>>the population of Elamle have
>>a four tiered caste system in which the children of one caste will
>>enter the next higher caste (the kids of the nobles become farmers). A
>>Malkioni origin for the castes seems probable IMO although the culture
>>of the Elf Coasts is mostly pamaltelean.
> I do not believe that the Elamle cast structure is Malkioni in
>origin, though I suppose I could be convinced otherwise with strong
>arguments.
I'm not intending to suggest that the God Learners created the system. What I believe happened is that when the refugees dominated the Elf Coasts after the closing, they enforced their oppressive Caste System. Soon afterwards there was a native revolution and the erstwhile nobles ended up being peasants and everybody else got bumped up one caste as a typically Elamle compromise. After this system proved somewhat unwieldly, various refinements were made (such as redefining what a noble could and could not do) until they arrived at the mutally acceptable system that the Masloi have today.
BTW do the Flanchi have the same caste system?
>The idea behind their caste system is it ensures a benign
>government, because the nobles must look out for the farmers (because
>they are their own children). And of course, everyone but the nobles
>gets to see their kids advance and be better than they themselves were.
>Obviously, the "nobles" in Elamle aren't as high & mighty as in other
>nations, because approximately a fourth of all the folk are so-called
>nobles, which is too high a percentage to be a true aristocracy, but the
>noble class does make all the governmental decisions.
It seems to me that rather having the traditional western caste, the actual social system is much closer to the Solonic propertied classes of ancient Athens where most people (actually citizens) own some land but the upper classes get the larger and better plots of land.
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #316
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