Phuknic

Culture

Average technological level

The most technologically advanced of the races, long have been, and have used it to keep their borders fairly shut. The only reason it came to anyone's attention is because the approach of Aurorum meant they had to call on aid from the @Grizzla.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Looking rich and powerful are more attractive than naked physical beauty, so whatever accentuates that. Even someone that would typically be considered "revolting" can be attractive if in well-made, personally tailored garments and covered in expensive looking jewelry. And the opposite is true: someone that may look like a genetic jackpot winner is loathsome if in rags and covered in dirt or filth.

Gender Ideals

Because most of everything is run like a business and requires more mental sharpness, creativity and cunning, gender ideal/role disparities are few - men look and dress like men, but sometimes women look and dress like men as well, and vice versa on all accounts. Same-sex marriages, while not uncommon, are also not unheard of, since marriage is a business transaction and not typically based on actual physical or emotional attraction. However, it is generally believed that the best merger forms a "power couple," where some or all of the more primitive aspects of attraction can come into play in forming a bond, so while uncommon, it is suspected (since these things are generally kept private within the family) that same-sex marriages are due MORE to that emotional and physical attraction. Most that are not, and are simply two men or two women agreeing to bond to form an alliance, typically end up being unable to stand each other and history has shown it causes more bane for a family than boon.

Courtship Ideals

For most families, courtship is about gaining or being absorbed into something greater than they already have. So the goal is to court someone with huge tracts of lands and great assets. Lacking those, if someone (or their family) shows promise or has inventive, creative ideas, they may seem more desirable and be plucked up by a more successful family that can fund and back those ideas. Courtship is business. If you can't beat a family, you absorb it. If you our your family doesn't have enough wealth or influence to pursue your goals, you find ways to market yourself to be bought out or absorbed. However, there is still subterfuge, infiltration, attempts to siphon and steal secrets, head-hunting when only one member of a family may be desirable - all of which are not uncommon, but they are frowned upon (though everyone does it, so it is more accurate to say that it is getting CAUGHT doing so that is frowned upon). As such, finding an ideal partner is much like a drawn out series of multiple interviews, observations, surveys, and auditing. In the end, a marriage is either an amicable merger or a hostile takeover.

Relationship Ideals

Marriage is a trading of resources, skills, information, etc. -- it has very little to do with love or attraction and infedility is not seen as a betrayal because there is no preconception of a "marital duty" in that regard. However, married partners are expected to at least present a unified front in social, business, and political affairs. Betrayal, or any public show of a lack of faith, respect or decorum, in any of those areas is taken very seriously and treated with the same disdain and social spurning as infidelity might be in other cultures. But you always have a family, the bigger (and more powerful), the better, and the marital/familiar system does come with advantages...and disadvantages. The Advantages: You have a strong support group and you always have something to fall back on. You got your people, you know your place, and you have a clear sense of purpose and you know what it takes to advance (if you are so inclined - see disadvantages). The Disadvantages: Everyone in the family knows your business. There is a lot of gossip, back-stabbing (99% figurative), and high-school/high-court level drama. Being part of a family can also feel as if you are beholden to that family, which can develop into a sense of being restricted and confined - it is very hard to change your trajectory if you are not happy where you are (advancement is possible, and expected, but it is slow), but if you are not making an apparent effort to advance, that is bad; wanting to leave entirely? Even worse. A lot of your life choices are not your own, made by your bosses or their bosses, and you are expected to obey, because everyone is a cog but only some also control the levers. If you are ostricized or blacklisted, you will have nowhere in Helvania to go (with one possible exception, see @The Unknown.

Encompassed species