It is said that there were hundreds of individual cultures before the times of the Great Conflict, but the formation of the two ancient kingdoms all but eradicated these separate cultures. Instead, two cultures were formed in these great Kingdoms and still survive to this day. This mainly has to do with the living environment of each culture: one cloistered in subterranean darkness and the other on the variable-condition surface.
While both cultures of the Surfacers and the Nightwalkers have merged somewhat when it comes to entertainment, cuisine, and a variety of other aspects, the Abwehran Culture still suffers from a bi-cultural aspect.
The unified Abwehran culture (such as it is) is comprised of many aspects.
While Abwehran Cuisine differs from region to region on Abwehr, the Cuisine labeled as the Empire's Cuisine is known as Hauptstadt Küche, or Capital Cuisine. In essence, Abwehr as a unified culture prefers to be identified by the style of cooking popular in the nations capital of Großartige Festung. This popular style of cooking is actually a meld of several cooking techniques in the nearby vicinity of the Capital and is rich in texture and flavor.
While many societies have laws on crimes against their children, the Abwehrans have a historical and often fanatical disposition towards them. During the Great Conflict era of their history, millions of children were killed just because they were in the wrong location at the wrong time. Such tragic losses in life drove many Abwehrans to the breaking point. Because of these tragedies, an almost fanatical drive to protect their offspring (more so than what seems natural) was developed over the centuries. Because of this, all crimes against children carry capital punishment as the maximum sentence.
Boredom can be a rather annoying feeling and that is true even with Abwehrans. To relieve this awful feeling, the Abwehrans have developed many forms of entertainment of their own. Games and Sports are prevalent with even traditional hunting / rites of passage turning to sport. Literature and Music also have their recreational value among the Abwehran people. The invention of the planetary network further developed entertainment with the addition of Video files and games.
Like many cultures Abwehrans keep pets for a variety of reasons ranging from companionship to competition. While some of the more popular species in the sector have started to make their way into the homes of Abwehrans, there are also some native species accustomed to heavy gravity worlds that they keep.
Great figures of legend who may or may not have some semblance in fact, Abwehran Folk Heroes often are examples of Abwehran Virtues — or great examples of what not to be like. Many Folk heroes have morals behind their stories, though there are others that are just made for telling in local pubs and taverns as well.
Ranging from religious celebrations to historic memorials, each Quarter1) has its own holidays. Some holidays are repeated in each Quarter, though those celebrations are often used to celebrate seasonal or quarterly events rather than yearly celebrations.
The Abwehran language is known as Abwehran to non-Abwehrans and the Volksprache to the native populous.
For a list of all known languages spoken in the SARPiverse, see Languages.
It should be noted that when in RP Volksprache/Abwehran is often written as German. This is to make it easier for players to 'translate' the language in RP. The language is not actually German.
Volksprache is a strong and harsh-sounding language. To most non-Abwehran, it probably sounds like everyone is angry at each other, but that is only when it is used in a raised voice. Grammatically, Volksprache is an inflecting language from many old regional languages that have died out during the Great Conflict Era. Plus, it is a language with three grammatical genders, which means a large number of words can be derived from the same root. With a word order that is less rigid than the Nepleslian language, Volksprache does require that verb elements appear second in sentences. Currently, there are two main dialects of spoken Volksprache: Unterweldt for the Nightsiders and Hochweldt for the Surfacers. However, there are a variety of minor dialects based upon regional influences.
The written Volksprache is based upon the concept of using characters to express ideas and words rather than alphabetical form. Each character is drawn or typed in a squarish and blocky style to make it easily adaptable to computer-based typing. It is also quite possibly the written language with the greatest number of characters in its lexicon with almost 20,000 different characters (which include about 12,000 ancient and rarely used characters). Needless to say, it is much easier to learn spoken Volksprache than it is the written language. The written Volksprache is read top-down, since it is written in the vertical sense.
After facing the nightmare of a world-governing fascist regime, the Abwehran people have a healthy respect for their own personal freedoms. A vast majority of the people participate in regular debates on the issues and vote in the yearly elections. A minority of the citizens take a more active role in their right to participate politically with lobbying, protests, and frequent letters to their Representatives. To be a loyal Abwehran is to criticize their leaders' decisions and to assert their political rights rather than just stand idly by and obey without question.
SEE: The Abwehran Imperial Government for more information.
Unlike many nations in the galaxy, religious thought on Abwehr is incredibly diverse. While there are only a few major religions, the Basic Rights of Abwehrans protects Religion Freedom and often allows for a number of religious sects to be spawned. However, religious sects that revolve around the harming of other Abwehrans or the sacrifice of creatures are often suppressed by not only the government, but by the people as well.
The Abwehrans are currently considered a gender equal society. That was not always the case and tradition is often hard to go against.
In the Abwehran culture, the female is traditionally the more dominant gender based solely upon the ratio between males to females. It was never based on physical strength, because the male has greater muscle mass and density in comparison to the female. However, female Abwehrans have always been viewed as the ones in charge of the home. They were responsible for running everything while males hunted and warred. They were the creators of life and matriarchs of the family. This eventually translated into political power when civilizations began to settle.
The majority of political or administration positions are still traditionally female. However, with the jobs needing to be filled, Abwehran females can be found in occupations that were traditionally male-centric (soldiers, miners, etc). Slowly, females trickled into these occupations as gender-centric ideals began to become outdated.
Long ago, male Abwehrans were the hunters and protectors of pre-civilization Abwehr. They had the strength and aggressive mentality to overcome their prey or protect their groups from predators. However, they were not the ones in charge of the family groups. That was left to the female Abwehrans who were more numerous and left together most of the time. As civilization grew, these traditional roles found their places in society with males becoming laborers, law enforcement, and military.
Of course, as females began to trickle into traditional male-centric occupations, so too did males begin trickling up into formerly female-centric roles. Of course, the less-numerous male Abwehrans would often be out-numbered in administrative groups. However, because of these pioneers, Abwehran society slowly drifted away from the traditional roles into modern gender equality.
Much of Abwehran History is steeped in war. The Great Conflict Era is consumed by it, the After Conflict Era was freed by it, and the After Freedom Era has the Abwehran people in constant worry of being dragged into it. Abwehrans have learned that War is an ever present thing in the universe and that conflict can spring up at a moments notice. While years of peace have allowed Abwehrans from non-military families to forget the pain and struggles, those from the “military dynasties” know that there will always be a 'next war'. While avoiding it would be prudent, it is always best to prepare for it.
This page was originally created on 2013/02/28 22:24 by Abwehran Commander.