Culture of Caphiria

Caphirian culture is considered one of the birthplaces of Occidental civilization, a cultural superpower, and has been shaped by its geography and expansive history. Caphirian culture is based on a variety of historical influences, primarily on the culture of ancient Istroyan and Adonerii civilizations, of which the Latins - the ethnolinguistic group of Caphiria - originate from.The culture of Caphiria is the culture of the Latins and vise versa: legally, all Latinic nationals are citizens of Caphiria regardless of ancestry or nation of residence, and may be distinguished from people of Latinic descent without Caphirian citizenship and from ethnic Latins living in territories adjacent to the Latium without Caphirian citizenship.

As a result of Caphiria's near-millennium long continental hegemony across Sarpedon, significant Latin influences can be observed in the language, law, culture and institutions of its former provinces, territories, and colonies through a process known as Latinization. The spread of Latinization through the continent played a significant role in shaping Caphiria's culture, and also in shaping other cultures that were controlled by Caphiria, creating Romance culture.

Caphiria, and in particular Venceia, has played an important role as a center of high culture since the 16th century and from the 19th century on, worldwide. From the late 19th century, Caphirian culture has also played an important role in cinema, fashion, cuisine, literature, technology, the social sciences, and mathematics. The importance of Caphirian culture has waxed and waned over the centuries, depending on its economic, political and military importance. A principle which underlies Caphirian culture is libertas - or freedom. Freedom of movement within the country, freedom to share ideas and customs and freedom to seek wealth. The Senate hardly limits these liberties of the people with law, force or even propaganda. Caphirian culture includes both conservative and liberal elements, scientific and religious competitiveness, political structures, risk taking and free expression, materialist and moral elements.

Social order
The concept of stratification in Caphiria is incredibly complex and diverse, encompassing both legal and social status. Stratification is generally hierarchical, but there are multiple and overlapping social hierarchies, and an individual's relative position in one might be higher or lower than in another. There are three distinct concepts that go into establishing one's place in Caphirian society: At the peak of the social pyramid (pyramidis societas) is the Imperator. An Imperator has the highest dignitas, potestas, and is of the highest ordo in Caphirian society. If sociologists do not recognize any absolute standard for these ordinal measures than the Imperator is the relative standard to which the qualities of other residents in the empire are compared. Power and Status are generally perceived to be directly tied to a person's social standing, whereas Class is a person's legal status. After the Imperator, the peak of the pyramidis societas is the imperial family, which is currently the Panther Estate. Altogether the imperial family tends to hold offices of power and a number of prestigious military and collegian posts, they are rarely handed out in the form of nepotism and are usually won based on merit.
 * Power (Potestas): A citizen's ability to do what they want despite resistance from others.
 * Status (Dignitas): A citizen's prestige, popularity and honor or how highly society regards them.
 * Class (Ordo): A citizen's legal and economic position in society.

Estates
In Caphirian society, Estates are a complex system of kinship groupings consisting of individuals who share the same family name and who claim descent from a common ancestor, often overlapping and interconnecting with several other families. In ancient Caphiria, belonging to an Estate was exclusively reserved for patricians as they were able to trace their lineage back to the most prominent men. Over time, an Estate became known to describe any major family, although it is still segregated by social class.

Unlike the estates of Urcea, an Estate in Caphiria is a legal concept with its own set of regulations and governance. The registration and regulation of Estates are managed through the Ministry of Culture, who coordinates with other ministries for verification and other validation purposes. An Estate may be registered as a single family (uno genere) or multi-family (altum radices). In either case, the modern registration process involves an extensive genealogical examination using SNP genotyping and census data from the Censorial Assembly.

Naming conventions
The order for traditional naming conventions in Caphiria is: given name – father's family name – mother's family name – family surname, but can include additional names such as a personal nickname or patronym. This convention is based on the historical praenomen, nomen, and cognomen, which make up the tria nomina system that has been used since antiquity. The tria nomina system fell out of favor during the Dark Period as the influx of Sarpic people and culture permeated through Caphiria. After the establishment of the Third Imperium in the late 18th century, many Caphiro-Sarpics returned to the system and it evolved organically into the system used today. Although not all Caphirians possess four - or even three - names, the practice of using multiple names having different societal functions is a defining characteristic of Caphirian culture that distinguishes citizens from foreigners.

