Selentine Society and Culture
The legacy of the Selentine Empire includes a substantial amount of social
and cultural consistency throughout the modern successor kingdoms. This consistency
is particularly pronounced in high culture (including education, law, literature,
art). There are three broad cultural bands in Selentia: one centred on Birland,
Teran and Vestad, a second centred on the Coradian Sea, and the third centred
on Mazarid. What follows is a description of the social and cultural traits
of the most southerly band of countries.
Individualism
- There is a strong sense of individual worth. People are important no matter
who they are or what they do.
- The locus of control and the locus of responsibility are both internal.
You make your own luck, for better and for worse, and you're the one who can
turn things around if you're down on your luck.
- Privacy is respected (signals for privacy include closed doors and walking
arm in arm).
Equality and Social Divisions
- Low power distance. Formal social divisions tend to be the high nobility
(including royalty), low nobility (including the gentry), and the commons
(everyone else). Thus, most people belong to the same broad social group.
- Respect and deference is expected by social superiors, but there is a reciprocal
expectation that they will earn that respect and deference by their worthy
behaviour.
- There is generally a high degree of equality in interaction. "Putting
on airs" is usually seen as arrogance, not as worthiness.
Formality, Informality and Greetings
- Informal modes of address are common and aren't considered rude when interacting
with social equals. Exceptions include nobles (high and low), clergy (both
priests and monks), public officials, and soldiers: in those cases, formal
modes of address are expected even among social equals, particularly in public
settings.
- It is usual to address casual acquaintances and even some superiors by their
first names once introduced.
- Informal introductions (where you introduce yourself) are generally accepted
in most social settings. It is "high class" to be introduced by
a third party, such as an usher or a mutual friend.
- Older people and strangers are usually greeted formally, and would then
be expected to introduce themselves in conversation. It's standoffish, and
can be rude, to not give your first name to a social equal when introduced.
- Titles vary from place to place, but commonly include Lord/Lady (nobility),
Sir/Madam (gentry), Father/Mother (clergy), Brother/Sister (monks), Mister/Ms
(commons), professional titles (such as Doctor or Professor), and military
ranks (such as Captain, Count and Duke).
General Worldview
- Viewpoint is generally towards the future, building on the past but not
revering it or considering it a golden age. These are the best of times, full
of opportunity: the future is bright and full of optimism.
- Generally responsive to and comfortable with change, though a sense of continuity
with and connection to the past can be lacking. Continuity with the past is
strongest in socially conservative institutions like the monarchy and the
church, and weakest among professionals and traders, whose working lives are
full of new innovations.
- People are essentially good and can change. No matter who you are, you can
improve yourself by your own efforts. Even the worst villain can mend their
ways.
- Time is linear. "Tomorrow" means tomorrow. Punctuality is valued.
- Hard work and personal effort is valued. People should earn their success,
and should strive to be worthy of their good fortune if they are lucky enough
to be gifted prosperity or status by virtue of high birth.
Directness and Assertiveness
- A low context culture with a direct style of communication. Direct questions
are usually acceptable, though not about some personal matters, such as "Did
your spouse leave you because you're a drunken sot?"
- Communication tends to rely on explicit verbal messages, though sometimes
softened. For example, most people would say "Would you open the window,
please?" and not "Open the window" or "It would be good
if the window was opened".
- People are often uncomfortable with long silences or pauses, cryptic sentences,
and indirect styles of communication (for example, parables or anecdotes).
There is more tolerance for ambiguity in educational settings, particularly
in universities where interactive dialogue is the preferred method of instruction.
Interpersonal Communication
- People typically stand about three feet apart (an arm's length) facing each
other in ordinary social interaction.
- There is little touching in public except in greetings, when handclasps
and kisses are typical and expected. The "kiss of peace" is expected
among friends and relatives regardless of the gender of the two people involved
and is not considered sexual: it is more intimate than a handshake, which
is the general physical greeting.
- Eye contact is expected between equals, and demonstrates trustworthiness,
sincerity and directness.
- Public displays of affection are accepted, though most would assume they
are between intimate couples or family members.
- A wide range of emotions can be displayed in public, including happiness,
anxiety, anger, and sadness. There is wide individual variation in how much
feelings are shared and with whom.
- People are expected to cry when bereaved and at funerals, regardless of
gender. It is socially accepted and expected that men will cry in public in
such circumstances: if they do not, they clearly do not feel any loss and
are being rude.
Promises and Oaths
- It is considered rude to make a promise and not keep it, such as accepting
an invitation and not showing up or making an appointment and not keeping
it.
- Oaths are legally binding promises, and it is both very rude and a crime
to make an oath and not keep it.
