Viera culture
From SCross
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General Worldwide Characteristics of Viera Culture
With the Viera race, it needs to be recognized that while they are a very globally distinct society, each region of the world has it's own unique traits and behaviors which has affected Viera culture. That being said, there are some general characteristics universal to any Vieran culture throughout Gaia.
The first, and arguably the most distinctive of these, is that Viera do not willing breed with any other race, ever. This would not seem, at first blush, to be a distinctive idea, but one must remember that the world of Gaia is one in which most any species can breed with any other, and produce children that always breed true to the mother's species. As such, marriages between two differing sentient species are hardly unusual, even vastly differing.
The Viera are the exception to this. While the Viera are biologically capable of breeding with other races, they are incapable of sexual response and/or desire for other species. The children of a Viera breeding with any other species is, inevitably, a children born of rape. While many other species find them desirable, that desire is never returned, and such interests are either laughed off, or violently rebuffed.
For this reason, Viera are considered an oddity in the world of Gaia, and young and foolish men that fail to heed the advice of others to never fall in love with a Viera, are usually mocked. In Valente, where Viera are particularly common (and so too, foolishly passionate men), such men are called "chasers of the moon", in reference to seeking the unobtainable.
The second distinctive trait between Viera and the rest of Gaia is that they have distinct gender roles. It should be remembered that in Gaia, many animal-kin species (and even humans) have a much more equitable physiology range between men and women. Quite a few species regularly have females that are larger and stronger than the males, and as such, Gaian worldwide culture has always been one of relative gender equality.
However, Vierans, Gaia-wide, are without exception a matriarchal society; the larger, stronger women occupying traditionally active, adventurous roles, while the men are the home-keepers, the rearers of children. It's often believed by some ignorant peasants that there are no such thing as Viera males. To the contrary, there are, but they are kept strictly isolated from the outside world, often creched in communal housing with other men until the day they're married. Viera males, no matter their age, when seen in public are almost always veiled and covered in head to toe in an encompassing robe (essentially identical to an islamic Burqua'a), with only their eyes and ears visible. In most Vieran cultures throughout Gaia, it's considered shameful for a male to go anywhere unescorted without a female relative or wife.
Most men in Vieran cultures live a life of isolation from the world, or else of repression, though hardly resentful. They are weaker than their female counterparts, and find themselves well-suited to a domestic life of rearing children, and maintaining their modesty and decency in public by allowing none but their wife and family to see their face unveiled. Boy children are typically presented with their first veil at age six; an honor amongst them, a recognition of the adult they will one day grow into.
Vieran women, on the meanwhile, are the hunters, the traders, the warriors. When they do come with child, they often continue as much of their life as they can before they're too gravid to perform, at which point the often then return to the father to rear the child together for a few months. Once the child is old enough to be weaned from breastmilk, it's not unusual for the mother to leave the child with the father and return to her prior life. For this reason, in many Vieran cultures, matters of honor are taken seriously amongst Vieran women. Woe betide the young Vieran maiden making unwanted advances on a young Vieran man; for his sisters will likely make it their personal mission to either beat the offending Vieran maiden, or else, if the advances have gone too far, ensure there's a nice, traditional Church gunblade-wedding.
Finally, universally, Viera are, at the very least, aloof from other races. Many are borderline or even outright xenophobic; some, such as the Western barbarian Viera, take this to a frightening extreme...
World-Specific Viera Culture Notes
Empire
Imperial-culture Viera are relatively aloof; frequently preferring to avoid the larger cities, preferring instead to found and build Viera-only villages throughout the empire, actively discouraging other races from moving into their villages. They are very pious and faithful people, but they tend to request that Church functionaries be fellow Vierans. Those few Viera who join the Circle are always quickly ushered off to a Viera-only village; as while a Circle member is bound to help anyone who requests their services, a Viera cannot meet that obligation with a non-Vieran.
Those Viera women who roam the Empire are often dedicated warriors, traders, and travellers, and some make very good wages within the Imperial forces or as mercenaries.
Within a Viera-only village, the men may be seen (properly, chastely robed and veiled), tending to the children. Within an Imperial city, what few vieran males there are, are almost never seen, and if they are, almost always fully veiled and covered, and escorted by other female family.
Within these restrictions, however, Vieran children still go to school or are tutored or home-schooled, boys and girls alike. Vieran males seldom, if ever, join any school of magery except White or the occasional Red. Vieran females, on the other hand, are found heavily within Mage Guild ranks, especially the red mage school. Vieran females, too, enjoy very good careers as archers and snipers, their superior racial talents for aiming enjoying the most benefit in distance fighting.
Valente
Valentian-culture Viera are identical to Empire-culture Viera in most respects. They tend to share, however, the Valente beliefs of living "con couere" (by one's own heart, passionately). As such, much more performers are found in Valentian Viera than in the Viera of other lands. This, combined with the Valentian combination of conservative beliefs in propriety, yet the dichotomy of passionate, active living, leads to some strange conflicts of behavior for Valentian Vierans.
