Sacred Cows in Your Nation

[Dinner Theatre Actors]

The Nomadic Peoples of Dinner Theatre Actors have been welcome in many nations of the NS world. We enjoy sharing our culture with you and enjoy experiencing your cultures. However, there have been misunderstandings.

Not all cultural, ethnic and religious peculiarities are officially recorded in law. Some are simply instill in children from birth and simply understood by all citizens as important, non negotiable touchstones of society.

For example, among Dinner Theatre Actors, host bars are a normal part of hospitality - if you have guests, you are expected to offer them food and drink. Drinks should always include a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. If you know one of your guests has a problem with certain beverages, alternates must be available. A wise guest dietary restictions will bring a beverage to share.

Among Dinner Theatre Actors, failing to tip servers at bars and restaurants is a sign of stupidity and can lead to being outcast from polite society.

Among Dinner Theatre Actors politics is never discussed among close relatives (parents, children, siblings). You may discuss politics with cousins, grandparents, grandchildren and friends. Oddly, the reverse is true for religious discussions.

Telling ethnic jokes is only permissible if the teller is of the group being mocked. People who violate this rule are ignored, often for several days.

So, what specifics should we know about your nation?

[Maraque]

1. Tipping more than five percent is considered snobby. Tipped employees are paid a fair wage, so tipping beyond five percent is seen as the tipper looking down on them. A small tip for appreciation of good service is acceptable.

2. Making note of someone's race or ethnic background is considered racist.

3. Entering a public establishment naked, while not illegal, is taboo. A person is expected to cover their private parts.

4. Eating in front of people, including strangers, without offering them anything is taboo.

5. Helping people who are in obvious distress or need is considered an obligation.

etc.

[The Black Plains]

Yes... yes... the sacred ones are *especially* delicious.

[Brachyuria]

In relation to the title of the thread, Brachyuria has a sacred animal, protected by law to a ridiculous degree.
Rather than cows, the animal in question is crabs of any species.
I feel inclined to add that this is excepting the pubic louse also known by the name "crabs". Because someone always brings that up if I don't rule it out and I'm getting rather sick of it.
Anyway, crab worship is the national, state enforced religion.
So, with that said, here's some related customs.

• Crab meat is banned
• If for some reason a crab is on the road, you have to pick it up and move it or something
• "Crabby" is a term implying positive qualities, rather than negative.
• Being the enemy of the glorious crabs, Seagulls, and by relation all birds of a squawky nature, are reviled and subject to anti-aircraft fire
• August 13th marks the annual nationwide seagull killing competition. The Brachyurian with the highest confirmed kill count wins an asault rifle, to "further their efforts against the seagull menace."
• By extension of the above, aircraft of a winged nature are banned, and also subject to anti-aircraft fire should they venture into Brachyurian airspace without a very good reason (You don't have to tell me how bad an idea this is for RPs, I'm deliberately giving myself the disadvantage for the fun of it.)
• Killing a crab, even by accident, is punishable by death. Unless the King likes you.
• The death penalty is carried out via pitting criminals against giant crabs in gladiatorial arenas
• The death penalty is the only course of corporal punishment, any crime, whether major or minor, will result in the death penalty
• Watching criminals getting ripped to pieces by giant crabs is the country's favourite national past-time and the closest thing it has to a national sport.
• The nation's national religion involves worshipping giant crustacean gods that live in deep ocean trenches, did I mention that?
• I did?
• Oh, well that pretty much covers it then.

[Joyous Zeltros]

* Cruelty to others is the worst thing to us. Pretty much anything we find wrong is because it involves acting with deliberate malice to another being.

* Tipping... well, Zeltrons don't routinely tip amongst each other, because we live in a culture where server wages are actually high enough to live on without surviving on tips. Tips are for exceptional service or for being outstandingly likeable, not a matter of course, and even a token tip suffices there, as it's more about acknowledging it. Tourists, on the other hand, are encouraged to tip if they wish.

* Constant negativity is bad. We have had rare* guests able to disregard the empathic atmosphere and either maintain negativity or simply project nothing. As a result, the Zeltrons around them lose their good moods... or suffer a kind of 'empathic exhaustion' from projecting constantly but getting nothing back. These people are considered rude and rather ill-favoured for what their attitudes do to their hosts.


* (ooc: Rare because I'm bloody sick of every other person being able to do it for no good reason and will summarily ignore excessive use of that 'talent.')

