Neptunian Culture
The cultural identifier "Neptunian" is a bit hard to pin down; the term has found use by like-minded individuals across countless realities and eras, always referring to a surprisingly stable concept, a laid-back but idealistic megacommunity of brightly colored, empathetic, telepathic water-dwellers. Some Neptunians will tell you they're from Neptune (Yes that Neptune, what do you mean it's a gas giant, that's silly!), others say they hail from a planet called Halcyon, and still others aren't sure either exists, but still do their best to maintain Neptunian ideals wherever they are. Rather than being a specific reference to a planet, 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 the Zodiacal Neptune, which center around creativity, dreams, idealism, and compassion.
In its full expression, Neptunian culture 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 has become an integral part of Neptunian language, as well as enabling what passes for a Neptunian governmental system, with decisions being made by the consensus ‘gut feeling’ of myriad 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 culture 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. Neptunian morphology is quite diverse, but there are some commonalities, like androgyny, aquatic adaptation, and the aforementioned color schemes. They also tend to live in sprawling-but-intimate communes called podhomes, each with the dozen or so others ey feels closest to.
