 February 9, 2010 - 4:18am | Dralasite society is very respectful of the individual. The freedom and independence of the person is paramount in the dral mind. Drals typically live alone in small houses with a common court yard. They use this communal places for social gathering. They are very fond of gathering and discussing anything and everything. Having differing opinions is sign of a strong mind and true independence. Meals are prepared and shared in the common. The dwellings are typically occupied by parents, sibling buds, pre-parents (males in gender terms), and elders (neuter drals). A parent may have two or three buds dwelling around the common. Other parents, pre-parents, and elders may not be related. After the parent bond, the most prominent social structure in a drals life is its social school. Social schools are groupings of drals that share common opinions, beliefs, interests, and humor. Debate is the central activity of the social school. The dral parent has a strong influence in a young dral's initial choice of social school. Typically the parent presents its young bud to the school currently favored by itself. Further experience in life and formal education tend to alter a dralasites choice of school. Rare are dralasites who have not been members of dozens of social schools in their life. Membership is granted by common consent and rarely revoked. These schools typically number about a dozen individuals in active membership. Elder drals tend to be the defacto leaders of these schools and when the elder dies the group commonly divides into several groups. Much like human families the social school takes on the care of the young and elderly dralasites. In the school is where a dralasite will celebrate life events such as their budding memory, reception of community speaking rights (gaining one's voice), and death. A dral in need may turn to its companions in all the schools of which it is a member for a little help here and a little help there. Hence the value of many memberships. Young drals wander briefly after budding enjoying their new found freedom and are then naturally drawn back to their parent seeking guidance and parenting. This is the time that a dral is introduced to the parent's school for membership. Education is pursued separate from the social school in large rounds with professional teachers. A few years after budding formal education is begun. Young dralasites advance through progressively formal rounds for about ten years until they have been deemed by their teachers to be educated enough to keep up with society. Specialized training, if any, is undertaken after one's rounds. Dralasites are fond of traveling far, even off world if they can work up the means, to pursue their specialized training. What are some other ways people see dralasite society? I'm sure there would be cultural variation. -iggy -iggy |
 April 24, 2010 - 6:56am | Forgive me gentleman, but after looking at the concepts here for Dralasite housing I think we have missed an element. I concur with the notion that Dralasite housing would be haphazard to the outside viewer, but I would go a step further and take that into the third dimension. Looking at a Dralasite community would not only have odd and customized housing next to each other, but would also be above each other as well. I can imagine what we would call a split level house with less corners but several different floors with ramps. We are looking at a culture that breeds by budding. I would imagine a more "organic" look to their housing as well. This came to me as I was writing, but another interesting thing is we have all been thinking about rigid structures. Would it not make sense for the Dralasites to use rubberized plastic or it's equivelent in their structure. It certainly has a different feel and would somewhat mold to the Dralasite leaning on the wall look. -Ellzii |
 April 24, 2010 - 9:16pm | Sounds good to me, Ellzi. I would imagine that they would use whatever materials are available. Usually the environment and money determines the material - although I don't see the Dralasites necessarily ruling out rubberized plastic or any other medium. I think the third dimension was implied in our posts, but I agree with you and am happy that you pointed that out specifically. |
April 27, 2010 - 11:19am | Welcome Ellzii. It is good that you have states that dralasites would build up and on top of each other. I was picturing that im my mind but never stated it. As for materials, I would also say that availability controls use. I do however see dralasties more prone to using different materials just to express them selves. One thought that just came to mind is that drals would build structures that would require stretching or squeezing to get into. Just for the hey of it. Picture a building that one has to stretch into a long arm to grab and pull up too. Or a building that the door is thin and long such that only a dral could squeeze through. -iggy |
 April 6, 2011 - 9:16am | Very cool write up, but... are the Dralasites not supossed to breed by sporification? Biologically polyamorous hermaphrodites with single-cell-amoeba-like structures... I wouldn't want to have to change that view, it was one of the strong 'alien' themes they had for me. Seemed to me that was the reason they had developed seperate communities when on mixed worlds, so that they don't assault the other races with thier spores, and what really sets the Dralasite worlds apart, where they are permitted to have a more 'open air' lifestyle. Sporification on the scale I recall being discribed in the books, would suggest that it is a 'single parent and community' responsibility in upbringing like you have here, and there is no need for 'pairing-up' but a strong need for 'grouping-up'... going to make me go hunting details to see if I did read it or not..... I think my perceptions may have come from a long delve into all the books to shed light on just such details.... but it was awhile ago, and whatever I found just became the unquestioned view I held... I did a long write up about it all once too, made several adventures that highlighted their differences in these areas.... even had a long debate with someone once because "a single-celled-amoeba couldn't grow to that size", so I went asking a micro-biologist who, after blinking alot in silence, said.... 