[Novus Niciae]

1: Bringing a slave into our territory and not immediately freeing them will result in a lengthy jail sentence and the slave will be freed anyhow.
2: Racism rapidly make you a social outcast.
3: A person is expected to assist another person in distress to the best of their ability, failing to help or at least notify someone who can help can result in a negligence charge and a fine. (if you see an accident you are required by law to call an ambulance at the minimum)
4: Being cruel to anything is illegal, even non-sentient food animals are to be treated kindly while they are alive and given a painless death when they are slaughtered for their meat.
5: Wasting anything is frowned upon. Our citizens conserve resources wherever possible. This is a tradition that began in the civil war when food and other resources were in short supply and there was a nationwide famine. If you are caught wasting anything you will be corrected gently for the first couple of times then if you persist you will become a social outcast.

[Imeriata]

Some religions in the absolute royal federation worship cows however they are not in majority in any way so they are generally allowed to worship their religion in peace just as any other religion.

[Cameroi]

all things are sacred in cameroi.
the land, the air, the water, and every living thing.

it is not however considered sacrilege to kill what you eat,
nor prevent insect invasions of the interior of your dwelling.

[The shee species]

Being FT and over a hundred light-years from the nearest cow, we don't have any religions which require the protection of cows. In fact, most albians wouldn't even know what a cow was if they saw one.

[Alohria]

While tipping is considered nice at nice restaurants, most Alohrians don't frequent those establishments. The average Alohrian goes to Frizzy Fries or Burger Nut two or three times a week and typically ignores the verbal abuse by the employees, but doesn't give tips.

Politics, at one time, was a topic of discussion everybody but children were allowed to partake in. After the Industrialists took power, however, people have generally stopped talking about politics altogether. It's not that they think it is in bad taste, but nobody wants to wake up one night in their underwear to the point of a gun in the hands of the secret police and be transported to a work camp in Industhan.

Everybody loves a good ethnic/racist joke in Alohria. While the government doesn't officially aknowledge racism, one can get a good idea about Alohria's great sense of humor by these television show names:
Pranking Krecians
Lynch or no Lynch
The Bolian Idiot
Everybody Loves Whitey
Big Lips, Small Brains

[Chateau Chevalier]

The Chevalier Lamb, while technically not sacred, holds a special place in our culture. The lambs are bred and raised in a traditional manner dating back to the 7th century. Braised lamb is served on all special occasions. To refuse the offer of cooked lamb is a grave offense - even if you are full or not usually a meat eater you must eat lamb if offered.

[Victorious Decepticons]

We have a few of these social constructs that are worth mentioning here:

The wasting of Energon is a grave social faux-pas for Decepticons. Even if you bought it from Megatron Energon, some raider still risked his life to get it or the resources it was made from. To spill (or otherwise waste) the results of their efforts is an affront to all Decepticons.

You must never insult someone's Metal. Decepticon Metal is, in a way, a record of Decepticon history itself. Both the great and the weak have gone into the foundries. The greatest, who still function, have still sent their old parts over for recycling. Therefore, if you insult the Metal, be prepared to be attacked.

Someone's parts, on the other hand, are not similarly revered. Calling someone a "pile of reject parts" is a rather common insult.

Doing a "regular job" is greatly looked down on. We are Decepticons. Our CPUs operate in the range of terabytes on the low end, and our RAM is of similar power and quality. Our physical strength is also great. To use that power to do something like mining, garbage pickup, cargo-hauling, or assembly-line work is considered a horrible and shameful waste.

If you absolutely must provide a real service in exchange for the Energon you acquire, do something that requires some skill - and as the owner of your own shop. Good coders and mechanics are always appreciated.

There are two industries that stand out in sharp contrast to the usual Deceptive and Conniving way to do business: mechanical work, and coding. Only the honest are wanted in these areas. There are no laws against breaking this taboo - but there are no laws preventing other citizens from taking retribution against them, either. This means that a crooked coder or mechanic is always subject to brutal recriminations by his former customers or their allies.

Crooked mechanics usually will be dismantled alive, piece-by-piece, by their angry ex-customers. Their parts will then be used to fix said customers. This is because the only known-good parts in a crooked mechanic's shop are the ones the mechanic himself is made from.

Crooked coders - usually hackers who install mind-overriding trojans while pretending to "fix" people - will suffer similarly-awful fates. Sometimes their boards are ripped from their bodies, hacked, and recoded to run Atari 2600 games - with their awareness and CPU power otherwise left intact so they will experience the insanity-causing boredom. Other times, they are hacked while intact and forced to work in the mines alongside human slaves. Again, they are left with their awareness, so they realize exactly what it's like to be driven about like a nonsentient machine.

If you try to be truly honest in some other business, you are likely to be considered un-Decepticon. If you're mouthy about it (as in, self-righteous), you'll get deactivated by a lynch-type mob.

You must never own, fix, or even admire any car. Cars = Autobots in our minds, even now -- years after the end of the Civil War. Even though we deleted all of the actual Autobots, the sight of a car will still bring memories of the War and its aftermath to a Decepticon.

