Excation Culture

A good amount of excation cultural
identity is based on their unique biology, such as the way their families are
set up and their capability to understand each other without words. The net
result is that excation society is extremely difficult for a human mind to
really understand, and the reverse is also true, excation finding humans
equally complex.

A good deal of excation attitude
are driven by the goal of food. Food is such a major driving factor that its
used a currency in most parts of their world. The excation, being obligate
carnivores and scavengers, often eat dried meats which can remain edible to
them for a long time.

The excation have developed a
relatively primitive form of farming, which involves allowing a large number of
prey animals to roam relatively barren areas of the desert world with only
limited supervision from the far off 'Tokun' which are the excation's prey
herding profession.

in times gone by, the Tokun would
have ridden on Xalaki or other creatures, but in modern times thumpers and
other hover vehicles are far more readily available and easier to use.

## Hobbies

It is
sometimes said that to understand a culture, you only have to look at the way
they spend their free time. Understanding the excation through their hobbies is
less easy, as there are so many that they enjoy.

Almost all
Excation enjoy music and dancing as pastimes, with most owning at least one
instrument. The most popular instrument is a large, ornamental, metal construct
called a drevala, which is used like a violin, but is almost always electric.
Some traditional drevala are acoustic, producing a much softer and more
haunting noise.

By the
nature of the excation neural link, large groups can synchronise quickly and
efficiently to provide displays of choreography that many other intelligent
races find hard to replicate. At the heart of many of these dances is a highly
creative domineer who relays their plan for the dance to those closets to them,
who then spread it out to the others at the dance.

Another
really popular pastime is the art of nalnaun, which is creating fabric versions
of Kalem creatures. The most talented nalnaun artists can create almost
lifelike reproductions of animals, and can command a great deal of money.
Collecting nalnaun is a hobby of its own, with traditional designs, rare creatures
and unusual fabrics being the most valuable.

## Tattooing (iv)

The excation have a practice of
tattooing their bodies in such a way that the colour will come through even
when they shed their exoskeletons. The designs and placement for the tattoos,
known as "iv" in dunespeak, vary but they can be categorised by a few
types:

### **Gakiv: flame pattern**

Gakiv is the traditional tattooing
of city Takahet. Its formed of large curved lines filled in with various shades
of red, as well as the odd large red circles which represent Via's largest
fragments, the stars.

Gakiv is a ancient design,
originating nearly 3000 years ago, and is ingrained into Takahet culture.
Originally developed by the flame priest order of the city to celebrate the
first of their kind, Tomac, who was said to be covered in layers of tattoos
that represented fire before he passed into the brightlands.

### **Troviv: technology pattern**

A relatively recent style designed
after the pattern of a circuit, with straight lines, right angles and circles.
The pattern is often done in the same colour as the excations eyes.

Troviv is mostly given to those who are creative.

### **Faziv: blade pattern**

This design was created many
hundreds of years ago by the Diyarlin, it has jagged edges resembling the
typical scythe-like weapons they use. The design is often supplemented by dying
the wearers face a bone colour, with skull markings, to represent the ancient
Diyarlin practice in which they flayed the exoskeleton from their face.

### **Keviv: story pattern**

The story pattern is a traditional
style for high ranking officials to show how much they understand the history
of their people. These story patterns often tell passages from the history of
their position or city.

## The three faces

Excation society divides itself
into what are known as the three faces. The Academic face (Akke) contains the
excations scientist's and philosophers who use the species resources to improve
technology and understanding. The second face is the Creative face (Breilk),
whose members design the products used by the excation, everything from
buildings to vehicles are seen to by the Creatives. The last and most important
is the Supportive face (Ylka) who handle factories, shops, services, politics
and religion, providing the resources and man power for the creative and
academic faces. The three faces work together to allow exaction society to
function efficiently.

The idea of the three faces can be
seen in the official designs for governmental tattoos, seals and buildings,
which often contain triangles with rounded edges. This is known as oriiv, or
faces pattern.

### **Academic face**

the Akke of the excation culture are treated with a great deal of respect, having dedicated a large portion of the excation's relativly short life span to learning and discovery. While many of the Akke work together, a small portion have forged strong relations with the Gakika, helping the religious group with its scholary activities.

**Notible Akke excation:**

* Udrak- creator of the Javia Tava, or Fusion Stack, a device that powers most excation settlements and larger transports. Udrak developed the Fusion Stack from incomplete blueprints left by thier teacher Famik, who had died in a Xalaki attack.

### **Creative face**

Breilk excation, The creatives of excation society, are artists, engineers and arcitects that take the desires and needs of the species and combine that with thier own emotions to create devices that are functional, artistic or a combination of the two.

Notable Breilk excation:

* Havir- the architect that worked with Tomac to create the city of Takahet. While there was likely a large number of Breilk excation working with Havir to create the city, Havir is the generally regarded as the lead architect

####

## Religion

Looking at religion is a good way
of understanding a races culture and history, and the excation are no
different. Even here, their odd biology dictates a different flow of ideas and growth to what we would expect from terrestrial species.

The way the excation connect minds
has let a single religious theory and practice to emerge, passed along at one
point in Kalem's history. We can assume that the spread itself was akin to a
viral emergence, originating from a group of philosophers that once lived where
what is now Takahet. That spread allowed the first religious idea to spread
itself into the gaps in the cultural psyche and to take over, quite probably
the only example of the first religious ideology becoming dominant and failing
to be replaced by another.

The central belief of excation
worship is that Via, and all other stars, are a piece of a singular god. This
god is also known as Via, and provides warmth and light to all the worlds and
all the people. The excation also believe that an absence of light and heat is
evil, so much so that their planets dark side is seen as a kind of hell, or a
place where evil souls go, while good souls join Via.

Their belief of a holy existence
in light also results in the excation being horrified by the procedure of
burying bodies, as they see it as cutting the dead soul off from Via. The same
cannot be said of the procedure of cremation, which they see as nearly perfect,
and are highly impressed by the number of races that practice it, with many
considering it proof of Via's existance.

Excation religious teachings are
recorded, learned and spread by flame priests, also known as Gakika (meaning
burning ones in the Excation language). The order of burning ones is highly
revered, and also acts as a martial order, offering protection against the
dangers of the planet and spiritual guidance.

The most
often used story to explain how the excation came to know of Via is told in the
tale of Tomak the hunter, a tale that is said to originate from the same place
as the original priesthood, In the mountains near Takahet. The tale tells the
story of a hunter called Tomak, a rare red exction whose colouration allowed
the excation to be amazingly successful. Once day Tomak ventured too far into
the brightlands chasing a creature (the exact animal changes frequently, but
most often it is depicted as a Brightfox, a Nannak), and when there Via
explained to Tomak the truth of its existance, and turned them into the first
of Gakkia.

One of the
less positive elements of the Excation religion is their treatments of the exaction
Nulls. The priesthood teaches that the Nulls are the accidental creations of
Via, the sun god said to have been looking away when the Null hatched, and
there for forgot to give them a soul.

The
priesthood runs a specially picked group of Nulls known as the Diyarlin, who
have the express purpose of capturing the Nulls who are a danger to society.
Exactly what happens to these Nulls has not be divulged.