Howdy all, it’s your favourite cultural expert Professor Valate here, bringing you the latest in my award-winning series1 of culture guides.
This time, it’s the turn of the mysterious and spooky Triglavian Collective ! Gosh !
Their technology has been studied and covered most comprehensively by ARC and others, so is not the main topic of this guide. Instead, we shall cover three major aspects of Triglavian culture, religion, people, and politics.
Who Are the Collective ?
The Triglavian Collective is an ancient civilisation that was until recently unknown to just about everyone in New Eden, except maybe the Jovians, who weren’t inclined to tell anyone about the Collective anyway. So, the Collective’s sudden appearance on the stage of New Eden politics came as quite the surprise to the stellar powers of New Eden.
This mystery was only enhanced by the Triglavians fashion choices of helmets and robes, and by their habit of speaking in oddly grammared riddles and metaphors.
Now, following extensive contact, it has become known that as well as inhabiting the mysterious area of space known as Abyssal Deadspace, the Triglavian Collective are also a highly technological, religious, and militaristic civilisation, who have been at war with the Drifters and Sansha’s Nation for some time.
1. Religion
The first aspect of Triglavian culture we shall be looking at is their religion. Through deciphering of their communications, it has been found that the Triglavians are a deeply religious people, with a complex religion, mostly revolving around the mathematics of fluid flow.
This concept is called the “Flow of Vyraj”, and in the Triglavian religion, only those who can demonstrate mastery of the mathematics of both incompressible and compressible fluid flow are considered worthy.
Figure 1. Excerpt from the Triglavian Scriptures, relating to incompressible fluids.
Proving the flow of Vyraj in a number of different situations, is a rite of passage in Triglavian religious thought, which marks the transition from childhood to adulthood, and also allows foreigners to convert to the Triglavian religion and become a full-fledged member of the Collective.
“Proving the Flow” is also a metaphor used by Triglavians for the decision-making process.
A sufficiently righteous member of the Collective is also permitted to enter the “Domain of Buyan”, which is a state of being reserved to only a very few members of their society. Or possibly the Triglavian concept of an afterlife, akin to the Amarr concept of Paradise.
The Triglavian religion also prohibits AI from ruling over people, which is the cause of the Triglavian war against the Drifters, the Drifters being a “forbidden dominance arrangement”, which may also cause Triglavians to strongly disapprove of Gallentean manufactured BDSM robots.
There is also some kind of religious prohibition against the form of neural connectivity used by Sansha’s Nation, and it was attempted assimilation into Nation of a Triglavian ship that caused the Triglavian-Sansha war.
2. People
The Triglavian Collective is made up of 3 distinct groups of people or entities. These groups are known to the Triglavians as “Narodyna”, “Koschoi”, and “Navka”.
From deciphered Triglavian documents, the Narodyna appear to be human members of the Collective, whereas Navka may be AI or infomorphic members. Navka is also a name given to Rogue Drone strains that appear to have been domesticated by the Triglavians, which reinforces the possibility that “Navka” are some kind of artificial being.
The third member of Triglavian society, the “Koschoi” are not explicitly described in any Triglavian documents, and their true nature is not yet confirmed.
Another part of Triglavian society is their growing and use of “Mutaplasmids” which are a form of life that can be used to adapt technological artifacts as well as living creatures, to cope with different environmental conditions. This advanced form of bioengineering is necessary for survival in the chaotic realms of Abyssal deadspace.
These mutaplasmids are thought by some2 scholars to be a possible candidate for the “Koschoi”, with the hypothesis being that the Koschoi is a form of intelligent mutaplasmid, of equal or greater intelligence than a human. This theory has been referred to3 as the “brainslug” theory, envisioning the Koschoi as some kind of biological symbiote attached to the human Narodyna.
Figure 2. Artist’s impression of a Koschoi brain slug
Other scholars believe the Koschoi to be embedded within the Triglavian bioadaptive suits, along with a Navka AI, the complete trio forming a Triglavian citizen.
What is widely thought, is that each humanoid figure within the Triglavian collective is somehow a representation of all 3 - a Narodyna, a Koschoi, and a Navka, though the exact relationship is unknown.
There are further groupings in Triglavian society, called “Clades” by the Triglavians, which appear to be some form of societal grouping, possibly based on profession, as different Clades have been identified as dominating certain roles, such as starship design.
3. Politics
The importance of the number 3 in Triglavian culture reaches its ultimate manifestation in their politics. Every aspect of Triglavian culture revolves around the number 3 as an important concept. The “individual” as is understood in most of New Eden’s cultures does not exist, instead, the smallest entity in Triglavian culture is the “troika”, which at its most simple, consists of a combined Narodyna, Koschoi, and Navka in one body.
This number of 3 is significant, as it is the smallest decision-making body where a decision must be made - 2 concur, 1 dissents.
This Troika concept is expanded in their ship designs, which are always crewed by a multiple of 3 “tactical troikas”.
Political decision making in the Triglavian Collective is achieved by groups of Troika engaging in “communion” and coming to a conclusion. Clades and subclades go through a process known as “winnowing”, which seems to be some form of discussion process, until a conclusion is reached, whereupon the entire Collective acts upon the decision reached.
Occasionally the Triglavians form a “Detached Executive Troika” which appears to be a special-operations force for a particular task. These entities could perhaps be regarded as equivalents to the Federal Intelligence Office, or the Ministry of Internal Order.
4. Conclusion.
The Triglavian society is mysterious, and the significance of the number 3 cannot be understated, as it informs every aspect of their culture, from living arrangements to politics to starship design and space combat doctrine.
- The complete series of guides includes:
An Idiot’s Guide to Minmatar Religion and History
A Guide to Gallente Culture, for the interstellar traveller
Surviving the Corporate Jungle, a guide to Caldari Culture
A Brief History of Amarr, in Three Parts
A Simple guide to Slave Training
How to recognise different Amarr religions from quite a long way away
The Definitive Guide to Jove Culture and how to avoid it
Snakes in Space - The Serpentis
Master is the Answer - Sansha’s Nation
Fabulous Space Pirates - the Guristas
Danger,Danger, High Voltage - the Rogue Drones
Goats, Cards, Billiards - the Angel Cartel
Protect and Serve - CONCORD
Nos feratu, the Vampyre - The Blood Raiders
Alpha and Omega, a guide for new capsuleers - Mostly some people on “The Summit”.
- Mostly myself.