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Blood Status and the Pureblood Culture

 

Blood and Culture • Blood Status Muggle - nonmagical person with nonmagical parents Squib - nonmagical person with at least one magical parent Muggleborn - magical person with muggle parents Halfblood - magical person with a muggle in one of the last 3 generations (parent, grandparent, great-grandparent) Fullblood - magical person with no muggles in the last 3 generations Pureblood - magical person with no muggles in the last 7 generations • Pureblood Families The following are the only pureblooded families as far as played characters are concerned. A fullblood, halfblood, or squib may have relations that are pureblooded and from families not listed here, but we are limiting purebloods in play to: Avery, Bagman, Black, Bletchley, Bones, Bulstrode, Burke, Crabbe, Crouch, Dolohov, Flint, Gamp, Gaunt, Goyle, Higgs, Lestrange, Longbottom, Macmillan, Macnair, Malfoy, Mulciber, Nott, Parkinson, Potter, Prewett, Rookwood, Rosier, Selwyn, Smith, Travers, Weasley, Wilkes, Yaxley, Zabini Any character can, obviously, be full-blood, half-blood, or muggleborn, within reason (very few death eaters should be half-blood and none should be muggleborn; most other characters should be half-blood). • Family Mottos • Pureblood Culture The pureblood culture has been portrayed in canon as a wealthy, conservative society; we will expand upon those principles and we expect characters who consider themselves members of the pureblood society to conform to these standards, within reason. These are not hard rules - but they are the societal expectations. Family lines, courting, sex, marriage, children, and women's rights Pureblooded children are expected to carry on the family line with other pureblooded children, and arranged marriages are a common, but not overwhelming, occurrence. Procreation is considered an essential means of securing the culture against infiltration, so if your character is fervently anti-child or anti-marriage, (s)he must either be subtle about it or catch a lot of flak from relatives. Purist society is a sexually subtle society; though not necessarily sexually repressive, it certainly does not encourage its young people to experiment, or even openly discuss sexual behaviors, and all young people are expected to be 'innocent' upon their wedding night (though the reality of that expectation has waned over the past centuries). A purist character can have any sort of sexual history/present that you like, but as a matter of culture, it is considered exceptionally bad taste to flaunt that sexuality. In terms of women's rights, procreation and marriage are not the sole purpose of being a woman in purist society. Women are not bred and raised to be vapid baby machines and they are not enslaved by their families or husbands. Because children can easily be cast aside to nannies, there is no reason for a woman to be incapacitated once she has fulfilled her duty to her family name, but there is a great deal of pressure on women to act as the genteel face of purist society. They are expected to restrain themselves to the subtler side of politics and respectable careers, and they must be active participants in the society life in which they were raised. Despite her career, a woman's position on the social ladder is an important one, and family name is everything. Though women are relatively free to choose (or not) a path for themselves, the likelihood of being included in the well-established 'boys club' of Death Eaters is a very low one. We may accept one or two extra female death eaters, but please understand that Bellatrix Lestrange and Alecto Carrow are the exception, not the rule. Money and career Not all purebloods are fabulously wealthy. There are a few families that are annoyingly wealthy, but there are others that fall across the rest of the spectrum; most purists are upper-middle class, but some nobility will be poor - in parallel with traditional English hierarchy. Family name is more important than wealth in purist society, and the purity of one's lines is what makes a family name worthy. We would like to see purebloods with a range of fiscal backgrounds. Careers for men can be in nearly any field, though there are obviously some professions that are more desirable than others. Ministry work, diplomacy, consultations, investing, etc. would be on the more acceptable end of the scale, whereas 'blue-collar' work would be frowned upon. Women are free to work in any field as well, but there is considerable pressure to remain in 'feminine' occupations - soft politics, light ministry work, or non-menial business management. Because the lifespan of wizards is so long, familial wealth is gradually passed down after children come of age (17). Heirs (males in order of birth, then females in order of birth) may lay claim to family lands upon intent to marry. Families distribute dowries as they see fit. Etiquette, decorum, dress, and hobbies Purebloods are expected to live up to societal norms of behavior when in public with their peers. Most purists have received training of some sort or another (either through an elementary finishing school or simply at home) on proper etiquette, speech, and decorum. The majority of purists will have been schooled in received pronunciation - with the canon exceptions of the Carrows, Crabbe, and Goyle. More details below. Purist culture is relatively unaffected by the trends and fads of muggle culture; dress is typically conservative and the styles have changed very little over the past fifty years. Purists have the same sorts of hobbies as any young person, but we should not see pureblooded characters (with obvious exceptions like James and Sirius) with an overabundance of muggle references in their journals or otherwise, for two reasons. Pureblooded families have very little understanding of muggle culture and objects (think Weasleys) and purist families have no desire to dirty themselves with muggle objects. In order to draw a line, we are going to ask that anything after ~1850 in literature, music, and art be considered contemporary 'muggle' - anything before that is fair game for purists to reference (because we don't expect you to make up references to imaginary wizard texts unless you want to). We will live under the assumption that prior to ~1850, it is difficult to discern whether artists had magical lineage or not. Obviously if you'd like to make up references to text and music that is wizard only, we are thrilled for you to do so. Speech Purist society, with some exceptions, of course, ought to sound well educated, and would thus speak with received pronunciations, sometimes called 'standard english' or 'the Queen's English' (though it isn't, really). The following is a basic guide as to which sort of RP your character might speak: Conservative RP - First generation Mainstream RP - Second generation Contemporary RP - The very youngest purists may have some contemporary influences, but this accent is mostly attributed to the middle class.   Society Debuts or "Coming Out" Parties A young lady's formal introduction to proper society happens the summer directly after her graduation from school (in the past, these have been earlier, as some girls might not return to Hogwarts for their final year). A debut into society symbolises that she is now considered a woman in the eyes of the world, and is eligible to be married. Girls (and their families) prepare several years in advance for society debuts, which include learning how to walk, talk, and completely become a proper pureblood lady, with varying degrees of success. Debuts are held at one of the family's larger properties, and the girl traditionally wears a gown of ivory or off-white. She is presented to those in attendance by her father or another male relative, and the evening continues with dinner and dancing. Pureblood families with eligible children try to attend as many debuts in a summer as possible, to scope out competition and possible matches.