Lianjia

The Lianjia (连家 in their native dialect of 连家话 or Lianjia Hua), meaning Uniting House, are a Nepleslian cultural group. They are distinct due to their language that shares the same writing system as the Yamatai people, hinting at an ancient exchange or link. They form tight-knit communities and prefer to limit their interaction with their fellow Nepleslians due to being confused with Yamataians and the Jiyuuians because of this and some of their members joining other colored factions in the past.

Other cultural groups have been absorbed into their own for mutual defense against rival gangs, giving rise to the meaning of the group's name. Historically, the Lianjia were found more within the rural areas of Nepleslia living as fishermen, farmers, tradespeople, and of course gangsters. But with much of their jobs automated or dead, the Lianjia have begun to migrate to Nepleslia Prime and the Nepleslian Colonial Expanse.

Below are some quick points of Lianjia culture:

• The Lianjia speak Lianjia Speech and Trade.
• The Lianjia tend to be very socially reserved, but are open when sharing resources/good friendship
• The Lianjia view violence as another tool to ensuring order. Only opposes it when too excessive.
• The Lianjia are deeply devoted to their families and friends. Social relations are everything to them. Older individuals have a higher social status and younger have a lower social status when all factors are equal. But there are circumstances where this is different: a younger individual that has contributed positively (rich/famous for technology) to society.
• The Lianjia do not believe in social mobility unless it is based on merit. While slavery is illegal, they have no problems finding ways to create virtual slavery with members being placed in a master/servant status to pay off debts to the triads that never seem to go away. Due to the strong loyalty to family, most Lianjia in such situations do not see it as negative and will go out of the way to defend their ways.
• A person of the Lianjia tends to not self-promote themselves. They instead rely on deep social connections to do it for them.
• The Lianjia are not usually known for their openness to other cultures unless money is to be made or a culture/species has something they want. Openness varies amongst individuals and past experiences.
• If a Lianjia has to choose between a fellow Nepleslian or a Lianjia, they will pick the Lianjia 90% of the time. Most Lianjia that do not experience the greater world has a sense of superiority to them.

Species-wise, the Lianjia are usually Nepleslian or Geshrin (married in or upgraded) in origin. The average person of Lianjia descent, when compared to the average Nepleslian, has straight dark brown/black hair. Their dark brown eyes often have a epicanthic fold that gives a narrow almond shape. Their skin tones tend to favor the light side of the human spectrum, often with a yellowish tint. Last, their faces also tend to be flatter with rounder noses, wider cheekbones, and men often lack facial hair. Lianjia women have an average height of 5'8“, while men average 6'0”.

But due to intermixing, a member of the Lianjia group can look just as Nepleslian with some common features shared with other Lianjia. Lianjia are also just as likely to make use of cybernetics, but they often tend towards those that don't make them stand out (unless they are rebellious). Biomechanical and nanomachines are the most common cybernetics for them.

The Lianjia prefer wearing clothing that is practical and pragmatic. Women will often dress semi-revealing in a pragmatic way, while men often want to look tough. But all will have red somewhere in their dress as it is a color of good luck for them. Something that has caused them issues in the past as they get confused as working with the Nepleslian Reds (which some Lianjia triads did/do). The numbers 8 and 666 may be located somewhere on clothing as well as these are considered lucky numbers for them.

Older Lianjia men and women favor wearing business suits/formal wear, especially if they are upper class.

Lianjia legends claim they are a people that hail from a planet with terrible flooding. Their ancient ancestors only survived because of a mythic hero that conquered the floods and became the first emperor of a vast empire. When told in a modern era, it is often laughed behind the backs of Lianjia as being impossible. But the Lianjia continue to be inspired by them.

As far as most Nepleslians are concerned, the Lianjia descend from settlers of Nepleslia that decided to live in the continent of Norlin. There they led a fairly modern agrarian life as farmers, tradesmen, fishermen, and traders.

The Lianjia historically were govern by warlords and gang leaders that controlled territories in Norlin. Every so often, a warlord will unite all the triads and style themselves as an emperor (or empresses) of their legends. On at least one occasion, such in the case of the Xu Dyansty, these self-appointed rulers manage to consolidate additional territory that effectively makes them the ruler of Nepleslia. But Lianjia dynasties rarely last more than two generations before they crumble. The Xu Dyansty, started by Xu Mengjun, lasted only until his granddaughter Xu Yinying was assassinated by a rival attempting to be the next Emperor.

Over the centuries, the Lianjia started to migrate into larger cities with families and triads looking for more lucrative opportunities. It didn't take long for these people to become common fixtures in the most nature-friendly sections of Funky City and any place they could get a foothold.

After the maritime fishing industry became a thing of the past and farming became more automated, the Lianjia have once again started to migrate. They are known as the discoverers and founding members of the Avante colony in the Colonial Expanse. While a number of triads remain on Nepleslia, a majority are moving to Avante and Nepleslia Prime to live the Nepleslian way of life their way.

An important note in their history is their response to the Dame Famine from the overproduction of male clones and ID-SOL. While initially against the idea, many families were bribed (and indebted by favors as a result) by forward thinking triads to accept Nekos and female outsiders into their families. There was of course resistance from existing females of the group that saw it as a challenge to their protected privilege. The two sides have since largely moved on.

