Nation/Cultural Notes
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Nation is a cipher to the external; a group of mutants, using high terms, emphasising odd words, sexually permissive, culturally sensitive, and overwhelmingly alien as time goes by. Nation represents a new country, a new culture, and as part of this, Agony's essays on the matter, with the works of individual populists and polemics like Ihsan and Eisregen, along with the simple accumulation of subculture status, there are many behaviours and mores which Nation itself holds.
The nature of such things appears to be very democratic; Nation gathers, argues, talks at length, and even has a somewhat republican stance. Included below are some common cultural traits one might observe of Nation, studies and quotes that have served to explain the way Nation's citizens choose to do things, and how this potentially dangerous group has set itself apart.
OOC Note: This page is a collection of general ideas, customs, cultural footnotes and the like, for interacting with Nation as a whole. This is not, I must note, set in stone; I am very literally throwing ideas out there and seeing what sticks. The quotes are all mutable, too; this is me, attempting to establish a standpoint to work from; little gestures, little ideas. Please, come, add your own ideas, adjust my own. If I've put words in the mouth of a character of yours and you feel I did it badly, please correct it.
Most importantly, this is a giant slab of RP keys. Play with them! The point is to be fun and to help Nation feel less like an organisation or a gang and more like a story, more like what it's supposed to be: a nation. This page is much more collaborative than it might look!
Contents |
New Children
We, the first generation of Nation, are cursed with having straddled two cultures, one of our own and one of others. We carry the trapping of those lives, in how we act, how we regard one another. We should shed these behaviours, must shed them, as a serpent sheds its skin, for we are not of the Neutrals, and we should no longer work to appear as such. No; we are Evolved, and we, as a culture, should meet them face to face, as our own people, separate to them.
This is why the Rule of Names. This is why our gestures, our hand-shakings, our shibboleths and our cultural exchanges. We know better than to assume the simple nature of human culture applies to us.
- - Black Agony
The culture of Nation, and its extension, Priori, can be very strange to an outside observor. Collected here are the notes of many observors and studious outsiders who have noted these behaviours, and attempted to analyse them.
Day To Day
It is in the little things that we show who we truly are.
- - Battlebriar
Names and Notions
My parents called me River; my schoolmates called me Riv; my teachers called me Mr Daleson; my fellow Cross members called me Sir or The Rose Paladin; My maids called me Young Master Daleson. Not once did any one of these people know who I am.
- - Battlebriar
The rule of names is the most obvious social aspect of the Nation culture. While several heroes will call one another by their callsigns in public, they will typicall resort to 'real' names afterwards. In Nation, referring to a fellow Evolved by their human name is an insult on par with a swear, and considered extremely hurtful and inappropriate.
With this important trait, then, comes an important effect; the actual day of receiving one's Name is an event of serious pomp and circumstance. A party is held, the day is comemmorated over time, and the entire situation could be compared to a birthday. The only fixed component of the ritual is the Evolved's self-declaration, another component of Nation's attitude towards self-determination.
The Rite of Naming
When an Evolved joins Nation's ranks, and wishes to affirm their presence as an Evolved who embraces Nation's cause, they may approach an Archon and ask to arrange a Rite Of Naming. The Rite of Naming is, at its simplest, a party. Evolved gather, there is food and drink and enjoyable pasttimes, depending on the individual Evolved. For younger Evolved, it has been compared to a child's party, complete with ice cream and party hats, while for other Evolved it has been a sombre, serious affair more comparative to a Bar Mitzvah. The individual event is typically tailored by a parent figure or an Archon - the Evolved need make no effort for him or herself.
The only fixed note of the Rite of Naming is that at some point, the Exarch or an Archon makes a personal appearance to the Evolved whose Rite it is. The Evolved, at that point, proudly introduces himself, to the authority, and by effect, to Nation itself, by their new Name.
Hello and Goodbye
Oh, yes, let me shake your hand. I promise you I'm not holding a weapon.
- - Glasshouse
Nation members do not shake hands. This human tradition, which started in Roman times, with legionnaires proving they wielded no weapon in their dominant hand, doesn't have meaning in a world of warriors who slay dragons with their thoughts. Furthermore, some individual Evolved - such as Glasshouse or Canvas - are actually dangerous to simply touch, which has made this common of greeting both painful and demeaning.
