NationStates Jolt Archive

This is an opportunity to allow all nations of the world to learn more about other cultures.

To make it easier to distinguish the main text and sidenotes, we have put sidenotes in green, and sub-sidenotes in blue.

The Holy Honorable Democratic Empire of Rovinia (Holy Empire is the closest I could get) is governed by a strict warrior code of honor known as Rovin. We structure our military, our society, and our lives around it. It may seem slightly odd to you. It prohibits certain social behaviors, like visiting at another clan's Movrin without the permission of both the eldest aged and median aged member of the clan (Movrin roughly translates to 'estate', but is more precisely the lands owned by a Mir ('lord'), divided among family members over the Age of Rovin(at which point the warrior code applies to them and they are considered an adult. It varies based on when they can pass tests of honor and skill, but is typically 12-15.), and then lived on by their Uro, or serfs.(Uru can rise in standing above their current caste. However, uru who have not can ally with any lord they choose, and can change at any time.) ,certain objects, and certain actions.

The Rovin is presented as a drama. Each of our philosophers added one act to the play. It is up to each Mir to interpret the meanings of the character's actions and dialogues for their clan. However, some things are absoulutely stated and are not open to interpretation.

The Rovin-ak is similar to a chorus in a play. It summarizes some of the more important ethical, moral, and honorable teachings of the drama that will unfold. It is listed below.

Many eraks ago, our ancestors fought. Then, our ancestors came together. Honor your dead ancestors for coming together. Vote upon a Mir to lead your clan to actions that honor our ancestors.

The war of our ancestors was dishonorable and brutal. Our wise ancestors acknowledged that war between the clans was an honorable way in itself of revenging insults to a clan's honor, as insults to a clan's honor must be revenged. However, the revenge must be done in an honorable manner.

Thusly, follow the decrees that follow, both in true war and in your daily mental and social wars within yourself and with others.

Here are a list of some of the more interesting things the Rovin prohibits as dishonorable. Asteriked ones are open to interpretation:

Handheld firearms
Consuming drugs other than Posa (A stimulant similar to caffiene) for non medicinal purposes
Consuming animal products
*Insulting someone from another clan
Decieving anothe follower of the code
Killing in a dishonorable manner
*Engaging in war without at least 17 hours, 11 minutes notice to the enemy (Also known as 1031 minutes, and 1031 is an important number in our culture)
Getting married before engaging in sexual activity with the person you are marrying (the act is part of our proposal ritual)
Wearing the color purple outside your clan's Movrin

Hm. Well...

Eniqcir is populated mainly by Scyldr and Celdr. These two societies have a common origin in the ancient Celíminé culture, but otherwise have very little in common. Thus, ruling the empire is a delicate balancing act, trying to keep either side from throttling the other.

The government is a wierd mix of democracy and fuedalism. A High Council of twelve members takes care of the detail work, and these are generally inherited positions. However, if a seat is open, the remaining members of the Council accept nominations from the general populace (although it is usually only Lords who actually make any nominations), and then choose the best replacement. In general, if you want a position, you probably won't be chosen, on the assumption that anyone who actively seeks power isn't qualified to use it, as any sane person wouldn't want the responsibility. A seat may become open if a Councillor is ejected by a unanimous vote of the rest of the Council, a sufficient fraction of the majority questions his or her worthiness to serve, if one dies without an heir or his heir is not of age yet, or if one of the Councillors is chosen to fill a vacancy in the Imperial Stewardship.

The High Steward, aka Imperial Steward, is the Lord chosen to act as the equivalent of a king or president. While anyone may become a Councillor, only royals may be given the post of High Steward. However, becoming a Councillor almost always leads to the elevation of your family to House status, and, if you are lucky enough for the current Steward or your Lord to further elevate you to Great House status by granting you an independant province to rule (as opposed to a county within another Lord's province), so it is concievable, if unlikely, for a common citizen to gain that status. The Imperial Stewardship is also an inherited position, and the procedures for removal or instatement are almost identical to those for a Councillor, save the restriction that only the Lord of a Great House can be given the position. The current High Steward is Inbhailígh Lacornhn of House Crzleídzí.

