Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-26213507-20150928140042/@comment-26896471-20150930182811

Draevan13 wrote: Bronkiin wrote: I don't understand why looking after 'refugees', of whom we see almost none in-game, and 'tolerance', seems to be so high on people's priority list. As I've explained in the previous thread, racial differences are such an integral part of Tamriel that picking it out as a factor is just imposing our real world way of thinking and problems onto a completely different scenario and set of circumstances. All provinces are fundamentally mistrustful of other races and the unknown, so to decide that Skyrim needs to become a haven of equality is really rather strange. It should be noted the difference between "tolerance" and "acceptance". Acceptance would be really hard to do, but tolerance is simply allowing someone to exist near you without bothering them. That's fairly standard across Tamriel. "Acceptance", being all friendly, is much harder to come by. Only place I saw that in Tamriel was Cyrodiil during Oblivion. I do agree with you, but tolerance is definitely a thing throughout Skyrim as it is throughout a lot of Tamriel. Even in Windhelm, the High Elves live fine side by side with the Stormcloaks there. The only examples of intolerance (by the definiton you've given) are limited to two or three NPCs and is exclusively with Dark Elves. Given the history of racial conflict between the two, it is hardly surprising to see it here. So while there is a difference between acceptance/tolerance, acceptance is so rare that it is a strange priority given the context of Tamriel, and tolerance is so common it is a strange priority given the context of Skyrim. What actually matters is the ability of Skyrim to defend itself against the Thalmor in any future war. Considerations of 'racial tolerance' or 'acceptance' pale into insignificance in comparison.