\ Haven:Mist and Shadow Gameplay/Attractiveness Lore
Gameplay

Attractiveness Lore


In the world of Haven Attractiveness is one of the main tools that
monsters use to manipulate and control people.

If you've ever wondered why people are more likely to listen to an
endorsement by a pretty celebrity than a learned scientist the answer is
that simply, this is how the monsters want it.

As most attractive people are either monsters on in league with them
it's in their interests to keep humans hung up on standards of beauty and
adhering to the same set. As such in the world of Haven physical
attractiveness is not very subjective. While subjective preferences can
make a small difference in who people find appealing it would never be as
large as a single point on the represented scale out of ten. Which is to
say that for example no heterosexual woman would find a male who looks to be
a 7 out of ten more attractive than one who looks to be an 8 out of ten.
This isn't to say they can't find them more attractive overall, just they can't
find them more physically attractive.

Nor can any human ever entirely happily settle for what they have. A world
in which a human settled down with a partner and then was immune to
temptation would be a boring one for the monsters and so they've ensured
that will never happen. No matter how happy someone is with a partner or in
a relationship they will always feel a physical attraction and temptation to
those who are more attractive, although that isn't to say they can't resist
it.

The distribution of attractiveness follows a rough bell curve, with the
average at 5.0 out of ten. At around 8.5 characters are starting to
look as attractive as celebrities and models, by 9.5 they are among some of
the most attractive people in the world.

Some who learn about the true nature of the world, and that the human
obsession with beauty is an engineered tool of nefarious supernatural forces
designed to keep them under control and easy to manipulate try to resist
conventional standards of beauty, but this has never been successful, the
hooks that have been placed into the human subconscious simply run too deep.
While people can force themselves to act as if they are unaffected by a
pretty face it is never the reality deep down inside and many monsters will
take great joy in proving that to the person.