07-30-2019, 08:21 PM | #41 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: Curious Local Customs
Another variant would make terrorism self-funding.
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07-30-2019, 08:24 PM | #42 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: Curious Local Customs
That would make infertility a heavy affliction, unless it were acceptable to make adoptive and surrogate descendants proud.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
07-31-2019, 05:04 AM | #43 |
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: near London, UK
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Re: Curious Local Customs
Crowdfunded murder/terrorism - if someone/something is sufficiently unpopular, lots of people make small bets that they won't die/be blown up, and someone will eventually decide they like those odds.
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07-31-2019, 08:01 AM | #44 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Curious Local Customs
Quote:
I was essentially thinking of extension of the honor-code beyond the known world. The basic idea is that honor and shame which extend to associates in this universe are believed to continue to do so.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison Last edited by jason taylor; 07-31-2019 at 05:36 PM. |
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08-01-2019, 04:42 PM | #45 | |
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
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Re: Curious Local Customs
Quote:
It is unlawful to pay someone to perform an unlawful act, which, usually, is conspiracy. In some places, the crime of murder for hire is where the act of paying counts the same as shooting at them and missing. Plus also costs you (permanently) the cash. Lots of reality TV showing various places in the US where the police have been informed by a purported conspirator that someone wanted their help to find a hit man, resulting in the go-between introducing them to an undercover officer, and the arrest being made upon payment. (The murder is usually simulated, often with the assistance of the would be target..) |
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08-01-2019, 05:49 PM | #46 | |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Curious Local Customs
Quote:
The equivalent of the "dark web" in the setting presumably includes some sort of cryptocurrency and anonymizers making it hard to track down the actual individuals involved, so the authorities might want to push responsibility onto the websites themselves, adding the middlemen to the list of associated criminals. |
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08-12-2019, 09:49 AM | #47 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Curious Local Customs
The dynasties of shipcats are kept like those of prize horses. It is a custom to keep portraits of the cats that watched for vermin on previous ships in a series.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
09-05-2019, 10:18 AM | #48 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Curious Local Customs
This came after a rereading of Systems of Survival. What if there was a way to dress to signal to oneself and others a change in social roles?
Different articles of clothing are worn according to the activity one is engaged in. For instance a high-class person might wear a Derby in the exchange, a Balmoral for semi-formal to formal dress, and a tricorne for a miltia parade. Some of the idea came from reading of the Chinese owner of a general store in a Malayan town who would often sell on credit. The problem was that Malay are expected to look openhanded-but a store manager cannot survive if he doesn't collect. So he dressed Chinese at payment time and dressed Malay the rest of the year.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
09-05-2019, 10:42 AM | #49 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Curious Local Customs
Not particularly curious. Simply an adaptation of a fairly common custom.
High Status people can work for a living but are limited in their work. That is typical. However this is loosened from our memory of rather strict and snobby ages. Their work must reflect dignity on their status and their family as well as show Fair Play to fellow citizens. For instance it at the very highest of statuses it might be considered gauche for a prince or princess to work in law enforcement in their own town but permitted in a foreign police force (because that would necessarily involve them personally in shackling people and doing that on their own fief is improper). Hospitality is a very proper work when done with dignity (so classy hotels are all right, seedy drinking dives not). Taking part in trade is permissible but not competing with fellow citizens (so owning an in-town store is not liked but getting a position on a long distance cargo vessel or caravan is because they compete outside). Like the above some of this is an adaptation of Systems of Survival. However it contains some of my own interpretations. Shun Trading and Shun Force are mirror images of each other and to some degree just mean Thou Shalt Not Steal. After alla considerable number of the examples of shunning force were about abstaining from armed robbery, and a considerable amount of Shunning Trading was not using an office for personal reasons. But some Guardian jobs are also to undignified for Guardians of higher status to do. I won't say Queen Elizabeth would rather die than be a guard at a woman's prison. I will hazard a guess that that is not her idea of an ideal vocation. Thus Shun Trading also is another way of saying Be Ostentatious, Respect Hierarchy, or Be Exclusive. This is reflected in the set up I have made. Allowing high status people to trade on a level considered dignified but not to deal in certain goods (probably anything "yucky") or compete with fellow citizens outside certain limits (unto a stranger thou mayst lend usury), reflects some of my own ideas as well as Jacobs'.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison Last edited by jason taylor; 09-05-2019 at 11:22 AM. |
09-06-2019, 08:53 AM | #50 |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
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Re: Curious Local Customs
We already have the expression in English- "to wear different hats," or "I'm wearing my lawyer's hat today." Although I'm not clear on what historical customs it refers to.
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