Prim Societies
|
|
|
|
Prim Societies |
| Prim Societies - Data Panel
Median Toposophic Level of Citizens: So:1 - SI:0.3 (Baseline Equivalent), although may often be higher or lower (depending on the prim clade or society in question) Major Sophont Phyla: Bionts only. prim clades may be baseline or nearbaseline, splice, rianth, provolves, neogens, procreative bioborgs, or xenosplices Energy Requirements: Negligible Material Requirements: Very low - usually living off the land (or orwood, hab, etc) in an equilibrium with the surrounding environment. Maintenance Requirements: Minimal, simply replacing objects that are broken or lost Chronometric Rate: slow Maximum Practical Kardashev Number: less than 0.001 Current Galactographic Distribution: a number of indigenous xenosophont worlds; some Caretaker God and primitivist Utopia Sphere protectorates; a number of societums, the largest collection being Oikoumene Dyson; also a huge number of clades and microsocieties embedded in more advanced polities, such as some utopic and zoeific tribal and neoprim orwood rianths, splices, provolves, and lazurohominids. Due to their low energy and resource requirements prim societies are remarkably widespread, but population and tribal density is always very low. Stories of lost colonies in the Hinterworlds and Outer Volumes that have regressed to primitivism are mostly apocryphal. Power and Influence: Some prims fulfill an essential symbiotic role on large biohabitats (such as orwoods) and bioships, helping to maintain the equilibrium of the system or environment in which they find themselves. These are really "owned" by the habitat or ship. Apart from that, there are romantic ideals of the "noble savage" among sophonts of more advanced societies. Prims however have no real power or influence otherwise, and free prim societies generally can only survive in isolated, sheltered, or niche environments or under transapient or Caretakerist protection. Some Characteristic Societies and Civilizations: Pre-Industrial Age Old Earth, xenosophont equivalents, prim groups of every kind, various societum cultures, both reconstructed and novel, hab- and ship-based commensals and symbiotics. Further Comments: Left to themselves, prim cultures and societies are extremely stable and long-lived, persisting for tens of thousands of years and more. prims are often found in reserves and societums, under Caretaker or Utopian stewardship, or in habitats or microhabitats and niches in orwoods and other complex and spacious environments. Frequently they live in symbiotic or commensal association with and in large ships and orwoods. Given a stable self-sustaining habitat or orbital, prims can survive indefinitely without need for any infrastructure. prims are also often adept at adapting more advanced technology to their needs, and incorporating it into their traditional lifestyle. Government tends to be based on tribal chiefdoms, and may be either patriarchal, matriarchal, hermaphro-archal, hive, or parahive, depending on the clade and culture in question. Economics involves living off the land, and is based on the basic tribal and neolithic (sometimes some metal-working although much more often, outside and/or offworld artifacts) level of culture and organisation. There is a very strong tendency to animism, a sense of sacredness and of the Spirit of the World/Habitat/Ship in which they live and have lived often for hundreds of generations. To compensate for the lack of technology, there may be a strong emphasise on magic and esotericism, especially shamanism and animism. Contact with higher civilizations can be devastating for prim cultures, as their members may leave for the bright lights of the city but end up exploited, lost, confused and without the stable roots their traditional lifestyle provides. For this reason, ships and habs with symbiotic prims tend to minimise or prevent interaction between the prims and the rest of the population. |
Related links:
