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I'm making a video game! - and I could use your input/comments

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oddtail:
I have a question and any comments and suggestions are extremely welcome.

TL;DR for people who don't want to go through my novel-length posts: I'm making a cRPG, as a hobby project, that heavily leans on dialogue and the game world. The characters are anthropomorphic animals and that's not merely an aesthetic choice. I'm looking for ways to portray them in a way that doesn't map to stereotypes about real-world ethnic/racial groups, because God no.

Some extra info:

The in-world cultures are a mix of actual, historical cultures of Europe (think early Medieval) and what I think would logically result from animal biology and behaviours, if you made the animals sapient and gave them thumbs, but otherwise not alter them much. The most common distinction is that predators tend to be ruling class, omnivores tend to be mercenaries or otherwise enablers of the feudal status quo, and herbivores for the most part are either artisans or the equivalent of farmers combined with livestock (yes, I know this is dark).

Here's my question.

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How do I avoid accidental racial coding? I'm aiming for parallels to the real world, but not in terms of race or ethnicity, if I can help it. And I know it's easy to stumble there.

For instance, take rats. In the story, I plan on having rat NPCs. The way I see them, they'd be extremely community-focused urban dwellers with a pragmatic streak, a bit of isolationism from other species going, and a bit of a negative reputation.

If you're paying attention, you can already see big "yikes" moments that could occur there.

Any ideas how to avoid unfortunate implications, both in the specifics (what combinations of stereotypes to avoid) and in general (how to write NPCs or present information) are extremely welcome. Rats, note, are just an example, because I'm seriously considering not incorporating them in the game for real-world connotation reasons.

Anything, really, including "absolutely don't do X" or "here's how to portray Y species without traits that can be taken the wrong way".

Cornelius:
That's really a tough question.

As for the rats, in some places, they are written more like mob characters - which is not necessarily racial. I seem to remember a set of cockney rats, with much the same characteristics.

And to work it into this medieval kind of world... When we look at medieval Europe, and try to find communities that are closed off to some extent from the rest of society, we end up either in monasteries, though they are not exactly hermitages, or with the Jewish community, that settled in their own community, even where not bound to do so by law. Further south and east, you'd start to have Islamic neighborhoods as well.

And then there are gypsies, but I don't know enough about that to give any kind of even remotely qualified opinion.

Taking the Kingdom of Jerusalem as an example, as that was held to be the paragon of feodal society and law, you would have the different communities largely governed by their own rules - and judged by their own rules and peers, which seems to have worked out rather peacefully, by and large.

If we're talking about an urban community, it might be possible to use the guild system. But even that might not be without its pitfalls.

sitnspin:
One of the best ways to avoid accidental racism in any work of fiction, it to get as diverse a selection of outside readers as you can to look over it. Outside perspective are vital.

oddtail:
@Cornelius: the risk of a parallel between rats and historical Jews or Romani is precisely what I'm afraid of. Both groups have been compared directly to rats in racist propaganda. I want to avoid this association, appropriately enough, like a plague.

The thing is, this fictional world does not have to mirror any specifics of Medieval Europe, it's at best going to be loosely based on it. So far, my best guess is to consciously pick visual signifiers that are dissimilar from any real European culture or group. But that's a problem in its own right, because it's not really possible to design something truly original. So I'm looking for a way for rats to stand out as something unique to the game. Still mulling over ideas (luckily, at the stage I am, specifics of visual world-building are still far away, and there's a good chance some animal groups won't even make into the first game. Small scale thinking and all).

Coding them as guild-associated merchants/artisans or as mobsters are both valid ideas, and I might use a variant of either (or both - I've seen serious claims that organised crime in Europe essentially has roots in the Guild system, and the arguments I've seen used were not without merit). Thanks for the suggestion!

@sitnspin: I absolutely will, if I can. The game is still far from where I could show it to people to test/evaluate. I do wonder where to look for people to give feedback *when* I'm done, though. It's not like I'm a game designer with an audience or enough reach to ask people, and it's not like I can pay people to beta-test when I'm done with the basic version of the game.

Cornelius:
Here's another thought: seeing as how rates are also associated with ships, you can have them as a merchant/sailor class. In some regions literally every other vessel carried a letter of marque and reprisal,  as well. Continuing on that theme, there might be something you could do.

Or you could draw on the Cour des miracles, with some foxes and others thrown in. But there we're back to the criminal element.

Putting them down as moneylenders or changers, tinkers, fences,  might not be a good idea, but then, I'm sure those were obvious.

Mercenaries could be another idea.

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