Posted July 06, 2021 by Adelaide Kung
Alright, so some people have asked several questions about Al-Ilam and related questions, so I'm going to add some clarification.
Q. What's the deal with indentured servitude in Dahab?
A. Dahab is explicitly designed as a metaphor for Dubai and/or Qatar, and indentured servitude in the UAE and Qatar is something both I and my co-creator wanted to address. We are repulsed by the monstrous practice of indentured servitude in the Gulf, and we wanted to do something about it.
Q. How are LGBT+ people treated in Al-Ilam?
A. This is something to discuss with your individual group. Because me and Ahmed Shawish disagreed with how to present this, we decided to entrust you with it. As a side note, both of us are openly LGBT+, and because of that, Haayalat in our games includes queer characters and queer scenarios. Is Ghalib bin Jamshid straight or gay? Is Hafsa Al-Nasira straight, bisexual or asexual? Are the Mustakimi tolerant or homophobic? This is for you to decide.
Q. Why is Alzahad portrayed as the "right" religion?
A. Because an Alzahadi wrote it! The document is deliberately biased in favor of Alzahad and Haayalat, and because of that, it also paints Cedonians as barbarians and the East (whatever that place may be) as a mysterious place nobody has ever been to. If someone from Cedonia, Myzair or the East wrote this, it would be very different.
Q. Is Alzahad Islam?
A. No, not at all. Alzahad is not Islam, and it is instead my own creation primarily inspired by Sunni and Sufi Islam as well as the Baha'i Faith and other Abrahamic religions.
Q. Where do the names come from?
A. Most of them are made up. Haayalat, for instance, is not an actual Arabic word.
Q. Can Muslims/non-Muslims/LGBT+ people/etc. play this?
A. If you have a system and a group, you can play a game in Al-Ilam!
Q. Will you ever make a sequel?
A. Most likely, no. I would need to find an appropriate co-creator and devote a significant amount of time to it.