>>56660092>and always needed to be bonded through union of some kind to get the message across.That, and it's a time period in-universe where, much like human history, morals meant a lot less than they do now. It's supposed to be shock value, off-putting, and something you don't want to look at. It's the ugly part of history that doesn't always get taught to everyone, though I'd argue it's necessary for any kind of worldbuilding.
I view the people saying it has no place in the franchise as the same kinds of people who would say that racism has no place in Dungeons & Dragons campaigns because of stereotypes about Goblins and Orcs. It's childish and silly. While those stereotypes and comparisons to real life can be made and exist, and as disgusting as the leaked drafts literally are, you kind of need things like that to have a starting point of adversity to overcome in your world.
Are they overdone tropes in real-world historical text/mythos/folklore/fiction? Yes, but at the very least, they're grounded in realism, which is one of the most important things when building an especially fantastical world of fiction. You don't need to go in having an artificial suspension of disbelief. As a writer, you want your players to see the forest for the trees. When someone's behind the pages of a book, or the screen of a movie or video game, and you capture them in a moment where they stop perceiving the real outside world, you've succeeded in your job as a writer.
