 March 17, 2015 - 4:52am | Happy Green Day! I was thinking about Human Culture and the strange things we do and then how you would explain it to an alien... St. Patrick's Day in the USA is mostly a secular fun day but some of the customs have less than cute origins... pinching for instance used to be punching. I have met people who wear Orange and if you pinch them you will get punched (this is a Protestant vs Catholic Irish colour thing). I have met people who do not celebrate and wear black (these folks usually have a list of fun activities they are protesting as "oppression" or "wrong"). But imagine this holiday out in space and some aliens in transit stopping over at a Human heavy Space Station... pinching, green on everyone, rainbows and little plastic cauldrons of fake gold "dolmars" or dolmar candies, leprechaun traps being set by spacer children, people spreading gold and green glitter every where including on you, all the food and drink green, little gold and green foot prints right up walls, and every adult trying to get beyond drunk... imagine trying to explain it and by the time it's in space the religious aspect is completely gone. The aliens like Yaz suspect it has it's origin in a great war, the Vrusks think it might be a spring celebration from human HW (all that green), and the Dral can't figure out why everyone is pinching him. So Happy Green Day!  "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
 March 17, 2015 - 11:36am | It's a silly excuse for the Irish to drink. After all, the Irish don't need a reason or excuse to drink on the other 364 days. The preceding was not a jab. I have Irish blood. Not much, my family is predominantly pureblood German save for one of my great grandfathers who was half Irish/half German. It's in there, but it's buried deep. And we Germans use Oktoberfest as an excuse to drink for an entire month.  |
 March 17, 2015 - 3:40pm | Gold and green glitter in the Life Support filters... :::shudder::: No wonder the techs need an "excuse" to get drunk first :) Randy |
March 17, 2015 - 5:45pm | LOL... Can you imagine a Dralasite or Human who actually knows what is going on, explaining to the Yazirians that it is also the 1 day a year your allowed to ceremonially hunt the elusive, rare, highly intelligent and secretive "leprechaun" but it is a catch and release hunt... get them all out there trying to help with non lethal traps and nets and stuff. Or the non-humans getting pelted with glitter and happy cheers of "Happy Green Day!" as they try to board the shuttle to the planet... I wonder how long the Yazirians will be shedding glitter... Or the visitors to human colonies overhearing heated debates about which way the horseshoe goes. And wondering why the horseshoe is that important? I pretty much decided the holiday is so far removed from the origin, no one even knows the word Irish... but all the meats/protein meat substitutes have to be corned & brined. ;) "Green for the Day" "Kiss Me I'm Lucky" "Kiss me I'm Green" "I'm A Lucky Charm" shirts & socks... Some non-humans might avoid human space altogether on Green Day... little wee aliens might actually get chased to give up their gold!  "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
 March 21, 2015 - 2:50am | I had eggs with cornbeef and hash in honor of St Patty's day but ate it at a Mexican resturant, go figure- Viva la San Patricios! I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 21, 2015 - 8:27pm | Sounds like the future! "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
 March 23, 2015 - 11:08am | Here's a fun thing to try. All of the American holidays are no where close to being celebrated as originally intended. They have changed with changing times and tastes. Not to mention the combining of different holidays from different cultures into something not close to either. So what holidays would the four core races celebrate together that are a combination of two or more holidays from different cultures? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
March 23, 2015 - 5:54pm | Good Q! Well birth is always a big deal for people, and customs do vary... so there have been some merging of symbols and stuff in the USA, would not that happen in the Frontier? What holidays do we think each race would celebrate? That would overlap in concept with other races.... So what do people celebrate/remember: birth, love, death, cooperation, planting, meeting, coming of age, seasonal changes, hunting/fishing/gathering, rain/water, marriage/bonding, war, important people, graduation... foundings, what else? The UPF Galactic New Year (a mix of stuff)? The Day all 4 races met together? Maybe University orientated stuff? Sports? There is a lot of ceremony & multi cultural elements... a Japanese Baseball Game customs are culturally different yet the game the same... I miss the Octopus Hush Puppies you can get at the Japanese ball park. And team spirit is pretty primal, it allows even the most civilizied people to become suddenly very tribal when you think about it. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
March 24, 2015 - 2:52am | Frontier-wide holidays... Admiral Morgaine Day - honoring their fallen hero from the first Sathar War. It's their George Washington's birthday equivilent. Followed by a celebration of whatever hero turned the tide of the second Sathar War. Followed again by merging both into "Admiral's Day" in the interest of being politically correct and honoring a dralasite philosopher who had a funny dream (at least it was funny in dralasite circles, just another moldy oldie to humans). |
