Neptunian Culture
Contrary to common assumptions, Neptunian culture is not confined to, or even centered around, any particular world called Neptune. Rather, the word ‘neptunian’ is used in a broad sense to refer to the culture’s main focus on oceanic living, as well as its correspondences with the attributes of Neptune in the Old Earth Zodiac system, which was concerned with creativity, dreams, idealism, and compassion. The physical center of Neptunian culture is the planet Halcyon, a large, low-mass world which is almost entirely covered in saltwater ocean. The largest city on Halcyon, spanning several atolls and much of the nearby seafloor, is itself named Neptune City. Further complicating the nomenclature issue is the use of Neptune to refer to an ancient mythic planet, the ‘true source’ of Neptunian culture. Most Neptunians don’t actually believe in this, but it IS a nice story.
The culture itself is inherently posthuman, enabled by a wide array of high technology implants, bodymods, and environmental improvements. The most iconic of these is the Neptunian mindlink, a form of technologically-mediated ‘telepathy’ which allows sending and reception of impressions to nearby individuals without the use of sound or sight. This was originally developed to increase interpersonal connections as well as make it easier to communicate underwater, but has developed since then to be one of the most fundamental operational aspects of Neptunian culture. The mindlink enables what passes for a governmental system on Halcyon, with decisions being made by the consensus ‘gut feeling’ of a planet of individuals that know and care about each others’ emotional states.
This intrinsic empathy is a treasured tenet of Neptunian culture, and Neptunians attempt to care deeply for everyone, regardless of whether they carry the mindlink, making the planet also very comfortable and accommodating to visitors. Other core values flow from this, like sincerity, flexibility, and creativity. Most Neptunian industries are centered around producing objects to be enjoyed, from art and music to food and toys. The Neptunian style is easy to spot; bright glowing colors with a preponderance of blues, greens, and purples, in flowing lines.
Despite the mindlink and general communal spirit, Neptunians consider themselves strongly individualistic, at least within their cultural milieu. Rather than enforcing homogeneity, the mindlink seems to allow each Neptunian to be comfortable being emself, without fear of the strange or the other. That being said, there are several commonalities; Neptunians like to say they’re poly in all things; polyamorous, polysexual, polygendered, and polymorphic. This goes back to the intimate interpersonal links as well as the high esteem of flexibility and flow. Most Neptunians appear as somewhat aquatic, and somewhat androgynous, though specific morphologies vary widely. They also tend to live in sprawling-but-intimate communes, each with the dozen or so others ey feels closest to.
