A Cultural Summary of the Renascence Alliance Series
For readers of the Alliance Holiday Series, I would like to give a brief summary of the culture and customs of the Alliance Empire in case some wanted to know more but the ten-book series looks too daunting.
Relationship to Humans
The Alliance Empire is a large, powerful civilization that claims humans are actually Alliance people that were part of a science vessel that got lost and had to stay on Earth millions of years ago. When the Empire began to suffer from a demographic issue, not enough females were being born, the Empire made human women Alliance citizens so that Alliance men could marry them. However, being the Alliance Empire, no one bothered to tell human women, so it came as a shock when Admiral Tir just took all the crew members from the human starship Dakota back to the Capital Planet to become wives to Alliance maximum-class men.
Societal Structure
Society is made up of three classes of people:
• Maximum-class, the lawmakers, doctors, engineers, and military
• Middling-class, the people who deal with money, shops, and trade
• Slave-class, the moral guardians of the people (“slave” is an incorrect translation purposely put in human translators to make the Empire seem less appealing. “Angel” is more accurate, although humans do not have a precise word for this role)
Every Alliance person is born into a House and a position. No one chooses their occupation, but rather careers are assigned. It is forbidden to marry outside your class except in extreme circumstances, and moving class is almost as impossible. Alliance citizens who break these rules become "Outcasts" and live on a nearby planet called Reima Two.
If you want to read more about Reima Two, it is discussed in great detail in The Ward of House Rega.
You can identify which class someone belongs to by their hairstyle and dress:
• Maximum-class, black or navy blue clothing and long hair
• Middling-class, are allowed to wear and do their hair however they want
• Slave-class, shoulder length hair and green clothing, sometimes green and black
Identification is made even easier by ID necklaces that everyone wears that detail:
• Occupation
• House
• Religious Honors
There are strict rules for each social class reinforced by government fines and the slave class. Also, the Alliance people are deeply religious, worshipping a pantheon of deities, but the most important of them is the goddess of home. She is the supreme goddess because home and the Empire is seen as the most important aspect of Imperial life.
An Empire Run by Women
Women completely run the Alliance Empire. Throughout most of Alliance history, men were treated very unequally. This is prevalent in every section of Alliance life. Everything is set up for women, not men (except on starships). On the Alliance planets, all buildings are kept at higher room temperatures for women; chairs, tables, and computers are built with women’s dimensions in mind. Even when speaking, Alliance people will say “women and men, empress and emperor, goddesses and gods,” and so forth. Men are so unequal that they were not even allowed to be able to read until a couple of thousand years before Admiral Tir captures the Dakota. As such, they developed a men’s language to communicate secretly. Today this language is used on the Alliance starships and as part of the Contracts between women and men and not part of the translator program.
Alliance women do not leave the planets they were born on. This is because Alliance women see themselves as valuable and the Empire so important they would never risk their lives going elsewhere. So, it is a misconception in the galaxy that Alliance men rule the women, but in reality, it is Alliance women sending the men out to do their bidding, risk their lives and die in the galaxy defending the Empire and Alliance women. Often Alliance women even talk about men as expendable, over-emotional, not clever, etc. The human women from the starship Dakota struggle with this when trying to navigate Alliance society becuase on Earth in the 27th century men and women are equal.
On Alliance planets, the only men allowed to work there are men of the slave-class who serve as guards, trainers, priests, chefs, etc. Men who are doctors are only allowed to serve on starships. Middling-class men who are traders sometimes are permitted to work in restaurants or shops, but they are also mainly out in the galaxy on cargo ships managing the Empire’s trade. Maximum-class men always join the military.
Government
Alliance women make up almost the entire High Council, which rules the Empire. High Council representatives come from the maximum-class and are internally elected to represent their Houses. However, which Houses are represented changes frequently as other House members vote other Houses in and out based on their changing political power and stances every imperial year.
The Empress and Emperor are selected partly by hereditary means and partly won by merit. There are two or more (depending on which part of Imperial history is being discussed) Imperial Houses. From those Houses, two people can marry and petition to be the next Empress and Emperor if it is the right time for the Imperial Exchange. However, to keep things “fair,” the decision usually comes down to the man’s morality, which is determined by his ability to win duels to the death, which Alliance people feel are the gods’ way of communicating their wills to the people. The Empress and Emperor either retire every 200 years (the Alliance lifespan is 300 years or more) or are dueled out of office. The Imperial couple is seen as the supreme Mother and Father of the Empire. At any time, they can override High Council decisions and interfere in the personal lives of their citizens to “set things right.”
Marriage
Finding a wife is different for men of different classes.
• Men of the maximum-class only have certain times in their lives when they may approach a woman that they might court and marry. Because of this, they are very selective about which women they talk to, and many protocols must be adhered to before a couple decides to marry.
• Men of the middling-class have an easier time than those of the maximum class. Still, they also face the same problem of being away from the Empire for long periods, so they also show great discernment when approaching eligible women.
• Men of the slave-class live alongside women of the same class, so their courting and marriage ceremonies differ greatly from the other two classes. They have a lot of time to make a choice, and they have the opportunity to know and understand women more than the other classes of Alliance men. In this way, middling-class men and maximum-class men see slave-class men as the luckiest to always live with their wives and in the Empire.
All marriage ceremonies are different as well. In the book, Restaurateur of the Alliance Empire, Chef Jade marries a man from each Alliance class, and each type of marriage ceremony is detailed there.
Health, Sex, and Religion
Health, sex, and religion all play intertwined and important roles in Alliance culture. First, people are expected to be healthy. The government will fine or physically punish people who become overweight, all of which is kept track of by the government. And in accordance with that, maximum and slave-class people only eat at certain times of the day, or they will be fined and may only eat certain foods. Middling-class people are allowed more freedom as it’s understood that in doing business in the galaxy, you must be able to eat at all times and all things. Second, sex is something that Alliance people feel they must have at least twice a week to be healthy. This is easy for members of the slave-class, who are always with their partners but not so much for the other classes. This means that there are a lot of sex holos floating around, usually of their husband or wives, and on starships, there are slave artists and on planet women’s spas. This is not seen as cheating, but some couples choose to have binding tattoos making it physically impossible to have sex with anyone other than their husband or wife. Third, religion holds this society together. The belief that they are predestined and that every decision they make is a decision set out by the gods. So every surprise isn’t a surprise. It is meant to be. This is especially strong in finding a husband or wife. They believe that the gods separated men and women and that you are constantly looking for your soulmate. There are few arranged marriages in the Empire as that would go against the gods.
Conclusion
I have only covered the most basic characteristics of Alliance culture from the Renascence Alliance Series, but if you want to know more, the books are always in Kindle Unlimited, and you do not have to read them in order. I have heard that reading the books in the following order is the most rewarding:
Book 2, Married to the Alien Doctor
Book 4, Married to the Alien Admiral of the Fleet
Book 5, Abducted by the Alien Pirate
Book 6, Restaurateur in the Alliance Empire
Book 7, The Ward of House Rega
Book 8, The Disciple of the Alien Goddess of Home
Book 1, Married to the Alien Admiral
Book 10, Seven Days on the Capital Planet
Book 9, Jewelry and Couture of the Alliance Empire
And remember, the Alliance Holiday Series takes place 600 years before the Renascence Alliance Series, and some cultural customs may vary.
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