What most Centorin people know of Kassidor is really only the city of Kassidor Yakhan, known as Kassidor City thruout most of human space. A few have seen some of the Elven Highlands surrounding it. This area has many cultural similarities with other basins of the planet, but vast differences also. In fact there are more cultural differences within the Lumpral basin of Kassidor than there are in the remainder of human space.
A couple things common to the entire planet that a first time visitor will notice immediately are the quiet and the dark. To someone from Centorin the quiet will be almost eerie. There are no mechanical sounds at all. Footwear is softer, and many people have none. People speak with softer voices and the language is softer than Centish. There are no advertizing sounds or lights. The light of Kortrax is duller and redder than Alpha Centauri and in the dark of the week, even what is considered 'brightly lit' by the natives is not bright enough to meet minimum Centorin safety codes. In the Yakhan there are gas lanterns and bioluminescent panels but in much of the Highlands and in all of most basins a single candle somewhere in the house is the only light for all of Nightday.
This section will focus on the aspects of the culture of the Highlands that are common to all basins, with some note of what is different in others. In the geography section of this reference there will be mention of the cultural peculiarities of the respective regions with their maps. Even at that, we can only scratch the surface because an entire volume could be written on the traditional folk dress of any random valley in the Lumpral basin and the ceremonies that are tied to it. Four thousand cookbook titles are published yearly in the city of Zhlindu. More books could be written on the dances of the Borgoth tribe and still more on the symbolism in the tapestries woven in the castles of Yondure.
This handbook is written as if visitors to the planet are male. This is not because women are unwelcome on Kassidor, quite the contrary, they are more welcome than any other planet in the Empire. The guide is written this way for two main reasons. The first is the difficulty women have getting here, since it is illegal in most of the Empire, no wife or daughter of an Alpha would ever be permitted here by their House and few others can afford it. The second and more important reason is that many Centorin women are very uncomfortable here. Not only is the world rough and primitive by the standards of Centorins of privilege, but the psyches of the inhabitants have been modified so there are no dominant males, leaving most women of the Empire unable to find satisfaction. Women who are able to get here and able to adapt to complete and total equality have enjoyed the experience.