User:ElJeffe/sandbox

Aedelish_Cultural_Norms_and_Traditions

How to tell if you're an Aedelish

• You live with your wife and five children in modest but well built tract housing in a suburb of one of Aedeland's larger cities with a lawn and a small garden. You own the home which was purchased and likely constructed by you with a subvention and an interest-free loan from the government. Your house is equipped with modern appliances that are built to outlive you. Your family owns one similarly over-built automobile. You do not expect to live in this home the rest of your life but probably will.
• You work at a nearby factory, mill, or farm and the income you earn supplements your citizen's dividend. You work very hard for one to two eight hour shifts a week which are referred to as teikntaka (lit. token work). You appreciate employment and remember the stories your father and grandfather told you about how hard it was for them to find work when they were young. You believe whole heartedly in Aedelish meritocracy. You are eager to contribute to the success of your employer and hope you will rewarded with a promotion. You receive at least two weeks of paid holiday a year (at least once you have taken your family to Achilleion) and will collect a pension at age 45.
• Your family eats a high protein unrefined diet and many in your district own livestock that are kept in common grazing fields for private consumption. You and your family spend much of your free time tending your garden and livestock. The rest of your free time is spent on hobbies which are referred to as elskataka (lit. love work). Nearly all of Aedeland's service economy is elskataka.
• You do not have health insurance for you or your family but each of your children were born in state-sponsored birthing centers. Twice annual blood work and physical examination is provided by the government but all other medical treatment is purchased as needed at market prices. Medical care for broken bones, routine surgery, or infections is excellent and comparatively affordable. Care for life threatening chronic conditions such as cancer is often cost prohibitive. If you are disabled by illness or injury, your home loan will be forgiven.
• You were taught to read and write in Aedelish and basic arithmetic by your mother. At age six, you were "sent out" to live with neighbors or relatives - a practice that originated in Bulé culture but is now wide spread. If you somehow weren't taught basic skills at home, you received instruction when you were enrolled in the jugend jægerkorps for boys or feyjaelīnmaervist for girls at age twelve. As a young man the jugend-JK occupied you with bushcraft, skilled trades, hiking, military drill, marksmanship, and hunting. Young girls were taught domestic skills and assisted at birthing centers. While in the jugendjæger you were tested several times for aptitude and fitness. You know very few who were selected to receive an education but you acknowledge those that did were deserving. It is understood by all that acceptance almost guarantees far greater life opportunities.
• Your father and possibly your grandfather likely lives in the same housing tract and works at the same factory but it is unlikely that they are in close contact with their relatives. You know that this is because people moved around much more often in the past than they do now. You don't know where your family came from originally and you have lost your regional accent.
• The transition from the jugendjæger to the Stykene was smooth and natural. It is highly unusual for anyone to refuse service and doing so guarantees joining Aedeland's underclass. You wished to serve in the military but were not accepted so instead joined the Styðja. You saw much of Aedeland in your two years of national service. Some chose not to return to your district at the end of their service and chose instead to move to a new district for work that better appeals to them. Such moves are unusual and discouraged as risky but are accepted if successful.
• You are expected to marry soon after completing your national service but never before. An ideal match is a twenty year old man marrying a sixteen year old woman and such pairings are facilitated by ranked peer-group activities organized by the Styrkene and feyjaelīnmaervist. Married couples are expected to have at least three children - the threshold to receive an increased citizen's dividend. Failing to marry and have children before 25 carries a social stigma.
• You value order, structure, and quiet. You have very little tolerance for rule breaking. However, you are tolerant of controversial ideas so long as the holder of these ideas conforms to expected social norms such as marriage, childrearing, appearance, in-group preference and mutual respect, and non-disruptive behavior. Violating these social norms is considered subversive is met with severe disgust.