Dand Culture
Specifics regarding the Dand culture.
Contents
People
Dands have a house structure quite similar to Vemrers. Houses have also been similarly absorbed and formed over the centuries, but since the formation of the Dand Oligarchy this has become very rare and especially joining of two houses is usually done through mutual pacts. Sometimes new houses break away from existing ones. This is especially the case with some new colonies as these colonies have refused to belong to some current house. Usually in these cases a new "colonial house" is formed that provides a certain percentage of their income to some house which then provides protection. Houses consist of several families, the more families a house has the more powerful it usually is. Sometimes due to bad leadership these large houses have fallen quite easily, but nowadays this is no longer the case.
Wealth and power are the core concepts in the Dand society. How successful a person has been is determined by the accumulated wealth and power. Those with the most amount of wealth usually tend to become the leaders of their respective houses. Those less successful Dands usually have to do "normal" work that usually pays rather little. Almost every Dand though attempts to make their own fortune somehow. Some use "illegal" (illegal in many governments) others use legal means. Many pirate clans and raider bands are funded and lead by Dands. The Beta Quadrant free-zone especially has several Dand pirate clans and is generally a safe-heaven for "illegal" Dand activity. Not every pirate clan is funded or lead by Dands, but the majority of them usually have some sort of Dand influence. The pirate clans and raider bands, in return of funding and equipment, usually either provide a certain amount of booty or do certain task to acquire items or first example cause political dissident or even do bounty hunter/bodyguard services. Dands are famous for providing assassination, bounty hunter, bodyguard and intimidation services. Despite these there are always Dand businessmen and entrepreneurs that provide normal legal services or goods. Due to Dands operating illegal operations the reputation of Dands has become much worse than before and makes it more difficult for reliable Dands to operate.
Dands have a mixed reputation due to their mixed relations towards treaties and business deals. Some Dands are very loyal to their customers and always follow the established treaty or deal, but some Dands will try to deceive and cheat whenever they can gain an advantage with it. This can be problematic for new Dand operators as they'll have a hard time proving their trustworthiness as some Dands still continue to try deception. Bribing and assassination is also common practice with Dands, both when dealing with other races as well as with Dands from another house. Though assassinations are relatively rare among Dands themselves. It is believed that Dands have penetrated the political systems on numerous different worlds and this allows them to operate either smuggling or pirate operations in the area with much less risk. While corruption is rare or non-existent in the core worlds of all the races it can happen in the outer worlds and these are the areas that many Dands operate in.
Gender equality can be considered as good among the Dands. It doesn't matter what your gender is as long as you earn a lot of money. Both women and men have equally good readiness to function in business and both men and women can also lead a house. The house leader(s) are the wealthiest and earn a lot of their income from other members of the house. All the members of the house need to pay a certain percentage of their income to the house and this enhances the power and wealth base of the house. House leadership is usually challenged when bad deals are made or when the leaders become too old to properly function as leaders. Some of the "colonial houses" are more liberal in that they allow their members to keep all the money they earn and have such attracted a lot of new members from the Dand core worlds.
Each house use their own legal system, if such even exists. Though matters affecting two or more houses are usually dealt by the Bureau of Houses. Those who are found operating against the rules of the Oligarchy are usually punished by isolating them from the rest of the Oligarchy. This usually means significant business losses. Sometimes these renegade houses have broken away from the Oligarchy and become independent pirate operators.
Racial minorities
There are several racial minorities among the Dand, mainly in their pirate clans and raider bands. While there is almost complete equality between races the Dands always try to keep the upper hand and stay in control, at least behind-the-scenes. Dands generally do not trust other races and also do not trust Dands that are members of some other house. Dands of different houses rarely work together and even in pirate operations all the Dands involved are almost exclusively from a single house.
Some Dands have escaped the society of the Oligarchy by moving to the space of some other government. United Commonwealth of Planets and Gigerdi Federation thus house a dand minority. Most of these Dands work in ordinary jobs instead of business.
Family structure
Dand family structure can be considered as quite strange by most species as the Dands have much less regard for their infants and are merely necessary evil to create more customers and to ensure house longevity. Infants are rarely cared by their parents, unless one of them does not have a capability to earn sufficient amount of money (like only working in a "normal" work). There is no economic support for parents. Sometimes members of the extended family care for the young, but this also depends on their ability to earn money. Sometimes hired hands can do this as well, most often someone from the same house. While not common there are cases when the parents sell their children to whomever is willing to buy him/her.
Family members are usually respected depending on their wealth. It is not uncommon to abandon family members that have lost their property or have ashamed themselves.
Visual arts
Arts have no function except as a way to earn money or to show your own wealth. There are some Dand artists that sell their works to both Dands as well as to non-Dands. Many wealthy Dands also like to obtain expensive and rare works of art to show their wealth.
Architecture
Dand architecture is also wealth based. Those with high wealth can have very beautiful and glorious homes. There are no standardized architecture styles though Dand homes usually do not have any kind of stairs due to Dands' flying capability. They do employ elevators though. Those with little wealth usually live in simple and small homes.
Fashion
Dands really have no fashion as they do not use clothing except on special cases and even then it is only used to keep warm. Though sometimes wealthy Dands can employ some fancy clothing. Usually wealth is indicated by the use of jewelry.
Education
Education is an important part in Dand culture as they believe that only through education can you obtain sufficient wealth. Education is business oriented, but there are other areas as well. Science is also an important area and notable scientists can earn quite a lot. Healthcare services are also a good source of steady income. Rarely these provide the money necessary to raise to the top, but thanks to their steady production of money (most of the time) many prefer these methods. High risk, high reward methods are the ways Dands earn the most money, or lose all. These are also educated heavily and all the schools function as private schools, which is also one way to earn a steady amount of income.
Language
There are numerous different dialects, but there is only one business language that is utilized by every Dand when it comes to business deals. The Dand business language is called Gyylike. The various dialects usually vary by continents and colonies. There are also a lot of different slang languages that are especially common among pirates and raiders.
Cuisine
Dand cuisine is insect-based, but they also eat marine food and some animal meat. They like their food raw and often alive if possible, though currently they rarely hunt for food. Some have found ways to earn income by acquiring and cooking various exotic foods that are also a way for rich people to show their status. Foreign foods are rare and replicated foods are only avoided by the rich. Agricultural products are often exported to non-Dand worlds.
See also
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