The Tajara possess many cultural universals unique to their species. Across Azunal, the community is considered the base unit of a society, rather than simply the individual or family. Every member of one is seen as a part of a greater whole, and to commit a crime against one member is to commit a crime against the entire community, though crimes committed against another community are rarely prosecuted by the perpetrator’s. Leaving one’s community, whether by choice or not, is treated with the utmost significance, with those who leave voluntarily the subject of a large farewell party that effectively mourns the death of who they once knew. The receiving community, on the other hand, will celebrate their arrival as if they were a newborn. Within the community itself, relationships are far from concrete and take on a more fluid characteristic, such as a Tajaran courting another one month and then going back to being just friends the next month without much of an issue. Children may or may not arise from these relationships, very little pressure is placed on younger Tajara about this outside of the most dire circumstances. When children are born, they’re raised communally, though it’s a tradition to honour one’s biological parents on your birthday.
Hierarchy persists as one of the vital parts of a Tajara community to this day. Legitimate leaders often retain their power by convincing their community that they are the best hope for advancement. Those who wish to contest a leader’s legitimacy must overcome the challenge of providing a better innovation to the community. These challenges are rarely without controversy and drama, and the leader will often attempt to find some way to one-up their competitor, sometimes through underhanded tactics. In fact, it’s this attitude that gave rise to some of the first true dynasties, through leaders using their ample resources to provide superior education to their children. More importantly, these challenges are a quick way to secure one’s legacy among their community, as the creation of a legacy is among one of the most common things a Tajaran can aspire to. It’s why being exiled is regarded as a punishment as bad as death, for the destruction of one’s legacy from leaving the community in disgrace means they are effectively dead to the community.
Real death within the community is hardly treated the same, though. Throughout Tajara society, one isn’t viewed as truly dead, but instead as transforming into their legacy. Aside from those who live with a poor or unremarkable legacy, death is something rarely truly worried about, and the statement “I have lived a good life” is a statement of being ready to die, rather than one of not having regrets. When the time does come, the body is seen as the less significant part, and is left to the elements until the bones can be used by the farmers, sent to a carrion bird centre to be picked clean if one lives in the cities, or ejected into space. Whatever the case, the unimportance of the body means Tajara are less disturbed by the sight of a fresh corpse but are extremely unsettled by a rotting corpse due to their rarity on a planet as cold as Azunal. Once the body is handled, work begins on memorialising their legacy. Communities will carve the obituary into the wall of a cavern among all the others who have passed on, or even an elaborate tomb for the wealthiest dynasties. Azunal is dotted with these memorials, some still used, others unearthed after ages of abandonment, whether through the destruction of the community or their migration to greener pastures.
All these differences and more permeate how Tajara act in their day-to-day business, but few are quite as all-encompassing as how they communicate with each other. While some of these behaviours manifest themself more in the languages, there are some gestures that are universal to the species. Many gestures that humans take for granted take on a new meaning due to the presence of claws, even when they have been filed down for the sake of some jobs. Some common uses of body language are shown below.
Gestures
- Keeping fingers curled to show non-aggression. Extending fingers is often seen as the equivalent to balling a fist, as it’s often followed by the full extension of the claws.
- Fist bumping has become especially popular following its introduction by humanity, due to its perception of being non-hostile.
- Bringing one’s forearm up at a diagonal shape to form an ‘X’ with another Tajaran’s forearm is a traditional greeting. The palm always faces the other Tajaran, so that if one uses this moment to strike, the other can retaliate just as quickly.
- Pointedly showing the back of one’s hand is an insulting gesture, as it implies the target is not even worth the trouble of injuring. This is often used when posturing without intent to fight.
- Twitching ears and tail both signal mild irritation if done as more than a simple tic.
- A perfectly still and low-hanging tail implies a Tajaran is upset and is the equivalent of sagging one’s shoulders. This stands out quite readily compared to the usual constant small movements of the tail.
- Bringing one’s tail in front of their chest is seen as a form of flinching, and can be used in the same manner as holding one’s hands upwards to signal an unwillingness to fight.
