Apparent Inequalities: Guild Welfare Systems 'fairly' distributing PP to novice toons

[Jimjam]

Within the guild’s welfare structure, levelling incentive platinum distributions are tied to proximity to wizard spires—locations that function as nodes of accessibility and support. While this system appears neutral on its surface, its design disproportionately benefits certain racial groups within the game world. Characters such as high elves and erudites, whose homelands are situated adjacent to spires, inherit a structural advantage: they can access welfare resources with minimal effort, effectively receiving what might be described as a “wealth heir” by virtue of geography.

By contrast, barbarians in Everfrost exemplify systemic exclusion. Their homeland is geographically isolated, lacking wizard spires entirely. This absence forces them into conditions of relative deprivation: cold, resource‑scarce, and distant from institutional support. The welfare system, though intended as universal, reproduces inequality by embedding access within spatial structures that privilege some groups while marginalizing others.

The inequity is compounded by the symbolic labels attached to these populations. Those dwelling near spires are dignified with titles such as “erudite” or "high" connoting wisdom, refinement and elevated social class, while those consigned to the tundra are dismissed as “barbarians.” Yet this designation obscures the reality that the so‑called barbarians embody a strong sense of justice, resilience, and communal honour. The language of erudition and barbarism thus reinforces structural hierarchies: beneficiaries of systemic advantage are valorised as enlightened, while those excluded are stigmatized as primitive, despite their moral integrity.

This dynamic mirrors broader theories of systemic racism, where access to support is not evenly distributed but mediated by structural factors such as geography, infrastructure, and historical development. The result is a patterned inequality: some groups are nurtured by proximity to support, while others remain “cold, naked, and alone,” excluded not by individual prejudice but by the very design of the system itself.