[Seperate Vermont]

-Its considered very taboo to raise your voice at someone for making a mistake or error, or even at all in aggression.
-Tips are meant to be kind gestures, not flaunted wealth or rude superiority.

[Sagatagan]

Failing to resolve your conflicts in the manner of the common law or other conflict resolution system is grounds for exclusion from society. Unsustainable lifestyles tend to be grounds for people to do business with others than you.

[The Banshee species]

Sacred cows? Yum, hambugers.

[Yautja hunting clans]

What exactly is this... "cow" creature you speak of?

[The sandking hive]

Like any other cow, or indeed non-sandking creature are simply food for the maw.

[Puff-Puff-Pass Land]

1. Mentioning money is a crime. All violators will be stoned.
2. Being vegan is a crime. Violators will be stoned.
3. Drug abuse is... no, wrong one.
4. Doing anything is a crime. Everybody's stoned all the time.

[Jumping Jupiters]

Well in our country
*Racism, sexist, ageism and etc are illegal
*being in public nude is illegal
* drugs are illegal
* murder, rape etc is a crime.
Everything else is pretty much is ok

[Binary Load Lifters]

The Binary Beef Company owns many, many hectares of land for raising cattle, which end up being slaughtered. Their founder had a kind of belief in Karma, that not all the cows should die, one should be kept back every year, looked after with the best care a human would receive, then left to live out their normal lifespan and pass on naturally. Each cow is given the honorary title of "Bovine President" for exactly one year. They often use the cow for marketing material too.

To this day, the Chief Executive will visit each farm to select a cow to be Bovine President each year.

[JJ Place]

Laws in JJ Place: One basic Law: Anything is legal, so long as it does not interfere with the rights of other Sentient Beings or members of society.

General Social 'Laws' of JJ Place:

* Being a jerk is not acceptable; being irritating is often considered extremely low of a person. This is the #1 cause of termination of employment, clientel-business relations, and employees leaving their working places due to jerks directly above them in their companies in JJ Place businesses.
* Unfriendliness is not well received by anyone in JJ Place; neither is in-hospitably.
*Littering, and other rude behavior can both get you fined, and lose you respect and relationships with people.
*It is not consisted alright to preform lude or rude acts in public; these acts include frightening, cruel, mean, or outright wrong and evil jestrures, speech, and actions in front of anyone else. Such actions are not well-received in JJ Place.
*General greetings include a firm hand-shake, or a hug. More often the prior in business situations, and More often the latter in society.

Other than that; everything is good in JJ Place

[Puff-Puff-Pass Land]

The Binary Beef Company owns many, many hectares of land for raising cattle, which end up being slaughtered. Their founder had a kind of belief in Karma, that not all the cows should die, one should be kept back every year, looked after with the best care a human would receive, then left to live out their normal lifespan and pass on naturally. Each cow is given the honorary title of "Bovine President" for exactly one year. They often use the cow for marketing material too.

To this day, the Chief Executive will visit each farm to select a cow to be Bovine President each year.

Have you read the OP?

[Binary Load Lifters]

The Binary Beef Company owns many, many hectares of land for raising cattle, which end up being slaughtered. Their founder had a kind of belief in Karma, that not all the cows should die, one should be kept back every year, looked after with the best care a human would receive, then left to live out their normal lifespan and pass on naturally. Each cow is given the honorary title of "Bovine President" for exactly one year. They often use the cow for marketing material too.

To this day, the Chief Executive will visit each farm to select a cow to be Bovine President each year.

Have you read the OP?

Yes, but I felt like spouting some cow related facts..

If you want to know about social stuff though,

- Tipping isn't mandatory, most people here wouldn't and we never ask for one in advance. However any tips belong to the person being tipped, and managers found taking tips from other staff (unless, of course, these managers are filling in for said staff) can be punished to the full extent of the law.
- There are many cultural variations across the country, such is so that there isn't one dominant culture in the country. For example, you go to City 5 and they'll treat you differently to City 1, its the people that make a place, not the name. The variety means that our own holidaymakers tend to stay here rather than go to another country. I ain't going into detail here though, forget that.
- Racism or other forms of discrimination are illegal. When people poke fun at one another, this is more towards what they have done, rather than their physical appearance. This even extends to persons with red hair.
- For some reason, line dancing is becoming more popular, bars seem to have a "western" sort of theme recently. Yuck.

[12 year olds]

The "Pull my finger" gag is always funny. When you are asked to pull someone's finger, you do it, they burp and you laugh (or at least smile).
If they let out a really long loud burp or burp & fart at the same time, applaud.

[Fatatatutti]

Tipping is not a real issue in Fatatatutti, since people tend to treat restaurant staff as members of the family anyway. Tipping cows is considered rude.