For Barrayar mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
barrayarmods) wrote2016-12-20 03:10 pm
barrayarmods) wrote2016-12-20 03:10 pm
Entry tags:
[For Barrayar] barrayaran culture
history
Cut off from the rest of the populated universe after its wormhole collapsed, Barrayar spent 700 years without modern technology and conveniences, developing its own unique culture. With native flora and fauna mostly inhospitable or toxic toward humans, to say nothing about the wave of radiation the wormhole collapse sent over the planet, surviving on the planet became both a point of pride and a desperate struggle. Over the course of time, an Emperor of Barrayar was established, and the accountants who were in charge of collecting taxes became the sixty Counts that helped administrate and govern Barrayar's various districts. Overall, the structure of Barrayaran government resembles a mix of Imperial Russia and Imperial Japan — big on authoritarian governments, military power, and social stratification.
Barrayar has two continents, but only the northern one is currently heavily populated — colonization efforts in the southern one had just begun around the time of the Cetagandan invasion and was quickly squashed in the first years following. Split into sixty districts, each district has a Count who acts as the head of affairs within its borders. Each district is roughly the same square mileage, although their shape varies greatly, and every district has a capital.
The planetary capital is Vorbarr Sultana in Vorbarra's District, named for the ruling line of Emperors — House Vorbarra. The planet, too, takes its name from them — Barrayar. The Vorbarras have ruled Barrayar from the conception of the role of Emperor, although numerous wars over many centuries have been fought between the Counts and the Emperor regarding who holds supreme power on the planet.
Emperor Dorca Vorbarra, known as ‘Dorca the Just’, ended the Bloody Centuries, a time of particularly intense conflict, shortly before rediscovery by the galactic community. He remains the current Emperor, and has three children. Two by his first wife, the Crown Prince Yuri Vorbarra as well as a daughter, and the third, Prince Xav Vorbarra, by a mistress whom he married after the death of his first wife, around the time Xav was a young adult.
Barrayar, slowly embracing galactic technology, found itself outclassed and outgunned by the Cetagandan invasion, twenty years after its rediscovery. Technology scanners employed by the Cetagandans have forced Barrayar to fall back on traditional weaponry — swords and bows. Prince Xav, however, has largely been off-planet during the war, leveraging his position as the Barrayaran ambassador to Beta Colony to try to drum up support and sympathy from the galactic community, and the technologically superior Beta Colony has become an ally to Barrayar. Getting supplies all the way through the Cetagandan forces to the resistance movement is no easy matter, however.
society
Barrayaran society is stratified into two castes: the Vor and the proles. The proles constitute the working class and make up the majority of the Barrayaran population. The ruling Vor class are a military aristocracy, distinguished by the Vor prefix to their names. The Vor prefix was originally bestowed as a reward for notable service to the Emperor of the time, and has evolved into a hereditary marker of the upper class.
The Vor dominate the upper ranks of government, such as the privy council of the Emperor, the Council of Counts, and the military. Skilled and unskilled labor and enlisted military service generally fall in the domain of the proles; historically, only Vor were permitted to become commissioned officers in the military, although this is changing in recent years thanks to Piotr Vorkosigan.
Title inheritance among the Vor is a complicated matter. Not all Vor carry a title; this marks the difference between High and Low Vor. Though one may be named Lord as an honor by word of the Emperor, most titles of Lord or Lady are inherited. Most Vor houses are branched and sprawling, with large extended families; the current Count is the head of the Vor house, and so carries the highest ranking title in his house.
Counts' heirs, always male and traditionally the firstborn son, are the only ones to hold the title "Lord Vor[name]"; likewise, the heirs' wives are the only ones to hold the title "Lady Vor[name]". A Count's second son will bear the title "Lord [first name]", and his daughters "Lady [first name]". Only the children of the heir will inherit any titles; the second son of a Count will not bear the "Lord" title and thus will not be considered High Vor.
As military service is highly valued in Barrayaran culture, one's rank is often prefixed to one's title, ex. General Count Piotr Vorkosigan.
