El Excellente Posted November 2, 2018 Report Share Posted November 2, 2018 Character Creation Guides Crafting an unique character Part 2: Culture and Religion in the Federation This is part 2 of the character creation guides. While the first part offered you a set list of options to choose from (or derivate from as you see your character fit), this is more of a lore reminder to further ensure your character fits in. So this second part of the CCG is more of an intermediate between part 1 and part 3 which will deal with colonies itself. The only reason I'm stuffing this second part in here because contrary to popular belief, the Federation is rich and diverse in its culture. The founding fathers of the Federation realized early that "nothing grows in a sterile environment". This means that culture and religion is not only tolerated but actively supported by the Federation. Where does this belief come from? Underlying to our server are the Starship Troopers movies 1-3 - an american production with a rather fascist portrayal of what we know as the United Citizen's Federation. With what I'd say a generally americanophile movie that is focused on the military entirely (we all would rather watch bugs getting slaughtered than some political process in the geneva court in the movies), a lot of things create this misconception of an US-based setting. Of course, it's always easy to assume basing things on the US government, but the Federation is not the Space-USA. Let's clear up some common misconceptions in a few bullet points: 1. The Federation is intolerant to what it sets as their standards The thought process here seems to be that an unified government of the Earth also means unified cultures and that the Federation seeks to missionize their people. This is wrong. The Federation is very tolerant towards any kind of culture or lifestyle. The general rule of thumb is: Aslong as it does not oppose the Federation, the Federal Democracy, Citizenship or any other estabilished Federal value really, it is tolerated. This goes even so far that, to the day this lore stems from (~2269), there were still indigenous tribes in Earth's South American rain forest. This is of course bullshit because when this was written, the rain forest wasn't being hacked down like crazy (it's from the 90ies I think) - but the point stands. The Federation as Earth's unified government only makes very basic requirements to people so that they "get along". Technically, every newborn has to be brought to the nearest Federal Health Centre to receive their Federal Identification Code (FIC) and be processed into the system. In practice, this doesn't happen in some cultures - but the Federation is willing to look the other way. English is the official language and it is what is being taught in schools. The official currency is the Federation Pound Sterling (F£). 2. The Federation does not care about culture This is clearly wrong. Culture is actively supported. In Japan, for example, the housing projects are built with steeply-pitched roofs, lacquered doorsand, in homes with more than one room, paper walls. In areas like Mexico and the American West, housing projects feature stucco exterior walls, bright interiors and tile floors. Obviously, there is more to a culture than just housing but, in nearly every way possible, the Federation actively encourages the continuity of old cultures throughout the world. 3. It's repressive, people expressing their free thoughts are being hung immediately This thought stems from the movies clearly. We were not able to look behind the scene, so we'll have to resort to the "Chain of Canon" (1st movie, 2nd movie, 3rd -> books). In the books it is clearly stated that the Federation "tolerates" dissatisfaction but seperates the black sheep (ie. the aggressive dissidents) from the peaceful ones. A great analogy would be: You're having a peaceful protest infront of the Federal Building and someone starts throwing rocks. The rock throwers will be sorted out and punished with lashings or by other means. (mind you this was a metaphor) 4. Cultures and languages have died out While I've always been an opponent to bullshit accents roleplayed on characters, I've been partially wrong. English is and remains the primarly language of the Federation and the only language officially taught by the Federal education system. However, what happens on colonies, stays on colonies. Lore suggests that even the language of "Tagalog" (something spoken on the philippines) has survived the advent of the Federation and it is therefore entirely possible that other languages have survived like this, too. While the Federation makes great efforts to have english as their official language (and are successful at that), what tongue civilians and citizens speak at home is entirely up to them. 5. Cultures have blended over the years This is a not so easy topic to speak about. The borders of countries, as we know them in 2018, are still somewhat existant, but they are more some kind of province or state in the unified government of the earth. While yes, uniting the European continent under the European Union has brought the people together and kind of blended and mixed their culture a little, some things never change. 6. On christianity/religion This is the fault of the third movie. The reigning sky marshal had a hard on for christianity and all that, letting people think that a) the Federation is super christian and b) there was some kind of crusade purging all the other religions? The SSTRP server has actually been through this at some point; we passed the third Starship Troopers movie in 2010 (IC year 2278) and went through that entire christianity thing. And no, if you've read the above, the Federation is very open to these kinds of things. There is a place for any kind of religion in the United Citizen's Federation. For members of SICON, however (read: you), there are severe restrictions. While any recruit to Federal Service may certainly adhere to any religion he pleases, there are significant limits placed on worship. No matter what the religion, divine services may only be held on Sundays, for a period of one hour. In those instances when a religion does come into conflict with the Federation, the government seeks to negotiate with the religious leaders to find an amenable solution to the problem. Often, this is easy enough to accomplish. For example, a religion whose custom it was to spend two hours in prayer beginning at noon could easily be accommodated, usually by having Social Services assign such worshippers a job that does not require them to be at work during that time. Should an agreement not be made between the Federation and the religion, the Federation will tell you that the state goes first though. 7. Currency of the Federation You get paid in Federation Pound Sterling (F£). The official currency is Federation Pound Sterling (F£). You pay most of the stuff in Federation Pound Sterling (F£). There are no "credits". There is no "US Dollar". However......... It's not impossible for a colony to have developed their own local currency for whatever purpose. Effect on character creation: So, what effect does this have on you? Mostly to reassure you that yes, it is okay to have a muslim recruit swearing in foreign tongues. It is okay to pray to some weird three armed god you just made up. The Federation is cool with it. It's also okay to wear weird shit because of your culture and/or religion. However, if you create a character on the server, you become part of SICON. As such, their rules apply to you. If you're not ready for duty, if you're praying while on duty, if your clothing hinders you conducting your duty, you will be asked to drop it. This means that yes, you can go crazy with cultures and religions from any place of the galaxy. But be sensible about it. Just because the Federation tolerates your culture and religion doesn't mean that SICON tolerates it. Or your Platoon/ship Captain. Would you like to know more? 2 1 Link to comment
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