March 24, 2015 - 5:13am | On Laco the end of hostilities in the corporate war would be observed but not with parades and hoopla. Perhaps its simply a day off from work that most people use to barbeque if the dust isn't blowing to hard. Birth of Space fleet- not really a holiday but everyone in space fleet knows the day while the being on the street is, "What, huh?" many worlds might have a Colony Day or Landing Day to celebrate the founding of the colony. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 24, 2015 - 5:24am | Here's a fun thing to try. All of the American holidays are no where close to being celebrated as originally intended. They have changed with changing times and tastes. Not to mention the combining of different holidays from different cultures into something not close to either. So what holidays would the four core races celebrate together that are a combination of two or more holidays from different cultures? Ok Terledrom is and interesting mix of vrusk and dralasites so this colony would be a good candidate for a mixed holiday fusing elements from both cultures. Perhaps something like a convention or an industry show- here in boston we have a boat show, a flower show, a bridal show, a home show. You pay a fee to get in and look at stuff that people want to sell to you. Suppose the vrusk half was sort of like an industry show with conglomerates and trade houses competing to put on a display representing their business and products out does the competition in its asthetics and beauty while also attempting to generate new clients and the dralasite half was like a convention with events- debates, wrestling, comedy, food, drink, hot tubs. BTW would not a vrusk prefer a sauna or steam bath? And would not a dralasite eventually find a sauna uncomfortable though I could seem it enjoying a steam bath. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 25, 2015 - 12:05am | Vrusk celebrate first molt, dralasites budding day, and yazirians and humans birth so this is definitely one that gets customs muddled and morphed together. For the vrusk first molt celebrations are a time to eat new foods that the larval vrusk could not eat before. Dancing and movement are celebrated as they could not be done before. The typical way it is commemorated for older vrusk is to gather with other vrusk who are molting and help break each other loose and then eat and dance and stretch. This is not an annual event for vrusks, it happens over a longer period throughout their lives making it a rarer event. The dralasites didn't much think about celebrating the day they separated from their parent but rather take notice of others when the budding event is happening and have impromptu gatherings around the parent and new bud to wish it well and share advise to the new bud as it goes a wondering on it's own for the first time. Typically the new bud may receive a few gifts that can be carried or used for the wandering, net slings, ident card, chronocom, etc. The parent is typically ushered off to a bath and food to rest and enjoy being away from the badgering bud. Yazirians are much like humans in that they have a yearly gathering commemorating the birth. The difference is it is a clan event that is regimented and not as personalized as humans. A birthday party for a yazirian is not his birthday feast but rather the clan's feast commemorating those members born on that particular day. Gifts given are presented ceremonially through the elders of the clan. The parents do not give directly to their children. They give gifts to the eldest living grandparent who then opens the gift before all of the clan and then presents it to the yazirian it is intended for. This makes getting a present directly from your parent a high honor event as it only happens from the very old to their child who is also now old and has waited a lifetime for the event. Thus it is typically the way that inheritances are passed on. Now the merging of these practices tend to be things like: UPF ship crews celebrate each other's births as a ship wide event modeled after the yazirian clan but with lots of singing and food like the humans and dancing like the vrusk. However the gifts are replaced with orations of advice per the dralasite way because there is not much room aboard ship for personal possessions. Yazirian children on human influenced worlds often get gifted of an expense paid trip to an entertainment, competition, outing, or hunting with their friends by their elder but with the human twist that the parents must chaperon. Dralasites have begun to gather with friends to remember their budding day and compete in tangling events and shape challenges. This mixes in food and steam baths. Humans have taken to using major birthdays as a time to go on long vacations and go wandering. This is done at the legal age of consent on most worlds and again at 50, 75, 100, 125, etc. The custom is that you leave everything behind and your friends give you some items to get by on, just stuff you can carry. Then others take you in for a night here and there while you wander. Vrusk have taken to giving gifts of art to those who are molting. The idea being that you should have something beautiful to look at while you are indisposed during the molt and something to handle and enjoy with your new shell when you're done molting. -iggy |
