Vemrer Culture

Specifics regarding the Vemrer culture.

Historical changes

Vemrer culture has seen numerous changes over the centuries, mainly due to different hordes being absorbed to others or becoming independent. As almost every horde have their own customs and traditions, over the years these have changed due to the interactions with other hordes. In the recent decades outside influence has caused a dramatic change among the Vemrers. Even though this has only affected some of the hordes there are currently some hordes that are much more liberal than ever before, though currently not so liberal according to, for example, Gigerdian standards.

While many traditions and customs have changed over the years, sexual equality is something that has seen change only now after contact with other races. Although there have always been rather dramatic differences between hordes, the current differences are even more dramatic between the more liberal and the more conservative hordes. This has had an impact on family structure as well and centuries ago the family structure was quite different among virtually all the hordes.

One of the major impacts on Vemrer culture has also been the lack on in-fighting. Before space contact the Vemrers used to fight a lot amongst themselves. This caused a lot of new hordes emerging and old ones vanishing which usually caused significant changes in culture. While currently there's some in-fighting, it has dramatically decreased from the days before space exploration. While previously the life-expectancy of a single horde wasn't very huge, nowadays it's almost 100%. Thus there are much more smaller hordes that have managed to break away from larger ones without the need to fear retaliation. This has also allowed houses to emerge much more consistently than before. While hordes are still annexed by other hordes it is usually done in a non-violent way or through duels, something which was rarely the case before.

People

There are several different Vemrer species, each of them usually having slightly different skin color and some other small physical differences. The largest groups are M'nor, Örkkuja and Couliintup klokc. Though nowadays these different species have mixed well and it is much more difficult to categorize people as a member of a specific race. All the races are considered equal among the Vemrers and concept like racism has been completely unknown in their society.

Vemrers value strength, both physical and mental, honor, loyalty and family. Those who born with defects, either mental or physical, are usually killed unless these defects do not hinder their battle capabilities. Mothers usually have no problem of doing this as it is considered merciful and for their own good. A life without the ability to fight is not a life worth living. Infants are tested almost from the moment they are born and have to endure numerous physical and mental trauma during their childhood. While before those who chose a life other than a warriors were frowned upon currently they are seen as a necessary evil and something of a benefit. Thus the career of a scientist or a nurse are much more popular and respected than before. However, due to the nature of their society, these people also have to keep up their fighting skills and are required to train various fighting styles during their education. Due to this Vemrers are considered, if not the most efficient fighters, at least one of the most efficient fighters. Due to their high mental strength fear is also an unknown concept to most of them.

In recent years, due to the lack of battles, there has been much less work available for the warriors. This has caused an increase of in-fighting as it is deemed as the viable solution to the lack of outside threats, this is done in the form of honorable duels. Thanks to the advent of holographic technology there is also an ability to fight in ancient battles or create new ones to train. Often these battles are fought with the safeties turned off to create more realistic environment as the Vemrers believe that without the safeties off you would never be able to use your full potential due to the lack of life-threatening situation. Despite the lack of outside enemies the Vemrers know that internal stability is of utmost importance due to the existence of treacherous races like the Folans. Still some Vemrers attempt to instigate internal conflicts and this has often been believed to be the work of Folans. Generally work is valued amongst the Vemrer society and thus everyone attempts to find something meaningful to do. Those unwilling to work are marked as outcasts and considered as dishonorable folk. The code of honor does not apply to them.

Due to the high value of honor the Vemrers always respect treaties and friendships. Thus hordes who have formed friendships have never broken them. However, Vemrers never easily make friends and often prefer to work on their own. They also do not like to form friendships until they know that their partner can be respected and is honorable. While the Vemrers value honor not every Vemrer always acts honorably. Due to their natural desire for battle they conquer when possible. In the recent decades they have managed to live in a peaceful co-existence.

