Zion is a reference to the land of Israel -- the country of the Jewish people. Perhaps, when it comes to progressive movements, I'm too much of an old guard, but being a Zionist, in the 19th and 20th century meant being in favour of the creation of a Jewish country. Given the rampant antisemitism of the times, I can't say I would have disagreed. Einstein was a famous Zionist. While I understand that current day Israel is a contentious topic, having the "Church of Zion" commit atrocities in a swords & magic fantasy setting --often associated to the medieval period-- is risky. You seem to associate the name to "Crusade-era Medieval Europe" and "American Christofacism", but to me, Zion is associated to Judaism. This is what I mean by Zion being a heavy name.
Viewing post in Dark Age: Chronicles of Otia (Ver 0.01) (Demo) jam comments
Oh wow… to be honest, I completely forgot about the Jewish association with the word “Zion”! Thank you for bringing this to my attention. The last thing I want is for people to think that I condone antisemitism (or any form of hate for that matter). The moral of this game’s story is intended to be quite the opposite: to warn people of what happens when one gives in to “taking the easy path” of hate and bigotry. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent speech on this issue sums up my thoughts pretty accurately; check it out if you haven’t listened yet—it’s very heartwarming and affirming!
So in light of this realization, I’m adding “Change the name of the Big Bad Empire” to my to-do list in order to avoid any misunderstanding of this game’s intentions, and I’m going to make it a top priority to have completed by my next update.
Thank you again for pointing out this problematic issue! I will always welcome players to bring these issues to my attention whenever possible, so that I can learn, do better, and correct my mistakes in order to ensure a safe place for all individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, economic status and other diverse backgrounds.