Culture of Caphiria: Difference between revisions

 

*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.

 

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. Once they hit the age of 18, patricians seeking political offices must enter an academy to learn advanced ethics and economic theory. A minimum of five years must be spent there, except in the case of the most gifted people. With theoretical understanding in hand, aspiring politicians must go into the world to seek out experiences. For the next three to five years they are expected to get involved in local and national affairs; working with businesses, seeing the underprivileged populaces of [[Punth]] and [[Audonia]], connecting with already established political players, and other such activities. There are no official standards for what must be done but a patrician's record during these years will go a long way to impressing the Imperator when he asks for permission to enter national politics. The next step is to return to the academies for about three years studying law. Attending a number of different academies around the empire is encouraged during this time. Finally, around the age of 30, a patrician can apply for membership in government. His record and knowledge will be severely tested during this time, and he is not by any means guaranteed acceptance by the Imperator. Those twelve years of preparing to enter politics were a way for the state to filter the inept and unworthy, allowing only the best and brightest to partake in Caphiria's sovereignty. This monumental test is the first stage in one's ''cursus honorum''.

It is a Caphirian custom to combine the ravenous enjoyment of food with socializing. The mother of Caphiric 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 I|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.

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.

The science of Logic is the heart of Caphirian philosophy. The ancient Aristotelian ''Logika Syllogistica'' (''Propositional Logic'') went out of use after the publication of ''De Logika''in 1218, a book which established the dominance of ''Logika Attributia'' (Predicate Logic). Since the invention of ''symbolic logic'' by Archaedavincus, the application of logical systems has had the appearance of a sort of verbal mathematics. The symbols and form of Archadavincus' system came from his development of set theory in the 740's.Caphirian philosophers view logic as a description of the necessary form of thinking, not simply axiomatic rules for inference and judgment. For this reason, logic is the foundation of Caphirian philosophy.

Caphirian metaphysics splits philosophical inquiry into two domains:''nature'' and ''morals''. This division has its roots in Empyreian philosophy. The present framework for all metaphysics was created by Octavius Priscus Regulus and is followed by the majority of philosophers. However, it requires what its few opponents call a 'monstrous leap' in reason and therefore has failed to supercede regional philosophical traditions on an international scale.Regulus' starting point is that the laws of nature forbid prescriptive truth; the world cannot be other than what it is, therefore, there are no thoughts. Even the actions of intelligent beings are causally determined by natural laws. This was called the theoretical truth of the human will. However, Regulus reasoned, people are self-determining as regards their actions in a practical sense - we can only act under the Idea of freedom.For humans to be free and not free at the same time is a contradiction, unless each is in a different way. The 'monstrous leap' Regulus made to resolve this contradiction was to postulate a separation of the empirical and the non-empirical. Empirical things are comprised of all objects of the senses. The manner in which things are perceived is how things are as appearances (''Phenoemena''). Objects independent of a perceiver are things as they are in themselves (''Eimana'') and as perceiver we consider them as they are thought to be in themselves (''Noumena''). Regulus '''Trinity of Existence'' underlies much of Caphirian philosophy.

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Caphirian morality is grounded in the principle that all human beings are rational organisms and, by consequence, equal. The fact of universal human equality warrants the prescriptions of Caphirian ethics - the way they derive an ought statement from a statement of fact. Its most fundamental prescription is the categorical imperative that "Every human should be treated as an end not a means." On this bedrock, all other Caphirian morals are built.Duty, to one's fellow man, and intention are essential aspects of moral action. The consequences of actions are not important to Caphirians but the intention behind actions - as well as the consequences reasonably expected by the agent performing the action - are primary. The consequences of actions, say the Caprivians, are subject to mere luck in practice and, if taken as a standard of morality, would condemn the morally innocent such as children and the mentally challenged whose intentions are not bad but are not willfully ignorant of their actions' consequences.