Brishian: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:06, 12 June 2023

The Brishian society, originating from the Alcor Star System, boasts a rich spiritual life with a pantheon largely inspired by celestial bodies in the night sky. The Brishians named their primary star Zim and its companion, Zimmin, after a father-son duo from their creation mythology. Among the five standard planetary bodies in their system, two are life-supporting. The local lore tells tales of the second planet, known as Vyi, as a seductress who, after giving birth to Zimmin, later married him and mothered the rest of the ancient Brishian pantheon.

Unique Attributes

The Alcor system, intriguingly, was the first in the quadrant to pioneer subspace communication, a feat largely attributed to the close proximity of the quadruple Mizar system. Home to a pacifist society dedicated to science and philosophy, Mizar 2 is part of these gravitationally linked systems. The two systems share a cyclical pattern that, while not an orbit in the conventional sense, exhibits a predictable degree of stellar drift. At their closest, Mizar and Alcor are under a light-year apart, and they never drift more than 1.49 light-years away from each other.

This proximity led to substantial inter-system influences even before formal communication was established. Mizar dispatched several sub-light probes and vessels to Brisha, the first manned ones arriving with deceased crews, leading to long-lasting speculations about Mizar's intentions and the message it was trying to convey to Alcor. This, in turn, sparked a war that raged for over a century, culminating in an attempted takeover of Mizar by Alcor. This conflict laid the foundation for the systems' development path into the 24th century.

Social Development and History

To prevent cultural obliteration, Mizar evolved into a pacifist society, while Brisha focused on material fabrication and other industrial production services. The Brishians, though profit-oriented, have a reputation for conducting business honorably, a trait setting them apart from the Ferengi society. However, their aversion to apologies and similar social niceties, which they perceive as insults, often shocks outsiders. Brutal honesty is the currency of trust in Brishian society, making questions like "How are you?" and "What's going on?" very personal and thus seldom asked. Commerce thrives on negotiation, which often morphs into an exchange of increasingly insulting banter rather than a discussion about the product at hand.

Insults and negotiation tactics are among the rare cultural instances where truth is secondary to social conventions. The only other areas where this applies are courtship and sex. The woman typically signals interest in a man by making a patently false but hard-to-disprove insult about the man's family. If reciprocated, the man replies with a similar insult, adding an equally false but somewhat challenging-to-refute statement about his own family. During sex, the commitment to honesty takes on an even more brutal form, verging on humiliation. However, as with most societies, these are merely traditional norms, not strictly enforced rules.

Marriage

Marriages are generally love-based, but the negotiation of the legal contract binding the couple mimics commercial transactions. While there is no standard format for marriage contracts, strict adherence is expected, with any breach potentially leading to contract termination. Divorces are rare, typically resulting from contract breaches. The contracts often include clauses detailing dissolution procedures in case of a breach; otherwise, the courts decide how to proceed.

Religion

Religiously, the society practices a diverse range of beliefs, most tracing their roots back to ancient texts preserved over centuries. Interpretation and practice differences occasionally lead to disagreements, though these rarely escalate beyond legal disputes over property and burial rights.

Politics

A corporate council governs the planet and its territories. Despite occasional criticism from other Federation worlds of alleged corruption, the system functions efficiently within the societal norms. The Brishian society largely accepts and supports the legal framework governing it. Government programs cater to the needy, albeit not always to standards accepted by Earth or other Federation worlds. Medical care and crime protection are also provided through private contracts, with civil sector regulations ensuring fair and balanced social protections.

Economics

Economically, the governing council focuses primarily on a few (sometimes just one) large contracts, supplemented by many smaller ones. There is virtually no socialized economic support for those physically able to work. Limited support comes in the form of low-level government jobs in infrastructure support, such as garbage collection, cleaning services, and environmental restoration. These jobs are stigmatized and viewed as less prestigious.

Social Structure

This rapid turnover of infrastructure support jobs represents the largest social disparity. The largest social class comprises middle management, closely followed by lower-paid but socially acceptable private sector jobs. The smallest segments of society are divided by a combination of income level and leisure time—the higher the income and leisure time, the higher the social rank. A ceiling exists just above the middle class, making upward mobility difficult without personal or familial connections. Nonetheless, the Brishians hold a steadfast belief in their ability to climb both the social and economic ladders.

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-The Brishian society originates in the [[Alcor Star System]], they have a rich spiritual life with most of their ancient pantheon based on celestial objects in the night sky.  The Brishians call the main star Zim and its companion Zimmin, after a father and son in their creation mythology.  Of the five standard planetary bodies two of them are capable of supporting life.  Local mythology says the 2nd planet, (known as Vyi [V-eye EE]) was an a temptress who first was mother to Zimmin and then later was said to have married Zimmin and become mother to the rest of the gods in the standard ancient Brishian pantheon.
+The Brishian society, originating from the [[Alcor Star System]], boasts a rich spiritual life with a pantheon largely inspired by celestial bodies in the night sky. The Brishians named their primary star Zim and its companion, Zimmin, after a father-son duo from their creation mythology. Among the five standard planetary bodies in their system, two are life-supporting. The local lore tells tales of the second planet, known as Vyi, as a seductress who, after giving birth to Zimmin, later married him and mothered the rest of the ancient Brishian pantheon.
 == Unique Attributes ==
-Interestingly the Alcor system was the first in the quadrant to develop subspace communication.  This is largely due to the close proximity of the quadruple system known as Mizar.  Mizar 2 supports a pacifist society devoted to science and philosophy.  The two systems are gravitationally linked and have a cyclical pattern that while not an orbit in the technical sense they do have a certain amount of predictable stellar drift.  At their closes Mizar and Alcor are less than a light-year apart and never drift more than 1.49 light-years from each other.
+The Alcor system, intriguingly, was the first in the quadrant to pioneer subspace communication, a feat largely attributed to the close proximity of the quadruple Mizar system. Home to a pacifist society dedicated to science and philosophy, Mizar 2 is part of these gravitationally linked systems. The two systems share a cyclical pattern that, while not an orbit in the conventional sense, exhibits a predictable degree of stellar drift. At their closest, Mizar and Alcor are under a light-year apart, and they never drift more than 1.49 light-years away from each other.
-Because of this proximity the two systems heavily influence each other even before formal communication was possible.  Mizar sent several sub-light probes and vessels to Brisha, early space craft were manned and arrived at Brisha with a dead crew.  This caused long lasting speculation at the true motives and meaning of the message Mizar was sending to Alcor.  Eventually war broke out between the two systems using crude sub-light space craft spanning well over a century finally escalating in an attempted takeover of Mizar by Alcor.  This takeover set the stage for how the two systems would develop all the way to the 24th century.
+This proximity led to substantial inter-system influences even before formal communication was established. Mizar dispatched several sub-light probes and vessels to Brisha, the first manned ones arriving with deceased crews, leading to long-lasting speculations about Mizar's intentions and the message it was trying to convey to Alcor. This, in turn, sparked a war that raged for over a century, culminating in an attempted takeover of Mizar by Alcor. This conflict laid the foundation for the systems' development path into the 24th century.
 == Social Development and History ==
-Mizar became a pacifist society to prevent the destruction of their culture.  While Brisha devoted their efforts to material fabrication and other industrial production services.  Even though they are a profit driven society, unlike the Ferengi society the Brisharans are known to deal honorably.  However, the honest dealings has taken an extreme turn.  They hate and find insulting all forms of apology or similar social niceties that are present in most other cultures.  To gain and maintain trust brutal honesty is required.  As such questions such as "How are you?" and "What's going on?" are asked seldom and considered to be very personal information.  A standard greeting remains cordial by [[Federation]] standards but quickly becomes brutal and distasteful by those same standards.  All commerce is negotiable and such negotiations become less about the actual product and more about the back-and-forth banter of furthering insults.
+To prevent cultural obliteration, Mizar evolved into a pacifist society, while Brisha focused on material fabrication and other industrial production services. The Brishians, though profit-oriented, have a reputation for conducting business honorably, a trait setting them apart from the Ferengi society. However, their aversion to apologies and similar social niceties, which they perceive as insults, often shocks outsiders. Brutal honesty is the currency of trust in Brishian society, making questions like "How are you?" and "What's going on?" very personal and thus seldom asked. Commerce thrives on negotiation, which often morphs into an exchange of increasingly insulting banter rather than a discussion about the product at hand.
-The insults and negotiation tactics are one of the rare places area of the culture where truth takes a back seat to social and cultural practices. The only other areas are dealing with courtship and sex.  During courtship it is generally accepted that the woman will initiate interest in a male by directly making an obviously untrue but difficult to prove false insult to the males family.  If the male is interested he makes a similar statement about the female's family but then adds an also untrue but somewhat difficult to prove allegation toward his own family.  During sex it is generally understood that while truth before sex is to be adhered to, during and after the truthful brutality is increased and ventures beyond simply truth into harsh expressions of near humiliating statements.  As with most cultures, these are the traditional norms but are not enforced by anything other than normal and reasonable cultural forces.
+Insults and negotiation tactics are among the rare cultural instances where truth is secondary to social conventions. The only other areas where this applies are courtship and sex. The woman typically signals interest in a man by making a patently false but hard-to-disprove insult about the man's family. If reciprocated, the man replies with a similar insult, adding an equally false but somewhat challenging-to-refute statement about his own family. During sex, the commitment to honesty takes on an even more brutal form, verging on humiliation. However, as with most societies, these are merely traditional norms, not strictly enforced rules.
 === Marriage ===
-Marriage is almost always for love.  However negotiations of the actual contract binding the couple legally progresses in a very similar way as commercial transactions.  Marriage contracts have no official standard but must be strictly adhered to.  Any breech of contract can be a reason to dismiss the legal contract.  Divorces are unheard of for any reason other than breech of contract.  Most contracts contain clauses for how the marriage will dissolve if a breech of contract occurs, if they do not the courts decide exactly how the marriage will dissolve.
+Marriages are generally love-based, but the negotiation of the legal contract binding the couple mimics commercial transactions. While there is no standard format for marriage contracts, strict adherence is expected, with any breach potentially leading to contract termination. Divorces are rare, typically resulting from contract breaches. The contracts often include clauses detailing dissolution procedures in case of a breach; otherwise, the courts decide how to proceed.
 === Religion ===
-Religiously the culture has a diverse set of beliefs in actual practice.  Most of the beliefs trace back to the ancient texts that have been preserved throughout the centuries, disagreements crop up over interpretation and practice of beliefs.  These disagreements rarely become violent, however, and mostly degenerate to legal squabbles over property and burial rights.
+Religiously, the society practices a diverse range of beliefs, most tracing their roots back to ancient texts preserved over centuries. Interpretation and practice differences occasionally lead to disagreements, though these rarely escalate beyond legal disputes over property and burial rights.
 == Politics ==
-Politically the planet and its holdings are governed by a corporate council.  The nature of the society allows this to work rather well with very little corporate greed in context of the culture.  Though other Federation worlds have criticized the governing system as corrupt the general practices fall well within the scope of the laws which govern the society.  Society itself is generally happy with these laws, government programs protect the needy - though not always to standards accepted by Earth or other worlds the society itself views them as overall fair and well designed.  Medical care and protection from crime are also very well provided by the state through private contracts to different organizations.  Regulations in the civil sector compliment the contracts and provide an infrastructure to provide fair and balanced social protections from medical ailments, crime, natural disaster, etc..
+A corporate council governs the planet and its territories. Despite occasional criticism from other [[Federation]] worlds of alleged corruption, the system functions efficiently within the societal norms. The Brishian society largely accepts and supports the legal framework governing it. Government programs cater to the needy, albeit not always to standards accepted by Earth or other Federation worlds. Medical care and crime protection are also provided through private contracts, with civil sector regulations ensuring fair and balanced social protections.
 == Economics ==
-Economically the governing council concentrates its efforts with a few (sometimes only one) primary contract and then many smaller contracts.     There is virtually no socialized economic support for anyone physically able to work.  The only support comes in low-level government jobs in supporting infrastructure (garbage collection and disposal, cleaning services, environmental restoration, etc..).  These jobs are greatly frowned upon and seen as sub-citizen in nature being for people who can be easily dismissed and classified as less-than-people then treated accordingly
+Economically, the governing council focuses primarily on a few (sometimes just one) large contracts, supplemented by many smaller ones. There is virtually no socialized economic support for those physically able to work. Limited support comes in the form of low-level government jobs in infrastructure support, such as garbage collection, cleaning services, and environmental restoration. These jobs are stigmatized and viewed as less prestigious.
 == Social Structure ==
-Socially this rapidly moving undercurrent of infrastructure support jobs with very high turnover rates represent the greatest social disparity.  The largest social class is a middle class defined by middle management of lower paid jobs.  A close second is composed mostly of low paying but socially acceptable jobs in the private sector.  The smallest two segments of society are divided by a combination of income level and amount of free time.  The higher the income, the more free time a person has the higher they rank in society.  There is a ceiling to social layer just above the middle class where someone without personal or familial connection finds is very difficult to progress further up the social ladder even if they meet general income levels  and free time generally available to the higher social planes.  The people see themselves as infinitely able to move up the social and economic ladder, despite this discrepancy at the highest levels of society.
+This rapid turnover of infrastructure support jobs represents the largest social disparity. The largest social class comprises middle management, closely followed by lower-paid but socially acceptable private sector jobs. The smallest segments of society are divided by a combination of income level and leisure time—the higher the income and leisure time, the higher the social rank. A ceiling exists just above the middle class, making upward mobility difficult without personal or familial connections. Nonetheless, the Brishians hold a steadfast belief in their ability to climb both the social and economic ladders.
 [[Category:Races]]