Lorath Culture

The history and development of the modern lorath culture has lead to a unified people who through education, religion, and government policy adhere to a centralized set of beliefs and practices. Though largely homogeneous, the culture of the Lorath Matriarchy has many aspects and nuances to it. This page will serve as a compendium of information relating to the social practices and beliefs of the majority of Matriarchy citizens.

It is readily apparent to any who spend any time among them that the lorath as a matriarchal society are inherently biased toward females viewing them in general as being more competent, intelligent, composed, and reliable. Males on the other hand are seen as being prone to impracticality, reactionary mindsets, vanity, arrogance, conceit, and low self-control. To this end traits that are traditionally seen as male dominant in other societies come across as laughable to the lorath as a people who view it as a sign of immaturity and poor self cultivation.

Due to the focus on the female the society of the Matriarchy places a greater value on nurturing and motherly values, emphasizing the importance and treasure of cultivating and protecting life, an outlook which places a greater value on the capability of an individual to cultivate and encourage growth and new life rather than show dominance through mental or physical prowess by defeating others. To this end those who practice or emulate the countenance of a mother are often highly regarded.

While males within the Matriarchy are not highly restricted by cultural standards, they tend to bear the weight of the expectation to disappoint, casual dismissal, and casual condescension especially when stepping out of line.

Another common observation is the highly communal and co-considerate nature of the lorath as a people. The focus of the average lorath is to support the whole rather than the individual, something that would seem strange to members of individualistic and capitalistic nations. This heavily communal mindset is core to much of the Matriarchy's society with the distribution of work being seen as essential and a cornerstone of their society, observed within circle of lorath life from professional work to every family, distributing work within the household so that every member performs a task to support the whole.

As a part of this communal mindset it is noteworthy that lorath take great pride in their work, knowing that they are working toward a better future for themselves, and especially future generations. This coupled with a strong maternal instinct that is present in both females and males of the species predisposes the lorath to take actions for the long-term benefit of their society rather than immediate personal gratification.

It is due to this mindset that lorath would be extremely unlikely to withhold information from official channels in an investigation, since for them it is more important to be helpful, than to maintain personal privacy. As such within lorath society, a secretive lorath would be considered highly unusual by both their peers and governmental bodies. This community supportive attitude extends to the point that lorath are led to sacrifice themselves if it would benefit their peers, society, or most importantly future generations.

While there is a great unity among the lorath people, this solidarity and care rarely extends beyond their kind. Experiences with the helashio in their shared history, as well as their unpleasant experiences with alien cultures as they ventured into the stars has developed a cold and defensive outlook toward foreigners as well as an adamant refusal to bow to the whims of an external power. Typically lorath citizens choose to hedge out those foreign to them, while remaining polite they will tend to be cool and distant, offering only as much as is necessary socially. To this end lorath are typically seen as evasive and unforthcoming toward foreign interests and individuals.

It is also worth noting that in many aspects lorath social life is more relaxed than that of other humanoids, in particular lorath enjoy casual indulgence of their senses and partake in activities that many would consider taboo or decadent without worry of social stigma. It should be noted that in some instances however, the social pressures are merely found in other aspects. For example; it would not be unusual for a female lorath to walk around in public shirtless, however were she to leave her neck uncovered it may be considered somewhat inappropriate and depending on the setting indecent. For a male however, while it would also be acceptable for them to walk around topless, leaving their neck uncovered in any public setting, however, would be considered highly indecent.

Much of their cultural interests focus upon what familiar lorath are doing as well as Caste specific topics such as military and political events for Fyunnen, policies and local events for Lmanel, and academic and engineering projects among Occhestians. Due to this focus on both local and societal events as well as the cultural trend toward working hard rather than vicarious desire the concept of a celebrity is almost unheard of and celebrity culture would be considered strange and foreign to the Lorath people.

Drug use is both a much more casual affair in the Matriarchy as well as one that is viewed with responsibility. Due to the prevalence of mind altering compounds in almost all of the flora and fauna native to Lor the view on such substances is very relaxed among the people of the Matriarchy. The recognition of the dangers of intoxication however are well recognized within the Matriarchy and individuals are taught from an early age the responsibility that is required to protect both themselves and others discouraging both over use of recreational substances as well as avoiding taking actions that might cause harm both to the self and to others when impaired.