Members of the Caphirian aristocracy have utilized and currently utilize several different schemes of assuming and inheriting nomina and cognomina, both to signify their rank, and to indicate their family and social connections. Some prominent Caphirians came to be known by alternative names, or signia, and due to the lack of surviving epigraphic evidence, the full nomenclature of most historical Caphirians, even among the aristocracy, is seldom recorded

Because family names and surnames hold the most weight in Caphirian culture, this has created a phenomenon where non-patricians will, in an attempt to seem like they come from a distinguished background or family, artificially add additionally names to themselves. This practice - called concarnatio nomino - is extremely popular with the Equite class in order to give them perceived legitimacy. A well-known example of this is Alexandus Venio II - Chief Executive of Quicksilver Industries and one of the wealthiest people in Caphiria, who was born Alexandus Amatius Lurio Venio II; there is no Amatius or Lurio family and the names were constructed by his father.

Language
Caphiria's de jure language is Caphiric Latin; used in its parliament, on its stock market and for most of its arts. Stemming from classical Latin, of the early Republic, modern Latin took its present form toward the end of the Republic and early Principate period. Grammatical structures remain stagnant since those days but thousands of words have been added and thousands of spellings modified. Despite modest changes, Latin is the oldest language in terms of intelligibility with prior variants. There are one billion speakers of Latin within the Imperium, over 99% of the country. It is the primary tongue for every Caphirian school, in which most subjects are taught, and pervades the speech of the majority of telescreen broadcasts and radio shows. The federal government - including the ministries, Senate and Imperator - uses it as the common language of discussion. Moreover, this has allowed Caphiria to foster closer relationships with other Latin-speaking and Romance states.

Across the globe Latin has been learned as a second language by between 1-5 billion people, depending on how speaking proficiency is defined. It is certain, however, that anyone with a modicum of education understands and speaks this world language. Latin is the language of advantage, necessary for anyone with aspirations of an international, or even national, level of influence.

Semantics, syntax, phonetics, and pragmatics of the lingua latina are administered by the Academia Lingua, founded around 1621 in Venceia. Creating this institution was the final step in Imperator Magnus III's reformation of Caphiria's academic foundations. Its purpose is to centralize the organization of Latin grammar and vocabulary while acting as an authority in disputes about the nature of the language.

Religion
Religion has played a significant role in the development, spread, and evolution of Caphirian culture. In particular, Catholicism has been the established and dominant religion since Imperator Marius Oratonius was baptized into the Catholic Church in 1079, and all Caphiria would be nominally Christianized by the end of the 12th century. By the 16th century though, the relationship between the Popes and the Imperators began to break down as a result of the emerging Protestant Revolt. This led to a series of events that culminated in the break of communion and between the Levantine Catholic Church and the Caphiric Catholic Church, which broke away from the authority of the Pope and eventually became the Imperial Church of Caphiria and would eventually form the basis for Caphiric Catholicism. Caphiric Catholicism became the de facto state religion and would have over 80% of the country practices it. This schism - called the Great Schism of 1615 - lasted over four centuries, with several failed attempts at reconciliation occurring in between. In 2037, the Schism was finally mended through an agreement known as the Eight Points Agreement, which brought Caphiria and the Caphiric Church back into full communion.

Today, organized Christianity makes up 88% of practiced religion in Caphiria, with Levantine Catholicism making up 83% and other minor Christian faiths such as Protestantism contributing 5%. The next largest practiced religion in Caphiria is Islam, which makes up 3%, followed by Judaism at 1.5%. The final 1% of practiced religion in Caphiria is comprised of minor religions, such as Arzalism, Shapirism, and other fringe faiths. A polytheistic movement that revolves around the traditional faith has emerged recently, called the Aruuhin faith. Although figures are obscure, it is speculated that roughly 0.2% are members of the Aruuhin faith.

The irreligious make up a sizeable 7.5%; 3% of whom believe in secular humanism, 2% practice agnosticism, 1.5% practice atheism, and the remaining 1% are apatheist.

