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Old 09-24-2021, 06:30 PM   #691
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Default Re: 'Imperial Culture' (non-canonista)

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The Empress Marava-class Far Trader is in truth named not after the Flag Empress, but rather after the wife of Cleon I, whom the former was also named from.
In any case the tradition of naming after Empresses is constricting. There weren't that many in the history of the Imperium. Powerful females is a better generic (a famous Caledonian Marava was Scottian Huntress, which is kind of vague).

With that you could have Maravas named after any female who has ladylike or queenly qualities including fictional ones. This might make some amusing ironies like a worn down retired junkheap named Elbereth Gilthoniel. There could also be an elaborate joke like one with the name "Bloody Mary" that was christianed with a bottle of said ancient cocktail.
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Old 10-02-2021, 05:34 PM   #692
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Aslan Tartans:

Aslan on Stirling in the Principality of Caledonia often make cultural exchanges with neighboring humaniti. This is especially easy because the clan structure based on heroic legends that local humaniti favor, is a form easily attuned to the Aslan mindset.

Customs adopted by humans include such things as using Ayloi to duel, and building noble residencies in the Aslan fashion. Aslan took up many human traits such as maintaining clan credit pools. They have also taken eagerly to some human sports and one of the highest placers in caber tossing at the last clan games was an Aslan. Aslan of Stirling have also used adopted human traditional music formats such as the harp and the bagpipe.

One custom that was taken up was the use of geometrical abstract decoration on kilts. These are called "Aslan Tartans" though purists point out that the term rightfully applies only to those that use right angles. Aslan of course favor curves creating a different effect.

While it is not legally required to register a tartan with the Prince's Order of Heralds it is commonly done, not least because that allows clans to file suit when their garb is used outside the rules set by a clan. The heraldric rules for Aslan tartans are the same as for humans. Tassels are issued by the Prince for conspicuous achievements and worn at the belt on formal occasions. It is theoretically possible for a tartan to be proscribed, but the one time that happened it was a human clan that suffered that fate as punishment for being associated with a war crime.

Aslan serving as noble retainers wear the tartan issued to them by their patron. For instance, the regimental garb of the third battalion of Princess Karen's Royal Stirling Regiment of Guards, is Aslan style rather than the human style of other battalions in the regiment.
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Old 10-12-2021, 08:11 PM   #693
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Subsidized Peoples:

With multi-thousand world societies sometimes conducting policies involving whole planets for centuries (like a terraforming project) it naturally comes to be that workers laboring for such will be in essence "ethnicized". The Terrans first saw this phenomenon when they met the Vilani and called such groups "castes" and sometimes they did resemble the groups in East Asia the term was meant to evoke. But as they expanded they developed similar groups in their own system.

In the Third Imperium the most obvious example of such is the network of contractors and suppliers that keep the Imperial Defense Forces going. But the civil service has examples too as do many groups associated with megacorporations. Several ImperialLines luxury passenger ships have a hereditary crew that marries by preference endogamously or at least with crews of other liners.

Members of such groups have a feudalistic relation to their employers and it is considered a point of honor to maintain a reciprocal relation. Which of course does not mean there are not treacherous employees or miserly or tyrannical employers. It means simply that such behavior is disapproved.
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Old 10-19-2021, 06:09 AM   #694
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The security service would really devour the workforce a lot. Even in a mercantile culture, other aspects can be automated much more easily.
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Old 10-30-2021, 07:49 PM   #695
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The use of melee weapons like blades and cutlasses aboard starships and among the various Imperial services has its roots in the Ziru Sirka. The Vilani of course, being so traditionalist and hidebound to actively use swords and polearms even in the days of automatic firearms.
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Old 11-01-2021, 10:46 AM   #696
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The use of melee weapons like blades and cutlasses aboard starships and among the various Imperial services has its roots in the Ziru Sirka. The Vilani of course, being so traditionalist and hidebound to actively use swords and polearms even in the days of automatic firearms.
It's actually practical for such things as excercise and grudge matches. I once (I think in an earlier entry) invented a scoresuit: a purpose built armor set for martial arts contests that records the blow as well as protecting from it. Thus contests can be done without artificially prohibiting the most efficient blows. There is a variant called a pain suit. It was really adapted from a torture device that delivers electric shocks to a someone forced to wear it. It was adapted to the more honorable usage of free people settling disputes without causing enough damage to lose their labor to their families.

In ISW the Legion of the Frontier does in fact use hand-to-hand weapons according to the book.
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Old 11-02-2021, 10:13 PM   #697
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Stephenshold:

This is a deliberately created society centered around a centuries old Terraforming project by descendants of refugees from the fall of the Zira Sirka living near the Spinward Marches. When budget ran out it was sold to an ally the Commonwealth of the Peoples of Acer. The later is a constitutional monarchy with a clan based culture and an Archducca as head of state. The system was bought whole and the primary star renamed Buda. There are two habitable planets. One was named Legion; the project failed and so it is dedicated to military maneuvers. Soldiers like to tell tales of the monstrous genetic failures there and there are some natural dangers, but the biggest danger is expended ordinance, which is carefully charted on maps.