Disputes between Houses, when they cannot be settled by the High Council (usually these cases involve opposing Celdr and Scyldr factions), are settled by a War of Vendetta. If both sides accept the declaration of Vendetta, they are allowed to use any conventional measn against each other and are guaranteed no interference. However, excessive civillian casualties, the use of WMDs, or damage to Houses not bound to the declaration of Vendetta warrant immediate removal of the offenders from Great House status, seizing of their Province(s) and redistribution by the High Steward, and trial for warcrimes before the full High Council. Similarly, individuals are allowed to declare Vendetta, in which case they are allowed to engage in a Dual to the Death, or Dual to the Pain. Death is usually preferred, as the lose of a Dual to the Pain is not very likely to hold the terms of the Vendetta, being irrational with shame and anger. The winner of a Dual to the Death is bound to accept all debts and responsibilities of the loser, including the care of their family. The only restrictions on what form the dual will take are similar to those for House Vendettas- in short, no harm may come to noncombatants, on pain of humiliation and trial.

In Maniaca, each person is entirely independent. They are free to do what they like, with no parent or guardian to preside over them. Most youth's however, choose to have a parent or guardian, because otherwise they wouldn't know anything. Of course, there are police and laws, but there are no "society's rules," and anyone attempting to impose them on anyone is in violation of the second article of the Maniacan constitution. The major language is English, though in the Northlands many speak Englaiacan, a "wacky mix of English and some whole other thing," dotted with interjections of "Oi" and "Gurr, aye!" A sentence in Englaiacan:

Oi, ye bicycle got caught in den cement mixer gurrot all chopped up.
Translated:
Shoot, the bicycle got caught int he cement mixer, got all chopped up.

A strange holiday in Maniaca is Emperor's day. On March 29 is both the Emperor's and his bodyguard's birthday, and it's a national holiday and everything gets shut down except the police and toll people and emergency workers, and they get paid triple time. On Emperor's day is the Triball national championship.

The culture of the United True Democratic States of Zachnia is very choppy, and differs throughout teh region, for there is a low amount of communication between the some 300 minor islands that make up the nation. Because of this, we really have no distinctive culture, but rather we have tons.

Our government is a true democracy, in which the people may vote every so often on legislature, opinions, etc. So, essentially the people re our immense government, However, there is also a smaller, elite government that handles economics. We distribute many subsidies, and public spending, for almost all businesses, but have a rather high income tax rate. So, those who work get the money they need, and those who don't don't really make, and therefore pay, anything.

Our religion is mostly polytheistic, in which there are more Gods than islands, and each island prays to their own God, and other Gods as they see fit. However, religion is kept quite seperate from the rest of life, and is seen more as a past time, almost, rather than a lifestyle, or even just something you have to do every Sunday.

The music, which is quite important to religion, drama, and poetry, is rather strange. Composers usually use instruments that might seem obscure to other countries (mellophones and celestas are very popular) And rather than have choruses, and verses, the music is just a succession of one or two measure trills, or verses, that are put in random orders. Music is played at all religious ceremonies, and on the streets during many holidays, which differ by island.

Sabatkan culture is a mix of nothing and conformity. From a young age people are encouraged to be exactly the same, varying only slightly so as to better fit into their jobs. Any signs of AIS (Acute Individuality Syndrome) is quickly beaten out of children by our specialist "therapists". We are a very peaceful and happy land with no revolutions and happy fun times to all. YAY!

Barvaria Studenland has a friendly and accepting culture. The principle behind open source software is prevalent throughout scociety. The designs and specifications for cars, airplanes, trains, buildings, computer hardware and even food are all freely avadable throughout the country. Goverment law mandates that the following must be free of cost to the end user:
-Beer
-Soft Drinks
-Food
-Deodorant
-Gasoline
-Computer Software
-1.4 Gb/Sec internet access
-802.16, 802.11b/g/a wireless internet access
-Cellular telephones and service through the telecommunications industry.
-A home/appartment
Goverment price controls mandate that:
- The latest personal computers must cost no more than 200 euros for desktops, 400 for laptops. Buyers have a choice of MacOSX, Linux (RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake or Knoppix) BSD or Windows NT 4.0, 2000 or XP Pro. They can also install an operating system of their choice.
-Cars cannot cost more than 2,000 euros.
-Airplane tickets cannot cost more than 50 euros, train tickets no more than 10 and bus and subways are free.