- Oaths are distinguished from promises by key phrases (such as "I give
my word", "I vow" and "I pledge") or by the seriousness
of the promise (such as a promise to marry or to take religious vows). If
either condition is met, it is considered an oath, and thus legally binding.
Once given, your word is your bond: it can be rude to require a written contract
instead of a verbal oath.
- There is a strong social expectation to keep all oaths, even those that
break a law or a previous oath. Responsible people don't allow their emotions
to run wild and make oaths they can't or shouldn't keep. There is also strong
social disapproval of oathbreakers as faithless, irresponsible and untrustworthy
individuals.
Roles, Gender and Appearance
- People tend to be defined by their role rather than their gender. There
are no legal or social restrictions on social roles for men or women: all
can be monarchs, professionals, soldiers, and priests.
- Active roles (such as travellers, soldiers, and farmers) wear trousers and
tend to have short hair. Sedentary roles (such as governors, traders, and
priests) wear gowns and tend to have long hair. Hats and headpieces are worn
by all.
- Men tend to grow facial hair when they become adults. Youths with beards
or moustaches are often mocked as "playing at being an adult".
- Weapons can be carried freely in the countryside, but are usually prohibited
in the cities. Armour is typically worn only by soldiers and mercenaries.
- It is rude to refuse to hand over large weapons (like swords) on entering
someone's home, and also rude to insist on a guest handing over small weapons
(such as daggers). Both indicate a lack of trust.
Age and Responsibility
There are four stages of life: childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age.
- Childhood ends in the early to mid teens, by sixteen at the latest. Children
are not considered legally capable, and cannot conduct business, make oaths,
or commit crimes. Their parents (or godparents, or guardians) are responsible
for their assets and their actions.
- Youth begins when childhood ends, and ends when you take on a major responsibility
by making an oath. The most common responsibilities are (in order): marriage,
religious vows, military vows (such as knighthood), governance, and wardship
(such as becoming a godparent). Most people make such oaths in their early
twenties at the latest, though some people wait several years, possibly into
their thirties and forties, and a few never make such an oath and always remain
a youth.
- Adulthood begins when you take on adult responsibilities, most commonly
marriage. You remain an adult until you are no longer able to be physically
active, when you become old. Adulthood is the stage of life people aspire
to reach and to retain.
- Old age begins when you cease to be physically active. For most, this occurs
when they can no longer carry out the physical requirements of their trade
or profession. For some, it occurs when they fall ill and become mentally
incapable of handling their own affairs. Old age (as opposed to long years)
isn't viewed as a desirable state: it's generally preferred to die while an
adult ("die with your boots on") than when old ("die in bed").
Marriage and Sex
- Most people marry and have children. There is no social stigma attached
to not having children, though some people may find it odd that people do
not want to marry (because marriage is the most common way people move from
youth to adulthood) unless there is an obvious alternative that they have
chosen.
- Marriage is a secular arrangement that often takes place in a ceremony held
at the local church. The principal purpose of marriage is to provide children
with legitimacy and to simplify the distribution of family assets in cases
where there is no will. You cannot be married to more than one person at a
time.
- It is the oath given to marry that makes a marriage, and not the public
ceremony: there is no requirement to have any ceremony, though it provides
the additional legal security of many witnesses if there is ever any dispute
about whether two people were married.
- Gay and lesbian couples are socially accepted. They cannot marry because
their partnership lacks the technical requirement of producing children together,
but like heterosexual couples they can make oaths of commitment (that is,
sexual partnership) that are effectively the same as oaths of marriage when
it comes to fidelity, monogamy, and sharing assets like a home.
- Sex between unmarried people is tolerated, and widely expected of youths
regardless of gender. Having children outside marriage is socially disapproved,
though an unmarried couple who have a child are generally assumed to now be
married. Effective herbal contreceptives are commonly available. Sex outside
the vows of marriage is legally a crime on the part of the married participant,
and provides grounds for divorce.
- Divorce is legally permitted by mutual consent or by proof of infidelity
or abandonment. In some circumstances, it can be scandalous following marriage,
but is not inherently so. Divorce following oaths of commitment is less likely
to be scandalous, and remarriage after the death of your spouse is not scandalous
unless other circumstances make it so.
- Marriage does not prevent you making other oaths, such as some religious
vows. Priests are not required to be celibate: however, monks and nuns give
up marriage as a worldly tie that is a distraction from what really matters.
A married or committed person who wishes to enter a monastery must end their
marriage by mutual consent: people who abandon their partners to take monastic
vows are usually excluded from the monastery and required to return to their
spouse.
maintained by Gary Johnson (gwzjohnson at optusnet.com.au)
last updated 15 May 2021