Common History and Culture

[Ulsyus]

This reply is quite late to the thread, but hey.

Consider this: the relevance of activity outside a society is inversely proportional to the size of the society, but concurrently is proportional to the interaction between that society and others. Also impacting is the proportion of the population that are migrants or from migrant families and have a strong social link to a culture originating outside the society they find themselves in.

If there is so much happening inside a society, when is there going to be time to report what happens outside? Unless there's something significant impacting on it from outside, which gets reported. Or unless one turns to the foreign news channel, which tells a lot of what's going on.

So in 3I, what gets reported on different worlds depends on where they are, the population, and their origin. Worlds settled by "Imperium" colonists bring a wide variety of cultural practices with them from older settled systems, so their common attributes could over time become their predominant social signs that an individual is from that society.

Just a few thoughts after units in history, anthropology, and too much time at work having to deal with The Public.

 

[Golan2072]

Well, in our Confederation, we are all taught:

1) How We took off of our beloved Terra to space on Our own (Gagarin, Armstrong and Boon are of course mentioned).

2) How We invented the Jump Drive, only to find the stars colonized by the Vilani and Us robbed of our Destiny.

3) How We, the plucky Terrans with only a handful of worlds, defeated the mighty Vilani Imperium.

4) How We heroically fought to save that Imperium from its own corruption, and rebuild it into the Glorious Second Imperium, but sadly failed due to Vilani inertia.

5) How We stood fast and survived the Long Night as the Old Earth Union.

6) How the Third Imperium confirmed the Solomani Hypothesis - that We are the original Humans and the rest are just samples taken by aliens to colonize other worlds.

7) How the Third Imperium prosecuted Us and discriminated against Us and therefore We needed Our own state.

8) Ho We rebelled against the repressive Imperial rule, and built the Glorious Solomani Confederation, but had Our Holy Terra snatched from Us by the brutal Imperials.

9) How We will eventually liberate Our homeworld from the Imperium and take back what is Ours.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

And...

Well, in our Confederation, we are all taught:

1) How We took off of our beloved Terra to space on Our own (Gagarin, Armstrong and Boon are of course mentioned).

2) How We invented the Jump Drive, only to find the stars colonized by the Vilani and Us robbed of our Destiny.

3) How We, the plucky Terrans with only a handful of worlds, defeated the mighty Vilani Imperium.

4) How We heroically fought to save that Imperium from its own corruption, and rebuild it into the Glorious Second Imperium, but sadly failed due to Vilani inertia.

5) How We stood fast and survived the Long Night as the Old Earth Union.

6) How the Third Imperium confirmed the Solomani Hypothesis - that We are the original Humans and the rest are just samples taken by aliens to colonize other worlds.

7) How the Third Imperium prosecuted Us and discriminated against Us and therefore We needed Our own state.

8) Ho We rebelled against the repressive Imperial rule, and built the Glorious Solomani Confederation, but had Our Holy Terra snatched from Us by the brutal Imperials.

9) How We will eventually liberate Our homeworld from the Imperium and take back what is Ours.

10. how We secretly hired that Master Manipulator to bring chaos and tribulation to our enemy so We can again take the Stars Our Inheritance. :devil:

 

[pendragonman]

10. how We secretly hired that Master Manipulator to bring chaos and tribulation to our enemy so We can again take the Stars Our Inheritance. :devil:

AHA! THAT is what you are up to!

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Always!

AHA! THAT is what you are up to!

Indeed, Humaniti Über Alles! :devil:

I love my species, they may be awful at times, but they are mine.

 

[pendragonman]

Indeed, Humaniti Über Alles! :devil:

I love my species, they may be awful at times, but they are mine.

Don't know how subtle it is, sending in a Marine...

 

[Ulsyus]

GURPS Traveller Nobles, p11

The worlds of the Third Imperium exhibit a great deal of
cultural diversity. In contrast, the nobles of the Third Imperium
inhabit a relatively constant overlying culture that spans
the space between the stars. Indeed, the Imperial aristocracy
may define the consistent culture that binds the Third
Imperium together.

That's a start, but wouldn't be enough for an interstellar culture would it?

 

[rancke]

I love my species, they may be awful at times, but they are mine.

Making undeserved allowances for ill-doers who happen to belong to your gang, whoever your gang may be, is an odious habit that has been responsible for many horrible acts. I'll take an ethical alien who respects my rights over a criminal human who don't any day.

Also, your species include a LOT of non-Solomani.


Hans

 

[rancke]

That's a start, but wouldn't be enough for an interstellar culture would it?

Imperial culture is, I believe, analogous to British culture in the heyday of the Empire.


Hans

 

[mike wightman]

Which required there to be a Great Britain to define that culture.

