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[Louella Dougans]

Don't do it in the street and startle the horses.

[Karmilla Strife]

Re: the exotic dancer description. Who is to say the Amarr think the same body parts are taboo? Perhaps it's the public act of exposing that is sinful, not the part exposed. I think it's the act of revealing flesh, which degrades the dancer and tempts the audience to sin, not the flesh itself that is sinful.

The statues in the Amarr CQ expose a significant amount of the subject. Amarr female clothing options include bare arms which are taboo in some beliefs. I don't have in-game access to confirm right now, but the Noble exchange skirts show a bit of leg as well.

Amarr (especially with the old avatars) have very ornate patterns of decoration. Their clothing options are richly decorated and patterned. Their facial markings and headdress' are ornate. This, and their frequent use of statues as decoration, points to both their vanity, and an appreciation for the human form.  If they consider the human form to be divinely created, why wouldn't they celebrate it? Alternatively I could see arguments in favor of more "prudish" covering up in order to preserve the integrity and dignity of human beauty.

Re: drinking.

The Theology Council makes a lot of booze, this to me speaks volumes as to their opinion of it. The Empire makes a lot of grain, some of which likely becomes drink. There was an article on the wiki about a type of grain that the Amarr revere and they forbid the Matari slaves from making moonshine with it. We can see a huge supply of alcohol, presumably there is a matching demand.

The Amarr also frequently make use of drugs as a form of control. These drugs frequently, and in the case of blue paradise, exclusively, have pleasant side effects for the user. This shows to me that the Amarr are very aware of intoxicants and use them as a tool. If they viewed intoxication as sinful, why would they give the most potent intoxicants to the segment of their population which they view as most in need of absolution? Regarding the above mention of forbidden moonshining, if I remember the article correctly, it only became illegal when a slave beat a holder. Again, we have evidence for action being sinful, not a substance or natural property.

Another subject regarding space prudishness. The wiki mentions that the Ni-Kunni used to be polygamist and the Amarr "fixed" that. So we do have evidence that the Amarr view marriage to multiple partners as sinful or at least culturally disruptive (probably both).

There most likely are communities within the Empire with stricter interpretations of what is proper and allowed. However, I think it's much more interesting if there was more to the faction than religious prudes in space.

EDIT: the moonshine mentioned above was Firwa http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Firwa

[Lunarisse Aspenstar]

I think it's most accurate to say that the Amarr value everything in moderation (at least publicly).

There is nothing wrong with drinking or having a party, or any number of other social activities as long as it maintains expected levels of decorum and decency. Public nudity is obviously a no go, sex is something that should be considered private and stay that way, etc.

I don't see any justification for them not having a good time and enjoying the lives they live, rather I see them focusing on maintaining a measure of decency and practicing moderation when it comes to the consumption of alcohol and their behavior.

What Sepherim, Art of Light and Silas said. i think it's a matter of decorum and context, e.g. moderation/setting.  The object itself is not sinful, the abuse of it is.  Sort of the difference between Catholics/Baptists on Alcohol.  That being said, it's a large empire and I am sure there is more than one take in the Faith. 

As for Luna putting this in practice, she enjoys her wines and her Uncle his Brandy and cigars, she matchmakes for same sex as well as opposite sex relationships,  likes to wear flattering outfits that on paper are modest but in appearance definitely quite attractive, will let her guard down in private or semi private matters, and her main issue with the jello wrestling was the tacky spectacle of it all (and how it ended of course).  Moderation and decorum!

[Makkal]

Don't do it in the street and startle the horses.

Post thief steals Makkal's post.

You don't have to be a saint, but make sure you're discreet.

There's nothing wrong with sitting back with friends drinking and enjoying yourself. Some Amarrians might even party hard. But showing up to work the next day looking like something the cat dragged in? Not okay. Getting drunk in public and making a fool of yourself? Not okay.

[Jade Constantine]

[Bacchanalian]

+1 reputation to you sir. 

I wish I could still find the Caldari one.

[Jade Constantine]

+1 reputation to you sir. 

I wish I could still find the Caldari one.

That poster never goes old

[Sepherim]

No, it never does. Still brings a smile to my face like the first time it was posted.

[Silas Vitalia]

+1 reputation to you sir. 

I wish I could still find the Caldari one.

That poster never goes old

Not kidding I linked those posters IC in the summit yesterday sharing the tale

[Esna Pitoojee]

While the posters are quite hilarious, I don't think they're terribly good examples of Amarrian "un-prudishness". They were created to mock or insult actual Amarrian characters - if such things were more common in the Empire, even as a hidden subculture, why bother using it?

Anyhow, I thought of something else that gives us a slight insight, although I'm unsure of how much IC we should take it: During the 2012 fanfest trailer, we get a brief shot of Jamyl walking with one of her advisors. The dress she is wearing is not exactly nun-chaste, but still covers up everything and probably would not raise to many eyebrows at any mixing of modern western political leaders.

