Born Fellahin?

[Sam]

I'll let my first post be something very simple.

On p. 19 of Burning Sands: Jihad it says: "All Jihadis are Born Fellahin," and there's a lifepath called "Born Fellahin." However, this lifepath leads directly into the less-than-great "Outcast" lifepath, which isn't for everyone.

Is there a difference here between being born Fellahin and actually taking the "Born Fellahin" lifepath? It would seem to be so, but I'm not confident enough of the system and its ways to make the judgment call on my own.

[Thor]

Hi Sam. Welcome!

Based on your thread at Story Games, you haven't read Burning Wheel yet, right?

In BW, taking a lead is not required. You'll notice that some lifepaths have multiple leads. Born Fellahin is in the Fellahin Setting. When you choose that lifepath, it offers you a choice: You may either choose another lifepath in the Fellahin Setting for which you meet the requirements, or you may move to the Outcast Subsetting and take a lifepath there for which you meet the requirements. (Settings are lifepath groupings that contain a "born" lifepath, Subsettings are lifepath groupings that don't have a "born" lifepath.)

[Sam]

Ah, okay, Thor it makes more sense to me now.

As far as the game goes, I'm reading it now, so it'll likely make much more sense to me before long. I thought maybe it was some wrinkle I wasn't getting from reading just the Jihad and it turns out I was right. At least my eyes weren't deceiving me!