Arcadian
"Arcadian" describes the shared culture of those who live in Arcadia and consider it home. Not every Arcadian identifies completely with every aspect of Arcadian culture. They may also belong to different cultural groups, in addition to their Arcadian identity.
The original inhabitants of Arcadia are the Formians. Formian-Arcadians consider Formian culture and Arcadian culture to be synonyms.
Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Nasia, Thalia, Margeta, Niki, Agni, Theoni, Ariadni, Aleka, Agathi, Efimia
Masculine names
Nikos, Dimitri, Angelo, Spiros, Luka, Aris, Ignatios, Alexios, Elias, Tathis
Unisex names
Cal, Eko, Nikki, Kyrie, Agne, Delos, Berrie, Io
Other names
Family names are typically a reflection of the person's heritage, either their parent or their inherited profession followed by the suffix "-os."
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Common is the official language of Arcadia, and any other tongue spoken within the Realm must be accompanied by an accurate translation.
Arcadians may also be more accustomed to encountering Formian hand-speak. This manual language evolved because the Formian native language is pheromone-based, and most other species cannot perceive it.
Shared customary codes and values
Arcadians do not view the Harmonium's rigid schedules as restrictive, but as a necessary support for Arcadia's prosperity. The stability of the Realm's patterns, as well as the roles of the Harmonium and Storm Kings, are valued as critical aspects of Arcadian life.
Common Etiquette rules
The simplest way to avoid offending an Arcadian is to understand and abide by the order of the realm. Arcadians live on a schedule, and disrupting that schedule introduces discord. Foreigners are expected to make mistakes, but to visit Arcadia and not consult its calendar is highly inconsiderate.
Common Dress code
While Arcadians engage in a reasonable degree of self-expression, dress is decided by one's occupation. This coding makes it simple to identify individuals by their contributions to Arcadian society.
The garments befitting a certain role are usually pragmatic. Farmers, for instance, wear durable trousers and tunics with lightweight fabric to avoid overheating. Ministers dress in eye-catching colors, commanding attention as well as authority, and so forth.
Art & Architecture
Arcadian residences are perfect squares. Necessary expansions to a residence are also square, and must be attached flush with the existing structure. Businesses are also square, but are constructed of different materials, and display clearly-labelled signs to indicate the type of business and the specific services offered.
Foods & Cuisine
In ancient Arcadia, the predictability of Arcadian life extended to the Arcadian diet, when people ate a planned cycle of specific meals each tenday.
Contemporary Arcadians recognize the importance of variety for mental health. As well, the growing diversity of Arcadian cultural heritages has resulted in too many favoured dishes to fit into a static tenday schedule. Modern Arcadians enjoy a much more interesting cultural palate.
Most Arcadians do operate on a ten-day meal-plan for stability's sake, but in most cases, these plans are less rigid than they were several generations ago. Rather than prescribing a specific meal, a family may plan a specific taste or ingredient, changing the specific dish which fulfills it on each cycle.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
The culture of Arcadia prioritizes order and harmony, and Arcadians living within the Realm operate on clearly-defined schedules. Accommodation of the other's schedule is a given in most Arcadian interactions, and Arcadians will open most conversations with an inquiry as to the available time-frame.
Coming of Age Rites
Human-Arcadian children are allowed partial independence from their guardians at age 10, and are considered adults at age 20. Formian-Arcadians and other species whose life-cycles and maturation rates are distinct from humanity's usually use other standards for adulthood, though these may be slightly adjusted to harmonize with the age thresholds of other community members.
Funerary and Memorial customs
A traditional Arcadian funeral involves a burial of the unclothed body, which may be wrapped in a biodegradable shroud for modesty if preferred. The bereaved conduct a ceremony, the specifics of which vary widely by culture, which usually celebrates the deceased's contributions toward Arcadia's collective prosperity.
In what may have begun as a symbolic means of balancing the loss of the loved ones, it is traditional to offer gifts to the grieving friends and family. These gifts are usually of a pragmatic nature.
Burial plots are zoned by the Harmonium, and are maintained with a surplus of detritivores to help speed decomposition. Grave-keepers carefully monitor the decomposition rate of each plot, and the fertilized soil is repurposed - most commonly for farming - afterwards.
Like farming and fishing, the Arcadian death industry is ruled by edicts preventing it from disrupting the ecology of the Realm. Embalming and other preservation processes which harm the surrounding environs are banned except where necessary to honour religious or cultural heritage, and even then some degree of compromise may be demanded. The Harmonium is also cooperative when moving the deceased to another Realm so the bereaved's preferred funerary customs may be honoured.
Common Taboos
Disagreement is a necessary part of life in a diverse community, and Arcadians view the ideal disagreement as a constructive conflict and a means to reaching harmonious compromise, but disruption as a whole is frowned on in Arcadian culture.
Seeking disruption for its own sake, contrarianism, and purposeless disruption are seen as infantile at best, and criminally harmful at worst.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Symmetry is important in Arcadian fashion. Ideal appearances include a harmonious balance of vibrancy and subtlety, warm and cool, a matching of textures, etc. Trends, like most changes in Arcadia, happen slowly and predictably.
Relationship Ideals
Arranged matchmaking is very common in Arcadia, but romantic partnerships can occur naturally. The main thing is that all participants in the relationship share equal status, and can coordinate for a harmonious life.
Major organizations
The greatest and most well-known Arcadian organization is undoubtedly the Arcadian Harmonium, the governing body of Arcadia.
Related Organizations
Related Locations