'Imperial Culture' (non-canonista)

[jason taylor]

Scatterling Sagas:

A subgenre of local storytelling in my heroes country. These are tales adapted from the traditions of the Scatterlings.

Scatterling is the local term for nomad. They are herders or hunter-gatherers that live in some of the territory in the wilderness outside the home port of my heroes. They do not include the more settled states elsewhere on the world; they are all nomadic or semi-nomadic and would usually have primitive disad. Different scatterling tribes have different relations; some are normally enemies but no more enemies then any high-tech people with whom they are at war. One or two are regarded with more distaste but that is for customs like abduction and ritual torture. Some tribes however are allies, vassels, or even full citizens. The complexity of the relations is due to the fact that my heroes country primarily claims no more then a few cities a number of outposts, and the transit rights between them on a given planet, so it is more easy to live together.

The scatterling sagas are various tales borrowed from the surrounding nomads. Some of them are mythical tales or nature allegories. Others are tales from various heroes and what not. They are a popular addition to the local tradition, much of which deals with the doings of more hi-tech cultures.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The Clarsach

Although the word Clarsach is the ancient Irish word for a harp, in the 3I a Clarsach is a form of Harp Guitar. The Imperial clarsach has the same loudness and practicality of tunning as a Guitar, and all the grace and subtlety of a harp or lute. The Clarsach has the same cultural position in the 3I that the violin or piano had on 19th century Earth, or the Harp had for the ancient Irish or Egyptians, or the Lute had in the Medieval European courts. The clarsach is the instrument that serious musicians compose for first. It is the instrument which refined people learn to play as a social grace and proof of refinement and worth.

In many ways the Clarsach is the symbol of the noblity. Clarsachs are a commonplace symbol of both the nobility as a group/order and nobility as a moral trait in the artworks of the 3I. There are times when the very act of playing a clarsach is seen as symbol of patriotism (much like the scene in the film Casablanca where the singing of the Marseillaise is a radical anti-Nazi act). Conversely, the act of playing a clarsach in a crude of vulgar way, or smashing a clarsach, is seen as an anti-imperial act.

The Solomani often broadcast images of young Rockers playing wild Music on Clarsachs as a critique of what they see as the corrupt and stagnant Imperial Culture. The Aslan and the Vargr often have their Clarsach virtuosos demonstrait their skill as a way to sneer at Imperial pretentions. Many Anti-Imperial terroists love to post images of idiot savants playing Clarsachs as an anti-aristocratic symbol. Many aristocrats will attack, or at least challege to a duel, anyone who either attacks, degrades, or plays improper music, on a clarsach.

Thus a common musical instrument can get the party hunted like dogs.

More later.

Great idea! Missed it at first.

[jason taylor]

Spacer's Sandals:

Due to the artificial environment aboard ship, there is little need to protect feet from harsh temperature. In fact many informally minded captains allow their crew to go barefoot in areas where debris are unlikely to be found, perhaps including the bridge, depending on the captain's sense of his own dignity.

In the hold, and similar places, however there is likely to be stray fragments, glass, nails and what not. Enough of chance that Spacers often wear their distinctive sandals with reinforced soles, sometimes hardened with metal or plastic plating.

[David Johnston2]

"Skintites" are the standard ship's uniform on ships that may experience attack. Add an emergency locker helmet and they will keep you safe from depressurization for up to half an hour. People who _aren't_ spacers often fetishize skintites. This annoys spacers...when they aren't exploiting it.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

"Skintites" are the standard ship's uniform on ships that may experience attack. Add an emergency locker helmet and they will keep you safe from depressurization for up to half an hour. People who _aren't_ spacers often fetishize skintites. This annoys spacers...when they aren't exploiting it.

Heh, now I have mental images of a crew of hard-living, scruffy 40-60 year old Traveller PCs (loaded with skills and mustering out goodies) squeezed into skintites. Beer bellies from too much Vilani brew...

[jason taylor]

Imperial Commercial License:

Despite the name, this is not a "License to engage in commerce". The requirement for this is against the Imperium's free-trade traditions. While local governments may require this the Imperium does not. Certain aspects of commerce that affect the welfare of others(like captaining a starship)may of course require a license but in general a person has every right to waste his own credits.

What ICLs are, are a generic name for a stamp by the Ministry of Commerce, certifying that the goods to be traded on the interstellar market are what they say they are. This is used to prevent fraud and is especially well known as an aspect of trade in luxury items that are easily counterfeited. For instance a jeweler that claims to use natural rather then artificial stones will certainly get a ICL mark in a microdot on his creation so that buyers can indeed know that his claim has been certified.

It is not impossible to counterfeit an ICL. But the MoC jokes that anyone who can not only convince an expert that his product is real but can imitate an ICL, is already an artist and deserves whatever money he gets.

[d_ns]

IMTU...

News travels at the speed of jump, and therefore so does fashion, in music, clothing and entertainment. Every starport is a mix of a thousand styles, heavily leavened with those influenced by the local culture. Near Capital, you can make claims to being on the cutting edge of fashion, and you might be right, but by the time you get out to the fringes, anyone who tried it would be immediately laughed at.

Locals who live near the starport will take whatever manner your clothing might be in stride, and become quite jaded in that way. The farther away you go, however, the more likely you are to get interesting looks and perhaps hassles - and regardless, you'll be immediately pegged as an off-worlder, for good or ill.

Gourmands love interstellar travel as they get to try something new at every destination. Spacers tend to eat the same food everywhere, as it's hard to know what you'll find in the local cuisine.

More fortunes have been lost than made trying to capitalize on a trend from off-world. If it's hot this week, by the time you get any more of it to sell, it likely won't be anymore.

While naval or freight vessels might be sterile and angular and easy to clean, most liners and yachts are all soft corners and lush carpets.

[jason taylor]

Ambassador's Hotel, LIC.

This is a company that specializes in providing luxuries to traveling dignitaries. While it does in fact maintain hotels, many dignitaries have embassies or local contacts to provide temporary residence. Therefore it's primary service is catering. Ambassador's Hotel can supply high quality foods, clothing, perfumes, and the like including such oddities as K'kree perfume. It also maintains planners(who rather ironically compare themselves to Incident Commanders on disaster prone worlds) who are famed for their ability to organize an event on short notice. Ambassador's Hotel takes pride in it's sense of taste and most have come away pleased by it's services. AH maintains a contacts among most of the known luxury producers in any subsector capital and what it can't get itself, it can refer a customer to.

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

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[DocGrognard]

Originally Posted by Hans Rancke-Madsen

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Love it. +5.