Names are inherited among the Vor as well as titles. Vor typically have both a first and middle name. A Count's heir will inherit the first name of his paternal grandfather for a first name, and the first name of his maternal grandfather for a middle name. The second son of a Count will inherit the middle names of his paternal and maternal grandfathers.
government & law
Barrayaran culture is very heteronormative and has divided and traditional gender roles as a result of its feudalistic regression. As one would expect of such a culture, men are the authority figures and the breadwinners, while women are expected to stay at home and tend to the household, raise the family, and in the case of most Vor families, help maintain social status. Only men may hold positions of leadership or power, or serve in the military, and typically, inheritance is determined through the male line. If men are the warriors of Barrayar, then women are considered the mothers of warriors -- but never the warriors themselves. Of course, as is often the case in such gender-divided societies, the women of Barrayar have their own spheres of influence and control less obvious to the outside observer. Women who wield any kind of institutional power rarely hold it directly; they are more often working in subtle ways through a husband or some other male relative. Vor women dominate the social scene as well, giving them some control over certain cultural norms. New, more modern galactic ideas of gender and gender roles are slowly permeating Barrayaran culture, but it's been a scant thirty years since their rediscovery, and the last ten of those have been in war.
One of the highest virtues on Barrayar is service, and in such a militarized culture, specifically military service is highly valued. As the Vor originally began as a warrior caste, most Vor men are expected to join the Imperial Military Service, if not some other area of public service, such as diplomatic or political positions. However, many such positions are held by retired members of the military. Military service confers a much higher social status to proles, as well.
Honor is the other driving virtue behind Barrayaran culture to the point of near-spirituality. A taint upon one's honor is tantamount to a taint on one's soul. The Barrayaran sense of honor encompasses respect, morality, integrity, and loyalty, and it is treated almost like a tangible thing that can be broken or damaged, in need of defense and protection. In this era, duels to the death in defense of one's (or someone else's) honor are still legal.
So strong is the emphasis on personal honor that Barrayarans hold verbal oaths to be binding; to break one's word, especially one given as Vor, would be a betrayal of one's honor. Although written contracts do exist on Barrayar, they are not considered as binding or as important without a verbal contract. Among the Vor, it is common to swear upon one's name when giving someone your word. This extends itself, logically, to their government, which is built on a series of oaths sworn to the Emperor either directly or by proxy in a number of contexts, as well as those sworn to Counts. There are several distinct types of oaths on Barrayar that carry heavy sociopolitical significance.
All Counts and their heirs swear oaths of loyalty and service directly to the Emperor as vassals secundi. All those sworn to the Count, and all those under the Count's governance, are sworn to the Emperor by proxy. Separate from this specifically political oath, all officers and soldiers in the Imperial Service swear an oath of military service directly to the Emperor, Vor and prole alike. Similarly, anyone in direct service to the Emperor -- such as political or administrative positions in the Imperial government -- also swears a direct oath to the Emperor. Barrayarans are big on ritual, and oath swearing is no exception. Formal oaths of all kinds are recited with the swearee's hands placed around those of the subject swearing, receiving the oath.
Similar to the Emperor, anyone in government service to the Count on the district level must swear to him. Counts can also take liege oaths, a general oath of service and loyalty that grants certain legal protections and responsibilities on both parties; a liegeman is, legally, considered a part of his Count's body. The armsman's oath is a specific type of liege oath that swears one into the service of the Count as his personal guard and, historically, his private militia. However, by Imperial law, Counts are now restricted to twenty armsmen in service at any given time. All liege oaths are for life, especially an armsman's, although they are generally retired in old age as reward for their service. Armsmen are almost always proles from the Count's home district, and usually retired soldiers.
culture
Barrayarans are frequently misjudged as backwater barbarians by much of the galaxy. As a people, they tend toward the hardy and even aggressive, stubborn in conviction and unafraid of conflict. Barrayarans are a very passionate people -- passionate, stubborn and resourceful enough to go to ground and refuse to yield in the face of overwhelming odds.
They are also extremely passionate about alcohol. Vodka and fine wines are most popular, although the Dendarii hillfolk have their own special kind of moonshine, a potent liquor made from maple syrup deceptively named 'maple mead'.
Barrayarans are just as passionate in their prejudice, however. The irradiation of the planet by the wormhole collapse combined with the small settler population sparked immediate concerns about harmful mutagens contaminating their limited gene pool. Over time, this grew into a cultural preoccupation with genetic mutations, and mutant paranoia took firm root in Barrayaran culture. Infanticide on children born with visible birth defects has become a regular practice, and those with disabilities and genetic illnesses are given the leper treatment. These attitudes have only just begun to shift with the reintroduction of Barrayar with galactic culture.
For the most part, there is no real practicing religion on Barrayar; the closest they get is a sort of ancestor worship. Barrayarans hold rituals as sacred, and they observe specific practices for things such as death rites and marriages with a semi-spiritual approach. Marriage is self-officiated by the couple with witnesses, and personal offerings such as a lock of hair are burned as offerings for the dead.