Instead, in Nation, it is common for Evolved to greet one another by holding up a raised palm to one another, fingers together, in a gesture known simply as Meeting. Proximity is a signal, as is contact. Raising your hand to a fellow Evolved from a distance can be as simple as saying 'hello', with direct contact, fingertip to fingertip, palm to palm, without looking to coordinate, can speak of a pair of minds very much in synch, very much together.
There is much nuance to this gesture; much subtext can pass between a pair of individuals in how they choose to use the Meeting.
If I bow to you, I show you the top of my head, the back of my neck, and my closed eyes. To bow is a simple expression of trust that you're not going to do anything with that. Therefore, to bow shows great trust; and to be bowed to is a burden of behaviour. Would you strike me while I have made myself helpless?
- - Ihsan
One way for individuals in Nation to show true respect and trust to those to whom they are talking is a common enough gesture; a simple bow, with hands together, eyes closed. No flourish is necessary; it is enough to have one's eyes on the ground for a moment, to show one's willingness to trust.
Currently amongst Nation, bowing is not common; it is more often used as a punctuation to a statement of value or worth. Bowing to someone you have just met is considered quite rude, as you are exposing yourself to the potential acrimony of someone you have never met, and showing that your bow itself is either foolish or ignorant.
Form and Fiction
Uniformity signifies power; strength in numbers and belonging. The way uniforms or gang colours mark people as being from the same tribe says, 'touch one of us and you touch us all; and we will all touch you back.' It is a promise, but it is also a threat.
- - Eisregen
Nation has no fixed design in how its citizens dress, no standard fashions per se. Its citizens are social jackdaws, finding designs they like and ideas to pattern themselves after, taking the opportunity to focus on things that they feel flatter them and other things that they do not.
Agony however, encourages the wearing of less mundane clothing. Particularly amongst those Evolved who look baseline, he frowns upon the wearing of regular 'street clothes'. Why dress like a neutral, he reasons, when we are not neutral. Why dress for their function, when it is more comfortable to go nude. Why let their social rules guide us, when we can choose our own path?
There is, however, within Nation, some signals in clothing and fashion that can be recognised, shown in how the individual emulates a higher-ranking member of Nation. Significantly, Auroral, the general of Nation, wears boots decorated with a burnished copper plates and leather straps, a design emulated, for example, by Timbre. Citizens and plebes who revere the teachings and words of Ihsan often decorate their faces with a starcross pattern across their eyes the same way she has - and it has been noted some Priscus have had this mark tattooed, even over their closed eyelids.
Eisregen has also been considering and working on a simplistic uniform design amongst those sympathetic to the cause, inspired by his time dealing with other militant subcultures. Time will tell what he eventuates, but the idea is a simple and efficient one: To be able to present a unified face as an invading army or police force amongst Nation.
Mother and Father
It takes a village, right?
- - Auroral
Currently, sixteen is considered the age of maturity in Nation. Agony has stated many times that at sixteen, an individual is no longer a child, and some cases qualify for adulthood much earlier. Individuals without parents who are of a suitable age and in need of mentoring can find themselves 'adopted' by an appropriate pair of individuals within Nation. The Exarch often serves as a kind of de facto father figure for those wayward souls who need an authority figure but lack a suitably loving member of their own family to care for them. Furthermore, the adopting parents need not be in a relationship, they merely need to be able to agree to collaborate, to work together. The first example of this is how the Archons Auroral and Battlebriar have adopted Timbre, despite the pair not being in a relationship that goes beyond friendship; in turn, Woefull and Eisregen adopted Blue.
The idea behind this is as much that it takes a work of community that children deserve the attention of an individual above and beyond the normal communal spirit. With this in mind, the role of mentoring, of being Father or Mother to a new Evolved is something very serious, or has been said as much by the Archons so involved.
Nation also has latitude for adoptions of brothers and sisters, and even in one case, the potential adoption of a young girl to a father. This is somewhat rarer, by comparison, than the conventional adoption, but the options are still there. For example, Canvas and Battlebriar have adopted one another as brother and sister.
Good And Evil
Do you know from whence came the word 'Holy?' It is from a very old term, and that same term gave rise to the word 'Alien'. A thing that is Holy is so very separate to our own that there is simply no means to understand it.
- - Ihsan
Nation's definition of 'good' and 'evil' vary wildly, and it is not clear whether or not there is a strong social consensus. There certainly appears to be a divided perspective from humanity. Some acts in Nation are considered acceptable, and even encouraged, purely because they separate the Evolved from Humanity.
A fine example of this is in how many Evolved argue, how they discuss matters; more than once, the sighing phrase has been uttered, "We're bickering like a couple of humans."