As a measure to protect religious freedom, the Imperium devolves shares of income tax to recognized religious communities and taxpayers who do not wish to fund a religion contribute their share to the state welfare system. Despite Christianity's prevalence and unity with the state, freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution. In particular, the Jews are highly regarded in Caphirian society, possessing a significant portion of the banking and investment industries. In modern times, Caprivians take great pride in their religious faith, openly discussing it in casual conversation. There is no stigma in professing one's belief or - in today's culture - non-belief at leisure. With regards to the irreligious, a mere 6.61 million, or approximately 0.5% of the population, do not profess a belief in a higher power. This atheist and agnostic - plus about two million strict anti-religious - groups of people thinly populate the Empire but converse through the Collegium Atheismum, the only organized atheist body in the world. The majority of the irreligious are wealthy intellectuals who have personal qualms with the Church or who became disillusioned with the rigidity of religious faith. Despite their intelligent base and success at organizing, atheists have failed to challenge the two thousand years of theological hypotheses put forward by the Church. As well, silence in the face of their occasional attacks against religious institutions has dominated ecclesiastical policy for centuries.

Festivals and holidays
Festivals and holidays are a major part of Caphirian cultural and religious life and are directly tied into the Catholic Church's liturgical calendar, although several non-religious holidays exist as well.

Education
The Ministry of Education sets overall educational standards, though private schools are generally free to determine their own curriculum and staffing policies, with mandatory accreditation and regulation from the Ministry. This allows for more "creative" and "third wave" educational systems to have the chance to develop on top of the already established educational standards. By law, education is compulsory over the age of 3 and ends at 16. The public education system in Caphiria is highly complex and segmented, operated jointly by provincial and local governments. The educational stages are: Children's School (discatorium), Core Education (regulatorium), University (universalis), and Academy (Academiae).

Standard curriculums are arranged in 5 semesters lasting 9 weeks each and each semester has a different amount of vacation days: the first two semesters have 10 days each of vacation days, the third semester has 20 days; the fourth has 7 days, and the last semester has 23 days. A term is closed by testing students' knowledge of the compulsory material learned that term. Tests for the advanced courses can be taken anytime during the last two years of the core curriculum. The results of any tests taken by a student are merely used to show the school which area of higher education, if any, they should encourage for the particular student. Marks for compulsory courses are also used to distribute students evenly by aptitude across the different higher schools. There are no strict entry criteria and most students get into places of their choice.

Once a student completes their final exam (matura regulatori) at age 16, they are technically adult citizens and are finished with compulsory education, and are given four options with how to continue forward: they may elect to enroll in advanced courses in calculus, international economics, Caphirian and international politics, anatomy, modern physics, industrial chemistry, biochemistry, metaphysics, manual work or other languages (declararimaticus); they may choose to continue into voluntary secondary education (agnatumaticus).; they may enlist into the Imperial Armed Forces to serve a mandatory lustum; or they may find an apprenticeship or join a guild. Both educational options are optional and add an additional two or four years respectively to the compulsory educational experience.

Slavery
In Caphiria, slavery is legal and regulated and plays an important role in Caphirian society and culture. Slavery has existed in Caphiria since antiquity, but it was transformed significantly from the Third Imperium onward as slavery came to play a diminished role in the economy. Laws gradually diminished the power of slaveholders and improved the rights of slaves by restricting a master’s right to abuse, prostitute, expose, and murder slaves. Under the influence of Christianity, views of slavery shifted: by the 10th-century slaves were viewed as potential citizens (the slave as a subject), rather than property or chattel (the slave as an object). Some scholars view the Caphirian system of slavery as serfdom; the nature of Caphirian slavery is a source of debate.

The modern practice of slavery today is a complex form of debt bondage known as cautio: members of the upper class may give out loans to members of the plebeian class - or more often to the indigeni and peregrini classes - and they enter into an agreement that the debt will be paid through labor. The fact that these borrowers are not legally able to purchase land allows this practice to perpetuate across generations. Because they are under contract and entered into the agreement of their free will, the practice is not viewed in the same manner as chattel slavery or traditional "enslavement". Hence, some scholars argue that it is inappropriate to call them "slaves" while some scholars describe them as serfs.

A slaver is called a contract-holder or redemptore, and a contractually bound slave is called a teneantur - literally meaning "one who is bound to". The maximum length of a cautio contract is 5 years with a single contract-holder; a teneantur may enter up to five total contracts at once.

Most teneanturi serve as personal retainers and domestic servants, and most received a modest monthly salary that could be supplemented by earnings gained outside regular working hours. Out-resident teneanturi resided at a distance and were little different from tenant farmers or commoners. They were registered officially as independent family units and possessed their own houses, families, land, and fortunes. Out-resident teneanturi were far more numerous than household nobi. In rural Caphiria, teneanturi are assigned two pieces of agricultural land, with the resulting produce from the first land paid to the master, and the produce from the second land kept by the slave to consume or sell. In order to gain freedom, teneanturi can serve out the time on their contract, purchase it, earn it through military service, or receive it as a favor from the government.