More to come

Barvaria Studenland has a friendly and accepting culture. The principle behind open source software is prevalent throughout scociety. The designs and specifications for cars, airplanes, trains, buildings, computer hardware and even food are all freely avadable throughout the country. Goverment law mandates that the following must be free of cost to the end user:
-Beer
-Soft Drinks
-Food
-Deodorant
-Gasoline
-Computer Software
-1.4 Gb/Sec internet access
-802.16, 802.11b/g/a wireless internet access
-Cellular telephones and service through the telecommunications industry.
-A home/appartment
Goverment price controls mandate that:
- The latest personal computers must cost no more than 200 euros for desktops, 400 for laptops. Buyers have a choice of MacOSX, Linux (RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake or Knoppix) BSD or Windows NT 4.0, 2000 or XP Pro. They can also install an operating system of their choice.
-Cars cannot cost more than 2,000 euros.
-Airplane tickets cannot cost more than 50 euros, train tickets no more than 10 and bus and subways are free.

More to come

<DEAT>

Our Sprinfieldians follow their own individual codes, although most of them involve laziness, obsesity, stupidity, ignorance, and baldness. Favorite sayings include: Oh yeah? and Come here a minute!

Our town is, for some odd reason, a celebrity magnet, thus the wide influence of movies and television upon our people.

There are four seperate cultures on the island of New Rohan. Not including cultures current around the entire pacific, like Polynesians, or the elven inhabitants.

All of the cultures are, when talking to outsiders, called Roanians. Most foreigners are rarely told Roanian history. All Roanians are incredibly religious, though it's more of a pick and choose type of thing. You can have any religion you want, so long as it's monotheistic. And not, you know, protestant or Mormon or something.

The Roanians

Dwelling in the plains and deserts of southern New Rohan, the Roanians are the dominant people. The center of their culture is the Stronghold of Roan, also known as Roan City and Fort Roan. Roanians are proud, graceful people, with little interest in the wants or cares of the outside world. They enjoy control, and are quite willing to kill hundreds just to satisfy a personal whim.

A great deal of their life revolves around duelling. From the moment they can walk, a Roanian noble is trained to kill in a duel. Duels are a highly ritualised affair, and there are rarely any severe injuries in fights between Roanians. Against people from other nations or races, all bets are off and Roanians will gather from miles around to watch someone get killed. While Prince Alexander publically frowns on the practice, there are rumors that he himself kills dozens of laborers and prisoners each year in a private chamber within his palace.

They enjoy dancing, and are highly cultured. The primary drink, for those who can afford it, is Hus, a lightly flavored red wine. They are the only culture on the planet which does not have an alcoholic drink like beer or mead; they consider such drinks to be a waste of alcohol that could be put into wine.

Aguans

The Aguans dwell on the western coast, centered around Port Agua. A jovial people, they are also highly skilled merchants. Almost all diplomats are Aguans, as the Roanians dislike travelling, the Derricksmen hate everyone who isn't a Derricksman, and the people of Altaran are considered too gentle for the job.

Aguans have been in trouble in Roan for 40 years now, as Rasputin Macchiavelli came from there. However, of late there has been a warming of relations between them and the other city-states. Aguans have a highly developed sense of aesthetics, and enjoy painting. However, they also consider a swindle to be a work of art, and dealings with them are generally under careful control.

<I'll add the others later>

Our Sprinfieldians follow their own individual codes, although most of them involve laziness, obsesity, stupidity, ignorance, and baldness. Favorite sayings include: Oh yeah? and Come here a minute!

Our town is, for some odd reason, a celebrity magnet, thus the wide influence of movies and television upon our people.

