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Oddbody Culture
Oddbodies are a bit of a cultural conundrum. They are their own culture, and yet they are not. They are a hodge-podge of other cultures, and yet they have no unified one of their own. They are effectively the “everybody else”, but bind their own meanings.
Morals
For anybody that falls into the category of “oddbody” there's really one pervading moral to be taken: Your body is your business. This is apparent in many self-identifying Oddbody communities that heavily gene-mod or cyberneticize themselves to extremes.
Style
When Oddbody communities are set apart from others, they fall into aesthetics that simply suit their designers. When it comes from interhuman or interspecies couples, their communities blend together their aesthetics. This includes both fashion and architecture. In terms of fashion, more gung-ho self-modifiers will seek to show off their modifications.
Technology
Oddbodies, true to their name, have the highest investments into cybernetic and genetic modification technologies. Otherwise, their focus and development is really based on a societal/situational need. They tend towards cities due to the massive amount of body-modification infrastructure and options available versus rural zones. Oddbodies also have an easier time seeking employment, given their willingness to modify their bodies to achieve their goals.
Magic & Psionics
Magic traditions are based on whatever groups fall in with Oddbodies. From Greaseheart revmages to Hagblood witchcraft to even Rolaan geomancy, Oddbodies take their pick from their lives. The same follows suit for psionics.
Agriculture
Oddbodies have a higher tendency to live in cities rather than rural areas, so personal gardens tend to be more popular in their communities. Like most humans, they keep pets of all varieties for companionship.
Cooking
Oddbodies tend to favour the “fusion” style of cooking, taking bits and pieces not only from human cultures but also alien cultures.
Religion
One of the primary ways to identify an Oddbody is through their religious views. Oddbodies fully embrace aspects of transhumanism, which often puts them at odds with primitivist and naturalist sects of humanity.
Core Tenets
- Your body is your garden. Tend to it well.
- Your body is your garden. Grow what you will.
- Your body is your garden. You decide who witnesses it.
Ceremony
Oddbodies have two major ceremonies (of those that practice the particular ideology) of note. Many variations exist but these two are the most general.
- Embarking - When an Oddbody makes their first modification, it's a major step in their life towards becoming what they want to be.
- Arrival - This celebration honors an Oddbody's final modification towards realizing their dream. This doesn't necessarily mean it is the last time they will modify their body, but it certainly is the the end of one line of thought.
Traditions
What are common traditions the culture holds? Is it annual, or based on some celestial alignment, or based on weather conditions, and so on.
Birth and Death
How do they celebrate birth? Do they mourn the dead? Etc.
Subgroups
Balance Oddbodies | Balance Oddbodies are a special isolationist population split into four major groups, each gene-aspecting themselves after a specific type of animal (Cats, Dogs, Rabbits, Foxes). They have a very strong cultural identity tied to their respective kingdoms on Balance. |