Prostitution
Caphirian views on sexuality are incredibly liberal, having resisted the oncoming of Christian values; prostitution in the Imperium is legal and regulated, as is operating a brothel in a similar manner to gambling. In an effort to appease the Catholic Church and appeal to Christian values however, there is a steep 30% excise tax applied on all prostitution transactions and additional taxes are levied on the prostitute, the client, and the brothel. This tax applies to stripteases, peep shows, porn cinemas, sex fairs, massage parlors, and licensed prostitution. The College of Prostitution is the governing body for sex work in Caphiria, responsible for the regulation and protection for both businesses and workers, and for ensuring workers comply with health regulations and engage in preventative practices

Cursus honorum
The concept of cursus honorum (path of office) is unique to Caphirian culture and is a tenet of its society. It is the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians. Historically, The cursus honorum is comprised a mixture of military and political administration posts but today it is purely political. To hold political office in the Imperium is considered a great honor and Caphirian political philosophy dictates that the essential members of government cannot be unskilled in solving moral or economic problems. A senator, consul, or even Imperator must have the theoretical and practical knowledge to adjudicate, legislate and lead. To have held each office at the youngest possible age (suo anno, "in his own year") was considered a great political success.

Every future Caphirian citizen starts his or her career with a physical and musical education in youth. The wealthiest families will have private caretakers for their children though the result is much the same. At the age of 11, most young patricians go into privately-owned schools. Their lessons must abide by the national standards of the imperial education system but their smaller class sizes allow greater attention from the teachers and their access to materials, like holographic orreries or virtual reality lessons, provides many rare opportunities for students.

There are no official standards for what must be done but a citizen's public record will be critical to enter national politics

Cuisine
It is a Caphirian custom to combine the ravenous enjoyment of food with socializing. The mother of Caphirian meals and social events is the cena (dinner), a meal which has barely changed in the last 2,000 years though the dishes themselves have become more and more exotic to the average Caphirian taste buds. Even the plebeians enjoy dinner parties in modern times. These are nothing like an aristocratic cena.

A classic cena starts around 5pm; with great punctuality; and goes straight into the night. The meal is so long that smart guests will have only eaten breakfast that day and maybe worked up an appetite with light exercise. This monumental feast opens with a gustatio (appetizer), a non-filing course featuring delectable treats to get people's taste buds ready for the prima mensa (main course) which can last several servings depending on the ambition of the host. In the last few hours, out comes the secunda mensae (dessert). Treats offered at this point might include fruits like figs and pomegranates or sweetened pastries like cakes, rolls and fruit tarts. This part of dinner is usually very filling but many will not notice in their insobriety. When the party is ending, and the party has been a success, a guest will praise the host with one last comissatio (round of drinks) before guests return to their homes, often carried away by their servants.

Caphirians like to hold cenae in a triclinium (dining room) on couches (lecti) circling the tables. These are long recliners which let people lie down comfortably while conversing with other guests or the host. On average, a patrician in Caphiria will attend twenty dinner parties a year though some gourmets are known to attend upwards of a hundred. Given the sheer volume of food, some hosts will permit vomiting from their guests but this has come into disrepute for men and is considered unthinkable for a self-respecting Caphirian woman.

Dinner parties are an opportunity for the host to flaunt his wealth by providing expensive entertainment. Although most shows during the meal are background pieces like exotic dancers or music, some hosts will steer dinner conversation by having brutal fights between boxers or small animals while others pay performers to make great displays of skill like sword swallowing or gymnastics for the guests. Imperator Constantinus most recently had an amphitheater that can be rented for a night so that a host can provide grand spectacles like a play or gladiatorial combat.

At dawn, the middle and lower classes eat an ientaculum, sitting normally at a table with their family. This gets some energy into them before quickly leaving for work. Since wealthier citizens tend not to have such obligations, they enjoy a different meal around 10-11 am. This prandium's closest equivalent in other cultures is the less common brunch as it tends to get served with food from both the ientaculum and vesperna - Caphiria's equivalent of lunch. The latter meal is most often forgotten by Caphirians because it is completely informal, merely a means of regaining enough energy to make it through a long day.

Only the cena and prandium are served in public restaurants since no one would pay for the basic bread and vegetables that are staples of other meals which can easily be prepared for less in their own homes.