On the other hand, I'm not exactly sure they were thinking about Amarrian dressing habits when making the trailer, so...

[Silas Vitalia]

I think the films were a joke, and not supposed to be Amarr in origin

BY THE WAY THIS IS AWESOME

https://store.eve.com/posters/amarrian-poster-122

[Graelyn]

That poster looks amazing.

Wait, it's only 2 feet wide??  ffs.

Anyways...yeah, this subject is always tricky. Too many folks do bring their RL religious ideas (and prejudices) into play, which is understandable. At the same time, PF doesn't always give us the answers we need to speak authoritatively on the subject.

I've tried to work around needing any right answer on the subject via the application of SCOPE.

Almost half of Humanity resides in the Empire, a massive sprawling mega-state run not by a brutally efficient central authority, but a menagerie of patchwork powers. Simply put, what is considered 'vile and disgusting' on one world, ruled by it's Holder and influenced by his/her values, can be completely different to how they go about their lives even one planet down the way. In a nation of a million islands, the local chief can eat or fuck whatever his honor pleases. The Theology Council steps in when there's a threat, not when Uncle Azod crop-dusts the pastor's wife, ripped out of his mind on harvest brew.

Behavior in the Empire is not homogenized. Just like most other places, one half is always judging the other half. Kadoris hate Murkonites, and Hedion is a shitheap compared to Fair Mekhios. Long may it ever be, eh?

(Mind you, Grae's a filthy-mouthed and minded old fuck, and he seems to clean up alright among the devout. It's all about timing, I say.)

[Reinheart Novan]

Bit late to the game, but..

Given the hierarchical nature of society I've felt it would be highly contextual too. Rein as being from a merchant family may happily get on the turps and carry on with others of that standing but enter a holder and it would be a very different face he'd put on. Likewise people may go down to the seedy side of town to have some action of a type they would not share with their same class. Safe in the knowledge that no low class is going to mouth off about or if they did no one would give a festy rats arse. After all that's why commoners are there and no nice Amarrian would do that and what else should a chap do if a chap has an itch what!

Contextually I had a run in along those lines last night. In attempting to divert attention from a faux pas with a holder Rein asked Lunarisse about a retreat she had mentioned going on. He sees her as something of a social equal so a question on personal pursuits of that nature seemed ok. She said in few words it had been a spiritual retreat which he pursued focusing on getting his buttocks out of the fire. However, she mentioned it was because of something at jello wrestling know Rein has no knowledge of that IC (or I OOC for that matter) so he jumps to a conclusion involving a nice Amarrian debasing herself in front of masses. Now thats fine, after all a bit of fun in the rough who doesn't hey. But there is a Holder in the discussion. Now as far as Rein is concerned he has just ruined Luna's reputation and standing by bringing that up when there was a better in the room. Would have been fine otherwise but, by hokey, he feels bad now.

So yeah context, if that had been equals it would have oh my! How much fun was that? But with betters that's a terrible thing. Again the Victorian analogy seems suitable rather than Extreme space Catholics/Wahhabism

[Gaven Lok ri]

Its an interesting topic.

The general idea that its public vs private and contextual has always been my interpretation. The carnivale reference is quite valid, a society cannot be as oppressive as Amarr and not have social anxiety outlets of some sort.

I would suggest that the 19th century idea of "of ill-repute" is also at play. This is the (extremely sexist) idea that a woman who is found in certain contexts is guilty of prostitution simply by proximity to certain classes of people. IE a woman at a 19th century saloon is by default of ill repute and is to be treated as such legally.  So on and so forth.

Now Amarr does not have the sexism aspect as far as I can tell, but I think the basic category works. If you act in a certain way in certain contexts you risk losing your status as "of good repute." Easiest way to do this is to be overly friendly in public with those who are "of ill repute." The other way to get labeled negatively is to do something "unbecoming" in a context where it gets talked about. What is "unbecoming" seems to me to be quite fluid and based on the social situation at the time.

Another historical metaphor that works fairly well is Athenian Kalos k'agathos, basically translated as "the good and the beautiful." This is what they called people who were of decent standing in Athenian society. The interesting thing about the category of the good and the beautiful is that people who were of extremely high familial background could never lose that status. If you could trace your family back to Theseus or something like that, you might get exiled, but you would never outright lose your good name. Now for people who were not so well established, say only a few generations of citizenship, they had to work hard to look the part. Every day in the gym to get the beautiful part, doing all of the civic duties to make sure people think they are good, and absolutely never doing anything that might be considered "imprudent."

What this sort of a model means for Amarr is that the Religious Reclaimer and Liberal Holder background people socially should have a massively larger amount of social leeway before their actions are considered "improper." Whereas the Commoners, Khanid and Ni'Kunni should be completely obsessed with proper appearances and absolutely aware of any slight against their status as a true Amarrian.

[BloodBird]

Gaven 

Welcome Back, assuming I'm not wrong on who I think you are.

If I am, welcome.