The Imperium requires either significant direct rule of planets that define Imperial culture, or Imperial culture really is spaced based with only the odd world directly ruled by the Imperium.

 

[Ulsyus]

Imperial culture is, I believe, analogous to British culture in the heyday of the Empire.

Hans

Would that be because the British had an empire that existed, for a significant proportion of it's existence, in locales that were weeks if not month of travel times away? That would make the analogy stronger. Or were you thinking of some other justification.

Also from GURPS Nobles, p31:

If there is any consistency within the noble lifestyle, it rests on the fact that the aristocracy participates in the overall starfaring culture of the Imperium. Indeed, it may be said that the aristocracy defines that culture through its traditions. The aristocracy is one of the institutions that binds the Imperium together – it maintains a consistent set of cultural values at the highest level, and places control in the hands of citizens deemed likely to be reliable and loyal. It is believed that without the nobility, the Imperium would rapidly disintegrate into smaller polities, constantly at war with one another.

 

[whulorigan]

Which required there to be a Great Britain to define that culture.

The Imperium requires either significant direct rule of planets that define Imperial culture, or Imperial culture really is spaced based with only the odd world directly ruled by the Imperium.

I think I would make the argument that the Third Imperium did not erupt out of a vacuum at the end of the Long Night, but rather evolved out of the Sylean Federation, which was a centralist state (and absorbed the Vilani Worlds, which were culturally conservative).

"Imperial" culture likely has its origins in the general overall culture of the worlds of the Sylean Federation (and the nobility structure that governed it), and its subsequent transformation during the early Third Imperium. "Modern" Imperial culture would represent 1000 years of evolution of that basic background, a fusion of Sylean culture and the later introduction of conservative Vilani values. This wouldn't necessarily be the culture of individual worlds (especially the ones outside the Imperial "Core" so to speak), but would perhaps be passed down generation to generation at the interstellar level thru the "culture" of the hereditary nobility and the governmental apparatuses (apparati?) that they oversee and administer. Those who deal with the Imperial government at any level (even spacers & merchants) would likely encounter it.

 

[Ulsyus]

How about some foundations:

Sir Edward Tylor writes on the first page of his 1897 book: "Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society."

The Cambridge online dictionary returns this:

the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time

Wikipedia throws in this element:

Indian thinker Raimon Panikkar pointed out out 29 ways in which cultural change can be brought about. Some of these are: growth, development, evolution, involution, renovation, reconception, reform, innovation, revivalism, revolution, mutation, progress, diffusion, osmosis, borrowing, eclecticism, syncretism, modernization, indigenization, and transformation.

as well as

Distinctions are currently made between the physical artifacts created by a society, its so-called material culture, and everything else,[4] the intangibles such as language, customs, etc. that are the main referent of the term "culture".

Some of this looks like the Social Outlook section of the old DGP World Builders Handbook.

What does Imperial culture hold dear? Loyalty to the Imperium, homage to the Empire, freedom of commerce between the stars, that no sophont can be enslaved, that AIs and AI robots are not eligible for citizenship but clones are, that nanotechnology is restricted primarily to certain industrial and medical uses, that local laws and customs shall stand so long as they do not intersect with Imperial law.

What else does the Imperium stand for? What constrains it in terms of human (sophont!?!) behaviour?

 

[rancke]

Would that be because the British had an empire that existed, for a significant proportion of it's existence, in locales that were weeks if not month of travel times away? That would make the analogy stronger. Or were you thinking of some other justification.

I was thinking that Imperial administrators spread Sylean culture to the places they went. Imperial nobles embraced Sylean culture because it represented the source of their power. Sylean traders and settlers spread their culture to other worlds because they had a dominant position. And some of the people of the member worlds emulated them and adopted their culture. But at the end of the day, most inhabitants of most member worlds stuck to their own culture and on most worlds the Imperial (Sylean) culture remains a thin veneer followed by the cosmopolitan one or two or five percent of the population.


Hans

 

[Ulsyus]

I was thinking that Imperial administrators spread Sylean culture to the places they went. Imperial nobles embraced Sylean culture because it represented the source of their power. Sylean traders and settlers spread their culture to other worlds because they had a dominant position. And some of the people of the member worlds emulated them and adopted their culture. But at the end of the day, most inhabitants of most member worlds stuck to their own culture and on most worlds the Imperial (Sylean) culture remains a thin veneer followed by the cosmopolitan one or two or five percent of the population.

Hans

So what are the elements of Sylean behaviour and custom that make up what is at times that veneer?

I could see it taking root significantly on some worlds, where they may have been seen in a positive light. Or some products may have just become embedded in the world consciousness in some places (Sylean Coke - the real Imperial thing...). What from Sylea stuck? What is it that people would look at, or hear about, that makes them think of the Imperium in the everyday?

