The Culture Column
It is populated by representatives of every major criminal organization in the world, and descendants of the same, and a small amount of Tibetans who may, or may not, be descendants of the original inhabitants of a city which may, or may not, have once been something other than a city-state of lawbreakers.
The Minor Assumptions Here
As you've seen, each culture write-up assumes a few things, most of them easily changeable, so that developing it is possible at all. In this case, while Shangri-La obviously exists in Earth, it's also important to note that it is being written up as it exists in the modern era. When there are significant differences between Shangri-La as it stands now, and as it was at some point in the past, a note of this is made, but the city has a certain timeless quality to it; most of the things which change are transient at any point, like fashion, and even so they often still take the same pattern.
Social Structure
At the very bottom of society are the Tibetan marmi mdangs who, some say, are the descendants of the original inhabitants of Shangri-La. They themselves are divided on this issue. Their low standing comes from the fact that, as a people, they do not have connections to any organizations of influence. Everyone else in Shangri-La is there because of some connection, however distant, to a criminal organization. This general low standing can translate into active prejudice, with the feeling that the marmi mdangs are inherently inferior, but there is nothing which strictly prevents them from achieving power in Shangri-La, although no marmi mdang has ever been recognized as a Power. 1 in 8 people in Shangri-La is a marmi mdang. Racism is alive and well in Shangri-La on both sides of the fence, and is principally concerned with keeping the blood unmixed between the marmi mdangs and the rest of the population. Without it, the native Tibetan population would likely have been integrated into the rest of Shangri-La's population, which mixes amongst itself more or less regardless of ethnicity.
Above them are the Businessmen, or "transients," who are those who do not live in Shangri-La permanently, and instead stay for short periods of time. They usually act as go-betweens for Shangri-La and the criminal empires run by its inhabitants. They are also those who bring in the imports. Despite the fact that most Businessmen do not stay for more than a few days at a time, the flow is enough that about a fifth of the entire population of Shangri-La is transient.
Seconds and Thirds are quite flexible in where they are placed in the social ladder, having more natural influence and authority than the Businessmen by dint of the fact that they have lived here all their lives and can interact with it in a manner that the Businessmen could only dream of, but the proportion of highly-placed, greatly powerful people among them is not as high as it is with the Settlers. While the term "Second" (for "second-generation") applies only to those who have a Settler parent, the term "Third" is not applied only to third-generation inhabitants of Shangri-La, but when both of the person's parents were born in Shangri-La. While Seconds are almost always involved in the business of one parent or another, Thirds (by being both more common and more removed from the business which brought their Settler ancestors to Shangri-La) are the most likely of any of the classes to just own a restaurant or a pawnshop, or something else. About three-fifths of the population is made up of
Settlers were not born in Shangri-La, but moved there permanently. Of the three permanent classes, it is the Settlers who are most likely to travel beyond Shangri-La for any reason at all. There are relatively very few of them (less than ten percent of the population), and they are typically favored lieutenants of the Powers who were rewarded with a place in Shangri-La, or else married to citizens of the city. In a manner of speaking, they are the most powerful group overall, even though all but one of the Powers are led by Thirds, since they have the highest proportion of powerful individuals.
Technically speaking, nobody needs patronage in order to settle in the city. Practically speaking, however, it is very hard to acquire a permanent residence, and a means of acquiring a steady source of income, and so nearly everyone who settles in Shangri-La is either incredibly rich (very rare, as it's more likely that they would have gotten patronage by this point) or is working for someone who has cleared a space and secured a job for them.
The Gentlemen's Agreement
Shangri-La is the city of the lawless, and it is fitting, thus, that there is no law here. There is, however, the Gentlemen's Agreement, which amounts to much the same thing, except that it is entirely voluntary. Of course, if you do not adhere to the Gentlemen's Agreement, you are not protected by it.
People display their willingness to adhere to the Gentlemen's Agreement by placing a tattoo on either their face, their hand, or their shoulder (among women, a growing fashion is to have the tattoo center around one eye or the other). The tattoo is firstly a series of four concentric circles, but coloring is variable, and additional ornamentation and design is permissible. Because the tattoo can be concealed, it is best to assume that any given person has the tattoo.
Those who do not bear the tattoo are neither protected nor restrained by the Gentlemen's Agreement, and can do as they please. Choosing this course is not very popular, however, because one can also be done unto as others please, and many influential groups take great pleasure in hunting down anyone who makes trouble for them. The Gentlemen's Agreement details the many different crimes which are possible (a certain degree of loose interpretation is sometimes taken when advances in modern technology make new forms of breaking the Agreement possible) and the punishments for each. A group called the Keepers of the Gentlemen's Agreement, or simply the Keepers, are employed by various groups to put forth most of the legwork and investment of time into tracking down and dealing with those who would break the Gentlemen's Agreement.
It is also assumed that anyone who steps foot into the Business Districts of Shangri-La, where the transients spend most of their time, have agreed to act under the terms of the Gentlemen's Agreement, in order to do away with the need for the Businessmen to take the tattoo.
