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The Code

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Liaden Code of Proper Conduct[]

Melant’i

melant’i, elucidated in The Code

The Code addresses complex issues concerning clan hierarchy, melant'i, language, grieving, love affairs, cosmetics, masks, Balance, Necessity, and many other Liaden Tenets and sociocultural complexities. Indeed, the Council of Clans refers to this Code frequently in making judgments.

“The Council of Clans rated Kareen expert in the field of proper action and called upon her often to unravel this or that sticky point of Code.” [1]

The Books[]

The Liaden Code of Proper Conduct is quite exhaustive, filling several books:

"the bound set of the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct [2]
“The— book — is actually several volumes,” Val Con said softly; “several large volumes. I used to stand on them to reach the top shelf in my uncle’s study, when I was a child.” [3]

Indeed, the bound volumes and all supporting books and documents fill a small library — Kareen yos'Phelium’s "library of Code and conduct” at her townhouse in Solcintra[4]

Revisions & Versions[]

The Code has been revised or updated numerous times:

“. .. various editions of the Code laid open on the table around her workstation...” [5]

Kareen referenced the “358th edition”[6]—- but several centuries ago, Jethri was assigned sections of the Code, 17th version, so there have been numerous revisions since Jethri, perhaps because he helped bring Liadens in contact with Terrans, via Clan Ixin:

"From a Student’s Guide to the Basics of Relationship Balance as Elucidated by the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct, Version Seventeen, Amended"[7]

There’s a version for Liaden Worlds out on the rim of known space:

“The out-world version of the Code, based on a centuries old and centuries out-of-date edition, had been neatly rectified” [4]
The Code on clan hierarchy

Clan Hierarchy, by Code

Excerpts, The Code[]

"Each one of a Line shall heed the voice of the thodelm, head of that Line, and give honor to the thodelm’s word. Likewise the thodelm shall heed the voice of the delm, head of the clan entire, and to the delm’s word bow low. Proper behavior is that thodelm decides for Line and delm decides for clan, cherishing between them the melant’i of all."  - Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct[8]
To be outside of the clan is to be dead to the clan. - Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct[9]
As each individual strives to serve the clan, so shall the clan provide what is necessary for the best welfare of each. Within the clan shall be found, truth, kinship, affection and care. Outside of the clan shall be found danger and despite. Those whom the clan, in sorrow, rejects, shall be Accepted of no other clan. They shall neither seek to return to their former kin nor shall they demand quarter-share, food or succor. To be outside of the clan is to be dead to the clan. - Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct[10]
In the absence of clan, a partner, comrade or co-pilot may be permitted the burdens and joys of kin-duty. In the presence of kin, duty to partner, comrade or co-pilot must stand an honorable second. -From the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct [11]
A person of melant'i deceives by neither word nor deed and shall have no cause to hide his face from the world. - Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct [12]
Balance must be maintained in all things. Debts must be paid promptly and in full. - From the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct [13]
Be aware of those actions undertaken in your name. . . —From the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct [14]
The guest is sacrosanct. The welfare and comfort of the guest will be first among the priorities of the House, for so long as the guest shall bide. - Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct[15]
The giving of nubiath'a, the parting-gift, by either partner signals the end of an affair of pleasure. The person of impeccable melant'i will offer and accept nubiath'a with gentleness and grace, thereafter referring to the affair by neither word nor deed. - Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct[16]
They were a House in mourning, and therefore ought to be closed to the world for the twelve-day of grief specified in the Code. [17]
The Liaden Code of Proper Conduct outlined two approved strategies for dealing with low numbers. One: Korval might invite another clan to marry it or— less advantageously— accept another clan’s invitation to merge, thus creating a single, more populated House. Whether the resulting entity would bear the name of either partner, or adopt something entirely new would be laid out in the contract of merger. The Code also allowed that a clan of few members, where kin-ties were weak, might be dissolved, by action of the delm.[18]
The first edition of the Code of Proper Conduct was compiled during the Exodus by a committee made up in equal part of the Solcintran Houses, the dramliz, and the pilots. Transcribed in the margins of expired trade manifests, the document ran approximately 85 pages and was little more than a protocol for shipboard life. The second edition, circulated twelve years after planetfall... - from the foreword of the 358th edition of the Code of Proper Conduct, published under the aegis of the League for the Purity of the Language, Kareen yos'Phelium, Clan Korval, editor and chair[6]


Historical Origins[]

Also see Brief History of Liad

The first edition of the Code of Proper Conduct was compiled during the Exodus by a committee made up in equal part of the Solcintran Houses, the dramliz, and the pilots. Transcribed in the margins of expired trade manifests, the document ran approximately 85 pages and was little more than a protocol for shipboard life. The second edition, circulated twelve years after planetfall... - from the foreword of the 358th edition of the Code of Proper Conduct, published under the aegis of the League for the Purity of the Language, Kareen yos'Phelium, Clan Korval, editor and chair[6]

Thus did the Code evolve from a protocol for shipboard life, which became necessary because most passengers on Quick Passage had never left their planet before and didn’t know and understand the restrictions and priorities ship life placed upon them.

It is interesting that the Code preserved the Duty of Captain and of Passengers in its first chapter.

References[]

  1. ↑ Local Custom, ch 7
  2. ↑ From Every Storm a Rainbow
  3. ↑ Plan B, ch 2
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Daughter of Dragons in Dragontide chapbook, and in Liaden Constellation volume II
  5. ↑ I Dare Departing Teriste
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Scout's Progress, ch 34
  7. ↑ Trade Secret, ch 5
  8. ↑ Local Custom, chapter 16
  9. ↑ Local Custom, chapter 36
  10. ↑ Scout’s Progress, chapter 4
  11. ↑ Scout’s Progress, chapter 13
  12. ↑ Local Custom, chapter 28
  13. ↑ Mouse & Dragon, chapter 26
  14. ↑ Scout’s Progress, ch 24
  15. ↑ Local Custom, chapter 24
  16. ↑ Local Custom, chapter 2
  17. ↑ Mouse & Dragon, ch 5
  18. ↑ Neogenesis, ch 1, part ii
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