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[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

The Cultural Background Meme:
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How does your character's cultural background effect their experience on the meatship? Their thought patterns? Has it led to any hilarious misunderstandings? Basically this is the meme where you expound on the culture your character came from.

If your character is from the 20th/21st century "first" world and not otherwise a cultural minority then expound on how they percieve the cultural backgrounds of other characters too.

Comments

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

Sheeana is a Fremen, the descendants of "Zensunni wanderers" who settled on Dune. Their culture is very closely parraleled to Bedouin culture. At the time they lived in sietches, watertight dwellings carved out of rock.

Paul-Muad'dib Atreides forged them from a collection of desert tribes into a formidable fighting force, and at the same time fulfilled their prophecies of a messiah (which had themselves been planted by the Bene Gesserit). This was actually a very bad thing for Fremen as a culture. It militarized them and made them dependent on a hero/savior/messiah.

The environmental changes on Dune brought about by Paul and his son Leto further accelerated this cultural decay until the only remnant of Fremen ways left were Leto himself, the Duncan Idaho Gholas (who had lived among Fremen in their original life) and Leto's village of "museum Fremen", who lived their whole lives in a disney-version of a Fremen community.

With Leto's death, Dune reverted back to the planet wide desert of its namesake. The Fremen started returning back to their old ways (in fact the existence of the "museum Fremen" was exactly part of Leto's plan, to reteach them desert ways upon his death), although they were now slightly more cynical than they had been, less susceptible to being seized by messianic leaders. The great sandworms were now no longer rideable either, until Sheeana came along with the ability to command them. A priestly caste, the remnants of Leto's priesthood, had grown up on Dune, and exercised rule by fear over the populace.

Constants of Fremen culture are the importance of water (ex. "to take water", to kill, "water debt", a great debt, "water in their cup", to be trapped or outmaneuvered), trial by combat, being very religious, and being tough as all hell. Sheeana was raised in this environment until age eight, when a worm ate her village.

It effects her whenever she has to deal with large bodies of water that most would take for granted (IE a bathtub). It imparts a certain ruthlessness to her thinking. She also has a slight Fremen accent, which is generally analogous to Arabic-accented English.