Gentlemen,
what annoys me about this is not historical inaccuracy, and not even cultural stereotyping - in an "invented" fantasy world it may be unavoidable. What bothers me is the extent to which stereotyping and just plain lack of sensitivity is exhibited by GW.
As Hagen correctly pointed out, there was a period when Empire fluff and the words used were offensive to native German speakers. Since Germany is a large market, they had to tone it down. Until fairly recently, Eastern Europe was not a significant market, so all kinds of outlandish fluff could be used without regard for offending someone. Well, now that Eastern Europe, Russia including, are a growing market, that approach assumes outwardly inappropriate forms.
I am not even talking about Boris riding a bear – THAT I could live with (although the association of Russia with bears could be handled in a cooler way – something along the lines of a trained, armoured fighting bear with a Kislevite handler). There are other things. To give one example: In the novel “Ambassadorâ€, which is set in Kislev, the Tzarina’s secret police is called the “Tchekistâ€. Apart from linguistic inaccuracy (If you want to write fantasy fiction, do it convincingly – that was shoddy homework), the use of that word IS deeply offensive because of what it denotes and used to stand for. After all, no one in their right mind would call the Imperial secret police “Gestapo†in print. And for a good reason.
So, before I close my diatribe, I point out once again – there are members from all over the world on this Forum, so please consider that in your responses. *Squints at Mace reverently*
