Alright, so I think I've figured out about half of the issues I've dealt with. I apologive for failing to keep up my daily update promise, I hit a few roadblocks and couldn't solve the issues until the source was dealth with.

Also, please don't push this towards completion, we've got more than plenty of time and, in the immortal words of Gaben: "A game will be late for a little while, but a game will suck forever."

Now, in regards to culture, there are two major things I was missing: basis of organization and basis of empathy. This will require some rethinking of themes, so bare with me.

The basis of organization is how networks form, creating the foundations of society. These exist in three known forms today: Kinship, Patronage, and Effectiveness(Better term pending).

Kinship has people form connection on familial ties, creating tribes and families. Because humanity started in small clan structures, our society is largely based around these ideas of family and blood-kinship. Case and point: All children in all cultures have care-takers that function as "parents." While in some cultures blood-ties are not nessicary for this, the concept of family spawns from these roots. Cultures that organize themselves along these lines are tribal and have to be small to retain blood-ties. There's alot of overlap with empathic kinship here.

Patronage is usually the next progression of society, organizing society in the form of debts and duties. The question is no longer one of geneology but one of who you owe. Usually this is where you see virtues of hospitality and general kindness enter the equation, as the concept of karmic "I scratch your back, you scratch mine," is the base. Some have pointed to the Roman Empire as little more than a huge patronage network that became so bloated that it could no longer support itself in the face of it's many enemies. This is very tied to class systems, which need to be discussed in further detail as well. In order for a society to advance beyond a semblance of patronage, class must also be dissolved at least partially. Most of the time you see a patron, who exists from a high position, performing acts of benefaction for his "clients," who then owe their patron. As silly as this sounds, watching "The Godfather" is probably the best way to get a solid grasp on the concept of patronage in it's purist form. This concept serves as a foundation for a miriad of more complex systems, including fealty (Love Theme).

Effectiveness is how we organize ourselves today. We do not concern ourselves with someone's geneology or even their debts and sacrifices, but with their ability to perform their job well. For example, democracy, despite the retorhic, works mainly as a way to determine someone's effectiveness at ruling, regardless of background. The issue being how quickly it falls into being a popularity contest, but effectiveness is the goal. This is also why giving preferencial treatment to people based on things outside effectiveness is seen as taboo in our society. (Ignoring basic issues of racism and the like.)

Alright, the other major factor in society is that of empathic connections. These are simpler but can include more options (given our understanding of societies). Basically: Who do you need to follow the rules with? Why can't you cheat X or kill Y? Why can't you deny X something that you wouldn't deny Z?

People have any number of basiseseses for this, and I imagine that alien races will have more than we do(Or could imagine for that matter), but they do shape culture very significantly down the line, so we might have to sacrifice number in favor of realistic effect. Best explanation here.

Thoughts?

I definitely like the three foundations of organisation, but we also need to think of more. And i was hoping to read more on the foundations of empathy in the game. How would these be mapped out? The same as in the video you linked to? family - religion - nation?