Gender equality is something that does not belong into the Vemrer society. Vemrer Minarchism is highly matriarchal society where men have little or no rights. In all the hordes the women are the ones in charge, but the role of men can change dramatically from one horde to another. In some, more liberal hordes, the men are allowed to work and leave their houses without a female escort, in some the men are never allowed to leave their house except in the company of their wive and then they are always dressed so that you can barely see their eyes. Nowadays though the conditions for men are much better than what they used to be. Before, in some hordes, men were always killed after they were no longer needed for breeding. Some hordes have allowed men to work and there are few who have managed to climb into administrative work, though all the horde leaders and Warrior's court members are women. Expectations and demands for men are much higher than for women. Women often have multiple husbands, though not always, and the men usually do all the household work as they are seen incapable of doing any "real" work. Abusing and acting violently towards men or your husband is generally accepted though some hordes have given men better rights.

Religion

Religion has never been an important thing in the Vemrer society. Though there have been numerous different religions that have varied amongst the hordes. In some hordes the leaders were worshiped while in others there were imaginary gods. Some form of god of war was popular among the Vemrers in their pre-space days. Some hordes practice some form of religion even today, but this has become a minority among the Vemrers. Sometimes violent cults have emerged over the years that usually have ignored the code of honor and seek to appease some god, usually by sacrificial murders or something similar.

Racial minorities

Among Vemrers themselves there are no minorities and all the races are considered equal. There are feuds between hordes and families, but none of these have anything to do with the race, but rather due to different customs and traditions or how they have acted. The subjugated races also have rather good rights, but this only applies to the female. Subjugated males have even lower rights than Vemrer ones and often do not have a very long life-expectancy. The Vemrers seek to eliminate foreign cultures, whether it's an enemy horde's or subjugated species'. This is usually accomplished by taking children away from their parents and grown by the Vemrers of the horde.

Telepaths

There are no Vemrer telepaths though Vemrers have an exceptional capability to shield their thoughts and thus mind scanning can only be accomplished through physical contact and even then it takes a strong and experienced telepath. One of the subjugated race has telepathic abilities and these are utilized by the military.

Code of honor

The "code of honor" is an important part of Vemrer society. It was created after the Vemrer Minarchism was created. It only applies to women though. It defines how duels need to be organized and in which cases this is allowed or when fighting is generally allowed. Those found violating the code of honor are punished. Due to the lack of code of honor for men they can be challenged at any time, though assassination or anything similar is never allowed. Generally it restricts in-fighting amongst the Vemrers.

Family structure

Each family always has a head female. Men are never allowed to lead a family, let alone a horde, but sometimes they can rise quite high among the family ranks. Family structure varies greatly amongst the hordes and families due to the rights allowed for men. In some families the men can be almost equals, yet in others they are only good for household work. Boys are prepared for their lives as husbands and housekeepers from their very youth. Girls have much more liberties and it is not uncommon for them to even kill their own brothers. Though this is discouraged when breeders are needed. Since stronger men are valued as breeders the different families often trade these in exchange for better relations or sometimes even family or horde unification. A woman can have up to three husbands, but many prefer only one. Each family usually has from three to ten children, though not all of them reach adulthood alive. Especially boys have a higher chance to die during childhood, but more boys than girls are also born.

How extended family is treated also varies from family and horde to another. In some the members of the extended family are killed when they are no longer capable of fighting, in others they are cared for till their death, though often this only applies to women. Family life is not highly valued and often Vemrers do not care with whom the children grow up with as long as it is a member of the same family. Thus mothers are not needed to be at home. Men are not allowed to divorce from their wives, but women can abandon their husband if they no longer see a need for him. Fathers are often distant for the children and in many families are not allowed to participate in childcare. Though in some families the men are the sole caretakers of children and can even form quite close bonds with the children in such families.

Another important concept in the family structure is the role of the families and hordes. Usually a horde consists of several families with the strongest one in the lead, but there are also single families, but these are rare and very large and powerful families.

Festivities and traditions

These differ greatly from one horde to another and there is only one global Vemrer festivity which is the Dgorl Prjer. This usually involves a lot of drinking, eating and fighting and generally does not seem to hold any other meaning except to reinforce racial identity. It can be considered as a Vemrer new year as it takes place during the new year, though the actual festivity lasts a week.

