Pathfinders Totem Deck rant

[moonvoice]

So, I was checking out the Pathfinders Animal Totems deck, as you do, mainly just because I was curious and because you know - eventually I would like to break my own deck out into the market, if I ever get it off the ground (60 pictures and counting) - and I saw this:

23) Mouse/Rat/Shrew/Bilby/Capybara

Um, WTF? The Bilby is NOT, and never HAS BEEN a rodent. It does not belong on a card with other rodents. It never will belong on a card with other rodents. It's energy is in no way rodent-like. At the very least, it should go with Bandicoot, and other members of it's family. Because they ARE similar.

I have a problem with condensing several animals into one card already, but this is just ridiculous. Research might seem hard to comprehend, but it really does help if you at least don't offend the Australians, and the Indigenous Aborigines who would see this, and probably just scoff in disgust. Why not just put Thylacine with the dogs? Why not just put the marsupial mole with mammalian moles? And I know, why not just put whales, sharks, seals and fish together! Because hey, if they swim in the sea, they might as well go together right?

*cough* Bah. On behalf of the Australians that give a shit, and are sick to death of foreigners butchering where our animals stand in the hierarchy and then lumping them with mammals, I am pissed.

*bitchslaps the person who came up with that*

I sent them a comment.
I guess it's fair to say that when it comes to Australian totemism, I know where I - and a lot of others - stand.

Comments

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's unfortunate, because I really think they meant well. And I don't think they were 'cashing in', because they've tried to make the deck accessible. I just feel that their research is so lacking, I don't know if I could trust anything they said about the animals.

But I'm one of those anally retentive people who strongly believes that you can learn a lot about an animal's spirit and personality, from their behaviour and physiology. And while science might not tell me the totemistic significance of Splendid Fairy Wren, it will suggest that - because they are all very promiscuous - they aren't going to be teaching me about the values of monogamy in a hurry. :)