Re: Broyan has enemies...

From: donald_at_...
Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2005 13:42:46 GMT

In message <20050706064624.38834.qmail_at_...> Denethor Hurin writes:
>>
>> It possible that Broyan could HQ to re-establish his kingship over
>> the whole area but it's going to have to be a big one to alter
>> the established belief that Ernalda took back the power of
>> rulership after the men proved they were unfit to hold it.
>
>Maybe, maybe not. Is it a belief established from the grass roots up or
>merely from the top down? If the later then you might find that
>Esrolians believe in "equal opportunity" every bit as much as their
>Heortling counterparts and don't really care that much just how their
>rulers are configured below the belt as much as their rulers would
>like. It also depends established in the grassroots the belief in the
>Sword and the Helm conferring legitimacy might be.

I'm thinking that any society that's been reasonably stable since the God's War is going to be based on beliefs largely shared by the majority of the society. The only thing that will change that are social changes probably triggered from outside.

>"I also
>> have the idea that Esrolia has a much bigger population than
>> either Sartar or Heortland so the Queens have much more community
>> support."
>
>Meaningless, since we're talking a question of legitimacy ala Max Weber
>here rather than one of conquest. If the Matriarchs have been too
>obnoxious in the way they pushed the doctrine of female superiority and
>in the way they ruled then we may count on a minimim of 60%-70% of the
>population having a vested interest in the overthrow of the Queens (If
>you're oppressed by a tyrant is the fact that she's a girl and you're a
>girl really going to make it any better? I'd bet on an answer of "no"!
>Given that Esrolia supports polyandry that might even make it worse).

That assumes that the majority of the male half of the population aren't satisfied with their position. From what I've read on Esrolia men are in a similar position to women in Europe until about a or two century ago. They don't rebel because they *believe* that they aren't to be trusted with rulership. Of course the minority who disagree are supressed ruthlessly.

If there's a tyrany then it's a pretty recent development or it would have blown up before now. I suspect like most systems of government tyrants arise and are deposed from with the system - forced retirement would appear the most suited to Esrolia.

Assuming Esrolia's system of government is unstable, which appears to be true, then we must look for a reason why it has recently become so. One possibility is that the Pharoah provided stability and a balance to the Queens, the other is Lunar influence. Lunar missionaries preaching sexual equality could well provide a catalyst for all sorts of unrest which in turn makes the Queens nervous and more repressive.

> A 2nd question of interest might be, of
>the main factions in Esrolia are there any who might have a vested
>interest in pushing Broyan as King in order to satisfy their own goals?
>(Why should we assume the Queens would necessarily be united on this
>one either?)

I haven't heard of any factions which might support Broyan, the most likely one to accept a male ruler would be the Red Earth Faction but they're aligned to the Lunars.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/