Peleg: Hivers

The Hivers of Peleg consists primarily of Manticores who regaurd themselves as practicing the "old ways." (The "old ways" referes to the culture the Manticores supposedly had on Paradise before Monopolis encountered and assimilated them.) Other races sometimes live in Hiver communities, but they are not always able to fully participate in, or even understand, the Hiver culture completely.

The Hivers on Peleg were orignialy founded by my Monopolis Shock Troopers who defected before the First Colonial Revolution, and have been joined by various waves of defectors ever since. Many a Monopolis citizen has found the Corporate life-style and morality distressing, and one of the few options for escape is to get an excuse to go to Peleg, and then run off to join the Hivers. In spite of the extreme conditioning Monopolis has subjected their Manticore Shock Troopers to over many generations, legends of the "old ways" still are passed on from generation to generation, creating occasional outbursts of radical thinking within Monopolis's military ranks. When this happens, defections to the Hivers are almost inevitable.

The Hivers village structure, regardless of available building materials, consists of a complex series of domes, connecting corridors, compartments and courtyards, creating a very unique style and appearance. The shapes in the design and construction of these dwellings are rarely square or rectangular, but instead are typically six sided, with occasional series of triangles. The villages are called "Hives." They are often decorated with Monopolis writing, since most of the Hives still use that world's written language.

Hives are usually their own village, but they are also sometimes parts of other towns. Having a hive grow up in a town can do a great deal to enhance the town's over all ability to defend it's self. In spite of the rowdy behavior of most Manticores, they are usually not a serious threat to other villagers.

The basic premise of Hiver culture is community responsibility and individual specialization. Individuals are not expected to conform to any one standard of education or industry. Each individual is considered to be his own distinct style of specialized worker. Individual tastes and talents are strongly encouraged. However, the Hive works together as a team, organizing individual contributions to suit it's needs as a whole.

This lifestyle creates a unique situation when it comes to what resources it has available to it. For example, a hive may be low on fruit with an excess of grain, because some of the Hivers have gotten into growing and breeding grain as a specialization. These kinds of problems either have to be compensated by someone developing an interest that fills such a gap, (and need can be a powerful interest motivator,) or sometimes the gap is just lived with. This makes trade with neighboring communities common.

Hivers are vegetarians. They do not have strict health codes, but they do tend to eat a high calorie diet of legumes, grains, fruits and vegetables. Just how well food is prepared or stored varies greatly from Hive to Hive, depending on the interest of the Hivers who live there.

There is a particularly popular sport in Hiver culture. It is a form of one-on-one boxing called "Slam Dancing." Music is played, usually with heavy percussion instruments, while a match is fought. The fighters must stay moving, or lose the match. Sometimes many spinning, leaping and flipping techniques are used, and the matches can be extremely acrobatic affairs. Most of the offensive techniques are strikes, and tail sweeps are particularly common. Manticores tie leather sheathes around their tail swords when slam dancing, and other races are usually required to where extensive body armor if they dare to engage in Slam Dancing. Sometimes Slam Dancing involves the use of sparing weapons, but the rules of slam dancing require that the weapons be concealed in whatever uniform the fighter chooses to compete in at the beginning of the match. These sparring weapons reflect the traditional street fighting weapons of revolutionary Manticore Martial Artists, and are typically short clubs, wooden blades, flails and whips.