: Re: How to present an alien culture with different morals, without it coming across as savage? For a fiction story of mine (probably fantasy, if I had to categorize it), I've set it in a world

@Moriarity138

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I think the best tool in your toolbox towards this aim is probably language. A lot of how we view something is in how it is described. The culture you are describing sounds very formal, polite and ritualized, even if the acts they are committing are brutal --not unlike feudal Europe or Japan. So, it's a "duel for honor," not a "revenge killing." In this context, even death threats will be very, very polite.

It's worth noting that this technique is in constant real-world use. The actions of our own country are described with a very different vocabulary than those of hostile countries, and devalued cultures are painted as savages for the same actions that are glorified in favored cultures. When we do it, it's a "limited police action," when they do it, it's "unprovoked hostility." Our "glorious victory" is their "brutal massacre."

In general, I would expect this culture to be obsessed with "honor" --that is so often what we call ritualized savagery held in check by formalized structures, and/or a "civilized" predilection to violence. We may still find the values of a highly "civilized" violent culture alien, but we'll be much less likely to dismiss them as savages.

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