Cut off from the rest of the populated universe after its wormhole collapsed, Barrayar spent 700 years without modern technology and conveniences, developing its own unique culture. With native flora and fauna mostly inhospitable or toxic toward humans, to say nothing about the wave of radiation the wormhole collapse sent over the planet, surviving on the planet became both a point of pride and a desperate struggle. Over the course of time, an Emperor of Barrayar was established, and the accountants who were in charge of collecting taxes became the sixty Counts that helped administrate and govern Barrayar's various districts. Overall, the structure of Barrayaran government resembles a mix of Imperial Russia and Imperial Japan — big on authoritarian governments, military power, and social stratification.
Barrayar has two continents, but only the northern one is currently heavily populated — colonization efforts in the southern one had just begun around the time of the Cetagandan invasion and was quickly squashed in the first years following. Split into sixty districts, each district has a Count who acts as the head of affairs within its borders. Each district is roughly the same square mileage, although their shape varies greatly, and every district has a capital.
The planetary capital is Vorbarr Sultana in Vorbarra's District, named for the ruling line of Emperors — House Vorbarra. The planet, too, takes its name from them — Barrayar. The Vorbarras have ruled Barrayar from the conception of the role of Emperor, although numerous wars over many centuries have been fought between the Counts and the Emperor regarding who holds supreme power on the planet.
Emperor Dorca Vorbarra, known as ‘Dorca the Just’, ended the Bloody Centuries, a time of particularly intense conflict, shortly before rediscovery by the galactic community. He remains the current Emperor, and has three children. Two by his first wife, the Crown Prince Yuri Vorbarra as well as a daughter, and the third, Prince Xav Vorbarra, by a mistress whom he married after the death of his first wife, around the time Xav was a young adult.
Barrayar, slowly embracing galactic technology, found itself outclassed and outgunned by the Cetagandan invasion, twenty years after its rediscovery. Technology scanners employed by the Cetagandans have forced Barrayar to fall back on traditional weaponry — swords and bows. Prince Xav, however, has largely been off-planet during the war, leveraging his position as the Barrayaran ambassador to Beta Colony to try to drum up support and sympathy from the galactic community, and the technologically superior Beta Colony has become an ally to Barrayar. Getting supplies all the way through the Cetagandan forces to the resistance movement is no easy matter, however.
society
Barrayaran society is stratified into two castes: the Vor and the proles. The proles constitute the working class and make up the majority of the Barrayaran population. The ruling Vor class are a military aristocracy, distinguished by the Vor prefix to their names. The Vor prefix was originally bestowed as a reward for notable service to the Emperor of the time, and has evolved into a hereditary marker of the upper class.
The Vor dominate the upper ranks of government, such as the privy council of the Emperor, the Council of Counts, and the military. Skilled and unskilled labor and enlisted military service generally fall in the domain of the proles; historically, only Vor were permitted to become commissioned officers in the military, although this is changing in recent years thanks to Piotr Vorkosigan.
Title inheritance among the Vor is a complicated matter. Not all Vor carry a title; this marks the difference between High and Low Vor. Though one may be named Lord as an honor by word of the Emperor, most titles of Lord or Lady are inherited. Most Vor houses are branched and sprawling, with large extended families; the current Count is the head of the Vor house, and so carries the highest ranking title in his house.
Counts' heirs, always male and traditionally the firstborn son, are the only ones to hold the title "Lord Vor[name]"; likewise, the heirs' wives are the only ones to hold the title "Lady Vor[name]". A Count's second son will bear the title "Lord [first name]", and his daughters "Lady [first name]". Only the children of the heir will inherit any titles; the second son of a Count will not bear the "Lord" title and thus will not be considered High Vor.
As military service is highly valued in Barrayaran culture, one's rank is often prefixed to one's title, ex. General Count Piotr Vorkosigan.