Dishes
Both kinds of breakfast feature some kind of wheat bread dipped in olive oil or served with cheese and crackers. Prandium is interesting because it usually features meat of some kind, like pork or beef and animal products such as eggs. The most popular meat for this time of the day is lucanica, a short, smoked pork sausage.

As previously mentioned, appetizers are foods which maximize taste without filling the stomach. The variety of food that could be served is vast, however, making a comprehensive list almost impossible. Some favorites are: fava beans, lentils, peas, shrub leaves for seasoning, boletus, truffles, snails, clams, oysters, thrushes, dormice, sea urchins, and mulsum, a mixture of wine and honey. Honey tends to be generously added to servings.

A main course consists of rich, heavy meats like duck, chicken, turkey, beef or roasted pig stuffed with sausages and seasoning. Hares, laurices (rabbit fetuses), peacocks, swans and especially mullus (goatfish) are considered fine delicacies, even today. To add taste, the Caphirians put in a multitude of spices. Pepper and hundreds of Eastern spices are imported daily in vast quantities from Punth and Audonia to serve this demand.

One of the most common seasonings, however, is and has always been garum, a sauce made by exposing salted fish intestines to elevated levels of heat over the course of a month or two. The result is a very strong smelling fish sauce that is the most popular food condiment next to salt. In the Caphirian culinary arts, a dish is considered most successful if even the most experienced gourmet cannot recognize its ingredients because the food is so heavily disguised by mixing it and adding spices.

Alcohol
Caphirian wine is famous for the volume produced on a national scale and the quality on an individual basis. The Imperium's most famous wineries, of course, are in the Venet District in cities such as Coriovallum and the Castra Vetera hillside. Caphiria's level of production barely satisfies its 25 billion liter demand for wine, leaving little room for export even when imports are considered. The other prominent alcoholic beverages are beer and whisky. It gained popularity in Samarobriva Ambianorum during the 10th and 11th centuries when it started to be produced from grain.

Psychotropics
Recreational drugs are extremely popular in Caphiria due to the lack of social conservatism of the average citizen. One drug that came into use for a time was opium, brought in by trade with the Caliphates in the 1100's, in its natural capacity as an anesthetic. The potential to provide swift bliss and comfort has been taken advantage of since the late 13th century. By the 1500's, the majority of opium was used for recreational purposes as a more potent form of the compound (morphine) could be purchased.

Another psychotropic, cannabis, was introduced to Caphiria through travelers in the 8th century/ No medical functions were noted by traveling doctors so the Senate never supported a cannabis trade. Nevertheless, various guilds/crime families noted the possibility of marketing it for recreational use, buying the plant in large quantities during the 900's. When colonization of the New World opened, plantations were moved there to take advantage of the government subsidy on colonial slaves. Today, cannabis, like any other drug, is not illegal in the Caphiria- some restaurants will even offer it before meals. As medicinal uses started to be noticed, it began to be sold in pharmacies. It is, however, discouraged among the patrician order who generally view recreational drug use, outside fine wine, with disdain.

Gladiatorial combat
The national sport of Caphiria is gladiatorial combat, a hybrid martial art combat bloodsport. The origins of the sport go back two millennia to ancient Caphiria, where slaves fought with other slaves, wild animals, and condemned criminals as entertainment for Caphirians. This became so popular that volunteers would begin risking their lives and their legal and social standing by appearing in the arena to fight for glory, fame, notoriety, and eventually, freedom. These volunteers would be known as gladiators, and were celebrated in art, and their value as entertainers increased exponentially. Very quickly, gladiators became an essential feature of politics and social life in the Caphiric world.

The sport was first standardized in 1459 when an edict was passed which formed the Guild of Gladiators, the organization which acts as the governing body for the sport. From 1459 to 1647, every contest was mors pugna - to the death. In 1647, the Guild of Gladiators formed the Gladiatorial Combat Regulatory Commission (GCRF) which would define the rules of the sport, specify the equipment and facilities required, organize international competitions, and it would establish separate classes based on weight, weapon type, and whether or not it is mors pugna or nulla mors pugna. The modern sport of gladiatura was introduced in 1966 when the Guild of Gladiators launched the Guild of Professional Gladiators and the Gladiatorial Combat League, the labor union for gladiators and the professional league respectively.

