The bidaddous

A pacifist yet heartless culture that never learnt the ways of war or commerce, focusing on medicine, agriculture and the study of the stars. That knowledge saved plenty of lives once the Racionala exported it to the rest of the world. They never fought the invaders, they just tried to adjust, but the only thing they wanted to keep was too much according to the conquerors, so they were often hurt and murdered.

I won't say their ways were good, but they did believe so.

Culture

Shared customary codes and values

They would focus on the survival of the group and happiness of the individual. Each person could enjoy themselves as they wanted, chase any dream of purpose they wanted, as long as it didn't hurt or upset others. Everyone had to contribute with something that others needed. Creating needs around their own abilities was considered a sin, as well as being lazy or trying to keep anything to themselves when anybody else needed it more.
Originally, the biddadous didn't have any concept of private property, war, commerce or fiction. "Privacy" was about not annoying people with the things you wanted to do but others didn't want to see. "Respect" was another way of saying "obedience", something reserved for the goddess and, at early stages of life, one's parents.

After being conquered by the Racionala, they heard all about the ideas the newcomers had about those topics, and when they were forced to adopt them privacy and fiction were their tools for secrecy. Most of them never fully understood the point of private property, or the need to give a name and a lie component to what for them was just interacting, but they learnt to pretend that they did.

Nobody should be entitled to control other people words, but some of us learnt that it's necessary when they have a habit of doing and saying things that upset others.

— Katerina

Art & Architecture

They didn't really produce art. Construction was about functionality and it was considered a necessary evil, like any other kind of non-natural change.

They felt terrible about it, but that didn't stop them for ruining the environment of set the whole valley on fire because that was easier than pulling weeds and preparing fertilizers.

— A "survivor" from the white fire catastrophe.

Their houses didn't aim to be pretty or strong, but to provide protection and space. Than required a lot of huge windows with two layers: one fixed, delicate, to keep insects outside but let lots of air and light in; the other, thick, would be closed to keep the cold out during night and fully open during the day. They had good heat systems, usually based in burning wood, when they were to stay in an area during the cold season, and impressive plumbs that warrantied clean water and proper management of wastes.
Shapes were as simple as possible, each room designed to fulfill a purpose.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

People thought that they liked bright colors and long hair, but is not that simple. It never is.

— The ghost of Katerina's childhood.

According to the bidaddua people, you don't get yourself (or anything else) beautiful by changing some shape or color, what you do is to find the beauty in everyone and everything as they are. Each person may find a different trait for this, and all of them are right; they just have different tastes and reasons.

Depending on their own definition of beauty, each person would wear items to make more noticeable what they like about themselves, and some might comment on those traits in others.

One of the few things that the majority of the bidaddua found beautiful, is nature and it's changes and cycles. Anything that show or represent those things tend to cause a good impression in all of them.

Nothing is as ugly as a person unable to see the beauty in something or someone else.

— old bidaddua saying.

Gender Ideals

While gender was not relevant at all for most activities and relationships, they had very strict gender roles when it came to reproduction and raising children. A pregnant or nursing woman was meant to focus on her mental and physical health and attend medical appointments without giving trouble to her partner, who was responsible of providing, doing chores, caring for children, and everything else.

Carrying children is a horrible task, but we endured it because on that period our partner would carry everything else.

— A survivor of the white fire flood.

As the baby grew up, the mother was meant to teach them manners and rules, while the male taught them religion. Both would pass their own skills to the children.
It was the wife, and only the wife, who decided when to try for a baby. The few cases of the husband refusing to have another child were seen as weakness or selfishness and it was one of the few reasons to get divorce—given than their children weren't depending on both of them. For the first child, of course, there was more freedom for the man, since it was the first child what started a marriage.
If a woman became pregnant and there was no marriage, the baby's father was executed by public lapidation as soon as she was in condition to throw the first stone. If the man could prove that it was the woman who refused to marry, then he was held responsible with raising the child instead.

Courtship Ideals

Romantic relations would evolve in all kind of ways depending on the people involved, but marriage was solely related to parenthood. One or both parts would do their best to show that they were able to raise children together; they need to improve their agriculture and teaching skills, or make a good argument about what their current skills would bring to the marriage.
If both parts were interested, they would plan different aspects of their relationship, with the help of an expert. Once they come to an agreement about their responsibilities and who would give them support in the aspects they lacked off, they would proceed to build or find a home and a farm to form a family.

Relationship Ideals

Bidaddua people would believe that they were all related to each other, and they would treat everyone as they would treat a friend: with great care and great expectations. The specific needs to care for and what they could expect were more and more clear as the relation became closer, of course.
Family was the closer a relationship could get. Neighbors became friends, friends turned into siblings or partners. Sometimes, with blood relatives it was the other way around: a child become distant until it was nothing but and old friend, or even a neighbor that you never see. It was all fine, as well as no one betrayed anyone.
Treason was a peculiar concept, usually related to broken promises and unfulfilled responsibilities. Most accusations were never proven, or the traitor could provide a good reason to explain that the other part had caused it. When they were proven, tough, they had kind of unreasonable punishes.