The Powers
The Gentlemen's Agreement is enforced half by the weight of an entire city not only willing but eager to take advantage of anyone who would break the Agreement, and half by the force of the Powers, those groups in Shangri-La who are universally recognized as being the prime authority in the city. They are not officially its rulers in a technical sense, but each of them has the power to break Shangri-La if they so choose, and also to restrain any such attempts from either the other Powers or those below them. Accordingly, the Powers are in a place to ensure that their interests are taken care of. They cooperate with each other in order to prevent anyone from throwing their weight around at other Powers, which would incite reciprocation and in the end be wasteful, and also to stay in a position of strength and cooperate with each other so that all parties can benefit.
There's not much to becoming a Power. One simply declares that one's familyó the status is almost always applied to a family, which can run many organizations, rather than any one organizationó is a Power. After that, anyone who feels miffed by the new upstart, or who wants the prestige of being able to say that they brought down a Power, will shortly get to work, and the current Powers themselves will likely take it upon themselves to test their possible new companion. Eventually, the Powers will come to the conclusion that it is time to include another in their regular meetings, or else things will continue until there is one less family in Shangri-La.
There are currently six Powers in Shangri-La. One is a single individualó not simply the current head of the family, but that one man. The Devil Doctor, a man of indeterminate Oriental origin and a brilliant mind for poisons and plots, is several hundreds of years old, and has always managed to stay one step ahead of his enemies. Two families are British in origin, a third is German, and a fourth is French, but the bloodlines of all of them have become significantly muddled since becoming entrenched in the city Shangri-La. The last of the Powers, which has been established since the 1920s, is the company Dewey, Noir, & Howe, which principally deals with legal matters in the outside world, but has many other divisions, few of which are under its actual name. Since the death of the last senior partner Arpent Noir, in 1938, the company has been run by a group of eight directors, who maintain their company's status as a Power through an impressive number of contacts and information feeds which reach into all but the smallest of matters in Shangri-La.
The Height of Fashion
Fashion comes and goes in waves in Shangri-La, and while the native Tibetan dress once had an influence, even since the time of the Devil Doctor it has never been particularly strong, and it is waning still. Modern culture is never highly popular either (except among new Businessmen and Settlers who were never the former class before settling); it is generally felt that fashion needs a few decades to "age" before it becomes mainstream in Shangri-La, and current fashion is something of a hodgepodge of the 1970s, the Edwardian era, and the Nineteenth Century.
Norfolk jackets and homburg hats are popular among Businessmen who go to the city often, and also among many Settlers, who were generally frequent transients in the city before finding a place here. Businessmen prefer it for its ability to make their status distinctive amongst the masses (they're outsiders, but Businessmen are, by dint of their presence in Shangri-La, working for someone with ties to the outside world, which forces some respect) while not being "new" or "modern," which are both undesirable traits which label one as being a little bit too unknowledgeable about the ways of Shangri-La. Someone dressed in all the newest fashions will find himself considered a fool and an easy mark.
Since the 1960s, the zoot suit has risen in prominence among those directly working for the company Dewey, Noir, & Howe, or else working with it in some other fashion (contractors and consultants typically rent such a suit for the duration of their time with the company). This practice began in the decade previous, when it became associated with several members of the board of directors, and now it is used as a common means of displaying the fact that the wearer has connections to one of the six Powers in the city.
Sleeveless shirts and crop tops are often seen on both sexes, but these are outerwear, mere adornment for one's primary clothing. One bit of Tibetan fashion which has never gone away is overly long sleeves, which can reach anywhere from just beyond the hands to all the way down to one's knees. Bodices and bowl cuts have been common among the women for awhile now, while men typically wear blazers (often with the aforementioned long sleeves) or waist-length white jackets over sweaters or polo shirts. Men typically sport Caesar cuts, although bob cuts can be seen on both genders, as are gloves (usually tan-colored). Sideburns are worn without any other facial hair. One particularly noteworthy accessory, and one which is worn by both genders, is the chab chab, which is a piece of metal intended to hang from the shoulder of one's sleeve. Various tools such as toothpicks and knives (for filing the nails) hang from short, light chains on the chab chab.
Among many Second women, certain aspects of the Eighteenth Century are coming back. Mule shoes and outfits reminiscent of riding habits are a common sight on female Seconds, who frequently do up their hair in French braids or simply wear it loose, about a foot past their shoulders. Corsets are also coming back, but likely for an entirely different reason. Incidentally, there was a choice bit of scandal recently involving a prominent restaurant owner, a whip, and someone who was most certainly not his wife (it was brought to the public's awareness shortly after it was brought to his wife's awareness, who ensured in a fatal way that it would get further circulation).
With the resurgence in popularity of the Eighteenth Century, many unfortunate children are being fitted in sailor suits. Their parents appear to be utterly unconcerned with the fact that, quite likely, their children will not even see the ocean except in pictures, let alone ever have a need for a sailor suit. Knickerbockers are also still worn widely by children of both genders, as they have been for some sixty-odd years of steady popularity.
Green, yellow, and pink are the most commonly-used colors, and pink has been considered a masculine color ever since the 1940s (which, by happenstance, is when the rest of the world finally stopped considering it to be a masculine color).
Next Month: Nuclear power, outcasts, and frozen mandalas. Also: food and imports.
