Culture of Torberia

The Culture of Torberia (Torberian: Torberan Ljîrθe [toːpˈɾan ˈlʼɪɾθe]), is the collective denomination of the cultures of the many peoples living in the 6 constituent countries (Torberia, Surii, Ártanan, Prítaram, Tévnova-Estebia and Kátera) of the Torberian Federation. Torberian Cultures are diverse in origin and external influences, but they generally share, if not a Jaturno-Serivnian/Lúminar base, extensive influences from both. In fact, the very name of Torberia was granted by the Serívnians, while the Jaturnians named most regions in the Federation, like Ártanan or Tálara. Other groups who had extensive cultural influence over the area were the Hierekalts, the Estebians and the Tévnovans. The Jaturnians left a lasting legal tradition, the current governing philosophy and a massive cultural legacy, seen for example in the many Jaturnian Languages spoken across the whole federation, such as Irdenij in the Ártanic branch, or Jatoran in the Talaran branch, while the Sérivnians brought both the Lúminar faith, today followed by a supermajority of Torberians and the official religion of 5 of the 6 Constituent Countries, and the Torberian and Surii languages, the two official languages of the Federation. The subsequent course of Torberian History added more elements to the Federation's cultures and traditions.

The lands which make Mainland Torberia became the core of Ancient Jaturnian civilization, with the capital of the Empire, Jaturnenlat, and its largest cities, like Hélessa, Esteren and Feleja, all being located in the future Torberian lands. The whole Torberian Sea area was almost completely jaturnized by the end of the Empire, as the Jaturnians exported their culture, language and traditions across the centre of the Empire. In the final centuries, the Lúminar faith was brought by the Kárnaks and spread across most of the Jaturnian Empire, despite the Imperial Government's best efforts.

After the Jaturnian Empire's fall in the 6th century, the Lúminar Kárnaks and later Sérivnians migrated into the empire, and, mirrroring the Jaturnian "flight to the sea", ended up conquering most of the former Empire in two centuries, proclaiming themselves as the continuation of the Empire. Under the Serivnians a period of extensive Jaturnization began, where the Serivnian conquerors adopted Jaturnian systems of government and law, but they refused to adopt their language or religion, beginning at the same time the period known as the Jaturnian Retreat. In this retreat, Western Jaturnian languages were reduced to Helstra and Talara, while the Eastern Jaturnian languages were kicked out of Névalat in the south, and in the north retreated until modern day Hélsk.

The Torberian cultures began diverging after the fall and subsequent conquest of the former Serivnian Empire by the Hiérekalts and Estebians, who themselves went through a Sérivnization period after that, adopting the already borrowed law and government, while also converting en masse to the Lúminar, throughout the whole period. During Estebian rule, a new group, the Tévnovans, migrated into the lands which currently form the Constituent Country of Tévnova-Estebia, forever changing the demographics of the region, as under them both the final retreat of the Jaturnians, displacing them until Árnara, and the first retreat of the Serivnians happened, both groups extensively influenced eachother, with the Tévnovans adopting the Lúminar faith and most Serivno-Jaturnian legal and cultural rules, while the Serivno-Jaturnians adopted several Tévnovan customs and holidays. In the East however, the Surii were left alone in their duchy by the ruling Hiérekalts, even keeping the name of Sérivnia, later corrupting into Surii, leading to a more complete preservation of their culture.

64% of all words in the Torberian Language were borrowed from either Classical Jaturnian or the Neo-Jaturnian languages, while only 23% are inherited from Sérivnian. The situation is similar in Surii, with 49% of all words being borrowed from Classical Jaturnian and 36% inherited from Sérivnian. Jaturnian Cultisms primarily occur in multi-root compound words, many of which are the result of the extensive borrowing of Jaturnian words for concepts that either did not exist in Sérivnian or could not be articulated as elegantly using native words. In this borrowing process Jaturnian-borrowed terms are often more specialized, or considered to sound more erudite or formal, than their native counterparts (occupying a higher linguistic register).

One of the most important factors in Torberian Cultures is the Lúminar faith. It is the current base of most of the region's cultural laws, including the infamous Torberian moral laws. The Lúminar officially runs most of the country's schools and hospitals, and with their media agency, the Ákvator, it censors most immoral conducts on Torberian Media. This dominance is considered the primary cause of the famous "Torberian Exceptionalism", a term describing the social conservatism of Torberian cultures compared to the outside world. The Lúminar is also the main source of most festivities in the Federation, like the Solar Week or the Summer Solstice celebrations, and one of the key parts of Torberian national identity.