The Evolved seem to regard one another very highly, and have an almost perfect sense of morality amongst one another. They are typically sensitive of one another, generally generous, and often quite touchingly sentimental. Little gestures - such as Canvas using her shadow to touch people, or Blackstar's idly painting of Kameleon's toenails - make up the body of these things, and most Evolved are aware enough to realise how seriously they take these issues.
When focusing on humans, however, the morality of Nation seems to shift. There is a certain element of disdain, of boredom. The Evolved of Nation, as a general rule, seem to not want to get involved in human squabbles, and the life and death of humans to whom they have no personal attachment are often quite immaterial to them.
Good? Evil? How can you define these terms to me? Is a man good if he steals only to feed his family? What if he steals from another family to feed his own? Is a man evil if he tortures? Is he evil if he tortures instead of kills? Good and Evil, your morality, are tainted by the color of human morality. Do not speak to me of morality, and instead show me the color of your ethic. Show me how you adhere to chaos and order, and which side you are on. These things can be clearly defined."
- - Black Agony, Exarch of Nation
One of the defining lines of ethics in Nation is that Nation is a culture of virtue rather than a culture of vice. Rather than outlining what one should not do, what one should never do, Nation instead delineates positive angles, promoting virtues. Any act could be, in theory, justified by a sufficiently virtuous intent or reasoning; with this in mind, Nation's taboos are only those created by an absolute exclusion of the virtues. Murder, for example is not very considerate to the subject; and it stifles the other's opportunities for Self-Determination. On the other hand, one could justify a murder under the heading of Cooperation, as removing one person because they pose a threat to a greater number of other evolved is for the betterment of the community.
The mindset of Nation as far as crime goes is that it is very Crowleyesque; 'Do as thou wilt, but harm none.' With a small population such as Nation has, it is very easy for people to keep to these tenants, of behaving relatively well and ensuring that nobody gets in anyone else's way. With this underpinning, virtue in Nation is much more determined by what an Evolved does do, rather than by what he or she avoids doing.
The virtues of the Evolved are Self-Determination, Sincerity, Serenity, Patience, Cooperation, Consideration and Ingenuity.
Self-Determination
We all have things to be; here is the place where we can.
- - Agony, Exarch of Nation
This Virtue is to speak of potential. In the end, within Nation, there is nobody who you can blame for your lot but yourself; Nation puts great weight on personal responsibility, on the individual's right to choose. Self-determination is the focus of many other Virtues; the right to know what one wants and to know how to have it, to work to achieve the things that one desires.
Exemplar: Black Agony: Within Nation's number, nobody has the same pure drive to be all he can be and to simply reach out and change the world to his vision.
Sincerity
I've never seen a man so terrifyingly free of dishonesty.
- - Blackstar, of Battlebriar
Sincerity is truth in word; truth in action. In Nation, one does not need to make promises; one's word is good enough. Oaths and pledges are but wind - it is by the works of the Evolved that you will know him.
Sincerity is to never lie, either by deliberate choice or by an unknowing pledge. An Evolved may be halted or thwarted in his tasks, he may fall short of a goal through some other's actions; but as long as it lays within his grasp, he will try, and he never says to another Evolved, "I surrendered."
Exemplars: Battlebriar: Battlebriar is free of guile and mistruth in his actions and his deeds. When he pledges something, he does it; and when he is ordered, he obeys. That Briar leads the political division of Nation, theoretically the most duplicitous branch, can be a truly terrifying incongruity for others. Briar's sincerity actually makes him very difficult for telepaths to deal with.
Argent Tempest: As Battlebriar, Argent Tempest does not lie, nor does he brag. He simply is; a fair and perfect gauge of his own abilities. When Argent says something in error, it is because he speaks in ignorance, and he resolves to change. Argent does not forget promises, nor does he dabble in mistruth.
Serenity
Nothing haunts as true serenity.
- - Inscription by Ihsan's meditation chambers
Serenity is often described as the hardest Virtue; an Evolved can certainly fulfill Sincerity, by simply never saying what they do not mean, by abstaining from lies and from never undercommiting to a course of action. Serenity is another angle entirely; Serenity is to have that same unity internally. A serene Evolved does not have distractions from their goal, they do not doubt and they do not fear.
Exemplars: Ihsan: Lacking all clamour and disturbance of self, Ihsan's mind and life are clean and pure; she has nothing to disturb herself, and her every thought is in unity with the others.