The Matriarchy has embraced the connectivity of electronic communications both as a means of staying in touch with friends and family when at a distance, as well as a means of sharing cultural, artistic, and general media. To this end the Matriarchy has several government owned, operated, moderated and regulated media networks through which the people of the Matriarchy communicate, purchase goods and services, consume media, and engage in recreational activity such as games or the use of Simulated Sensation Files.

The most prevalent aspect of lorath culture visible in almost every aspect of their life is the lorath adherence to religious practices and spirituality. To this end with few exceptions the people of the Matriarchy actively adhere to a set of observations and beliefs in line with their faith. Within the Matriarchy the belief sets tend to come in one of four varieties:

1. Faith in the Goddess - This is the majority faith found within the Matriarchy, based on the worship of the Goddess that serves as an example of Lorath virtues such as wisdom, temperance, zeal, and justice. As a part of this faith a God figure exists, renounced as an entity of unchecked intelligence and trickery. This is the belief system has shaped the society of the Matriarchy, particularly that of the Fyunnen Caste, placing females in a dominant position. Futher this belief system is in part a reflection reflection of the behaviour of lorath women and men. Often women in Lorath society are more 'in control,' not prone to erratic or impulsive behaviour. Males however are viewed to be on average more vindictive, and tricky in their methodology.
2. God Worshippers - An inversion of the normal faith, the worship of the Lorath god is often viewed as the worship of a malevolent figure by those of the core faith. Followers of this male deity are often more impulsive, driven to combat without justification, and seek to establish dominance via terror tactics. Often in interpersonal relations these individuals are manipulative and sadistic. While in general worship of the God is considered abnormal, within the Occhestian Caste a degree of God worship is permitted, however this is provided with temperance from the tenets of Goddess worship. With few extremist figures eschewing the tenets of the Goddess entirely.
3. Shamanistic Idealists - These individuals do not follow a distinct religion, so much as follow practices which work in tandem with the primary faith. The Lmanel Caste is the primary adherent to this faith structure and use shamanistic teaching to guide their spiritual life, with such devotion as to produce the necessary subconscious ties between psychology and physiology to permit their shapeshifting. This faith observes cultivation, nurturing, and respect of the traits found within the natural world praising growth and accomplishment, while also cautioning against dangerous avenues of action drawing inspiration from observable events in the world in which over-eagerness or overstepping one's capabilities lead to hardship or death to provide temperance.
4. Hybrid Faith - A distinctive portion of the Lorath people practice a balance of Goddess and God worship, while also incorporating shamanistic practices. These practitioners are often respected and treated well due to the lorath tendency to look favorably on those who attempt to seek a balance. This method of religious practice is most common among the lorath clergy where the spiritual cultivation and balanced view is more diligently pursued.

These religious practices all, to varying degrees, adhere to the two-deity duality featuring the Lorath Goddess and the Lorath God. The Goddess encourages cultivation, understanding, temperance, and growth with which her children can develop and improve, while the God is patron to those seeking personal or unfettered knowledge, power, and control. A reflection of this duality is often illustrated in the common belief that only a woman through bearing children and cultivating new life can know true creation, while the artifice that men are capable of is most often destructive in nature. Due to the heavy integration of the faith of the Goddess in every aspect of Matriarchy society, there are omnipresent cautions against dangerous progress and reminders encouraging the lorath to be mindful of their own activities so as to encourage beneficial cultivation rather than wasteful exploitation.

Teachings of the faith typically follow a structure similar more to instructive fables giving adherents to the faith a series of mental tools to fall back on and apply in their lives rather than a controlling dogma. These fables and lessons are omnipresent in the Matriarchy forming a framework for more general learning, day to day work ethic, social events, and even a part of regular signage within the Matriarchy typically including a line of scripture along with cautionary warnings.

As a result of these core and near universal observances is an inherent respect for all things created by the Goddess as well as a desire to follow in her footsteps encouraging mutual prosperity among the lorath people as well as a responsibility to care for and ensure the prosperity of life native to Lor.

It is important to note that unlike many cultures with religions, that the lorath are truly invested in their faith, and take great comfort and pleasure in regular religious practice. As such it is considered highly unusual and worrying when a lorath individual does not participate in lorath religious practices. This results in worship intermingling with government, schooling, and day to day family life making observance of the faith a near constant part of the lorath way of life.

This near omnipresence of religion in lorath life is a result of faith being a motivator for the end of the lorath exile binding the people together and rallying them to work as a unified force to reclaim the surface of their world from the helashio.

