Cultural references for Cathar

[KloeyOps]

I am in a very heavy RP guild and i have been playing a Cathar for a few years and i love them, then i took a break for like a few months and a while back someone had made an actual cultural reference for the Cathar that was super Indepth. But that forum site sems to no longer exist. PLEASE HELP>>

_Swifty

[BladedDingo]

What do you mean by cultural reference? 

do you mean that they had a write up about Cathar civilization?  

Cathar | Wookieepedia | Fandom is probably the best source for information on the Cathar.

[KloeyOps]

 It was on the Bergeren colony forum site. guess its dead now?

 

[SteveTheCynic]

9 hours ago, KloeyOps said:

 It was on the Bergeren colony forum site. guess its dead now?

 

Since November 2017, in fact.

[Ardrossan]

This is just my personal headcanon, but I think Cathar have different subspecies similar to Zabrak.

There are Cathar who stayed on their homeworld when it got glassed by the Mandalorians, and they tend to be very anti-Mando, very insular people, and this is reflected in the way they have very little hair on their heads, which makes sense because they have fur not hair, but also makes them look more alien. Juhani is an in-universe example, and there's a couple others like this in the game. 

And then there are the Cathar who left their homeworld before the Mandos showed up or immediately after, who then lived as refugees on Taris or other planets, and continue to drift around in this era. Because they're refugees, they try to fit in more with the dominant Human culture so they comb their fur to resemble human hair and beards. They tend to be more welcoming of other species and more open to new ideas. Most of the Cathar NPCs we see in this game are from this subculture. 

Jorgan has customization options with or without hair and can be roleplayed as coming from either culture. I prefer him without hair though. 

[SteveTheCynic]

1 hour ago, Ardrossan said:

when it got glassed by the Mandalorians

I had a slight difficulty processing this statement, because there's a slightly out-dated British habit called "glassing" that involved hitting someone in the face with a beer glass, the intent being to cause permanent facial scarring, and I'm pretty sure you didn't mean that.

[Ardrossan]

11 minutes ago, SteveTheCynic said:

I had a slight difficulty processing this statement, because there's a slightly out-dated British habit called "glassing" that involved hitting someone in the face with a beer glass, the intent being to cause permanent facial scarring, and I'm pretty sure you didn't mean that.

'Glassing the planet' comes from Halo and has become a SF staple to refer to orbital bombardments where the heat blasts turns silica into glass. IIRC Karen Traviss wrote a few Halo novels as well as the republic trooper books and uses this term in both series. 

Edited April 9, 2023 by Ardrossan

[Shayddow]

"glassing" someplace predates Halo. It was used in military terms after Nuclear weapons were invented and used (1945) that heat something to the point that things "turn to glass". 

[SteveTheCynic]

For sure, I knew what was meant, but it was just that moment's hesitation because of the *other* meaning, and the consequent idea of someone hitting a planet in the face with a beer glass.  (There's a similar moment each time a French person uses a gesture to indicate the number 2, because the gesture looks the same as the British equivalent of giving someone the finger.)

[turbomagnus]

On 4/8/2023 at 6:22 PM, Ardrossan said:

This is just my personal headcanon, but I think Cathar have different subspecies similar to Zabrak.

There are Cathar who stayed on their homeworld when it got glassed by the Mandalorians, and they tend to be very anti-Mando, very insular people, and this is reflected in the way they have very little hair on their heads, which makes sense because they have fur not hair, but also makes them look more alien. Juhani is an in-universe example, and there's a couple others like this in the game. 

And then there are the Cathar who left their homeworld before the Mandos showed up or immediately after, who then lived as refugees on Taris or other planets, and continue to drift around in this era. Because they're refugees, they try to fit in more with the dominant Human culture so they comb their fur to resemble human hair and beards. They tend to be more welcoming of other species and more open to new ideas. Most of the Cathar NPCs we see in this game are from this subculture. 

Jorgan has customization options with or without hair and can be roleplayed as coming from either culture. I prefer him without hair though. 

It is generally accepted that there are two Cathar subspecies, the 'normal' more feline Cathar with the reverse knees, etc. and the one that Juhani is part of (and has unofficially given her name to) sometimes called the 'Cathar-Juhani' whom are more human in appearance, so it's not just headcanon. Though, Juhani, while Cathar as a species, was actually not a native of the planet, she was born on Taris. So what planet they were born on doesn't seem to affect when subspecies a particular Cathar is part of.

[Ardrossan]

4 minutes ago, turbomagnus said:

It is generally accepted that there are two Cathar subspecies, the 'normal' more feline Cathar with the reverse knees, etc. and the one that Juhani is part of (and has unofficially given her name to) sometimes called the 'Cathar-Juhani' whom are more human in appearance, so it's not just headcanon. Though, Juhani, while Cathar as a species, was actually not a native of the planet, she was born on Taris. So what planet they were born on doesn't seem to affect when subspecies a particular Cathar is part of.

Wow I had no idea! That's a good point about Juhani being born on Taris. But it also means that she's the more human looking which doesn't really make sense to me. To me the difference isn't biological like Zabrak, it's cultural, that's why where they come from matters because it shapes their experience. Though again, with Juhani it screws up that theory because if she's born on Taris she should have tried to look and act more human to compensate. 

Not that it really matters I guess. I keep thinking about writing a swtor fanfic but idk if I'll ever do it.