The Tabiri

Overview

Content Warning: This page contains mentions of Eugenics, it's use in regards to disabled people and transphobia/intersexphobia.

The Tabiri are a very old Kepeki culture, and they consider themselves the keepers of Kepeki History and the traditional ways of the species.

The Tabiri culture with runs deep with traditions and strong-held ideals. They are slow to change, for better or for worse, and pride themselves on it. The flagship of their fleet, the ICF.Tabiren is the oldest Interstellar Colony Flagship still in operation - the Kepek Commonwealth has offered and even insisted they upgrade to a newer model, but the Tabiri insist on simply replacing parts on the ship only when necessary rather than entirely changing it. Their reasoning for this is that the Tabiri believe the ICF.Tabiren is the only ship constructed before the Commonwealth was established and before even the loss of their home world 10,000 years ago. in their eyes, the fact it is still running smoothly is a testament to the benefits of their people's way of life. Official records however, say the ICF.Tabiren is much younger than that.

Tabiri Culture

The Tabiri culture prioritises trying to preserve as much as possible of the Kepek's way of life from before their home planet of Xebrik was lost. This can be seen in much of their cultural practices from how they dress and even how they speak, with both the local Tabiri language and Tabiri dialect of Xebriken retaining much of old Xebriken.

One aspect of their culture that other Kepek find deeply uncomfortable about the Tabiri, is their open use of eugenics. While other cultures like the Eveni deny the impact this belief system has had on their culture, the Tabiri are much less shy. This is especially noticeable in how they go about getting partners and handle the subject of children and reproduction as a whole, however, it can be seen in many aspects of the culture.

Food and Cuisine

A majority of Tabiri cuisine revolves around the edible fungi that grew on Xebrik such as the Mavi'ru tree, as they were the easiest food source to maintain on the early days of the colony ship. Very few animals are used in Tabiri cuisine, as they were too valuable to kill and too resource-heavy to farm in large numbers.

Tabiri Fashion

Tabiri fashon has not changed much over the last few centuries. They generally prefer layered clothing with long, flowing sleeves and extras, such as coat-tails or skirts, and cover as much of their bodies as is practical for them. Their clothing is typically very reserved, featuring primarily desaturated shades of whatever colour their scales are. If jewellery is present, they will usually try to match it to the colour of their markings, though many Tabiri consider excessive amounts of jewellery or accessories to be ugly. Members of the upper class can sometimes get away with adorning their outfits in subtle accessories, such as bow ties that match the rest of their outfit's monochrome colour scheme or, on special occasions, glowing pins of a matching colour.

Coming of Age Rights

A common coming of age right for the Tabiri is the "Space-walk" in which the young Kepek would be tethered to the outside of the one of the Tabiren ships and ride along for as long as they can. The practice is not a necessity in Tabiri culture to be considered mature any more, but it is still popular among many of the youth, as many will never experience being outside their ship any other time. This practice has become heavily monitored in recent years and many restrictions have been placed on when it can be done (e.g. it can not be performed while the ship is travelling through dangerous regions of space nor can it be performed during the approach to planetary colonies or when in hyperspace) as well as who can partake in the coming of age right (e.g. many disabled Kepek are barred from participating, even if their disabilities would not cause any additional risk).

Death aboard the Tabiren

The Tabiri honour their dead by snap freezing the bodies of those who have passed, and holding a proper funeral when the ship docks at a planetary colony, where they are then buried. Many Tabiri have specific planets listed in their wills that they wish the be buried on, in which case the bodies are kept in a cryostasis until the ship returns to the planet.

Those who don't specify where they wish to be buried will either be buried on the next planet the Tabiren fleet visits, or will be buried in the biodomes where the food is grown, and their bodies help to sustain the fungal farms.

Tabiri Beauty and attractiveness

Tall, thin and slender features are idealised in Tabiri culture, as well as longer, thinner faces. They favour bright, vibrant and contrasting markings, ideally in a symmetrical pattern. different eye colours are seen as a desirable feature to have. to have all four eyes be a different colour is extremely rare, but is extremely sought after. The Tabiri beauty standards go well beyond what most would consider reasonable with even the slightest "imperfection" being mocked and criticized. For these Kepek, the Tabiri have a multitude of beauty products that can cover up "unsightly" features, everything from scale dye to reconstructive surgeries. The Tabiri's extreme features can make them seem almost alien to other Kepek and the lengths they go to in order to reach this beauty standard is often viewed as off-putting by others.

