Folkway
A Folkway is a sociological term indicating a way of living, thinking, and acting in a sophontic group, often built up without conscious design and often serving as a compelling guide to proper conduct.
- Folkways are also sometimes called cultural mores or socionormative standards among other terms.
- Folkways are often expressed through customs, tradition, cuisine, art, etiquette, governance, social institutions, and a wide variety of other forms of social expression.
Description (Specifications)
Folkways are employed by every sophont species as a way of life. They cover attitudes towards a variety of experiences, in effect, defining acceptable baseline behavior and unacceptable, strange, deviant behavior.
Cultural Universals
Many folkways can be considered cultural universals. All sophisticated societies develop methods of governance, social organization, social hierarchies, social proprieties, and the like. The sum of all of these ways of life are known as cultural universals.
Manners & Etiquette
Manners and etiquette are terms for proper conduct or acceptable social protocol. They often differ greatly amongst the many interstellar societies and polities of Charted Space. There is a general standard of behavior and expectations within Charted Space that is probably most visible within the confines of a starport, a transportation junction that caters to multispecies interaction.
History & Background (Dossier)
Folkways are not set in stone and they evolve along with their associated societies and civilizations. As cultural paradigms change, so do societies and their folkways. When societies change more quickly than societies possess tolerance, revolutions occur and many undesired effects are brought about such as violence, chaos, revolution, and periods of extended instability.
Major Race Folkways Overview
Some sophont species have developed interesting cultural adaptations to the civilizational cycle including the following:
- The Vargr have such a love of freedom and independence that their society in the Vargr Extents is widely considered to be the most flexibly tolerant and adaptable of the major race supra-polities. Vargr society is a constantly evolving and experimenting with culture, folkways, and civilization. The Julian Protectorate is a result of this societal pressure cooker that bodes well for the future of interspecies relations.
- The Hivers have developed numerous interesting folkways that allow the Hive Federation to abrogate periods of instability during periods of regime change and revolution. Their government, a sort of omni flexible adhocracy, probably strays furthest from interstellar expectations for a Supra-polity. The Hivers are also Panspeciests, who value all life and strongly believe in Uplift and the gentle fostering and development of all intelligent lifeforms.
- The Aslan place a premium on maintaining a sense of competition and societal vigor. Their Tlaukhu institution and Aslan Hierate government coupled with the Aslan Clan system have helped the Aslan to remain a competitive force in Charted Space where many other civilizations have stagnated or died out altogether. The Aslan philosophy of Violent Monoculturism underlies their societal goals.
- Both the Droyne and Zhodani are known for societal stability and the psionic nature of their civilizations. Both societies experience vastly less violence and internal strife when compared to the other major races.
- The Terrans are known for their incredible diversity, aggression, self-confidence, tolerance, and general societal vigor. The Terrans created a civilization with a bewildering number of cultures, languages, and folkways. That is why the intolerance of the Solomani Confederation remains so ironic.
- The Vilani are known for their singleminded dedicated purpose, self-confidence, and incredible productivity. They are an industrious people capable of setting multigenerational goals and keeping them. It is by no coincidence that the first megacorporations were Vilani.
- The K'kree are such successful societal stewards that even the Droyne and Zhodani sometimes marvel at the level of community and social cohesion that the K'kree achieve. It comes at a cost as does any social mechanism, but the K'kree can marshal resources as no other major race can. The K'kree are arguably the preeminent naturalists, ecologists, and environmental stewards of Charted Space.
Endgame & Societal Goals
Many of the polities of Charted Space are striving to achieve a state of Aeonic Stability, in which interstellar relations and intragalactic peace among the many sophont species will achieve a state of perpetual prosperity and stability.
An increasing number of interstellar societies within Charted Space have begun discussing a hypothetical Singularity.
References & Contributors (Sources)
- TBD
- Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science