'well yes, it is technically plausable.' then proceded to blink and try and reset the reality I had apparently shattered with such an unusal question. I do know that right on the main description is says they are hermaphrodites... but then they changed that about the Hutts in starwars too.... totaly killed the image of the Hutt I had there too... Makes me wounder a bit about what I heard on book radio the other day, someone was saying that they were suprised how many people don't know what a hermaphrodite is, even though they teach it in public school with all the animals in the world that are. Seems most people can't quite get their head around a 'genderless' animal/lifestyle. Fraternity bondings from these social-school situations would be common, seems that the 'incorporated-guild' would be like a common graduation of the group as a whole into regular social productivity, and another reason to have grouped-tenent buildings, and the importance in having individualized personal space as a private matter. The typical Dral then, would be with It's social group for life. Loners would have to be truly anti-social to the point that even humans would say.. 'that blob is bud'n!'... that is to say, split from reality, and really unstable. Malthar, for example, would truly be one very unstable Dral... explains alot there now. It really is insane. Maybe It killed or at least witnessed the death of it's entire social-frat... doesn't It have a strong hatred for some other species? This also fits the slow colonization represented. A social-school would need to be groomed together for the purpose, so that when they form up into an incorporated social-frat, colonizing a new place is their goal and training focus.... producing a budding-fraternity from the community would be a very real community afair. Accepting a forign budding-frat would likewise be a very public afair... why did they want you to leave? what do you bring to offer? are you stable and capable of suporting yourselves and the community? and (in a way this is quite like canabalisim psycologicaly with it's close similarities given perspective) will you allow yourselves to be absorbed by the community? Megacorporations are an unlikely affair, which also fits,as Dralasite Megacorporations are also rare. It would require a very large incorp-socialfrat with a very dedicated internal bond to spread it'self that wide, more even than the Vrusk it seems such large groups are tied to the greater-governing system. Being so easy to 'disolve' one of these large inter-socialfrats, especially after it has served it's purpose, would also contribute to the lack of Dralasite megacops. But they would also be potentially easy to form, making the constantly shifting geography of Dral ecconomics difficult to track, even for a dedicated Vrusk. pardon, just went brainstorming in public now... didn't mean to hijack the forum  I had more on the biology writen in a file around here somewhere, went into details to explain some of the places where the structure of suc a 'cell-body' would need to change to adapt to size and mass, a thicker more complicated membrane, etc.. etc.. borrowed evolutionary features of the jelly-fish and mushrooms just to fill it out. All those biology classes got a workout.. Amongst Dralasites that have studied Human theological and philosophical cosmologies (most do), there is nearly no comparison to how funny it is, that the bi-sected bipeds are biologicaly conformed to bi-polar reproduction. The entire idea that Humans have a 'front' and 'back' so that they can see which side of themelves are coming and going when they meet themselves for the first time, has a level of comical hilarity to the Dralasites, that simply can not be translated... tho' they try frequently to express it when talking to Humans. The ravenous way a group of Dralasites will devour all the comical ludicrosity out of human reproduction they can get and take it to new heights where no one else can follow, accounts for the large part of why humans are so loath of the Dralasite humour. They happen to think the abundance of phalic symbolisims in human construction is funny also. Most Human professional stand-up-philosophers have regularly acounted this to penil-envy, which just makes the Dralasites roar laughter more, but makes most Humans feel better for a little awhile, and can thus endure another round of philosophy. Oh humans!!  We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 6, 2011 - 1:01pm | Made for the new Budding Quinteren (social-fraternity of really close professionals and friends) ready to move out on their own to a permanent commune, or the Ske'deren (social-club of really close friends) that really just needs a private get-a-way in style. We offer this easy to port series of Quinteren Inflatable Homes, the base unit simply packs on a flat-hauler or fan-truck.... we even offer a few that come with their own transport capability for the really serious roamers. Or for the truly eccentric Get the Inflate-a-castle version. but please, don't go to far off the deep end with the eccentricities.... alien philosophical comedians, not 'killer clowns from outer-space'... though I am sure that is one of their favorite human films.... I don't think they try to emulate it.some new words: Quinteren - the social fraternity that developes into a professional endevor, and is likely to either seperate from the communal skoa, or may offer itself as a 'spontanious civil government' within the Skoa to take care of some perceived need, when recognized and given official autonomy it becomes an Incorporated Quinteren or a Dralasite Corporation. The typical Quinteren is a graduation from the social-clubs of 'public education' formed by all the closest peers of a given 'class', sometimes at the direct behest of the Skoa that trained them for a given task, which continues as a Professional Ske'deren. Ske'deren - by definition any group smaller than the Skoa is a Ske'deren, in practice the Ske'deren is as close as it gets to a 'family group' and over time will likely include a wide variety of individuals, from many different backgrounds, that choose to commune as a neighborhood. One some worlds, variations in names, uses for fraternities, and organizational structures, may occur. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
April 8, 2011 - 2:04pm | For the professional urban Dralasite, many single homes may be avaliable in various neighborhoods. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
 July 19, 2012 - 5:25pm | A link to Dralasite Architecture http://rollmops.wordpress.com/2006/08/14/geisterstadt-taiwan/ I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 July 19, 2012 - 8:47pm | I can totally picture the Dralasite's need to debate and examine different ways of doing or looking at things, as a product of evolution, to cope with a dangerous and irregular environment. Basically, they figure-out ways to be ahead of curve by out-thinking their original habitat. How dose that sound? |