Due to this universal presence of faith within the lives of the lorath the existence of atheists is considered highly unusual and in many cases worrying to those who learn of it. This is most apparent in the lorath classification of atheism as a mental illness, one which is treated with care and kindness with provided social and government support, counselling, and monetary support to individuals who suffer from this affliction to try and ease their suffering.

Within the Castes, Fyunnen are known for their functionally universal adherence to Goddess worship, Lmanel for their Shamanistic Beliefs, and the Occhestia while traditionally known for their God worshipping sects have in recent history tended more toward a balanced worship. The Tur'lista caste is unique for its practice of intimately learning the aspects of all four belief structures enabling the Tur'lista to provide counsel and spiritual guidance for all members of the Matriarchy no matter the specifics of their faith.

While atheism is tolerated within the Matriarchy and atheist individuals cared for by the Matriarchy government and populace, heresy is not. Heretics when discovered are typically reported to the government, the church or both. Upon such a report investigation is typically carried out by the Inquisition and if the claim of heresy is validated the guilty individuals are swiftly judged, often with death being a viable punishment.

The Castes are a central portion of the Lorath culture and shape many of the most basic and overarching aspects of individual Lorath. These Castes work in tandem to support and cultivate the Matriarchy providing unique skill sets and expertise each caste covering aspects that another might not. While the Castes are free to mingle socially and friendships are not unusual, sexual relations between members of differing Castes is expressly forbidden within the Matriarchy and is a heretical crime punishable by instant execution.

Fewest in number the Tur'lista exist somewhat apart from the Lorath populace as a whole intermingling more rarely especially in recent years. The Tur'lista are most commonly looked upon as leaders and spiritual guides who work for the benefit of the Lorath as a whole lending their strength, wisdom, knowledge, and experience. The Tur'lista also function as the most direct conduit between the will of the Goddess and the people of the Matriarchy providing a central role in the Lorath church.

• For more information see: Lorath Tur'lista Caste

Being the warrior caste the Fyunnen maintain a structured lifestyle featuring regular regimented actions, reliable rote practices, and an appreciation for martial and tangible achievement. Among Fyunnen reliability and respect are highly sought as well as general practicality. The Fyunnen as a people are known to be the most direct among the Lorath preferring to address issues and speak their mind rather than couch their point of view in social niceties. This leads to the Fyunnen as a whole to prefer quick decisions and rapid action preferring to be actively working on a problem than discussing what to do. As a result the Fyunnen are known to at times be over eager in their actions, and stubborn in their methodology desiring to accomplish a task once it is started unless convinced that there is a more useful path to pursue.

• For more information see: Lorath Fyunnen Caste

The shaman caste is complex in function, being broadly caretakers. The Lmanel oversee the relationship between the Lorath, the natural world, the Helashio, and the dead. Lmanel are most often spiritual guides and try to seek a balance in all things leading to many of the Lmanel caste to make their way into the Matriarchy's clergy. More commonly Lmanel are found in roles of cultivation growing crops, tending to livestock, hunting, and providing natural resources for the rest of the Matriarchy. These pursuits often lend to the Lmanel being students of the natural world looking into the workings of the world around them and providing this knowledge to their peers both to guide their actions and to help the lorath as a whole. Due to their bond with animal life, especially the aspectation process Lmanel tend to differ in their exact outlook and point of view influenced by the behaviour of the animal to which they most closely relate. This tends to give the Lmanel Caste a varied and contrasting outlook leading to a rather balanced, patient, and accepting outlook. Conversely the Lmanel can be considered to be unnecessarily chaotic, or unrefined by others due to their lower need for structure and more naturalistic lifestyle.

• For more information see: Lorath Lmanel Caste

The role of the Occhestia is in some ways more subtle than the other castes, but is one of great importance. Their role is one of improvement, seeking to address flaws within the population as well as to pursue improvements in Lorath understanding. They aid in the internal maintenance of the Matriarchy's populace, provide security, as well as deliver new improvements to the Lorath way of life. The Occhestia are divided into two subsets, traditional family units and institutional individuals. Traditional families pursue interests as desired taking interest in clerical positions, learning, social sciences, civic planning, and domestic security. Institutionalized individuals are typically much more focused and purposeful dedicated to a task or purpose which they have likely spent their entire life working to refine and excel at, these most often include science, technical, engineering, and mathematical occupations however others find their way into special assignments. The Occhestia are often viewed as being somewhat repressed by lorath standards due to their more collected and cool dispositions.

• For more information see: Lorath Occhestia Caste

Lorath names are an important and functional portion of Lorath society. Over the years they have been developed into a pattern that incorporates useful information pertinent to most introductions.