 

[rancke]

So what are the elements of Sylean behaviour and custom that make up what is at times that veneer?

We had a spirited discussion of that over on the SJG forum a few years ago. Here's what I arrived at (its' a modification of a list Ewan posted):

• Honor to the Emperor!
  
• The autocratic powers of the Emperor are as necessary and just as the autocratic powers of a starship captain.
  
• An Emperor is necessary to run an interstellar state the size of the Imperium. Hence #2 above.
  
• Social equality of ranks and station is a contradiction in terms; hierarchy is natural and good as long as social mobility allows the gifted to rise. Inequality before the law, OTOH, is a Great Evil. Nobles should not be able to misbehave and hide behind their rank. And they're not allowed to. No, really! We don't stand for that sort of thing, ever! Well, hardly ever...
  
• Training and education allow nobles to shine in their role as caretakers of the Imperium. The few bad apples are invariably removed by an administrative system that has been honed for over a millenium. Well, almost invariably.
  
• Personal loyalty is tremendously important.
  
• A man's word is his bond.
  
• Cowards are despicable. Scoundrels are disreputable. Brutes are brutal. Savages lack culture. Etc. etc..
  
• Duelling is a fine old tradition when not abused.
  
• A gentleman always pays his debts.
  
• The profession of arms in an honorable one.
  
• The Imperium stands for equality between all races. Humans are a majority in the Imperium, so it's no more than natural that they dominate it. Nothing questionable in that. Really. Other races have just the same chances as humans to make it in the Imperium. No, it's true! Humans don't have any special advantages. Nope! None at all!
  
• All sapient beings have a number of inherent rights. For practical reasons the Imperium can't enforce those rights on member worlds (no interference with internal affairs), but it does respect them itself and will uphold them in its own dealings with such beings.

Note that by some strange accident of fate, the ideals of Imperial culture are pretty close to those of Terra's 21st Century Western countries. The fact that "everybody knows" that autocratic rule is the only thing that works at long interstellar distances allows the Imperium to "talk the talk" without having to "walk the walk". Hence the notions that democracy is great (for individual worlds) is taught to everybody who serves the Imperium and hence, in turn, all those ex-service player characters with 21st Century beliefs.


Hans

 

[Carlobrand]

...

• 
  ...
• All sapient beings have a number of inherent rights. For practical reasons the Imperium can't enforce those rights on member worlds (no interference with internal affairs), but it does respect them itself and will uphold them in its own dealings with such beings.

...

Apparently with certain very narrow exceptions: slavery, for example.

(Please note that this is not an invitation to the community divert the thread into a debate on what does or does not constitute slavery. We have nobles to debate such things for us. )

 

[rancke]

Apparently with certain very narrow exceptions: slavery, for example.

That goes without saying. It is, after all, an article in the Warrant of Restoration co-equal with the article about non-governance of member worlds.


Hans

 

[Ulsyus]

All sapient beings have a number of inherent rights. For practical reasons the Imperium can't enforce those rights on member worlds (no interference with internal affairs), but it does respect them itself and will uphold them in its own dealings with such beings.

So that makes the Imperium a bit of a confederacy? What about worlds directly settled by the Imperium: are they the ones with a UPP rating of 6, 8 or 9 where an Imperial governor or administrator runs things for the 3I?

Apparently with certain very narrow exceptions: slavery, for example.

The Imperium does interfere: no slavery, no nukes, no psionics (well, not so much of that now compared to the past). What else does the Imperium proscribe?

 

[rancke]

So that makes the Imperium a bit of a confederacy? What about worlds directly settled by the Imperium: are they the ones with a UPP rating of 6, 8 or 9 where an Imperial governor or administrator runs things for the 3I?

The Warrant of Restoration says that the Imperium shall exercise no direct governance over any member world (emphasis mine). So any world that isn't a member the Imperium can govern directly. Logically this would be worlds with government type 6 only (government appointed by an authority from outside the system). Government type 8 and 9 ought not to be Imperially appointed, but I'm not going to go out on a limb and claim that no one has ever written up such a world. Sadly, past Traveller writers have not followed that logic, and there are lots and lots of colony worlds that do not have type 6 governments (any world owned by a megacorporstion, for example).

The Imperium does interfere: no slavery, no nukes, no psionics (well, not so much of that now compared to the past). What else does the Imperium proscribe?

The Imperium can't enforce day-to-day civil rights without governing directly, and any attempt to do so would scare the bejeezus out of most of the member worlds. It can enforce simple bans by removing any government that breaks them. And as long as the other member worlds can say, "Oh, well, that won't happen to us because we won't employ chattel slavery" or "Oh, well, psionics; those guys deserved all they got" or something like that, the Imperium can do it.


Hans