March 25, 2015 - 4:33am | Yes I can see all of that happening... How about the various strange customs of Halloween and similar holidays (I am not listing them all) from various places on the globe: I general several cultures on Earth like to dress up (usually in weird outfits or scary out fits) have parties, parade, go door to door, visit the dead relatives, clean the grave sites up, make offerings, go to church.... decorate the domicile usually with skulls, skeletons or monsters. So let's project that a version of one of these type holidays makes it to space: Now how would the other three races view this? I could see the Yazirians actually getting into it as a challenge to face fears, bring forth a fear so one can face it. Vrusks? Maybe painted skulls would fascinate them? Drals really might get into making people scream, maybe. Debates on mythic scary monsters? "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
March 25, 2015 - 9:37am | For Halloween I would stick with the basics and apply it to each race: Humans---Costumes and parties and overindulgence Dralasites---You did say TRICK or treat. Its a called Prank Day there. Vrusk---Costumes don't really work for them but an excuse to paint their exoskeletons in ways that express themselves could work. Yazirians---Claim to be facing their fears but really just another excuse to challenge others and hit things Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
March 25, 2015 - 10:29am | There is no Halloween in Star Frontiers, in that setting science trumped magic several millenniums ago.  |
March 25, 2015 - 7:15pm | Interesting... Believing in magic has zip to do with it... monsters always exist (most in my life experience are humans). And for humans globally it is not all like USA version... going to honor your dead relatives, holy dead... has zip to do with magic. Respect yes, belief in an after life yes... magic not so much. Just everyone loves a good creepy ghost story.  I can see a Scare or Prank Day happening, it would probably not be Halloween per say but lets face it humans love to party, to wear silly out fits, and do silly strange things... I can't see that stoping as that concept is pretty global no matter our excuse for it... hey humans just want to have fun. Now as a RL example of weird & silly things humans do: my village, a suburb of the Capitol of my state; My village has Toilet Bowl Races. That's right custom built privies are raced. But our silly goes beyond the WC. The wild poultry that roams my village is protected by law. India has the sacred cow, we have the sacred chicken! Outsiders in the 1980-1990s moved in as the village had become trendy for the yuppie crowd who thought the village was quaint (a slice of America & Apple Pie), the chicken crossing signs cute, our outdoor Shakespearean Theater civilized, all our hippy artists so sheik, and the chickens nice lawn art until they discovered roosters can crow on the hour every hour it seems 24/7. Then they tried to get our chickens killed by trying to force animal control to capture them using county codes, they decided to try and change us and make us into another boring homogenous yuppieville. We are not that, nor is yuppie perfection the history of this place; the long term residents did not take kindly to the newbies at that point, so there was a show down at the county meetings and now there is a special law just for our village, no one not even animal control can touch our chickens to harm them. We have a chicken festival for goodness sake, that is so huge it shuts down the auto travel in and around our town, our town logo is a rooster, some folks have flags with lights on them in the night, here many have metal roosters with lights on them at night... and the honorary mayoral candidates campaign in chicken outfits! My point is no one here worships chickens, we certainly eat them, but if you came here on Chicken Day you would think we worship them... art contests involving chickens, "eat beef not chicken" signs everywhere, people discussing which rooster or hen is their favorite in the park, chicken poetry, chicken ornaments, chicken statues every where, and signs clearly stating all chickens are protected roaming free... chicken stuff everywhere. Viva the Chicken Republic! So we want to have fun in our little corner of the state and madly defend our excuse to have fun... the chicken, no real rhyme or reason to it being the chicken other than we simply became known as the town with beautiful free ranging chicken flocks, no history to explain it (there was never a huge poultry industry here per say), other than we love our town pets and somehow it turned into a crazy, silly excuse to have fun and define the town. So I would think this human crazy tendency to have wacky fun would be spread to the stars with us... and though others might not understand why we Run with Reindeer on Dec 6th dressed in costumes (that is an actual event in Alaska) none the less we would still do stuff like that in the Frontier and we would sucker our alien friends & neighbors into participating too... We so need a crazy town that celebrates a crazy frontier domestic creature... in a wild and wacky way. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
