Sun County is a theocracy. It is also officially a meritocracy. All official, formal titles are governed by these two factors and no others: so you will never find a formal title which means "son of other important person".
That being said, several other factors muddy the waters.
Thus the Goldbreaths, mentioned as an ancient and noble family, are a
family with pure Sun County blood and unquestionable moral principles
(Jovian being a recent exception). The lands they have worked for
generations produce the mysterious "black gold" that makes them extremely
wealthy. Being wealthy, they can afford to educate their children well:
spear training rather than toiling in the fields gives one a much better
chance of making Rune level.
Solanthos on the other hand is partially of nomad blood, and does not have the wealthy background. He found it much harder to get to the top, and marrying money certainly helped.
When we look at levels in the middle, like village "rulership", the
authority will be, first and foremost, the local Yelmalio priest. For
martial matters, the senior warrior resident will be the authority
(probably a retired Templar, and probably the one out of those available
who retired with the highest rank). In other matters (such as which field
to plough when), authority will go to the man who has demonstrated the
best knowledge of the local fields. He will probably be from a family who
has lived in the area for generations, and the knowledge by which he is
judged is actually that of his wife. (Ernalda is the crop deity, not
Yelmalio). Looking at that last point, I'd guess that while women go to
their new husband's house, they probably don't travel far from their
homes to do so. Inbreeding will be common.
Does that help? I'm not convinced that the Pendragon class system fits Sun County, myself. It is rather like "ADD society where you get to be lord at 9th lvl" - but since you have to work to get that level, and have to do something about all the responsibillities once you've got them, I don't see any need for "yuck".
Incidentally, I think you'll find that Orlanthi clans work in roughly the same way; meritocracy with bias. Try reading the history of the Colymar in KoS to get some idea of how that works. It's closer than the Pendragon model, anyway.
Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/
Powered by hypermail