Languages
Tajarans, being isolated for so long but experiencing a recent push by the new global power to form a monoculture, only have a handful of major but unique languages. Some of these languages are unique to certain classes or cultures, while others are merely accessibility related. Typically, verbal languages make heavy use of guttural sounds, mewls and softer sounds, with some tones that are hard enough for other species to hear that they are impossible to learn. One of the stranger traits common to all the languages is the lack of singular first-person pronouns, leading to most conversations displaying their characteristic third-person speech pattern(“He has completed his work”, rather than “I have completed my work”.)
Yapudi
Yapudi is one of the most commonly spoken languages on the planet, replacing local languages in recent years as the lingua-franca. To aid this, both major governments have begun to define local languages as dialects of Yapudi, rather than as separate languages that must be preserved. This allows them to overwrite these “dialects” as incorrect ways of speaking in schools, crushing cultural identity tied to these languages. A Tajaran that knows no Yapudi is either born in an extraplanetary setting or born as a nomad.
Ornadi
Believed to be a form of primitive Yapudi that evolved parallel to it during the evolution of Suns Worship as the dominant religion on the planet. Typically Ornadi is only spoken by nobles, clergy and a more vulgar dialect of it by nomads. This rather exclusive nature of the language has created the issue of it being shunned in the Free Tajara Republic, with original texts and media in the language being forcibly translated before the original copies are destroyed. While a Yapudi speaker could learn Ornadi with relatively little academic difficulty, it is cultural difficulties that prevent the language from spreading into the regular populace.
Oponi
A more recent invention of Tajara, coming into major use some time in the last 150 years. The language primarily uses ears and tails to communicate, allowing the hands to remain free while not actually saying a word. This compatibility with manual labour has forged the language a path in the future of the species, being endorsed by many Tajaran nobles as a perfect sign of the inherent innovative spirit of the average Tajaran. Oponi is spoken in almost every part of the planet by deaf Tajara, and is often treated as an important second language in schools due to a lower amount of literacy. Military Tajara are often also fluent in the language, being compatible with communicating quietly over distance while still holding a weapon.
Sadani
One of the key and most pervasive ideologies of almost any Tajaran is the belief of Sadani, which can loosely be translated to “Superior Innovation”. It is the belief that as a species, Tajara are the most resourceful and innovative out of any group whatsoever, and that the indomitable Tajara spirit will overcome any challenge thrown at it by any being. Some theorise that this originated as a philosophy against the elements, rewarding innovation to survive the harsh conditions of the planet. The practical result of this belief system is that innovation is valued above all else, even leadership skills, and that innovators should lead society. What defines innovation, however, is much more nebulous, and often can be perceived from outside as convincing others that a minor improvement is enough to redesign an entire workplace.
This philosophy finally came challenged when faced with actual, sapient alien life. First contact with humanity in 2501; and therefore contact with proof that another species had not only beaten Tajara to space, but interstellar travel too; created a crisis of faith which had one of two possible outcomes. Either Tajara-kind could abandon this philosophy, accept outside help and restructure their society; or they could dig their heels in, insisting side-grades made by Tajara are superior and begin a proud tradition of patent violation. They chose the latter.
A very real consequence of this philosophy was the revolution of 2516, wherein dissatisfied nobles declared the king unfit to lead the innovation of the species, and his xenophobia was harming Tajara-kind as a whole. This led to the cascading events that created the Free Tajaran Republic.
To this day, even if a failure is what created the problem in the first place, it will likely be ignored in favour of the innovation of a stopgap. Any innovation is simply good, regardless of why it is made. This may be as simple as using children to make candles for soldiers to use, ignoring the fact that the soldiers would not need these candles if their supplies were good enough for batteries.