The first portion of a name consists of the individuals occupation such as “Doctor” or “Engineer” this portion of the name fluctuates with time as the individual progresses in their career and is used as an easy identifier.

The second portion is typically the individual's given name as provided to them by their parents. In most cases this name does not change over the course of an individual's life with few exceptions. As such it is used most often to identify individual Lorath.

The third portion is a name used for personal identification and anonymity with outsiders, whether those who are considered unpalatable, or are actually foreign. This name may change to reflect achievements or changes in outlook of an individual.

The fourth portion of a name is the individual's family name, tying them to their lineage and providing an idea of who they are. This name under almost all circumstances will never change, and it is considered highly irregular for an individual in Lorath society to have a name which does not have an attached family history.

The final portion of a name is the name of the individual's caste. This name is not intended to ever change, and any changes to it will likely draw the attention of Lorath Inquisitors.

An example name would be; Captain Mil'ana “Sightseer” Porrim Lmanel.

The Lorath observe a variety of days in the year as either days of celebration, remembrance, or mourning.

Among them are:

• The day of Exile
• The day of the Lorath return to the surface
• The day of Lorath victory over the last of the Helashio tribes and dominion of the surface of their world
• The day of the Moon Drop
• The day of the Lorath exodus from Lor to Ny'li
• The day that the Lorath returned to Lor
• The day of exodus to WSO?

Traditional fashion within the Matriarchy is largely dependent upon the differing values and tastes of members of the three main Castes. As such the lorath are visibly have three distinct sets of fashion further divided between women and men giving the culture a visually identifiable marker for Caste, sex, and standing within society.

For more information see: Lorath Fashion

Within the Matriarchy the helashio have been accepted into the lives of the people of th

Traditionally Helashio serving in Lorath households typically go nude save for their slave collar.

The disposition of the lorath as a people tends to make their interactions with foreign species a politely cool one, at least officially. The most obvious side effect of this outlook is the lorath establishment of special economic exchange zones which are typically the only places in which those foreign to the matriarchy are explicitly permitted. While foreigners are not forbidden from venturing outside of these zones, those who do are not guaranteed fair treatment and any harm that comes to stray foreigners is typically of little concern to the lorath.

The stance of polite disinterest in foreigners is, softened somewhat by those who choose to, and succeed in settling within the Matriarchy's boders. Foreigners within lorath society are permitted to maintain their family habits, however, they are also encouraged to partake in civic involvement, community efforts, and integrate into lorath society. Those which tend to refrain from integrating into lorath society in a timely manner tend to be regarded as outsiders and treated as such until efforts are made by the foreigners to be accepted. Due to the highly social nature of the lorath as a people, this regard may turn into a stigma if unaddressed over a prolonged period of time potentially resulting in the boycotting of an individual or family making life within the Matriarchy quite difficult.

Conversely foreigners who have taken steps to integrate fully within lorath culture, may earn a fondness and acceptance from the lorath as a people taking them in as 'one of their own.' This fondness includes those which have performed sufficient services to the Matriarchy to be granted a Lorath-Type body making the acceptance into the fold largely complete.

The view of the Lorath on humanity is split between those who are part of the Matriarchy and those who exist outside of it. For those who live within the Matriarchy most are viewed as companions with bonds forged in mutual trials earning respect amongst the majority of the Lorath. Foreign humans however have minimal value to the Matriarchy, typically viewed as clever animals at best making them cheap commodities to be traded in, exploited, or disposed of as needed.

Beyond this the Matriarchy has adopted its own flavor of slang referring to the differing human 'flavors' found in local space these being; Maggies, Cybes, Fauxbodies, Normies, and Telepsykes.

The Matriarchy holds to a long tradition of indentured service and slavery with a history that stretches into their history long before their exile underground. After reclaiming the surface from the Helashio Tribes, the Matriarchy rather than exterminating their age old enemy instead bound them in a debt of service taking the helashio as servants providing a stability that the Helashio Tribes had never previously known.

To manage the cultural debt of the helashio, the Matariarchy maintains a branch of government dedicated to the registration and monitoring of servants and slaves employed or owned by the citizens of the Matriarchy ensuring the health and productivity of those in service be they indentured, willing, or taken.

Beyond domestic practices the Matriarchy practices slavery among foreign bodies, acquiring individuals both for personal acquisition or for sale to the Matriarchy's populace at large.

• For more information see: slavery

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