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Role-Playing In The Land Of Oz |
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People
This is my big chance to piss off my entire country and take a few shots at foreign folks as well. Woo hoo! The aboriginals were here first, having moved in several thousand years ago and ranging over the entire country in a variety of relatively peaceful hunter-gatherer lifestyles. The British colonised the place with a mixture of soldiers and convicts, but eventually just settlers - up until nearly the end of last century, most Australians were either Aboriginals or Anglos of British extraction. The marginalisation of the Aboriginals by the Anglos, because of their numbers, organisation and technological advancement, means that in the cities, language, behaviour and whatnot were essentially British with a "frontier" outlook of can-do which was the basis for what some people once called the Aussie spirit. Australia got Chinese immigrants during the gold rushes, western Europeans at the turn of the century, eastern Europeans following both world wars, and an increasing trickle of Asian immigrants, all accompanying the steady flow of British immigrants. Statistics might fool you into thinking Australia was a bit of a melting pot, but in fact members of most ethnic groups moving here tend to settle together forming conclaves which may be more conservative than the country they left behind! So we have German-Australians in South Australia, Italian-Australians in New South Wales, Greek-Australians in Victoria, and Vietnamese-Australians in Sydney and Melbourne, for example. Many first-generation immigrants speak poor English. Many second-generation, or later immigrants still speak a language other than English. So you can see pretty much all Australians are immigrants, it just depends how many generations you have to go back. A word about Aboriginals: the British colonists considered them to be first irrelevant, then in the way, then an embarrassment. Widely separated, lacking education, funds, leaders, their numbers dwindled and many of their cultural ways were forgotten. Most now do not speak their tribal language (about half the tribal languages have vanished forever) and live in or near cities in the western fashion of the poor and underprivileged. They are not all Yoda-clones able to pass on ancient wisdom and knowing mystical ways, they're mostly just people. Relatively few live in the traditional manner, even among those who still live on their traditional lands - from what I have learned their situation is not dissimilar to that of the native Americans. Laws This is something important to many role-players - "Why is my character being arrested? I wasn't doing anything illegal..." Australia is a pretty liberal country, which means that it's pretty safe to criticise the government and pretty unpopular to make racist remarks in a public forum. But like they say in Traveller, you define the laws of a country by how they treat guns. It's hard to get a gun legally. You have to join a gun club, go to a certain number of weekly meetings (like 6), get a background check, and then you can buy one - which has to be registered after you pay for it but before the gun shop lets you have it. If it's a rifle, it must not be a self-loading type; if it's a shotgun, it must not be a self-loading or pump-action type (exceptions are made for professional shooters, who have a professional shooter's licence as well as a gun licence). Full auto weapons - yeah, right. You are required by law to keep the weapon in a locked container and the ammunition in a separate locked container. If you can't do this at home the gun must be stored at your gun club. Also the cops get itchy about people "seen" carrying guns, any guns, especially in town. Out in the country it's OK. Of course weapons can be obtained on the black market. Is your contact a cop? Hand him the money and find out... For some verisimilitude in law enforcement: we have one police force for each state or territory (that's eight) including the Australian Federal Police, who handle policing in the ACT in uniform, but also in plainclothes handle operations targeting organised crime and drug importation around the country. Our uniformed cops carry handguns, usually .38 revolvers (but 9mm Glocks in New South Wales), and don't usually wear bulletproof vests. When raiding locations thought to contain armed offenders, tactical police in vests and armed with 9mm H&K; MP5 submachine guns and flash-bang grenades attend. Snipers typically use 7.62mm SLR semi automatic rifles with telescopic sights. OK that's it. If anybody has any specific inquiries feel free to contact me at [email protected]. |
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Copyright � 1999 Adam Reeve |
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