Moonshine Ethnographical Questionnaire
Moonshine Ethnographical Questionnaire
Dr. Zahir’s Ethnographical Questionnaire was compiled by David Zahir to help in the description of concultures, and can be found in the files section of the Conculture group at Yahoo.
Questions of Place
Describe the geography of where your society calls home.
Moonshine is a very large empire, comparable in size to modern Russia or Canada plus Greenland. Most of the territory is very cold, with only a few areas having average temperatures above 50F. Surprisingly, most Moonshines live in the colder areas, and survive by eating fish.
Describe the climate your society deals with. How severe are their seasons?
Average temperatures range from about —9F in central Xema to 51F in the vineyards of the extreme southwest.
What kinds of natural disasters has this society gotten used to?
There are very few. They have no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no volcanoes, no earthquakes, no floods, no mudslides, and heavy snowstorms are rare.
What are the most commonly-grown foods?
Most vegetables are imported from the Poswob empire to the south. Natively there is only meat and fish.
What are the most commonly-eaten meats?
Fish. A lot of dead animals are gathered up, especially penguins, but this is due to scavenging rather than hunting.
What foods are considered exotic or expensive?
Anything from the tropics. Surprisingly, pineapples and coconuts are able to survive the journey from the tropics, because they are among the hardiest of fruits, and therefore they are more common in Moonshine than temperate things such as apples and oranges.
What forms of alcohol are common? Rare?
Alcohol is also almost entirely imported from Pusapom. Although there are some areas in the southwest that are warm enough to grow wine grapes, it is more difficult logistically to get the wine out of those areas and over the mountains into the rest of the empire than it is to import it from Pusapom. So this wine is generally consumed near its site of origin.
Is there usually enough food and water for the population?
Yes. It would be difficult to conceive of an event that could change this. Some humans do starve, but it generally is because their entire family has become disabled in one way or another and they can no longer fend for themselves.
What is this place's most abundant resource?
What is its most valuable resource?
What resource is it most lacking?
How do people travel from one place to another?
Mostly by boat, sometimes by riding animals.
Are the borders secure? In what way?
Most Moonshine states are either islands or defined by other water boundaries. THis includes the external boundaries. Most of the land boundaries are with Pusapom states which would have no reason to invade nor would they be able to do any damage. The only potential hostile border states are in the far west, in Goga, where the people are more afraid of Moonshines than vice versa.
How many people live here?
Where in this place do they congregate?
What part of this place do they avoid? Why?
What are the most common domesticated animals here? And what are they domesticated for?
What are the most common wild animals?
Which animals are likely to be pets? Which ones won't be?
There are no true pets, just as is the case with the rest of Teppala, because animals are sentient.
Questions of Time
How far back does this society's written history go?
How far back do its people believe it goes?
What is the worst disaster they believe they've faced?
What was the best thing that every happened to them?
What in their past makes them feel ashamed?
What in their past makes them proud?
What are they afraid of happening again?
What are they hoping will happen? Do they think it likely?
What do they assume the future will hold?
How has this society changed? Do its current members realize this?
What are the most popular stories about the past?
Who in the past is the greatest hero? The worst villain?
Do people think the present better or worse than the past?
Do people believe the future will be better or worse than the present or past?
Questions of Sex and Family
How many spouses may a man or woman have?
Who decides on a marriage?
Can a marriage end in divorce? How?
Who usually takes custody of children if a marriage ends for some reason?
How is adultery defined? What (if any) is the punishment? Who decides?
How are families named?(g) What happens to orphans?
How are boy and girl children treated differently?
Are premarital relations allowed?
How does your society define incest? Rape? How do people react to these?
What, if anything, is considered a good marriage gift?
What secret vice is believed to be widely practiced?
What secret vice actually is practiced?
What sexual habits are widely believed common among foriegners?
How do people react to homosexuality?
How do the genders dress?
Men and women tend to dress similarly. The amount of clothing is generally light for the climate; Moonshines are very cold-tolerant and not very heat-tolerant. Even 55F can be considered "hot".
Is prostitution legal? How are prostitutes viewed? Is this accurate?
What professions or activities are considered masculine?
What professions or activities are viewed as feminine?
What inanimate or sexless things are considered male or female?
What is the biggest sexual taboo?
Does this society connect the ideas of marriage with love?
What does this society mean by the word "virgin" and how important it it?
Questions of Manners
Who speaks first at a formal gathering?
What kinds of gifts are considered in extremely bad taste?
How do younger adults address their elders?
What colors are associated with power? With virtue? With death?
If two men get into a fight, how is this supposed to be resolved?
If two women get into a fight, how should that be resolved?
When is it rude to laugh at something funny?
What kinds of questions cannot be asked in public? In private? At all?
How do people demonstrate grief?
What does this society do with their corpses?
What kinds of jewelry do people where? And when?
Who inheirits property? Titles? Position?
What happens to those suffering from extreme mental illness?
What are the most popular games? How important are they?
What parts of the body are routinely covered?
How private are bodily functions like bathing or defecating?
How do people react to physical deformity?
When and how does someone go from child to adult?
Questions of Faith
Is there a formal clergy? How are they organized?
What do people believe happens to them after death? How, if at all, can they influence this?
What happens to those who disagree with the majority on questions of religion?
Are there any particular places considered special or holy? What are they like?
What are the most popular rituals or festivals?
What do people want from the god or gods? How do they try and get it?
How do their religious practices differ from their neighbours?
What is the most commonly broken religious rule?(i) What is the least-violated religious rule?
What factions exist within the dominant religious institutions? How do they compete?
Are there monastic groups? What do they do and how are they organized? How do you join one?
How are those who follow different faiths treated?
What relationship do religious and political leaders have?
What superstitions are common? What kinds of supernatural
events/beings do people fear?