The Lianjia tend to isolate themselves from their fellow Nepleslians. To keep them from stagnating, they elect representatives to act as their community front and diplomat for interacting with the outside world. They often rely on businessmen and traders to cover any inadequacies they might have in supporting themselves. Those that have interacted with them have a common saying: “To win the trust of a Lianjia takes time, to win the trust of a community requires the sharing of resources over generations”.

Many Lianjia technicians, machinists, and engineers often claim that machines have spirits and all one has to do is listen to their machines. Most people laugh at this, but there is no denying the mechanical skill many Lianjia exhibit. How much of this is due to their hard work and diligence or machines actually having spirits is unknown.

Like all Nepleslians, Lianjia love weapons. They often will have ancestral weapons that an ancestor used in some great moment as a form of ancestor worship. Such weapons are well treated by the clan's appointed machinist where they also memorize all of the family oral histories.

Death is treated seriously by the Lianjia. When an individual dies, an individual's whole body must be recovered for them to pass over into the halls of their ancestors. With either a whole body or none at all, the Lianjia go through complex rituals and periods of mourning to ensure their ancestors will accept the new soul. To only receive a portion of a body is considered a great insult by traditionalists.

Despite this, the Lianjia have no problem accepting Soul Transfers and cloning, believing they preserve the soul.

Despite their culture, the Lianjia are still Nepleslians: they have a fondness for meat and potatoes. Especially if said potatoes are fried or cooked into a soup. But they do not only eat the two, having a wide cuisine that combines meats and vegetables with spices and soy sauce. Some subsets of the Lianjia love to eat food with absurd levels of spicy that would make even an ID-SOL and Nekovalkyrja cry out in pain. Thick stews, Bread, noodles, meat, and vegetable dishes are most common for them.

Lianjia legends say their ancient ancestors had an extreme fondness for pork, but modern Lianjia are not as devoted to the meat. Pork, beef, chicken, and fish are preferred over other kinds of meat.

Examples of Lianjia Dishes:

• Tomato and Eggs - An all-around dish that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
• Lianjia Duck
• Beef and Noodles
• Meat Pancake (kind of like meatloaf, but steamed. Soysauce seasoning is used)
• Mu Xu Pork

The Lianjia traditionally follow an obscure lunar calender of a long lost moon to govern when to celebrate holidays. By coincidence, it closely aligns with the Yamataian Calendar. Lianjia social gatherings tend to be full of social rituals such as a person

• Spring Festival (2月 15日)
• Mid-Harvest Festival (8月 20日)
• Water Goddess Festival (6月 1日)

Lianjia men (sometimes women) were often conscripted into military service by their triad overlords. Some fought as independents, while others served in one of the colored factions of old. But today, most Lianjia who enlist to be soldiers will be found as either mercenaries or serving with the Greens. A Green Lianjia will be highly reluctant to fire upon a Red Lianjia.

For those fortunate enough not to be conscripted (and later choose not to enlist), Lianjia prefer jobs where they can be connected with nature (farmers/fishers) or intellectual pursuits (technicians/businessmen).

The Lianjia are known to be excellent craftsmen and shipwrights.

The Lianjia speak a language called Lianjia Speech (连家话). Lianjia Speech is similar to Han Chinese, but some dialects do exist. Lianjia Speech makes use of the same character system as Yamataigo (邪馬台語). The Lianjia become insulted when outsiders suggest the Lianjia come from the Yamatai culture or they somehow stole the characters from the Yamataians.

If anything, the Lianjia believe Yamatai saw it as a superior writing system and stole it from the Lianjia before their migration. Though surprisingly, this is not the reason they dislike the Yamataians. They approve of other cultures making use of a writing system they are very proud of.

But the truth is so much more simple as to why the two languages sharing a common writing system. This is due to a very ancient link between the progenitors of both cultures. A link long forgotten and only hinted at in repeatedly misinterpreted legends and myths.

Family names are often single characters, while given names are two characters. For example 贺孟安 (Hè Mèngān). The first character is the surname while remaining characters are the given name. Traditional Lianjia often will name their children after great heroes (translitating the name if needed) or honored ancestors. Though it is common for less traditional Lianjia to hyphenate their surnames (two characters) or simply use Trade (language) names with their Lianjia speech surnames. Despite their language being tonal and having a phonetic way of spelling, they often do not use it and write their names in Trade.

• Zhang
• Huang
• Wang
• Guo
• Li
• Ding
• Dai
• Xia

• Jun
• Xueqin
• Qingshan
• Xiaobo
• Yongrui

• Meili
• Chuntao
• Huifang
• Xingjuan
• Qiuyue

In addition to the main culture of the Lianjia, a number of sub-cultures exist within the Lianjia. All of them were groups of people that adopted the Lianjia culture and way of living due to being tightly associated with them (political marriages, swarmed by the Lianjia, etc).