Tribes
Operating mostly outside of the standard politics and culture of Azunal is the tribal system, which likely predates the former and current kingdoms. Tribes operate on a level separate to government, family or politics, effectively being ranked above all in terms of their importance to the individual. The true influence of a tribe depends on their geography, as certain regions were slow to be conquered by the Sacred Azunal Kingdom, allowing for the practice of cultural elimination to not yet curb the influence of these tribes. Tribes typically have a handful of particularly influential individuals in charge, leading the culture, direction and diplomacy of the tribe. One can tell a tribal Tajaran apart from the fact that they have a middle name, which will label exactly which tribe they are from.
The leadership of a tribe consists of two factors: Perceived wisdom, and perceived innovation. This results in leadership often being entirely made of tribal elders and young innovators, a mix of talent and experience that typically leads to a resolution that the majority of the tribe agrees with, but not always. Some Tajara criticise the tribal system as being too vulnerable to popularity contests, with poor speakers being shunned out of leadership after being unable to sell their ideas to the larger tribe, while poor leaders have managed to stay in power through convincing others that they are more useful than they actually are. Others from the Free Tajara Republic claim that the tribal leadership system falsely raises the elderly on a pedestal, regardless of how regressive their ideas are, which frequently comes into minor conflict with the democratic system of the FTR, as Tajara loyal to their tribe often vote on tribal lines rather than personal beliefs.
Tribes are often the most important part of the lives of tribal Tajara, to the point that many are willing to abandon their homes in the event that their tribe is at risk of dying out should they not. This, in the wake of mass-detribalisation by the Sacred Azunal Kingdom since 2529, has created a large diaspora of small tribes either moving to new planets in international space or starting their own fleets and becoming space-nomadic in nature, depending on their wealth and status. However, a more insidious and less obvious threat has appeared before the tribes, one that is harder to rally against: urbanisation. While some tribes occupy entire neighbourhoods and remain relatively insular, others have suffered from their members becoming disconnected after having to move across town for work or being split in half as tribal exiles create their own mixed neighbourhoods in-between less densely tribal areas of town, forming splinter tribes. Combined with detribalisation policy, some tribal Tajara fear that tribes may die out in their children or grandchildren’s lifetimes.
Religion
Azunal plays host to many different religions, many with often irreconcilable differences. They've shaped the development of Tajara society at every level, and have inspired grand creations and horrific crimes alike. As the species takes its first tentative steps into the stars, the importance of religion has not faded; in fact, it has grown more prevalent as the mysteries of both Azunal and the universe grow in number day by day.
Suns Church
The worship of the twin suns of Rensa and Messa is the most prevalent religion on Azunal, and is closely managed by the religious authority known as the Parivara, headquartered in the fortress-temple of Sana Sahira. Rensa and Messa, in a way, represent all the binaries in Tajara life, but neither is truly complete without the other. The brightest of the two, Rensa, is the deity representing life, daylight, and marriage, but also of fire, brashness, and natural drugs. In contrast to his outgoing nature, Messa is the calmer and more introspective of the two, and her domains extend to death and winter, but also to wisdom and protection. Much to humanity’s confusion, neither deity is viewed as better or worse than the other or even thought of as the literal suns. Instead, both are viewed as equally important and omnipresent entities whose holiest reflection just happens to be the suns. It’s this belief that frequently leads to Tajara migrating in droves towards binary star systems with habitable worlds.
Firdrist Pantheon
The other major religion on Azunal, focusing on the worship of the gods of the holy village of Firdra. Prior to what most historians determine as its true beginning, there was little more than a collection of various regional beliefs, with local gods and folk tales. These beliefs intermingled and coalesced through cultural interaction and conquest until a common pantheon emerged among them all. To this day, its heartland remains firmly within Republic territory, with small communities infrequently appearing elsewhere on Azunal. A considerable portion of Tajara who had migrated offworld do worship the gods of Firdra, and one can find a priest for all the major gods in just about any Tajaran community throughout the rest of the Spur.
