Motavian Natives

[etony33]

It seems to me that the plight of the Motavian Natives was a sort of social commentary about (take your pick) American Indians or Aboriginal Australians.

At one point, the planet of Motavia likely had no natives of Palma at all. By the time Phantasy Star (I) comes around, they aren't in any towns, but wander around in the desert and in caves. They either grovel (E.Farmer) or are angry (N.Farmer), and the ones who are more friendly (E.Farmer) are also a lot richer.

You do see some native Motavians in towns in Phantasy Star II, but they are afraid of Rolf at first, and also seem to have had a complete breakdown of their education system, as they just play with garbage.

By Phantasy Star IV, they have their own village, Tonoe (and they had a second one, Molcum, prior to its destruction). They seem to be better off than they were in the past (even as native Palmans are worse due to the weather).

[etony33]

Likewise, the natives of Dezoris do not like Palmans in Phantasy Star, and may or may not like them in Phantasy Star II (I am not sure what the whole Magic/Mogic Cap business was about). They mention that the people of Palm went there to mine Laconia (not unlike Europeans going somewhere to get oil and/or diamonds out of the ground).

By the events of Phantasy Star IV, the natives of Dezolis are doing quite well for themselves, the blizzard and Garuberk Tower notwithstanding. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they maintained their self sufficiency in the face of Mother Brain.

[MrStarbird]

Motavians by nature were nomadic people. I do see the similarities between them an both the Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians, but the entire planet of Motavia itself was barren and there were no official settlements by Motavians. The Palmans eventually colonized the planet but they didn't exactly force the Motavians out of their homes, because again, they were nomads.

That being said, by the time PS2 rolls around, Motavians do indeed seem out of place, feeling as they do not belong. The cultivation of Motavia meant that the means of survival that Motavians once had were gone. Though you don't see a lot of Motavians in PS2, you see them in a couple of towns and in Roron. However, keep in mind that on Motavia there are a LOT of farm domes that most likely used the Motavians as workers. You could suggest that social commentary could be used in that, but there is no evidence either way to support that Motavians were forced to work the fields, were hired to do so, or had nothing to do with them (considering that most of the farming could have been automated by Mother Brain anyway).

After the Great Collapse, Motavia started to return to its desert state and Motavians themselves wandered again, but eventually decided to settle down.

Dezolisans, on the other hand, were not very fond of Palmans colonizing their planet, but then again, Dezolisans were more or less a civilized race that could take care of themselves. I can see their unease about the Palmans, and because of the language gap, lived in fear of the Palmans and their advanced technology. Even if the Palmans never demonstrated aggression towards the natives, Dezolisans saw them as a ticking time bomb that could possibly eradicate them and their ways of life.

The whole thing with the Magic/Mogic Cap I will admit is a bit strange. Magic Cap lets you talk to Musk Cats truthfully, which was odd because you could understand them perfectly in Phantasy Star and Phantasy Star IV, whereas Mogic Caps did the same for Dezolisians (again, they all speak the same language in both 1 and 4, except for the enemies who you have to use a communication spell or item). The caps were a piece of technology or magic that translated different languages. However, if used on the wrong race, it would create a mis-translation and thus it would appear as though Rolf would be lied to.

I do see your point in social commentary. I don't think that was the intent of the developers (except possibly with the whole inhabiting a planet to mine for Laconia being similar to the Europeans heading to Africa for diamonds), but one never knows.

[etony33]

Regarding the language thing, maybe Mother Brain brought along with it "Newspeak" a la 1984.

[Doctor Hooves]

Hmm, I never thought about that before, but now that you mention it, Motavians do indeed seem like exiled groups, like Amerindians or Tibetans.

Dezolisians got lucky.

[DarkMyau]

I always thought it was due to the terraforming effort of Mother Brain. Motavians arn't suited to the Palmain climate so they diminished a bit, while in PS4 they are growing stronger again.

[etony33]

Something I just realized: if you look at a map of Motavia in PS2 and compare it to the map of Motavia in PS4, Tonoe is pretty much where Paseo was/should be. Maybe a bunch of angry, axe wielding Motavians decided they were going to drive out the government officials who had screwed up their planet around the time of the Great Collapse.

[DarkMyau]

Actually Paseo is slightly above Zema. So its under water in Phantasy Star 4

[etony33]

The landscape has shifted a bit in general, but Tonoe is about the closest. In that general direction, anyway.