Modern gladiators compete in an advanced carbon-fiber armored suit called Lorica Ficà, which completely protects its user's body while electronic sensors record an opponent's strike position and power on the body. Opponents use a variety of martial arts and weaponry to attack each other and software keeps score of damage. The Lorica Ficà is also fitted with a complex subsystem of electrical neuromuscular polymodal nociceptors that can accurately and realistically simulate pain and "dismemberment".

Cane fighting
Tepiù pugna, also known as Caphirian Cane Fighting, is a martial art that uses a tepiù or cane (a kind of walking-stick) designed for fighting. The tepiù is very light, made of chestnut wood and slightly tapered. It is very similar to in that a padded suit and a fencing mask are worn for protection, and points are scored based on where you hit your opponent - the calves, the torso and the head, and how you hit your opponent - according to the correctness of body positions during fighting. The Ministry of Culture approved tepiù pugna as a legally recognized sport in 1957 and would be under the purview of the National Pugură Guild, which has approximately 9 million members. Aside from the organized sport, tepiù pugna as a self-defense is still alive and practiced to this day

Caphirian kickboxing
Pugură boxing, also known as Caphirian kickboxing, is a Caphirian kickboxing combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of Occidential boxing with graceful kicking techniques. Initially, only foot kicks were allowed but over time the sport evolved to allow the use of the knees or shins, eventually allowing strikes in any part of the body. Pugură is a Sarpic word for "old shoe or boot" as fighters wear specially designed boots. A male practitioner of pugură is called a priprečo while a female is called a pripreča.

Modern codified pugură boxing provides for three levels of competition with slightly differing rulesets: collatis (sparring), duellum (duel), and certatio (contest). In sparring, the competitors focus on their technique while still making contact; referees assign penalties for the use of excessive force. A duel however, allows for full-strength fighting so long as the fighters wear protective gear such as helmets and shin guards, while in a contest, protective gear other than groin protection and mouthguards is prohibited. There are approximately 15 million practitioners in Caphiria.

Body language
As with all societies, body language is of immense importance when conveying ideas during social interactions in the Caphiria. Understanding these signals is vital to gaining a proper understanding of Caphirian culture and the intricacies that it entails. Although this is not a complete analysis, it hopefully serves to further immerse oneself in the Caphirian lifestyle.

To start off, the most famous action in Caphirian public speaking is known as the adlocutio, often performed by Imperators, generals and guildmasters when addressing inferiors. One does the adlocutio by pointing the arm upwards and towards the person being addressed then pointing one finger subtly ahead of the speaker. More than anything it conveys power and usually garners respect for a speaker from the audience.

Another insulting gesture to the Caphirian is the flipping of the digitus impudicus at a person. One of the simpler signals, giving someone the finger simply entails showing them one's middle finger with the palm facing away from them. The connotation here being "up yours". Also, doing the same thing, only with the little and index fingers out is a sign known as the cornutus and implies to the receiver that they have an unfaithful wife. Lastly, forming a circle with the thumb and index with the other fingers radiating outwards is an indication that you think someone performs lewd sexual acts, and like the others does a dishonor to the receiver. Such gestures are hugely insulting in upper-class Caphirian society.

An arm crossing over the body is a universal gesture to all human beings that indicates either uneasiness or displeasure at what one is hearing. The Caphirians have a unique variant of this for themselves, one which is more subtle than the standard crossed arms and actually helps the user to portray dominance even while in this defensive position. One of the arms is crossed over as normal but the arm which it touches is raised vertically with the thumb touching the other fingers in a "beak" shape. This beak gesture is also used frequently by Caphirians in a conversation to emphasize a point while speaking, with the implication being that it is a threat for if you don't accept their argument (though it is usually not as serious as this).

A standard greeting in the Imperium is a handshake wherein each participant grabs the other around the wrist rather than the palm. This came from the practice of checking for concealed weapons when greeting a political or business opponent. Though its formal variant is usually done by having each person stand still directly opposite each other, a friendlier and more commonly used version has the participants use their left hand to gently touch the other's elbow. Relatives or long-time friends will often follow this sort of thing up with a hug, an action which is in general only done when two people are personally close to each other. Unfamiliar members of the opposite-sex will usually greet each other with a kiss on each cheek whilst kisses on the lips are reserved for either the sealing of a deal or the bedroom. Unlike most cultures, a peck on the lips between two men is viewed purely in this business context, distinguishing itself from its intimate counterpart by being quick and uninvolved. The wedding ceremony is the one place where these two meanings merge as one.