shitposting rave 4: (almost) anything goes

Well, I've got a prettY big issue with leaving, but what I wouldn't mind is taking a few nice motherfucking swings at You, asshole.

 

!
Apologies for interrupting, but-- is there a word for this sort of arrangement? In either any language Stanford knows or Neocybex?

 

"Forgive me, I don't think you think I'm the devil at all. I did think you thought I might be a hereditary ruler with some natural hereditary ruler blind spots." Valiska smiles. "Can you be conjunx with three? Because there are three of us, now. And I don't think we ever had democracy; I think we had elections. I'm not sure I believe democracy is possible until economic inequalities and cultural considerations are addressed."

 

What, You some kinda linguist?

 

"We call it a pride," Valiska says, "or a family."

 

Yes. This is public knowledge. Linguist and, apparently, translator.

 

[Eclipse tilts his head to no longer be hiding in Venture's neck.] Not legally, but honestly I don't think anyone's been keeping track since the very start of the war. More important things to be fighting about and all that.

 

Previous understanding: 'family' implies some level of caretaker-charge connection, or else scientific classification of species-groups. Another definition?

 

ReallY?
Would You go so far as to call Yourself a cunning linguist? Ehh? Ehhh? *fingerguns*

 

[She stares blankly for a few seconds.]

...don't think I want to know the basis of that apparent pun.

 

[Vulcan pauses mid-fingergun for a couple seconds.]
You know, uh
[Vulcan makes a V-shape with her middle amd index fingers and sticks her tongue between them.]

 

...so it is something sexual then. Glad I'm not misreading. An excellent pun, even if unfortunately not one I'll have opportunity to use self-referentially.

 

-can't believe she the whole sopor pie. She's sprawled on her back, staring up at nothing. It sounds like she just tried to say something, but not even Rave magic could translate it-

 

Me 2, Fam
Me 2

 

Valiska thinks about this. "Okay. Keep in mind, my culture is not the culture of the entirety of Pennarion. And we aren't native to Pennarion. We're native to ai-Talas." She smiles for a moment. "Ai-Talas is a hot, dry planet, and we're predators, obligate carnivores. But when kits are born, they are very helpless, even more so than human babies, I'm told. They can't open their eyes and they can't hear very well. They can't regulate their body temperatures. You have to keep them cool when it's too hot, but at night, when it's cold, they need to be snuggled against you, their skin against yours. They don't stay that helpless for long, but when a woman becomes a mother, she needs her sisters or her mates or both to help her. So the smallest pride consists of a woman, her kits, and her sister or her mate or her dearest friend. But if you stay with your sisters, and your mates either come live with you or stay with their sisters, there are more people to hunt, and some people can grow things that are used for medicinal purposes, or added to food for flavour, or used to make clothing, and people can make other things, and you can do more things, and you can trade with other prides. That's how Talassani society works. We have schools and apprenticeships and temples to train people in things that only some people have special talents for, of course. But people are close to their mothers and their mothers are close to their mothers."

Valiska takes a breath. "So, families become bigger. Not everyone in a pride will always live in the same house, but they will share their property. Men, and sometimes women, will marry in and out, creating ties. If you are a terrible leader, your sisters will go off on their own, and your sons will go live with their wives, and even your daughters may find sisters in another pride or go and live with their mates. If you hurt your mates or children they will leave you.

"There's nothing worse than hurting a kit. Nothing. Even if there's a war between one pride and another that kills most of the adults, the kits will be adopted and cared for even if they belonged to the other side. But of course they may leave. And if they leave, some might say that you didn't care for them properly. And if they betray you, well...then you probably didn't. A lot of our old stories are about vengeance and love."

Valiska worries her lip for a moment. "Anyhow, sometimes there are problems that affect even more than one of the very largest families, so the mothers of the largest families come together to discuss those problems, and will sometimes even elect a Sword to lead them in battle."

 

-flops a hand in what is probably assent- -she'd have something to say to @Congessi about family but she's lit-

 

!!!!!!

[A series of fireworks flash across her visor.]

Spoiler: many gif

Yes! Given allowance for different expansion methods, and adjusted for size-- now I just need an accurate translation to Neocybex and--!

[She visibly collects herself, but her visor is still bright with excitement; for legibility, she switches her text-color to a dark blue.] Are there appropriate expressions of thanks for Talassani? Beyond the simple word?

 

Valiska's eyes widen. "Thanks is sufficient," she says. "I'm glad I could help. That's how government evolved among our people."

 

Ah. Well ideally when things are going as they should, everyone is in a unit doing things they want to do with people in their immediate teams they want to work with. It worked for me. Didn't for everyone as far as I know. Shame, that.

So far we are in agreement.

I cannot speak for your specific cultural context, but on our side of the equation the problem we rebelled against was a religiously backed caste system, rather than hyper capitalism as it seems to go on earth from my admittedly limited exposure to the planet's culture. After that it was military meritocracy as I said. Largely whoever was smart, deadly and merciless enough and was not absolute scrap at leading ended up with command positions eventually.
I did not have any particular ambitions for rank so I only ended up in a command position now in peace time and it is a diplomatic rank rather than a military one. But I certainly would have had the reputation to command if I wanted to and did not trust everyone in the unit I was in to be smart and have our best interests at heart.

I have no idea what incorporate means, I assume it means to monetize your enterprises in a capitalist manner. I'm a lowly weaponsmith with a few blueprints that don't need big scale production anymore I can't say I know what it is like. [she gives him a blank look]

So... A name component as noble houses carry them? Like the house of Ambus?

As far as I am concerned the fact that legally a mech may only have one conjunx is jetfuel so if the legal situation you are in matches that of committed romantic and/or sexual partners I assume it is the closest equivalent, no matter the number of people involved.
And hereditary rule is something of a foreign concept to me, apart from the usual "established noble sponsors a fresh-forged spark and introduces him into society, eventually loses his position to said newspark when the inevitable backstab happens" routine. Nobility is nobility because of connections and social position and altmode, likely also pure luck to catch another noble's attention.

 

It is-- very close to the purpose and origins of a social structure I have been trying for several decades to find a decent translation for, albeit on a different scale and with minor differences accounting for variance in species, location, other mores, and so on. If I can find an equivalent phrase or concept outside the Miracle Translation Dream Plane it will be... quite a breakthrough. Most sincere thanks.

Isn't that just for Decepticons? Worked differently among various neutral settlements, and I was under the impression Autobots were less inclined to take traitorous behavior as commendation...

Apologies for not coming in earlier, captain. Yes, name component, often signifying some connection to others bearing the same component. Varies among cultures, naturally, and Stanford can likely explain the specifics of his own far better than I can.