Teritora is an ancient kingdom, with the start of its history starting with unification of 7 massive kingdoms in 3257 B.C. by the first king Teritora the great. Because of this long history Teritorans tend to take a long view of things especially as their government structure has remained stable for all their long history, changing only as much as is needed to survive created a varied, mixed and unique system but still leaving the nobility and royal families in charge. Teritoran society is rather Hierarchical and organized with at the top the 7 Royal houses from which the king is chosen, owing allegiance to each house is 20 ducal houses, to which 10 Earlial houses owe allegiance to each ducal house, to Earlial house, 5 Baronial houses to each Earlial house. Also owing loyalty to each of the Royal houses there are a clan of Nikja as well as an rather large clan that owes loyalty only to the king himself. All male Nikja are carry the title of lord and all female Nikja carry the title of lady. The lowest class of nobles and the most common are knights as there are families of knights owing fidelity to each of the noble houses, to royal families, the king and even some lordless knights. An interesting thing to note is that Teritoran nobility is there is a law forbidding the marriages of anyone who is closer than sixth removed cousins in relations to prevent intermarriages which are seen as a threat to the nobility and members of the royal families are forbidden from marrying into the other royal houses. The rest of the Teritoran population is divided into yeomen, merchants, artisans, townsmen, and peasants but the lines blur between classes. The 7 major racial and subcultural groups that make up the Teritoran Population are the Ashans, the Torls, the Dorls, the Vorls, the Borls, the Zorls and the Zorlens.

Teritorans are notably extremely relgiously catholic. They are also extremely tolerant of those of the Jewish faith. However they are extremely intorlant towards break away groups such as protestants and others. However they have outright hostility towards heretics and Pagans, and hold a deep hatred for muslims, a feeling that has been repeated enflamed by the actions of muslims starting with a series brutal invasions from the exile Islands starting in 1267 AD and ending when the Teritorans wiped out every last muslim on those islands in the year 1452 AD. Theres even a ancient law that states all muslims who enter Teritora will be beheaded on the spot.

Teritorans have several sports they love, dueling, dragon hunting, Archary contests and the Tournaments. A teritoran Tournament is a massive affair, theres a joust where hundreds or even thousands of knights at just one Turniment got at each other into only one is the winner, following that is a massive archary contest where thousands of archers compete into one is the winner, then this followed by a free for all Melee in which thousands of knights, upper noblity and anyone else who wishes to into go at it intil only one remains standing. These Tournaments take place across Teritora and end with a massive Tournament at the Capital where the winners are given a personal boon by the King. Injuries at the Tournaments are extremely common and deaths are not uncommon at the Tournaments and with the other favored sports as well. However the Teritorans rank and file love this sports and not even the church has been able to get the tournaments banned even though they have refused to allow people killed taking part in the Tournments to be buried on holy ground.

Teritorans have a strange fastination with armor and weapons and you can tell what class a Teritoran belongs to by what armor he or she is wearing and what they are armed with. Teritoran Nobility wear fine Plate Armor from early childhood and wield finely made broad swords that are some of the finest made swords in the world. Nikja are walking armories with weapons hidden, including a piece of sharp wire that is used to silently behead people and is jokely refered to as a chesse cutter, all over their bodies and clothing and weilding short single edged short swords, they do not wear any noticable armor but are clad head to foot in black with even a black mask. Yeomen are armed with longbows and a short double edged sword, they wear studded leather armor and bracers. merchants are armed with finely made double edged long swords and wear fine steel chainmail. Artisans are armed with a spiked mace, several sets of throwing knifes up their sleeves and wear black leather armor. Townsmen are armed with long curved single edged sword, throwing daggers and wear a scale mail. Peasants wear leather armor and weld a short stabing sword. It is notable that all Teritorans have several daggered hidden on their person. It is also notable that Teritorans are reglious when it comes to their weapons and they will sooner die than let someone take their weapons and if someone manages to do so, it is more than likely the Teritoran or his family will hunt the person responsable and kill him.

OOC:I'll post some more later.