The Mutari are olive to dark skinned and light brown hair Lianjia that can be truly considered Nepleslians. As they often possess the Super Y chromosome, Mutari are also predominately men. As such Lianjia Triads often use them as soldiers and enforcers. Both to exploit their martial prowess and to also keep them away from their women. Mutari are also known to have a form of dancing similar to haka that they use for ceremonies and to challenge people to fisticuffs

In addition to Lianjia Speech and Trade, the Mutari speak a dialect that sounds similar to Seraphim (but strictly from the Latin half) called Mutari Speech.

• Jaramillo
• Manzanares
• Maier
• Harris
• Inocencio
• Keller

• Peppi
• Leocadio
• Roldán
• Carlito
• Victor

• Brunilda
• Débora
• Mariangela
• Elisabeth
• Emmeline

Sardinians are an offshoot of the Mutari. Often not possessing the Super Y Chromosome, Lianjia Triads often employ Sardinians as advisors and ambassadors. They have a much more refined sense of personal freedom and curiosity which allows them to interact with outsiders with ease. But they remain deeply loyal to their Lianjia families.

Like the Mutari, Sardinians are also olive-skinned and often have dark brown or black hair with some facial features of the Lianjia. Like the Mutari, Sardinians also speak Mutari Speech.

• Rossi
• Consoli
• D'Amore
• Colombo
• Fiorentini

• Nicolò
• Rinaldo
• Emilio

• Dona
• Natale
• Serafina
• Margherita
• Carla

The Abd Bahadi are tanned skinned and straight black hair Lianjia that tend to be more secretive compared to the average Lianjia. The Abd Bahadi are known to produce great thieves, assassins, and inventors. Something Lianjia Triads are all too happy to take advantage of to obtain whatever advantages they can over rivals. The Abd Bahadi once spoke their own language, but they have long since abandoned it and translated it into Lianjia Speech.

• Washma
• Nashida
• Lazim
• Khalid
• Zahid
• Muhannad

• Zakaria
• Saad
• Mahmoud
• Mussa
• Wali

• Sami
• Rayes
• Zaidi
• Zyna
• Siddiqi

Below are some general views Lianjia have with other Nepleslian cultural groups or species. Views and opinions from individuals will depend on levels of education and how much a person has traveled outside of their community.

Lianjia often have good relationships with Kuznyetski families when they live near each other. Lianjia often take on some aspects of their gun culture, though Lianjia are more practical and choose to make pistols instead. Easier to conceal.

The average Lianjia has a somewhat negative view of the Yamataians. This is largely due to the Empire's treatment of Nepleslia, further increased by female internal friction from Yamataians marrying in. Many consider them stuck up and often causing more problems than they solve. The fact that they seemingly were losing the war with the Kuvexian made many older Lianjia smile that life was returning the favor to them.

Though there is a lesser and older point of annoyance: the belief that the Yamataians stole their writing system. Though many Lianjia now just believe they might have done that, it is a good thing. Their writing system is being spread throughout the universe. As such, Lianjia only really bring it up to make fun of odd uses (in their language) of characters.

But if the Lianjia are annoyed with Yamataians, they outright dismissive of the Jiyuuians. If Yamataians are stuck up people, the Jiyuuians to the Lianjia are failed stuck up people that don't realise they have failed. The truth of the dislike stems from traditional Jiyuuian values of self-promotion and blind openness being near direct opposites of what the Lianjia value. The Lianjia on Avante are not particularly pleased that the Jiyuuians relocated to Shinjiyuu so near their home. But they have decided to be good neighbors for the time being.

A Jiyuuian has to work twice as hard as a Yamataian to get to a neutral footing with the average Lianjia. Though like their cultural cousins, the Lianjia are quite willing to do business with them from afar.

The animosity seems limited to culture and not race as Lianjia Nekovalkyjra and Yamataians do exist. They are usually the descendants of those that married into Lianjia families to increase the number of females on Nepleslia. A rare few ancestors were bought (masters were murdered though), but most ancestors are outcasts and refugees from various conflicts.

It should be noted that those in the upper class or who travel around a lot tend to not have as strong views. They are instead base their opinions on past interactions.

The Lianjia had a strange fascination with the Elysians when they appeared. Viewing them like angels of their legends, many of the poorer Lianjia believed they were a people worth emulating to help rise up in society. But the multiple wars they have had with Nepleslia (via Yamatai involvement), the Great Plague of YE 08, and servitude (and re-servitude) to the Yamatai Star Empire has changed this.

Today when the average Lianjia encounters an Elysian, they experience a sort of pity towards them. They serve as an example in Lianjia bedtime stories and adages about the price of too much arrogance, pompousness, and pride. Some Lianjia still believes they are responsible for the Great Plague and are outright hostile and a rare few will greet one with a smile.

Plebians are largely immune to this treatment however, so long as they don't try to defend Elysians.

The average Lianjia has had little or no interaction with these Kodians and Separa'Shan. As such their opinions are heavily influenced by rumors they hear about them. Most lower class Lianjia think Kodians are cybernetic Bear beasts that fight the evil snake people on behalf of all humans. It takes much education and effort to undo this.

Demibear created this article on 2021/01/20 01:50.

Approval Thread: https://stararmy.com/roleplay-forum/threads/nepleslia-lianjia-cultural-group.66900/