The Ship Clans

Humanity has always dreamed of the stars- be we saw them as gods, demigods, or massive balls of plasma. The stars were the mirror of Narcissus in which we could never look away from even as they reflected all that was terrible, in the archaic mean of the world, and enchanting. We looked to the stars because they showed us what we wanted to see. But instead they showed us who we really are- exactly as we have always been. Curious, cruel, creative, kind, brilliant, terrible, bigoted, violent.

Those who thought that reaching the stars would cure humanity's ills were wrong. It just gave us a bigger canvas to be exactly as we are.

Spacer's Journal from an unknown member of the Saulay clan

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It was always expected that new cultures would develop as humanity spread into the solar system and the immediate stellar neighborhood. Entire anthropological projects were created on this premise. It was mostly expected, however, that they would develop on colonized planets.
But, fortunately, humans create culture wherever they are, no matter where they find themselves. For the Ship-Clans, it began with the first interstellar colonization efforts. These efforts predated the development of reliable Theory of Negative Nth-Dimensions engines. These early efforts relied on generation ships- crude, long-term ships designed to support life for the many generations it would take to reach the nearest stars. Several dozens of these ships were launched and- with the onset of the First Solarian Nazi Suppression Conflict, promptly forgotten. The records and legal documents granting them ownership of the world were lost as cities and archives burned across the Solar System.

What happened then was the development of the Negative-Nth Dimensional Engines, which gave humans access to faster-than-light travel. These ships hurtled across the negative dimensions, charting new planets, new stars, and forming a reliable way of travel. This was the onset of humanity's expansion into the rest of the galaxy.

But six-hundred years later, the original generation ships arrived at their destinations to find that they had been beaten to these new worlds. Worse, the generation ships had been utterly forgotten by all extant organizations, meaning none of the legal documentation was still held to be valid. Even if they were, the current colonial governments and administrations were deeply unwilling to recognize the legitimacy of these new arrivals.

As a result, these generation ships were persona non grata in almost all formally settled colony worlds: banned from owning property, unprotected by legal laws, and facing prejudice and discrimination. The only exceptions were the The Holy-Mendicant Order of St. Joseph of Cupertino and Knights-Stellarum: The Sovereign Military Order of Christ and the Heavens, who recognized immediately that the treatment of these early travelers was identical to how society had once treated numerous groups in the past. Having learned from the mistakes of their ancestors, the Cupertinans and Knights-Stellarum opened their doors and advocated for the inclusion of the now-called Ship Clans. However, the governments and corporations that financed much of the colonizing saw little benefit in bringing in these new groups who lacked centuries of knowledge and were an utterly alien culture. So for the most part, they were left to scavenge on the edge of systems and far from richer worlds and only passed through colonized systems on occasion to resupply and recharge their generators. 

The inhabitants of these generation ships, however, were resourceful and stubborn after spending six centuries trying to reach their goal. With assistance from the Cupertinans and Knights-Stellarum, they gutted their generation ships, learned modern technology, and completely retrofitted them into something new. No longer generation ships- these were spaceborne cities capable of sustaining life indefinitely, with little reliance on planetary systems. As the various ships met each other again, they began to create their society and culture across the vessels. Not all survived, of course, and the surviving Ship Clans sing the names of their vessels and crew in memory of the cost of reaching for the stars. Those who did survive renamed themselves as clans after the names of their vessels.

Naming Traditions

Family names

Most of the family names are based on the names of the ships in which they live, and while many retain older family surnames from Terra, they are generally known by their clan names to outsiders. Since most of the ships were named for the word star in a variety of languages, most clan names translate to or are derived from star.  

Some Example Clan Names: 

• Zoryana 
• Ylli
• Steren
• Titrit 
• Maristela 
• Itri 
• Endeavour 
• Endurance 
• Dara
• Denitsa 
• Astrophel 
• Betelgeuse 
• Sirius 

Ideals

Gender Ideals

For the most part, the Ship Clans are androgynous in their conception of gender, as everyone born aboard ship would be part of the crew. They could not choose to be selective about which roles went to which genders nor afford the luxury of gender-specific clothing. Hygiene and safety standards dictated hair styles and appearance. While they recognize the differences in biological sex, they view gender as something invented by planet-bound humans, not something inherent or innate, and it is left to the individual to decide on their gender identity and expression, much to the consternation of many of the more conservative planets settled after them.

Courtship Ideals

Despite the androgynous concept of gender, the Ship Clans are very particular about courtship, its roles, and who is permitted to court whom. Roughly twenty-one generations passed between departure and arrival for the bulk of the ships, with some undoubtedly still en route, and with a narrow gene pool, there are rigorous family records to compare before courtship is allowed to continue. In most cases, courtship within a clan is strongly disapproved of. The only exceptions are individuals whose ancestries reveal themselves as distant or with a newcomer to the clan. 

Furthermore, the Ship-Clans have different types of courtship depending on the intended purpose: for recreation, for life-partnerships, and for children. Child-centric courtship is the most involved with close studies of the family trees of both individuals to ensure they are not too closely related, as well as interviews from the clan leaders, and financial agreements between the clans to ensure the children are provided for growing up should anything happen to the parents. Recreational and life-partnering courtships are much less formal and more reliant on the individual cultures of the clans in question.

Related Organizations

• Aldottorai Republic

Related Myths

• Stories of the Star Dragons

Related Locations

• Independence Station
• Kais Colonial Sector