The Sultan's Alchemist quest....erm, what?

[KaryAnn]

Originally Posted by Zechnophobe

As far as I can tell, you are just a really intolerant person if you think references to any specific religion, especially the fairly historical benign parts, are somehow 'not okay' to have in a game.

The vikings are noticeably Norse. This guy? He's got obvious middle eastern background. What's the big deal?

Fairly historical benign? I don't even...

If a fantasy game with flying horses and giant man eating plants referenced the second coming of Jesus and quoted Aristotle, you better believe it sticks out like a sore thumb.

This guy isn't referenced as someone who is 'obviously middle eastern' but someone who is and was around where Islam was practiced. Which puts Islam in your whole game setting. Which puts kind of everything else in the whole picture too. It's not unique anymore.

The world is supposed to be unique, isn't it? Which means that you cannot use historical connotations, only general ones. You can use middle eastern but you can't use Ottoman anything because that has a connotation you cannot generalize. Which means you cannot use Sultan anything.

English literature is very strict on this kind of thing. You know, time periods, anachronisms, pretty sure there is a definition for this sort of example as a no-no.

As a literary framework, it is not done. And every serious author knows this.

It's not the same thing as basing your story around the Norse gods. Not even remotely close.