Names are inherited among the Vor as well as titles. Vor typically have both a first and middle name. A Count's heir will inherit the first name of his paternal grandfather for a first name, and the first name of his maternal grandfather for a middle name. The second son of a Count will inherit the middle names of his paternal and maternal grandfathers.
government & law
Barrayaran culture is very heteronormative and has divided and traditional gender roles as a result of its feudalistic regression. As one would expect of such a culture, men are the authority figures and the breadwinners, while women are expected to stay at home and tend to the household, raise the family, and in the case of most Vor families, help maintain social status. Only men may hold positions of leadership or power, or serve in the military, and typically, inheritance is determined through the male line. If men are the warriors of Barrayar, then women are considered the mothers of warriors -- but never the warriors themselves. Of course, as is often the case in such gender-divided societies, the women of Barrayar have their own spheres of influence and control less obvious to the outside observer. Women who wield any kind of institutional power rarely hold it directly; they are more often working in subtle ways through a husband or some other male relative. Vor women dominate the social scene as well, giving them some control over certain cultural norms. New, more modern galactic ideas of gender and gender roles are slowly permeating Barrayaran culture, but it's been a scant thirty years since their rediscovery, and the last ten of those have been in war.
One of the highest virtues on Barrayar is service, and in such a militarized culture, specifically military service is highly valued. As the Vor originally began as a warrior caste, most Vor men are expected to join the Imperial Military Service, if not some other area of public service, such as diplomatic or political positions. However, many such positions are held by retired members of the military. Military service confers a much higher social status to proles, as well.
Honor is the other driving virtue behind Barrayaran culture to the point of near-spirituality. A taint upon one's honor is tantamount to a taint on one's soul. The Barrayaran sense of honor encompasses respect, morality, integrity, and loyalty, and it is treated almost like a tangible thing that can be broken or damaged, in need of defense and protection. In this era, duels to the death in defense of one's (or someone else's) honor are still legal.
So strong is the emphasis on personal honor that Barrayarans hold verbal oaths to be binding; to break one's word, especially one given as Vor, would be a betrayal of one's honor. Although written contracts do exist on Barrayar, they are not considered as binding or as important without a verbal contract. Among the Vor, it is common to swear upon one's name when giving someone your word. This extends itself, logically, to their government, which is built on a series of oaths sworn to the Emperor either directly or by proxy in a number of contexts, as well as those sworn to Counts. There are several distinct types of oaths on Barrayar that carry heavy sociopolitical significance.
All Counts and their heirs swear oaths of loyalty and service directly to the Emperor as vassals secundi. All those sworn to the Count, and all those under the Count's governance, are sworn to the Emperor by proxy. Separate from this specifically political oath, all officers and soldiers in the Imperial Service swear an oath of military service directly to the Emperor, Vor and prole alike. Similarly, anyone in direct service to the Emperor -- such as political or administrative positions in the Imperial government -- also swears a direct oath to the Emperor. Barrayarans are big on ritual, and oath swearing is no exception. Formal oaths of all kinds are recited with the swearee's hands placed around those of the subject swearing, receiving the oath.
Similar to the Emperor, anyone in government service to the Count on the district level must swear to him. Counts can also take liege oaths, a general oath of service and loyalty that grants certain legal protections and responsibilities on both parties; a liegeman is, legally, considered a part of his Count's body. The armsman's oath is a specific type of liege oath that swears one into the service of the Count as his personal guard and, historically, his private militia. However, by Imperial law, Counts are now restricted to twenty armsmen in service at any given time. All liege oaths are for life, especially an armsman's, although they are generally retired in old age as reward for their service. Armsmen are almost always proles from the Count's home district, and usually retired soldiers.
culture
Barrayarans are frequently misjudged as backwater barbarians by much of the galaxy. As a people, they tend toward the hardy and even aggressive, stubborn in conviction and unafraid of conflict. Barrayarans are a very passionate people -- passionate, stubborn and resourceful enough to go to ground and refuse to yield in the face of overwhelming odds.
They are also extremely passionate about alcohol. Vodka and fine wines are most popular, although the Dendarii hillfolk have their own special kind of moonshine, a potent liquor made from maple syrup deceptively named 'maple mead'.
Barrayarans are just as passionate in their prejudice, however. The irradiation of the planet by the wormhole collapse combined with the small settler population sparked immediate concerns about harmful mutagens contaminating their limited gene pool. Over time, this grew into a cultural preoccupation with genetic mutations, and mutant paranoia took firm root in Barrayaran culture. Infanticide on children born with visible birth defects has become a regular practice, and those with disabilities and genetic illnesses are given the leper treatment. These attitudes have only just begun to shift with the reintroduction of Barrayar with galactic culture.
For the most part, there is no real practicing religion on Barrayar; the closest they get is a sort of ancestor worship. Barrayarans hold rituals as sacred, and they observe specific practices for things such as death rites and marriages with a semi-spiritual approach. Marriage is self-officiated by the couple with witnesses, and personal offerings such as a lock of hair are burned as offerings for the dead.