Literature

Literature has little meaning among the Vemres, its only meaning is in education and thus almost all literature is simply educational texts.

Music

Music has a large part in the Vemrer society and singing in groups is often very popular. Bands and artists are rare, but not uncommon and are a form of entertainment for the Vemrers. Lyrics are much more important to Vemrers than the actual music, though music is also enjoyed.

Visual arts

Visual arts are quite primitive and also not something that is considered important. A Vemrer in an art gallery would be close to the last thing you could ever see.

Architecture

Vemrer architecture could be described best in one word which is spiky. There are a lot of spikes on the Vemrer buildings and they are often very dark. Dark red is a common color as well as dark gray. Their houses also often have "pyramid" shapes which means that they become thinner the higher they go. Windows are not common, but balconies are very common. Each building usually houses large balconies. Vemrer buildings are built to last and often employ thick walls and strong surface materials. Anything "useless", like wallpapers or mats are always ignored.

Furniture is also often limited. No decorations can be found except for those obtained from battles. This is also an important status symbol as the amount of battle decorations usually tell people how well you've succeeded as a warrior. Surfaces are always hard and no soft surfaces are ever in Vemrer homes, even on beds.

Painting

Painting is limited to archaic paintings of battles or great warriors. While depictions of these are considered very important nothing else is.

Sculpture

As with painting sculpture is used to depict great warriors or battles. They do not serve any other purpose.

Holovision

Holovision is very rare among Vemrers, though currently there are some shows depicting ancient battles or generally involve fighting.

Fashion

Vemrer fashion includes battle harnesses even as normal day-to-day clothing. These armors are usually dark gray or dark red and often employ the symbols of both the family and the horde. These armors can often also have spikes though they aren't as common as with buildings. Actual battle armors are usually much more spiky. Men often wear just rags.

Media and communications

There is no media among the Vemrers though there are some sort of news available to inform of recent events. Galaxy net access is allowed, but is generally used quite little. More liberal hordes usually use galaxy net much more than the conservative ones.

Education

Education served little purpose before the space era. The only need was to train proper warriors, but now the need to educate scientists and other similar highly educated people has made education as something to be desired and no longer frowned upon. Basic education is provided to every female Vemrer. Male Vemrers are educated only in some hordes and even there usually only selected men. During the basic education the children are taught mainly of fighting skills, but also basic knowledge like the ability to read, history, Yibljak and some basic mathematics and natural sciences. Those who choose the life of a warrior are mainly educated in battle skills, but ship officers also need the knowledge needed to operate ships. Non-warriors rarely advance to command positions as to reach those you need to defeat the current commander in a duel. Non-warriors focus on their selected area, but also receive more warrior training. Due to the "efficiency" of Vemrer schools everyone graduates at the age of 17 and enter service at that time.

Language

Due to the high amount of different hordes there are also several different dialects. Usually each horde has their own language though some use same language. There are currently 74 different dialects, some which can be very different from each other. However, the language used among Vemrers, and which every Vemrers needs to know, is Yibljak. It is the Vemrer standard language. No horde officially uses it and it is more of a mix of different Vemrer languages. Thus there are still some who do not yet handle this new language well.

The most used dialect is Eeroulm, but even it is only spoken by about 5% of Vemrers.

Cuisine

Vemrers are omnivores, but always eat their food raw, often even alive. Vemrer cuisine is something that isn't considered as very sophisticated by the other races. Replicated food is only allowed in situations where fresh food is not available. Thus every ship always stocks large amounts of food and agriculture and hunting are common in the Vemrer Minarchism. Vemrers often drink blood and have numerous drinks that have blood as one of their ingredients. They rarely drink alcoholic beverages as they hinder combat abilities.

Public holidays

Other than Dgorl Prjer there are no public holidays as holidays are considered to be necessary for only the weak.

Sports

Vemrers have no sports unless you count non-lethal battles between them or lethal battles against various wildlife or subjugated species, but there are no "official" sports or some sort of gladiatorial event.