Glasshouse: Glasshouse' goal is single, unified, utterly terrifying, but it is nonetheless pure; she does not let herself become distracted, even in her own thoughts, from the purity of her purpose.
Patience
Blacks and Women have been here for far, far longer than we have. I do not believe we will be achieving anything grand in this year; or perhaps the next. To this end, we must think historically. We are making a great icon here, standing before the sun of history, and we are here to make sure our shadow is cast. May they look back upon us, in eighty years time, and see what we have done; may they weep at the beauty of our action.
- - Battlebriar
To all things there is a time; so know Nation. It could be done, to simply declare war with humanity, to incite war between the nations, and to then use the hundred-strong or so Evolved of Nation - and sympathisers across the globe - to wrack the world in a heaving war that would inevitably exterminate humanity. Doing so would lose much life, and with such a precious thing that is Evolved Life, Nation would not abide such an action. And so... they wait.
Patience is not simply refraining from action; Patience is a combination of readiness and awareness. You are ready to act; you are aware that this is not the best time. It is one thing to be patient; it is entirely another to simply wait.
Exemplar: Eisregen: Eighty years and more of simple, stolid waiting; Eisregen does not need to rush to achieve his goal; Time favours the strong, and he knows it. The only way to truly lose in this race is to stop moving.
Cooperation
None of us are as strong as all of us.
- - Auroral
Emergent evolution is how multiple populations are drawn together, and how they interact and conflict. Finding points of overlap is the cornerstone of emergence, and through this process, true strength is found. Cooperation within Nation is a simple Virtue; one simply understands the strengths of one's fellows, and one acts on them. One does not insult one's fellow by forgetting what they can and cannot do; one does not deny another the opportunity to do their work to the best of their ability.
Cooperation is as much about understanding as it is about operation. Knowing what your allies can do and what they prefer to do is vital; just because someone is good at a task does not necessarily mean they will want to be constantly leaned on to perform it.
Exemplar: Mercy: Within Nation, few people are as focused on others as Mercy. Mercy is curious about others' behaviour, and is interested to see what they can do and why. She seeks to help those who need it, and coordinates things so that people can work together.
Consideration
True consideration for another comes from within; beyond the mere social contract, the Virtue of Consideration is to treat others with respect and accord, to know their abilities, to trust their strengths and aid their weaknesses, not just because you yourself need what they offer, but because they are as important as you are. Amongst Evolved, Consideration shows the most respect; and it is upon this rule that so many other rules hang. Sincerity without consideration is recklessness; cooperation without consideration is manipulation.
Exemplar: Canvas: Canvas leads the Social aspect of Nation not because she is a grand socialiser herself, but because she has so little. She recognises what she cannot do, understands her own failings, and she suffers daily. This gives her insight into others; and knowing she cannot ease her own pain, she instead seeks to ease the pain of others. Canvas is utterly selfless and thinks always of others.
Ingenuity
Sempre Evolution.
- - Black Agony
Evolution is a process that takes years, generations at a time. Thousand upon thousands of lives pushing towards a greater goal, of adaptation, of finesse; and through the individual's lives, Evolution can be enacted. Ingenuity is evolution in thought; to show new solutions to old problems, and to constantly be developing the pathways of the mind. The nature of the Evolved is to be an individual, constantly carrying a hammer; Ingenuity means treating problems as things other than nails.
Exemplar: Auroral: Who else would point a nuke at themselves to thwart a roving, wild monster? Who else would let herself be nigh-on-killed to enact a plan? Auroral thinks fast on her feet, and refuses to cut off any option in, no matter how mad it might seem.
Crime and Punishment
Feared or loved, I suppose.
- - Battlebriar
It has been noted that in recent days, Nation has proven even more vigilant and brutal in its punishment of mutants who harm other mutants; Battlebriar has been heard commenting at length that it behooves the Evolved to behave better than the Neutrals, and to not engage in petty tribalism. This is, it seems, a sore point for him - and it has made him (and those who agree with him as an Archon) - an almost brutal bringer of justice for those who violate the Laws of Nation.
Worse still is the fate of mutants who rail against Nation, or slander it, or harm its members directly, who are themselves not members. Battlebriar has been heard to do quite unpleasant things in the process of educating these people.
Nation's stance on Crime and punishment from the outside is almost machiavellian - there is no such thing as a truly proportionate response to a non-Evolved who commits a crime to Nation's eyes. There is only the retaliation that ensures no further hurt can be engendered.
