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Old 02-14-2014, 02:48 PM   #6
Arawaen
 
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Default Re: One of my alien designs

CULTURE

Habitation

Chibi live communally in large households. A Chibi pair-bonded to a male is a Mother, all the other Chibi in the household under her are her daughters (biological or adopted). Households can become quite large, up to five thousand individuals. Planetside dwellings are designed to accommodate this size, usually in the form of a compound with a number of interconnected buildings.

Chibi dwellings always include large numbers of pools, the most important being the spawning pools where eggs are laid, fertilized and hatch into offspring. They also tend to be decorated with living plants and flowers, creating a very organic feel.

Clothing

The most common fashions among the Chibi are tunic-like shirts with loose fitting pants. Formal attire tends to be a dress-like robe. All Chibi clothing is designed to not hinder movement and tends to be easy to remove, often clasping at the side. They prefer clothing designs that do not involve the clothes going over their heads.

While Chibi fashion does not have the sexual connotations that human fashion frequently does, they do like pretty colors, patterns and styles. Adornments are often shaped like flowers or small animals (insects, fish, amphibians, etc.).

They prefer to swim naked.

Language

Numerous dialects had developed among the various Chibi households, communication could often be difficult. The Chibi Union decided to create a new language that followed clear concise rules. The older languages are sometimes learned as hobbies or for historical purposes, but have otherwise faded from use.

The Chibi language has four distinct tenses, past, present, definite future and indefinite future. Definite future is for things that will happen at a specific time, while indefinite future are those things that will happen sometime in the future, but no date is set. A common joke is how things that appeared definite were really indefinite.

Chibi don't have words for brother or father, they use the word Progenitor, but it has connotations of being non-sapient and doesn't get used for the males of other species. Likewise they don't have masculine pronouns, the pronouns for the Progenitor carry similar implications. Non-Chibi are referred to as female regardless of gender as far as Chibi language is concerned; though the Chibi do understand the distinction from their biological studies of other worlds (even their homeworld does not have universal dimorphism).

Chibi writing consists of characters that are angular boxes adorned with small circles. Each character represents a distinct syllable.

Chibi use a base 8 number system.

Hobbies

Chibi engage in a wide variety of hobbies, many of these are group activities. Examples include sports (team sports or sports that groups can do together, such as running), games (card and board games, multiplayer video games), music (choruses, ensembles). Solitary reading for pleasure is rare, but group storytelling is common.
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