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Old 11-06-2019, 09:41 AM   #646
cptbutton
 
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Default Re: 'Imperial Culture' (non-canonista)

Zhodani nobles generally wear turbans. Intendants generally wear headbands. Why?

Superstition. Many Zhodani believe that some substances, devices, etc. enhance their psi powers, so they incorporate them into their headgear. This has never been conclusively proved to be true, and although professional psi researchers pooh-pooh the idea, the beliefs persist. After all, it can't *hurt* to have a scrap of cloth that wiped away your mother's tears, or part of your umbilical cord, or a wire of electrum in your headgear.

Of course, getting, keeping, or recovering the right stuff for your headgear has adventure possibilites.

Proles have their own versions of these beliefs, often involving how to insure your child will be psionic. Or *not* psionic, since psionic prole children are adopted into intendant families, which makes having your prole child identified as a psi emotionally complicated.
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Last edited by cptbutton; 11-06-2019 at 02:31 PM.
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