances it does practically, there is no official relationship (no marriage) and any children belong to the lesser of the two Castes. In the other option, there is still no relationship officially, but any children are Half-Elves no matter which Castes their parents are from. Half-Elves are basically heavily looked down upon, but an independent Caste probably responsible for diplomacy, negotiations, and settling differences between members of different Castes. Alternatively, Half-Elves could be the adventuring Caste. Either way would work well, though the first would imply quite a lot of inter-caste relations which is probably a bad thing unless Elves are really horny all the time.

    Finally, I want to add on this list of other potential Fantasy Castes, along with any ideas I had for their potential meanings:

• Dragonborn - Rulers or Diplomats?
• Gnomes - Trade skills?
• Tieflings - ???
• Genasi - Something elemental? Like construction, sailing, ???, and ???
• Aasimar - Priests?
• Firblog - Somehow similar to Halflings?
• Kobolds - Orphans? Urchins?
• Gnolls - Tribal peoples?
• Kenku - An entire caste that has been demoted to doing demeaning work?

    I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic! Let me know if you would re-arrange the responsibilities of anything or what you think I am missing. It is very much a work in progress right now, but I think it has a lot of potential to make an interesting setting!