Topics Meme: January 24
Kerovian Culture
I feel like I've thought a lot about this topic before, but now that I'm supposed to be explaining it, I feel like I haven't thought about it nearly enough.
I decided early on that Zhane is the more typical example of the standard Kerovian, rather than Andros. Because Andros is an Emo Ball of Woe. (He has Reasons, of course, and I love him for it, but still.) So my headcanon is that generally speaking, Kerovians are happy, energetic people who are social and love to party. Their planet is a mix of farming communities and small cities, with a couple of major cities.
And by love to party, they LOVE to party. They celebrate multiple planet-wide festivals throughout the year. (A few have been mentioned in Bright Skies and Cataclysm.) I add/subtract to them all the time, but here's the current list:
Festival of Life - The Kerovian version of one giant planetary birthday party. Celebrates the joy of living, and birth, and all in between.
Day of the Dead - Like the Mexican holiday, but without all the creepy skulls.
Festival of Remembrance- Honors people who give their lives in the name of the greater good. (Sort of like Memorial Day.)
Festival of Family - A day for spending time with family members.
Festival of Children - Think of the Japanese Children's Festival.
Planting Festival - A spring festival for farmers and gardening.
Harvest Festival - Exactly what it sounds like.
Solar Festival - Happens once a year; sort of like New Year's, but focused on the sun and the planet's journey around it. Lasts seven days.
Lunar Festival - A monthly one-night celebration of the moon.
Ranger Festival - Lasts fourteen days. Days are: Day of Red, Day of Black, Day of Blue, Day of Yellow, Day of Pink, Day of Green, Day of White, Day of Purple, Day of Silver, Day of Gold, Day of Orange, Day of Brown, Kerova Rangers Day, Neo-Kerova Rangers Day, Astro Rangers Day, Power Rangers Day
Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think they'd have a Mother's Day or Father's Day kind of thing, because it would standardize family roles and they really don't do that.
Kerovians are known for their highly developed mental abilities: telekinesis, telepathy, and in rarer cases, psychism. Not everyone has all three abilities at the same time. And the level of control one has over an ability varies. Andros and Zhane for instance, are both telekinetic, but their telepathy is limited to people they're close to. Zhane is also a lower-level psychic, in that he can sense when people close to him are in danger. (This is actually my interpretation of canon.)
While not quite as relaxed about sexuality and gender roles as the people of Mirinoi, Kerovians don't have the concepts of homophobia or racism. Part of this stems from the mental connection they share with the people around them. As long as someone is a productive and non-violent member of society, that's what they care about.
Their concept of marriage (Also mentioned in Fractured Fates and Bright Skies 'verse! ^.^) is based around the idea of the emotional connection and devotion to a partner or partners. (Yes, they are polygamist.) They don't have traditional ceremonies. Instead each member of the relationship promises something of themselves - their heart, their time, their protection, ect. - to the other. From that moment on, they're considered Promised, and treated by society as a committed pair. They don't really understand the concept of divorce. (Which I now feel the need to write about at some point ... ) Children can't be considered Promised until they come of age (I'm debating when that is), but it's not unheard of for them to 'practice' making a promise with someone they like, or promise to become Promised one day.
rosabelle made the mistake of talking to me while I was working on this, so I asked her for suggestions on more things to talk about.
Funerals: Being a colony, I suspect they wouldn't be a fan of burying their deceased. Most likely because they couldn't afford to when the first settlers traveled to the planet, and then it became traditional to have the dead cremated. They technically don't have 'funerals'; instead they have what they call Divergence, which is a party-style celebration of the person's life and saying goodbye to them as their spirit moves on. Later on, they take the time to remember the deceased during the Day of the Dead.
Babies: Well, obviously canon tells us that kids wear red and yellow instead of blue and pink ... (Kidding.) Um. I dunno. I think their children would be known for their highly developed memories and mental states, so they're pretty much in school by the time they can sit up. They highly value their children - again, colony planet - and take special care in making sure that attention and teaching is given to whatever they show interest in. They're encouraged to pursue multiple subjects as they grow, because Knowledge Is Power and all. They don't really have maternity/paternity leave? People take time from work to spend with their new child as needed, and it's accepted because children are the focus of family life and necessary to the continuation of the colony.
Food: I imagine Kerovian food would be full of flavor. Not spicy, necessarily. Just ... lots of spices and colors and textures. (Clearly the synthetron doesn't make good Kerovian food, which D.E.C.A. refuses to admit.)
Sex: I don't think sex is a big thing on KO-35. Not as in there isn't as much of it - because obviously BABIES - but more in that it's considered a part of life. They totally have sex shops, because MAKING BABIES, but they're not labeled XXX or whatever. It's more a combination of sexual items and baby supplies. People aren't shamed about desiring sex, and sex education is part of the normal school curriculum for kids who hit puberty. It's still something that stays behind closed doors, but they wouldn't understand why people from Earth make a big deal about it.
And now I'm wondering if they'd still have strippers, so it's clearly time to close this topic.
* I must now add a warning for the fact that this topic covers sex and porn shops and mentions strippers. Thank you,
rosabelle.
