video

[resnipstance]

Who: Ahsoka + You
Broadcast: Yep!
Action: Not really (though if you want to find her, she'll be in her room on the Starstruck)
When: idk today

Hey! Soooooo since we're all stuck here, and going outside on this planet kinda sucks bigtime right now, I've been making it a project of mine to try and learn as much as I can about the different cultures of the other worlds people here are from! Particularly Earth, because there's so many of you! Someone told me the collective noun is "Earthlings"? Anyway.

I've been trawling through the media library, but to be honest, I'm not very good at sitting and reading for long periods of time. So I figured, why not just ask you guys instead?

Tell me one (or more!) thing about your home world that you think is culturally significant. It can be traditional, religious, social, or pop culture is fair game too! After all, it's no fun when people are making pop culture references that fly over my head.

The only rule is that you can't say the same thing as someone else. You ready? Go!

Comments

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka seems to droop visibly.]

Aw, darn. I don't recognise any of those. I guess you guys really are a long way away...

[universal_charm]

So it would seem - space is quite large, both fortunately and unfortunately. But who knows - maybe one day we'll run into each other. You know, outside of some crazy kidnapping experiment.

[resnipstance]

I hope so! I've heard so much about Earth now, I kind of want to see it for myself!

[universal_charm]

Hmm, but I can't say which Earth you might come across. It seems we all come from different time lines and eras within Earth's history.

[resnipstance]

And yet, you all seem to name your planet after dirt. What's with that, anyway?

[universal_charm]

I'm actually surprised that 'earth' means the same thing for you as it does for us. I didn't think that word would translate. As for why? I can't say. It was named a long time ago, and I'm not quite sure who coined the name or why. Possibly because that's simply what it was - the ground, where they lived.

[resnipstance]

Huh. I feel like that kind of naming convention might have been popular hundreds of millennia ago. But we've been a galactic community for so long now, a lot of planets have renamed several times. Coruscant used to be named Notron, for example, though I have no idea what that means. Coruscant came about because it resembles a corusca stone from outer space. All glittery and sparkling.

[universal_charm]

I think humans - we like our history, our traditions. Earth is our home, no matter how far out we might go or where we are born. For so long it was the lonely blue planet in our solar system - and then we weren't alone. And I think the name is, in some parts, nostalgia, but also... well, I have no idea what we would even call ourselves now. We're just little blue Earth, and I think we always will be.

[resnipstance]

I'd love to see it some day.

--Or for you guys to reach my galaxy. I mean, we're not in the best of spots right now, but I happen to think we're pretty cool.

[universal_charm]

I hope you get to. Hopefully I'm around when you do - I can give you a grand tour.

Tough spot huh? What kind?

[resnipstance]

The "intergalactic war" kind.

[universal_charm]

Ah, that sort of spot. We've been there. Right now we're holding an unsteady peace, but it's better than the alternative.

[resnipstance]

I'll say.

How did you end it?

[universal_charm]

After at least a good seventy or so years of fighting, and the Klingon Empire realizing that beating us was not something they could do so easily. They had backed us into a corner, and they found out that humans will fight hard to protect what we believe is true, what we love, and what we believe are our rights.

For now, there is a split between Federation and Klingon space. But the Klingon still make attempts to take planets in Federation and disputed space.

[resnipstance]

[Wait, what?]

... Seventy years?

[That's?? No???????]

Are-- are years shorter on Earth than they are on Coruscant?

[universal_charm]

An Earth year consists of 365 days that are made of up 24 hours each, wherein an hour consists of 60 minutes, and one minute consists of sixty seconds.

That help?

[resnipstance]

[Almost exactly the same as Coruscant...]

That's horrific!

[universal_charm]

The Klingon don't really care. Theirs is a culture of conquest, battle, and their form of honor. That is their goal. They capture planets, and turn the people on those planets into slave subjects of the Empire.

Why do you think we fought so hard against them?

[resnipstance]

Ugh! There's always another Empire!

[Ahsoka hasn't lived through the Empire of her world-- not yet, not truly. But she's heard so much about it-- from Luke, from Han, from Hera and Kanan. She hates it on principle. And her mind can't help but draw the parallel.]

What's so great about ruling the galaxy, anyway?!

[universal_charm]

I couldn't tell you. The Federation has no such goals. We're purely about scientific exploration as well as providing aid where needed and-or requested.

_{[ There's a shrug on his end. ]}

In some ways I respect the Klingon. They have strict principles that all of them, it seems, attempt to live up to, and strict codes of honor. I don't agree with the direction those principles have taken them, but to keep to them as they do is impressive. They are willing to lay down their lives for them, after all.

[resnipstance]

How can you respect anyone who enslaves others?!

Just being willing to lay down your life for something doesn't mean anything if the thing you're supporting is wrong.

[universal_charm]

I don't respect that about them. I don't believe in their right to enslave planets, but it doesn't mean I can't respect other parts of their culture.

And you have to consider - in their culture, it's not wrong. Yes, we believe it is - but that is from our view point. In the Federation we come across that same dilemma a lot when meeting new races. The concept of right and wrong is mutable between cultures, sometimes drastically so.

Even with the Federation we have some planets that practice slavery. It doesn't mean that their cultures are totally without merit.

[resnipstance]

Yeah, and in the Zygerrian culture it's not wrong to enslave others either! That doesn't mean it's okay for them to do it. This isn't a debate about what different cultures perceive as right and wrong. This about basic sentient rights.

[universal_charm]

That is true. But then you get into the argument of what each culture considers basic sentient rights. I believe slavery is wrong, however the Federation believes that a planet has a right to govern itself as it sees fit - otherwise we're conquerors.

It's a tricky thing. I just try and do what I believe is right, and that's all anyone, I think, should ever do.

[resnipstance]

I'm not going to debate with you about whether cultures have a right to believe that not every sentient being deserves freedom.

Sorry, but you're wrong.