Once again there are some Viera-only villages throughout Valente, but they tend to trade more liberally with the world, and are often seen in mixed pairs of wives and husbands, the husbands travelling en-robed and veiled, but, while there is more expectation of attention paid to form than in the Empire, less to function; males usually have relatively transparent veils, and their robes may occasionally daringly rise up to the ankle or even knee. In the Viera-only villages, it's not unusual for young lovers to be spotted walking together, hand-in-hand, without veils. This, of course, almost never occurs where non-viera could see, of course.
Typically, vieran females make a good living as dancers and minstrels, and it's not unusual for their husbands, in these cases, to be the musicians or even, for truly cosmopolitan couples, fellow dancers.
Vieran propriety is protected by Valentian law; it is a civil offense, punishable by mild beatings and fines, to remove a Vieran's veil (male or female), without permission.
While all men are expected to have /some/ sort of veil; they're permitted remarkable freedom in what they choose to use and wear. Indeed, by other Vieran culture standards, their veils would be positively scandalous! In Valente, it's not unusual for women to go lightly veiled as well, as a sign of their pride in their ways and culture, or a sign of humility.
The Valentians are, of course, a highly pious people, and it's here that one sees female Viera very often as church knights and paladins, and occasionally, Vieran males as priests.
Wutaii
Within Wutaii, the Vieran race are very well integrated with the social norms; the Wutaiin culture has no problems, obviously, understanding isolationism and cultural separation. As such, Viera-only villages exist, and are given their privacy respectfully by most of the clans in Wutaii. In return, Valentian women are frequently found in Wutaiin forces, particularly as archers and snipers.
Wutaiin Viera males, aside from replacing the Burqua'a-like wrap with a kimono, are essentially culturally identical to the Empire, although the much higher modernization level in Wutaii ensures that their places in the home are more demanding of their minds, and less reliant on outright manual labor.
Due to this cultural respect, it's nearly unheard of for those of other species to try to court a Viera, and in response, there's a fair bit more tolerance of Vieran males and females seen in public around non-Vieran.
In civilian life in Wutaii, it's considered traditional for both male and female Viera to wear Kimono and a veil. The one notable exception to this is in Wutaiin Imperial service; where it is left to personal choice whether the Viera will wear a veil or not in their army service. The majority still do, but some consider it a badge of humility to bare their face for the service of their Emperor.
One other unique cultural note: Vierans are highly saught-after cooks in Wutaii, almost as highly as Tonberry. Their natural palates tending to favor the lighter, more vegetable-centric meals of Wutaii. Many Wutaiin Viera, male and female, show an aptitude and appreciation for fine artistic crafting.
Western Continent
Within the Western Continent, Viera are not merely aloof, but due to the lack of social order and strong law presence throughout most of the west, most Viera in the west are actively hostile towards other races; meeting interlopers in their territories with arrows and weapons, and seldom giving more than a single warning to leave.
So aloof and seperate are the Viera from others in the barbarian land, and so fiercely are the menfolk kept hidden and creched, it is often mistakenly believed by outsiders that Viera have no males at all, and either breed through dark magic, or select champions that have bested them in combat. (In other words, moral justification for rape.) Such children forced on the proud Viera are inevitably killed as soon as they're born.
The fiercely isolationist Viera almost never socialize or interact with the outside world, to the point that some tribes immediately outcast any member of theirs that makes non-trivial contact with non-viera. (Warning away and/or killing outsiders doesn't count for this taboo, of course.)
In the west, the Vieran menfolk are the mostly highly isolated; few ever really see much life outside of the home, and are almost never unveiled except in the extreme privacy of their own home and family. The live as homemakers, as healers, and other domestic pursuits, while the women hunt or go to war, as often with each other as with other races.
Northern Continent
In the forbidden lands, Viera are neither as aloof as in the West, nor as easily integrated in the empire. Because the demands for survival are so high, the isolationism that other Vieran races live by is impractical for the North; survival requires community effort.
This being said, the people of the north are, as a whole, generally very conscious and supportive of the vieran wish for separation; they keep their own longhouses in the village, and the menfolk and womenfolk alike are generally well-regarded and well-respected; and in many tribes it is taboo to interfere in inter-vieran affairs.
Because of these good relations, and the necessity for communal survival, there are both viera-only villages in the north, usually 20 to 30 members, and in the larger villages, integrated populations. Young men are taught early on, usually through good-natured social ribbing (or, if called for, gentle ostracization) that vieran women are not for wedding, and all are taught to leave their veils be. In the North, Vieran women may go veiled or unveiled, but almost all men go veiled. This is a combination of propriety and practicality; with the winter weather and the summer flies, a veil underneath a parka is hardly a poor thing to wear.
Vieran creches in the north are often regarded as good neighbours; as their ways are respected, their relations with other races are generally positive, and their species' accuracy with a bow is very welcome on the hunt.
Viera are to be found throughout the north in scattered clumps; and often marriages are arranged early to prevent inbreeding.
