Addressing cultural insensitivities in Mystaran cultures
by Travis Henryhere are some tentative improvements. Though I'd want to comb through the source materials to be thorough.
Broken Lands reboot:
-The Red Orcs are renamed Crimson Orcs. They either totally abandon their M-American Indian culture at a certain point in the timeline, or are rebooted from the start to have a Magical Mars culture, influenced by the Red Realm.
-The Yellow Orcs are renamed Golden Orcs. They either totally abandon their M-Mongolian culture at a certain point in the timeline, or are rebooted from the start to have a Magical Sun culture, influenced by the Yellow Realm.
-I'd look at the other RW parallels (e.g. pasha = Turkish) and consider whether to change them. But they are not as immediately problematic as the "racial" terms "red" and "yellow."
-The other Seven Realms would influence the other cultures of the Broken Lands: Rainbow, Black, White, Blue, Green.
-Other changes in emphasis, but based on Official sources, as suggested by Ripvanwormer: the Broken Lands are ruled by tyrannical Olympian Immortals, etc.
-But remember, I like the Heardian zaniness (Trollhatten)...I think it's an archetypal Mystaran theme.
-As per 5E, humanoids no longer are assumed to be evil. The Broken Lands is just another country.
Yazi Goblinoids are people too!:
-The Gnolls of El Grande Carrascal, the Human Bandits of Bushwhack Prairie, and the Goblins of the Badlands, are given red lines on the map, as proper "countries", just like the Atruaghin Clans.
-The Goblins are reinterpreted as Chichi, "boogeyman" figures of Lakota myth, and their national names (Black Bellies, Flat Noses) are given proper Lakota form. This statment from 2E SC is amended: "The Yazi goblins of the Badlands are savage destroyers who live by preying
on others." The Yazi are no more savage or destructive than the human cultures. An explanatory disclaimer is included, that explains the relationship between the Chichi and the Horse Clan culture of the Atruaghin Clans.
-It's acknowledged that General Cimmaron was intruding upon the traditional territory of the Chichi when he was slain at Longhorn's Last Stand.
-The Gnolls are reinterpreted as creatures from Nde (Apache) myth, such as Góshé "dog" folk. Their national names (Long Legs,
Chiriquis, and Dead Yuccas) are given proper Nde form. This statement from the 2E SC is expanded: "Gnolls [...] negotiate and engage in honest trade, and they do not immediately attack humans or demihumans." An explanatory disclaimer is included.
The various lands of the M-Mesoamerican Tortles are given red-lined countries on the map of the Savage Coast. Those Tortles are given full M-Mayan treatment. Or possibly the various Tortle lands each have a different M-Mesoamerican culture.
Atruaghin Clans revised to reflect Indigenous American national diversity:
-Nearly every subsetting on Mystara has its own set of "Atruaghin Clans". E.g. a set of Clans in the Southold (e.g. in the Yazak Steppes or Great Northway Lands). Another in the Arm of the Immortals. Another in the Jungle Coast. Another in Norwold (in the unmapped hinterland near Borea). Other Clans in Western Brun, Davania, and Skothar.
-So that literally every traditional American Indian nation of North, Central, and South America has a Mystaran analogue.
-The existing Atruaghin Clans are equated to a specific traditional nation, and given proper translations of their placenames. Only one nation (or confederacy) per Clan. E.g. Bear Clan = Hopi. Elk Clan = Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). Sea Turtle Clan = Haida. Tiger Clan = Nahuatl / Mexica. Horse = Oceti Sakowin (Sioux).
-The "forgotten" Official clans (Ferret, Boar, Wolf, and Viper) are filled out, each with another nation. Simone Neri took some good notes.
-The HW is used to present key archeological cultures from throughout the Americas, e.g. Moundbuilders.
The Master of Hule is not the Ayatollah Khomeini:
-Re-depicted as M-Timurlane, instead of M-Ayatollah Khomeini.
-The Desert Nomads of the western Great Waste and Adri Varma Plateau (after the loss of Gulluvia to the Mists!) receive their own red-lined country. They are M-Afghans, including the various Afghan nationalities: M-Pashtun, M-Brahui, M-Balochi, M-Hazara, etc. There are orcish and half-orcish Desert Nomads, and they are not necessarily eeevil.
The Myoshimans are not WWII Japanese prisoner camp guards:
-Lady Abovombe was truly a guest of the Myoshimans. CoM p.76 is incorrect. She did stay there for 34 years, and enjoyed it. She wasn't locked in a dungeon. She became a valued emissary between Cestia and Myoshima. She doesn't "now despise all Myoshimans." She loves Myoshimans...what's not to love?...samurai catfolk!
Herathians lean into, or away from, Jewishness:
A) Instead of tiptoeing around it, perhaps the Herathians are explicitly made to be M-Jewish(!) Moriscos? Sephardic Ladinos? And their culture, though not entirely unsympathetic in the Official materials, is presented in a more fully sympathetic light. With Jewish folklore adapted to Herathian culture. Or,
B) The Herathians are explicitly revised to be (pre-Israelite) M-Canaanite.
The Heldannic Knights retire from the villain role:
-Haldemar's stories about the Knights are either rebooted from the start,
-Or, at a certain point in the timeline, the Heldannic Knights soften and become good neighbors.
-In general, in my Mystara, I would downplay the "national power politics" and focus on the "Realms of Man vs. Chaos" theme, with all men and demi-humans more or less on the same "side." More of a "points of light" world.
Schattenalfen are renamed:
-Possibly "Chaneque Elf" as suggested by cab. (BTW, in Common Thyatian, I suggest the word for "elf" is "alf"; so you could render it as "Chaneque Alf".)