Gender and Gender rolls

Most Kepek have a very flexible concept of gender but the Tabiri is the exception to this rule. Tabiri have a very strict gender trinary, based, at least initially, on the three sexes found in the Kepek species (male, female and a third sex known as brax). there are strict roles and expectations for each gender, as well as features that members of those genders are expected to have. 

Tabiri women are larger than both men and brax, they have longer, thinner ears, longer antennae, smaller eyes and larger fat deposits on their chest, hips and legs. Women are typically expected to take up leadership roles, or do something associated with science or math. Unlike other Kepeki cultures, most Tabiri do not know their biological family, instead, they are sorted into peer groups not long after hatching called Cells, who they will stay with for the rest of their lives. Tabiri women are expected to be heads of the cell and make decisions for everyone else.

Tabiri Men are bigger than brax, but smaller than women. they are expected to be more muscular in build and physically stronger, and typically have longer, more defined jaws and chins and longer tails. historically Tabiri men would be expected to take up more combat-orientated rolls such as military work, however, there isn't much need for this any more. As a result, many Tabiri men have taken up work as ship-security, planetary police, or other jobs often considered physically demanding and dangerous, and are viewed as the protectors of their cells.

Tabiri brax are the shortest of all the genders. They are typically leaner in appearance, have smoother facial shapes, larger eyes and broader ears, as well as larger abdominal pouches and much shorter tails. They are expected to go for jobs that are very labour intensive, but don't require much intelligence or risk. They often provide the most monetarily for their cells, as their jobs expect them to be able to work longer hours than the other two genders.

Transgender and Intersex Tabiri

On paper, Tabiri society is accepting of transgender and intersex individuals, but in practice, they are not so open-minded. Members of these communities are often scorned and ostracised. The Tabiri don't care if someone transitions, so long as the individual can meet the expectations of the gender they are transitioning to completely. Anything short of those expectations will usually result in ostracisation. So for example, a trans woman would be accepted as a woman, but only if she can fully pass in her appearance, presentation and behaviour. Those who are pre-surgery or even choose not to have surgery are looked down on in most cases, especially if they identify as a gender outside of the traditional gender trinary. The same is true for intersex individuals, as they do not neatly fit into any of the three boxes either, they are often lumped in with trans Tabiri who haven't had/refuse to have surgery and are looked at with the same scorn.

Relationships and Courtship

The Tabiri have achieved their unusual appearance as a result of strongly monitored eugenics programs. As one might expect, most other Kepek see this as utterly abhorrent, but it is so thoroughly embedded into Tabiri culture and normalised that many Tabiri don't see what the issues are. they have have these programs with the express purpose of breeding for certain features and desirable traits, and they are known to be quite cruel to those who don't fit the standard.

Tabiri don't partake in courtship, at least, not typical romantic courtship. Instead, those interested in finding a partner for the purpose of reproduction have a health examination done, which records their genetic "strengths" and "weaknesses". This, along with photos and measurements of the individual, are put into a full report, almost like a resume, which is sent to the Board of Genetics who pair Tabiri with someone they deem as suitable for them.

To the Tabiri, the quality of the relationship between potential parents of children is unimportant, and often ends after the eggs have been laid, as the children are handed over to The Department of the Young to be raised. While they form temporary mating pairs purely for the sake of reproduction, many Tabiri will form lifelong platonic and romantic relationships with others whom they have genuine feelings for, but these relationships rarely result in children. To have children as a result of an unapproved relationship is an enormous taboo. It is so shameful in the eyes of more traditionally minded Tabiri in fact, that couples who have “unapproved children” are often “encouraged” to leave the ship and remain on the Bektep Space Station when the ICF.Tabiren docks there, and are left behind.

Those who fail the health testing are barred from ever having children through this method, and the diagnosis of any disability that has even a slim potential of being genetic is considered an automatic disqualification from the program.