I feel like I've thought a lot about this topic before, but now that I'm supposed to be explaining it, I feel like I haven't thought about it nearly enough.
I decided early on that Zhane is the more typical example of the standard Kerovian, rather than Andros. Because Andros is an Emo Ball of Woe. (He has Reasons, of course, and I love him for it, but still.) So my headcanon is that generally speaking, Kerovians are happy, energetic people who are social and love to party. Their planet is a mix of farming communities and small cities, with a couple of major cities.
And by love to party, they LOVE to party. They celebrate multiple planet-wide festivals throughout the year. (A few have been mentioned in Bright Skies and Cataclysm.) I add/subtract to them all the time, but here's the current list:
Festival of Life - The Kerovian version of one giant planetary birthday party. Celebrates the joy of living, and birth, and all in between.
Day of the Dead - Like the Mexican holiday, but without all the creepy skulls.
Festival of Remembrance- Honors people who give their lives in the name of the greater good. (Sort of like Memorial Day.)
Festival of Family - A day for spending time with family members.
Festival of Children - Think of the Japanese Children's Festival.
Planting Festival - A spring festival for farmers and gardening.
Harvest Festival - Exactly what it sounds like.
Solar Festival - Happens once a year; sort of like New Year's, but focused on the sun and the planet's journey around it. Lasts seven days.
Lunar Festival - A monthly one-night celebration of the moon.
Ranger Festival - Lasts fourteen days. Days are: Day of Red, Day of Black, Day of Blue, Day of Yellow, Day of Pink, Day of Green, Day of White, Day of Purple, Day of Silver, Day of Gold, Day of Orange, Day of Brown, Kerova Rangers Day, Neo-Kerova Rangers Day, Astro Rangers Day, Power Rangers Day
Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think they'd have a Mother's Day or Father's Day kind of thing, because it would standardize family roles and they really don't do that.
Kerovians are known for their highly developed mental abilities: telekinesis, telepathy, and in rarer cases, psychism. Not everyone has all three abilities at the same time. And the level of control one has over an ability varies. Andros and Zhane for instance, are both telekinetic, but their telepathy is limited to people they're close to. Zhane is also a lower-level psychic, in that he can sense when people close to him are in danger. (This is actually my interpretation of canon.)
While not quite as relaxed about sexuality and gender roles as the people of Mirinoi, Kerovians don't have the concepts of homophobia or racism. Part of this stems from the mental connection they share with the people around them. As long as someone is a productive and non-violent member of society, that's what they care about.
Their concept of marriage (Also mentioned in Fractured Fates and Bright Skies 'verse! ^.^) is based around the idea of the emotional connection and devotion to a partner or partners. (Yes, they are polygamist.) They don't have traditional ceremonies. Instead each member of the relationship promises something of themselves - their heart, their time, their protection, ect. - to the other. From that moment on, they're considered Promised, and treated by society as a committed pair. They don't really understand the concept of divorce. (Which I now feel the need to write about at some point ... ) Children can't be considered Promised until they come of age (I'm debating when that is), but it's not unheard of for them to 'practice' making a promise with someone they like, or promise to become Promised one day.
rosabelle made the mistake of talking to me while I was working on this, so I asked her for suggestions on more things to talk about.
Funerals: Being a colony, I suspect they wouldn't be a fan of burying their deceased. Most likely because they couldn't afford to when the first settlers traveled to the planet, and then it became traditional to have the dead cremated. They technically don't have 'funerals'; instead they have what they call Divergence, which is a party-style celebration of the person's life and saying goodbye to them as their spirit moves on. Later on, they take the time to remember the deceased during the Day of the Dead.
Babies: Well, obviously canon tells us that kids wear red and yellow instead of blue and pink ... (Kidding.) Um. I dunno. I think their children would be known for their highly developed memories and mental states, so they're pretty much in school by the time they can sit up. They highly value their children - again, colony planet - and take special care in making sure that attention and teaching is given to whatever they show interest in. They're encouraged to pursue multiple subjects as they grow, because Knowledge Is Power and all. They don't really have maternity/paternity leave? People take time from work to spend with their new child as needed, and it's accepted because children are the focus of family life and necessary to the continuation of the colony.
Food: I imagine Kerovian food would be full of flavor. Not spicy, necessarily. Just ... lots of spices and colors and textures. (Clearly the synthetron doesn't make good Kerovian food, which D.E.C.A. refuses to admit.)
Sex: I don't think sex is a big thing on KO-35. Not as in there isn't as much of it - because obviously BABIES - but more in that it's considered a part of life. They totally have sex shops, because MAKING BABIES, but they're not labeled XXX or whatever. It's more a combination of sexual items and baby supplies. People aren't shamed about desiring sex, and sex education is part of the normal school curriculum for kids who hit puberty. It's still something that stays behind closed doors, but they wouldn't understand why people from Earth make a big deal about it.
And now I'm wondering if they'd still have strippers, so it's clearly time to close this topic.
* I must now add a warning for the fact that this topic covers sex and porn shops and mentions strippers. Thank you,
rosabelle.