The inhabitants of Firdra are as numerous and varied as the Tajara that worship them, and to worship them all equally or even to know all of them is a task many would call insurmountable. Above them all, the power of the Suns is unquestioned and they fulfill the same role in life and death as they do in the Church, but are portrayed as more distant entities, or not even sentient in the case of Rensa. This difference has led to numerous conflicts with the Church, though they are on occasion able to set aside their differences to strike against the cult of Raskara. Alongside these universal beliefs are what are commonly agreed upon to be the major gods that are worshipped by all who believe in the pantheon, as they represent the aspects of life most significant to the Tajara.
Literature
For most of Tajara history, literature has been restricted to all but a privileged few. The aristocracies of Azunal often built grand libraries filled with enough texts to put the archives of the fortress-temple of Sana Sahira to shame. These libraries were always private, though, and only a handful of commoners have ever been able to walk within those shelves. As a result, the average Tajaran was frequently illiterate and over time, a resentment began to brew against the literate nobility. During the revolution, it was not uncommon for these libraries to be burned to the ground. In the present day, basic literacy is growing due to its importance in many more fields of work, but the medium of literature is incredibly small compared to most other forms of art.
Even with the absence of traditional literature, print media has still found a way into society, albeit in a much different form. The introduction of comic books from human visitors has caught on across Azunal, and doesn't carry the stigma of other types of books. No particular genre is more popular than the rest, and Tajara both young and old are able to find comics that appeal to whatever tastes they may have. Comics have also influenced how information is conveyed elsewhere, such as manuals with a much greater reliance on pictures over text. This still doesn’t stop them from being ignored, as it’s often believed that information like technical manuals often stifle a Tajara’s ingenuity outside the most critical of situations.
Visual Arts
One of the major substitutes for reading, and a stopgap to create entertainment in a population that is by and large illiterate, is the visual arts. Drawing, painting and more recently digital art have all become popular hobbies amongst the Tajara population, especially since they allow for expression of ideas to a mass population. On average, Tajara typically have better drawing skills than many of their pan-galactic counterparts at the baseline, but are not inherently better at art, just more practised.
Historically, those who did not have the resources to create static art would instead enjoy performances. Theatre and performance art have taken on an important role in Tajara society, especially as it has been used as a method of criticism or simple entertainment that can be enjoyed by the whole family in different ways. A typical Tajara stage play consists of dynamic, expressive body language designed to keep the audience’s attention while diverting it towards the next set-piece, while the language used is often plainly spoken and riddled with double-entendre for both the old and young in the audience to get different enjoyment out of.
While classical theatre still maintains a strong presence in Tajara society, it has taken its natural evolution after human contact. Film and television. While not an entirely unexpected step from an outside perspective, the effect of large studios being able to produce mass media for the general populace has had a significant effect on how Tajaran television compares to Tajaran theatre. Being able to run a serial production over multiple months rapidly created a true pop-culture on the planet of Azunal, with royal censors having little to no defences or preparations made for the sudden surge in political satire and general understanding that flooded the population. Indeed, some historians believe that television was a catalyst for the revolution of the FTR. The writers for these shows, having formal education and being able to read and write, typically run their scripts by an uneducated test audience in order to make sure they avoid accidentally referencing literature on the wrong characters.
Thematically, Tajara cinema and television is very independent of large corporations, still being stubbornly made in small studios or all-Tajara mini-corporations that sell the rights of their shows as far and wide as they can. As a rule, each studio is known for a particular genre of entertainment, whether that be dramas, comedies or satires, or even some “borrowed” concepts such as gameshows and 24 hour news television. This small studio nature of the medium has created a somewhat large foreign market that enjoys the low budgets and unique spins on stories that have either been done before or are universal across all cultures. Azunal often sees small groups of other species moving in because of the pop-culture understanding of the planet.
Television and streaming are typically broadcast by satellite rather than terrestrial line, being rented from human corporations that loaned their services out early on to create a market. As such, even nomads keep up with television shows and cinema, often keeping a sled just for all the media equipment of the tribe. This satellite nature also makes the television far harder to censor than it has been in other species and planets, as all it takes to create a pirate television channel is to set up a basic satellite broadcaster to hijack the existing network.
