Editing Nobledark Imperium Member States (section)

===General Tarellian Society===

Describing Tarellian society in broad strokes is difficult task, as Tarellians — like humans — do not have a unified cultural baseline. The Tarellian planet of Maza’s decentralized rule by a Council of Tribal Elders is very different from the highly stratified society ruled by the Xibalaniqan mage-priests on Tikan, and so on and so forth. However, the following type of social structure is the commonest variant, practiced on the Tarellian homeworld after the Age of Strife as well as Nova Tarellia, the current cultural heart of the Tarellian Neo-Confederacy in the wake of Hive Fleet Kraken. In addition, this type of societal structure is present in some form on many of the lesser colony worlds founded by the Tarellians, most of which were settled by colonists from Tarellia during the time of the Tarellian Confederacy or as resettled refugees following the attack of Hive Fleet Kraken. Therefore, this particular social structure is the closest one gets to a “generic” picture of Tarellian society. 

The basic functional unit of Tarellian society is the hunter-pack — a group composed of several associated individuals from a military unit — and their offspring. Each hunter-pack lives in a 'hauden', a structure made of an artificial cement-like mixture that is part barracks, part homestead, and part domicile. Each pack is expected to be responsible for their own needs, be it producing and hunting their own food or maintaining their own equipment. The individuals that form a hunter-pack may or may not be genetically related, as hunter-packs are often at least partially composed of more familiar family units, but individuals may leave or join new packs upon bonding with another individual. Most Tarellians on Nova Tarellia and the colony worlds will be part of at least one pack at some point in their lives.

Tarellians are fiercely meritocratic. The leader of a hunter-pack is elevated to that position based on the consensus of their peers, usually on the basis of the glory they have won. The process of elevating one to a position of leadership is called “shield-raising”, so termed from the historical practice of raising the chosen leader upon the shields of the hunter-pack to symbolize both the unity of the hunter-pack and the worthiness of the leader; a prospective leader could not be hoisted on the shoulders of their comrades if the majority of the pack did not cooperate, and an individual could only be raised up if they trusted those around them. By these traditional values, individuals are not to be elevated to leadership status solely based on their ability to slay their foes, but rather on their perceived ability to lead and command others. No Tarellian wants to follow a leader they do not trust to make good decisions, after all. The leaders of a group of hunter-packs are then organized into their own group, who choose their own leader, and so on and so forth until one reaches the highest levels of Tarellian society. As a result, every Tarellian is aware of their place in the social hierarchy at all times, but it is a societal structure that allows for a great deal of social mobility and individual say. These meritocratic ideals are present on many other worlds, like Tikal and Maza, even those which differ dramatically in social structure. Maza, for example, has little social organization beyond a Council of Elders drawn from the Matriarchs of each tribe, but nevertheless retains this meritocratic tradition in various forms.

This system makes the division between civilians and military in Tarellian society exceedingly murky. Almost every adult Tarellian is capable of picking up a weapon and defending themselves in times of war — although the same thing could be said of many human and almost all Eldar societies as well. Does this mean the Tarellians are nothing more than an authoritarian system where civil society is merely an outgrowth of the military? Or is Tarellian society primarily a civilian militia that simply happens to be organized into a highly stratified fashion? Tarellian leaders are subject to the will of their citizens, something which is typically not present in a military dictatorship. An argument could be made for either. The Tarellians would say those who debate such things are far too fixated on the details, it is what it is and should be considered on its own merits.

The meritocratic nature of Tarellian society is one reason for the Tarellians' dislike of the Imperium. While not ungrateful that the Imperium was willing to provide assistance in the rebuilding of the Neo-Confederacy, they do not appreciate the Imperium summarily imposing their will on them afterwards. The idea of having a leader imposed on them, rather than chosen, is to the Tarellians something akin to an immoral or taboo act. If the Imperium had presented the rescue of the Tarellian race as evidence for their ability to perform as leaders, some Tarellians might have even considered this enough of a valid argument to voluntarily shield-raise them. But the Imperium did not. Instead, they unilaterally assumed control. As social pack-hunters, the idea of unfamiliar outsiders having power over them on any level is vexing.

This long-standing issue dominates Tarellian interactions with the greater Imperium. Tarellians are well known for their caustic, contrarian attitudes in Imperial politics — though despite their stereotype of being bitter and grumpy, Tarellians are more than capable of forming positive relationships with individual humans (Tarellians have a rather common saying that roughly translates to “beyond more than two degrees of separation in the chain of command, everyone is a grunt”). Rather, the political actions of the Neo-Confederacy are due to the Tarellian custom of subordinates being expected to voice dissenting opinions to the leader of their hunter-packs, for the dual purposes of ensuring their leader is both answerable to those they command and open to the ideas of their subordinates. To the Tarellians, their contrarian behavior is smugly considered to be fair play. After all, since humanity waltzed in and declared themselves in charge, they'd best take charge — and everything unpleasant that accompanies it.