The other world Stephenshold is named after the Patron St of Hungary to associate it with a Terran nation famed for plains. Stephenshold in fact has considerable plains for though parts were formed with Terra as a model, as a whole it was more Kuzuformed than Terraformed. In fact the planet has been called a giant recruiting poster for it was originally intended to settle Ihatei in return for military service a habit that was continued by the Commonwealth. The first settlements were planned carefully. Spaces which were declared ready were opened. Clans were tested as diplomaticly as possible for military effectiveness and compatibility with Commonwealth methods of war (meaning just to start clans that reject the use of special forces, which the Commonwealth makes much use of were rejected, as were clans which saw no dishonor in atrocity). The remaining clans bid for landholds with the first choices going to the highest bid in manyears (meaning one years service for a warrior: one warrior serving five years equaling five serving one for instance). Land gained by such service is called honor land and a minimum of honor land is required to be able to purchase land on the open market. Honor land is not taxed (the tax was already paid), and cannot be sold though it can be rented for a contract lasting up to 49 years before it is renewed or reverts to owner.

A natural result of this was a government with a vested interest in conservation and ecological management. Such emphasis attracted soldiers wanting a home for their families and willing to fight for it. The result has been held in admiration by many with interests in the subject. Stephenshold proved a bonus as well having several economic benefits. It is a net food exporter, mostly of animal products Aslan preferring ranching and hunting to farming. Each Aslan landhold maintains a herd, of whatever kind of animal it prefers. Most of the planet still has not been cleared for settlement because of the policy of opening land slowly. As a result Stephenshold has proved a boon for tourists, such as scientists or outdoor enthusiasts.

There are also a number of humans in Stephenhold. Usually they live in mountain, wooded, or coastal country of which there is ample as well as the plains are already settled by Aslan or reserved for projected future settlement either by the immigration of new clans or the expansion of old. Human territories often have such transplanted Terran life which was compatible with the stress on Kuzuforming. There is however little racial strife between the two species, there being plenty of room. The Head of State of the planet up to now is human though that is not mandatory in the Constitution. He goes by the title of Rajah, a common usage in the Commonwealth for a citizen holding nominal or active lordship over a client polity (borrowed from the Brooke dynasty on ancient Terra which ruled in a similar fashion). Several candidates for Rajah are chosen by a panel of chiefs with the final selection made by the Archducca. As a footnote the Rajah is always a member of the Archducal clan-because adoption is often used to maintain fictive geneology in the Commonwealth so that even if he was not before, he would be automatically adopted.

The Rajah's personal landhold is in the far north. It contains large portions of forests, fresh and salt water fishing areas, and much game for hawking and hunting. There are also large herds of Terran reindeer kept by the Rajah to sell for meat, hide, milk, and antlers. One of the more curious parts of the landhold is Mystic Manor which was Terraformed by special request into a model of North America's Northeast Coast. This supplies much of the food for the Boston Commons restaurant chain owned by the Archducal clan. The Rajah's hall at Mystic Manor is commonly used to receive guests including chiefs or their envoys come to pay homage.
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Old 11-03-2021, 10:48 AM   #698
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The remaining clans bid for landholds with the first choices going to the highest bid in manyears (meaning one years service for a warrior: one warrior serving five years equaling five serving one for instance).
If a warrior is killed in service, does his contribution stop, continue indefinitely, or continue until the end of his enlistment term or some other endpoint?
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Old 11-03-2021, 12:50 PM   #699
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If a warrior is killed in service, does his contribution stop, continue indefinitely, or continue until the end of his enlistment term or some other endpoint?
You know, I never thought of that, I really should have. I should probably posit that honorable early discharge from inability to serve due to such things as death, wounds, or sickness is equiv to full time served. That would be the honorable thing to do and the practical thing as it would reinforce loyalty. He would also be granted such trophies as are dear to the Aslan heart (for instance stylized weapons or survival equipment and-a local favorite-tickets to exclusive clubs) varying according to the distinction of his service. And of course descriptions of his service on both the clan's and the regiment's (when they are not the same thing), role of honor. One distinction is for territory to be opened early by special decree of the Rajah. Usually it is given to a chief for disposal with the request that it be bestowed on a given warrior. This indirect method is meant to uphold traditional Aslan authority structures. Normally the opening of land around the nucleus settlement of a clan is phased at intervals of enough time for a an Aslan to be born, grow to adulthood, and do military service while land for new immigrants is opened at a slower rate. There have as of yet been three waves of settlement. Intervals between waves are irregular as these depend on ecological surveys of land to be cleared.
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Old 11-16-2021, 12:13 PM   #700
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Shopping guide:

A guide for shopping as a mountain guide is a guide for mountains. Not a booklet but an actual person although often a nominal task. Male Aslan at least in civilized areas are unlike stereotype actually able to survive in a marketplace: they would not be functional if they weren't. While less educated in matters of money and seldom taking on large mercantile tasks they are able to know from street smarts how much a given item should buy or sell for. When they shop however they tend to take along a female relation as a face-saver. If a male Aslan wants something he asks "Can we afford this" and gets a "yes dear" because the male really knows the answer and if he is wrong they will not disagree in public. Any haggling to be done however is done by the female, as it is undignified for a male to haggle at trade (political haggling is different somehow).
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