Sex and Sexuality
Sex is the most beautiful, wonderful, pure thing that money can buy.
If you're not enjoying it, you're not doing it right.
- - Mercy
It's fair to call Nation sexually permissive as a culture. With the extant tenant that nobody really has any business telling someone else how to enjoy themselves provided they're not hurting anyone, it's very easy to see how the culture formed the way it has. Individuals express affection or physical sexuality as they can, and lifestyles can be positively pedestrian to utterly debauched, with no particular signal or predilection one way or the other.
There is, however, no pressure to act in this way. Sin Sonic and Mercy, for example, are opposite extremes of sex and sexuality, in their appetites and promiscuities, but neither looks down upon the other. The nature of sexuality within Nation is one of respect: the choices and feelings of fellow Evolved are important, the community is important, and therefore, whatever is to be done is to be done with nothing but respect for one's fellowman.
Repression is generally seen as bad. Dependence is not a problem; some people are not strong enough to stand alone, emotionally, and giving those people who need them support is a boon, a sign of both Cooperation and Consideration (though potentially damaging to their Self-Determination).
The Rite of Becoming
Sexual maturity is something to be celebrated amongst the Evolved. Not only does it signify a further step in a young Evolved's personal development, but it also brings with it the promise of procreation. As a young and small species, its propagation is after all something duly encouraged by some elements of the Evolved community on Nation.
Quite simply, it is understood that the first 'proper' sexual contact a person, Evolved or otherwise, has and will shape their future stance on sex and social interaction in general. Therefore, the culture of Nation encourages young Evolved who wish to become sexually active to seek out a tutor of appropriate gender to have their first sexual encounter with, with the help or oversight of an Archon in as far as is necessary. Once an acceptable and willing tutor is found, further arrangements are made, including setting a time and day, selecting the witnesses to the actual act and quite simply organizing an intimate party around the Rite. It should go without saying that none of these arrangements are mandatory and are completely optional.
It should be stressed that this is not a custom to simply encourage rampant swinging or satisfy hidden desires. To be chosen as the first sexual partner of a virgin Evolved is a great honour (though chosen partners have been known to decline for various reasons and that is generally accepted) as well as a responsibility. After all, any developmental problems that surface in the young Evolved after the Rite could well be attributed to a lacking performance of the tutor in the act. To underline the importance of the Rite as a ritual as opposed to being a cop-out for cheap sex, a student and tutor who were intimate during a Rite are forbidden from further intercourse with one another for the span of one of Nation's Years as it would be too easy for a young and malleable mind to develop a crush on the first person they had sex with for no other reason than that
Contest and Competition
As Iron Sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another.
- - Proverbs 27:17
Nation's philosophy is somewhat Darwinian, and they use this in leisure and play. Competitive sports are embraced, with rewards for victors, and suppression of gifts is considered insulting to one's opponents. These pasttimes can come in the form of sparring, verbal competitions, intelligence-based board games, or so on.
It has been noted that games of chance and raw gambling are unpopular on Nation; games of skill much moreso. This may be the influence of Corollary, a luck-influencing mutant whose friends tend to win a lot more when she's around than when they're not. At no point has anyone accused Corollary of cheating - her powers are simply part of her skill, and that skill is to be overcome by another, or, when it cannot be overcome, simply ignored.
This attitude - of adversity creating strength - can be seen in how the Evolved fight one another. They yell, they raise their voices, and they even come to blows... but they do return, later, contrite, and discuss how to make things right.
Steps To The Future
The only thing that will redeem mankind is co-operation.
- - Bertrand Russell
The area where Nation becomes the most alien and strange is their approach to humanity and the future. With opinions ranging from genetic inevitability to outright subjugation, the opinion of Nation's citizens can be helpful, harmful, or just plain terrifying. Whatever the particular individual, most of Nation simply see humanity negatively; they are either the victims of developmental abuses, or learned studies of the abuses mankind has visited upon the 'unique' over time.
Regardless, the nature of Neutrals is a tricky one to Nation. The possibilities for the future remain endless, and some of Nation's members feel it most appropriate to inter-breed with humans, to spread their genetic options around and ensure that the earth is inherited by the Evolved purely as a matter of course. Others feel that concentrating genes into strong sources is the way to go, and to this end seek a way to couple together powerful mutants. Many others have no strong opinion - and it is their quiet permissiveness that lets Nation continue as it is, even as some of its members silently plot the death of all humankind.
