Exotic and interesting customs

[Storminator]

Stepping back from the culture building for a moment and looking at the gaming aspect, you want customs that will come up in game. A once a year celebration isn't good gaming, because the PCs won't be there.

How about each person that enters the tavern has to bring wood, and the first thing they do is throw it on the fire, or if a certain obvious symbol is invoked (the poker is laid lengthwise in front of the fire, frex), they stack the wood beside the fire. Only a thief or a beggar would fail to feed the communal fire!

Or money changing taboos. Each time coin is paid, all the coins are spread out on the table, and a single coin is pressed into the merchant's hand. Otherwise, you're money is counterfeit.

You want something that's unnatural to your gaming group, something that they gloss over every session. Throw it up in their face and make it be "The most important thing!(tm)" Then they'll know they aren't in the normal gamingland.

PS

 

[Psychotic Jim]

Well, in Terry Pratchett's Discworld, the stone trolls think time flows backwards because you can always see what is ahead of you but never behind you. And his dwarves are extremely literal-minded, they get confused when other races use similes, metaphors, jokes or the like. The dwarves still have their own poetry and such, but this does not go far beyond comparing a person with gold. A male and female dwarf are physically identical to nondwarves, and one's gender is private information except for when one dwarf is courting another one.

Real world religion is a good source for foreign cultural customs and practices. In some Eastern cultures they spin wheels inscribe with prayers on them in order to show their devotion. Other religions can also give you ideas for radically different perspectives on life, culture, and religion itself. For example, in certain sects of Buddhism, they believe that the self, and indeed the whole material world, is an illusion created by selfish and foolish minds ruled over and entrapped by the six senses.

 

[Gnarlo]

I believe there was an ancient culture that used to bury preserved corpses of relatives inside the furniture in their houses, and had a much closer relationship with the deceased. I can't remember who it was though. Heck, I might even be remembering it completely wrong, but even if I am I still like the idea. Imagine pulling grandma out of the trunk to share dinner with you during a festival of the dead, or to commune with her spirit for advice!

This would fit in well with the Animate Dead being evil thread as well. What if the relatives are placed inside the furniture, and act as the undead guardians for the household, animating the furniture when under the house is under attack. Or heck, just moving the furniture around for you during cleaning

/gnarlo!

 

[demiurge1138]

Strange customs for a decadent empire, eh? How about...

The dead are animated after a funeral ceremony to be used as labor.
One's last name is the name of their boss or patron.
Open weaponry is not only tolerated, it's expected.
No head coverings are allowed.

Demiurge out.

 

[FungiMuncher]

Ancient Greeks: Before burying the dead, place a coin in their mouth. This is to pay for their passage across the River Styx.

Medieval Byzantines: Wearing purple clothing is reserved for the imperial family. Even selling purple clothing or dye is illegal.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I think in Japan, it's conisdered rude if you're pouring drinks for a group and don't pour your's last.

I hadn't heard that one.

When drinking alcohol in Japan, if your neighbor's glass is empty, you're expected to keep it full. If your own glass is empty (because your neighbor hasn't been paying attention!) the right thing to do is top-off your neighbor's glass. That should get him to return the favor and fill your glass.

You NEVER fill up your own glass with alcohol. That's the sign of being an alcoholic.

 

[HeavyG]

Stepping back from the culture building for a moment and looking at the gaming aspect, you want customs that will come up in game. A once a year celebration isn't good gaming, because the PCs won't be there.

They will be there at exactly the right time if I want them to be, Storminator.

 

[CCamfield]

- take a look at the practices of the ancient Spartans. Pretty damn weird by our standards. Separating kids from their parents, raising them up in "packs", sending them out to survive on their own for several months as a rite of passage (expectation being they would steal food from the subservient population, possibly killing one of them to "keep them in line") etc.

- I think the original story of Sinbad had some weird customs in it. For instance, in one country after he marries someone, she dies. He learns that the custom is that when someone dies, their spouse is buried alive with them! (I believe he discovers some sort of secret passage in the crypt to get out, which leads someplace where he finds a fabulous treasure. Of course!)

- the ancient Athenian wine festival, the Anthesteria, had some pretty strange elements - drinking in silence, painting doors with pitch because of the additional association of the day with spirits being on the loose, etc:

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/JO-Anth.html

 

[Storminator]

They will be there at exactly the right time if I want them to be, Storminator.

And if you have a really cool Summer Solstice and an equally cool Winter Solstice?

PS

 

[rbingham2000]

The culture one of my characters comes from in one of my stories has a custom of wearing different funeral garb depending on how the person died.

If the person died of old age, disease or starvation, the people wear black.

If the person died from the cold (winters where the character comes from are harsh), from childbirth, from an accident, or if the person committed suicide, the people wear white.

If the person was murdered or killed in battle, the people wear red.

I plan on having one scene at the funeral of the character's beloved where everyone is wearing white -- and the character shows up in red, scaring the hell out of everyone present.

Make of that one what you will.