So this is a very niche subject, but I feel like presenting this opinion regarding Raata identity after mulling over the concept for a few years now.
The ‘Raata’ were the first major civilization and culture on Caldari Prime, The Raata Empire was born out of the unification of the planet’s two tribes of Fuukiuye and Oryioni. Who for a good length of time were at war with one another for what I assume would be the typical reason dark age tribes would be beefing over.
The all the information about the Raata empire and its culture is vague and can be gleamed off the Cold Wind Chronicle. Which, Unfortunately is written like a piece of folk lore and therefore not concrete historical data. Yet - it still offers insight on the Raata identity.
Now - For the longest time to me , Raata seems to considered an exclusive thing to the Caldari as a deeper label to take pride in alongside of your identity as Caldari due to it being apart of the State’s history and tradition. However with this post I’m making the argument that the Caldari today fail to recognize the hypocrisy of the Caldari claiming exclusive rights to the identity.
So I present the title, The Raata identity is a spiritual Identity, not a Caldari Identity.
A spiritual identity to me, is an identity that transcends culture and race. It is you identifying with the spirituality first and anything else second. The spirituality I’m referencing is the Wayist religion that originates from Caldari Prime that has roots in the dark ages.
In the cold Wind Chronicle, everyone is referred to as ‘Raata’ despite having their own tribal identities. Standing behind symbols of houses when they come to the battlefield. These two sides are different cultures and to them, different ethnicity. Yet both sides are Raata and are affected by the spiritual deities hovering above them.
“Look at each other,” he told them. “How do you tell one man from the other? How do you know which man to kill?”
The men struggled to stand up and looked at their armors; the symbols of their Houses were torn and broken, not visible anymore.
“No two men on this field have the same face, but can you tell them apart now?”
They have a common ground in spirituality. And to the folklore, this spirituality steps in in the middle of this fight among man-made house and tribal identities, masks the symbols each man had on their armor and told them to look at one another as humans. To see beyond their tribalistic and ethnicity to see each other as Raata. Doing this, the two tribe would have to start mixing together to break down their tribal allegiances and merge their cultures onto becoming the foundation for what the Caldari would inherit.
All and all - This is the first progressive movement for the people of Caldari Prime, where they abandoned their traditional means of living and evolved their society with new and radical social changes. I dare say it was a incredibly liberal movement for the time.
Fast forward to Caldari and Gallente contact. At first the Caldari are accepting of this meeting of the two societies and joins the Federation, allowing their cultures to mingle again with a foreign entity. Long story short, this falls though and the ‘Caldari’ identity is born when the tensions of mixing starts to become a problem.
To me, the Caldari begin a regression into their tribalistic mindset. The scale has expanded, but it remains the same.
Two factions on different continents with two different identities and cultures. Replace the sea with space and consider planets their own continent and the scenario is almost the same just on a massive scale.
The term Caldari only came about after first contact with the Gallente in 22517AD, as a planetary identifier used to distinguish the races of their homeworld from those of their newfound partners (that term also being used for the exact same purpose). By this point, each Caldari race were organized into their own fully-fledged nation on Caldari Prime, with minimal to no cross-ethnic mingling. The boundaries between these ethnicities were profound, not only in physical appearance, but culturally. The Caldari’s concept of a nation differed from the Gallente’s definition, the latter of which tended to be built around purpose or ideology, rather than race or culture.
Just like me, everyone has their interpretation of all this - speaking for myself, this comes off strongly implying the Caldari label is one tied to ethnicity, merely being an umbrella identity like the Raata and grouping in the Civire and Deties under a new label. And to the later page’s credit they do mention that you’re able to be a Caldari citizen regardless of where you’re from but still cling on to some hard cultural xenophobia much like a tribe would. Instead of mixing and adopting the cultures of others, they eradicate the cultures and identity of those that come into the fold in favor of their own.
"I identify as Raata… Does that statement confuse any of you? Typically the word ‘Raata’ is only ever invoked by the Caldari as a buzzword when they start talking about how honorable their way of life is and how much they treasure their culture and history…
… So why would I, in the middle of a Guristas owned station in Venal - ever bring up the Raata and say I identify as one? Because being Raata has nothing to do with being Caldari… Raata is a spiritual identity that transcends meaningless differences in our corporeal forms and insignias. That is what the tribes of Caldari Prime aimed to achieve when they tossed aside their tribalistic ways as they saw in one another a spirit much like theirs, the spirit of humanity. To identify as Raata is to identify with the human spirit that resides in each of us - regardless if you’re Caldari, Gallente, Amarrian or Matari, you all have the right to claim this identity as your own. The Caldari will say it’s impossible unless you’re one of them, but I’d wager they do that out of fear of losing their fragile grip on this heritage and culture they claim to hold dear. I for one say we should help them loosen this grip…”
So this IS NOT prime fiction and merely an extension of my argument, this is a brief example of me presenting the idea of the Raata being a spiritual identity in a IC fashion. As well as explaining that It’s an identity not bound to one ethnicity or culture. That ANY human being can claim this identity if they agree with the spiritual message of Wayism.
The Cold Wind folklore has these people on a battlefield with their own mortal realm allegiances in the forms of tribes and the winds come down and say “■■■■ that, you’re all human beings” and this should extend to the entire cluster of New Eden. If the Maker made all of this, then they created the home worlds of each strain of humanity across it. They all exist equally in the same existence yet the Caldari claim “Raata” as theirs and theirs alone.
“The Way,” this religion is a blend of animism and ancestor worship and is practiced mainly by Civire and Deteis in the State and elsewhere, though the Way is a cyclical fad in the Gallente Federation, where Gallente youth have sometimes used it as a symbol of rebellion. Such practice is considered blasphemous and disrespectful, though most Caldari tend to simply dismiss it as “Gallente being Gallente.”
Caldari culture even shuns the idea of people outside their ethnic group practicing and taking up the spirituality. Mocking it as “Gallente being Gallente” and maybe this youth’s interpretation coming off poorly due to the spirituality being kept closer to the Caldari than anyone else. While the spirituality isn’t an evangelical one where you go out of your way to preach to people, that doesn’t mean it has to be closed doors and still very much capable of being for anyone to adopt. Yet the primary ethnicity of the State seem to think otherwise.
So really I don’t know what else to say in the moment, so i’ma open it up to discussion as I felt like I present enough of a case for this rather pointless topic.
