Matri-something clans

From: Jane Williams <jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 21:42:08 -0000


As Alex correctly points out, there is a difference between 'matriarchy" and 'matrilineage'.

As I understand the clan under discussion, they are matrilineal: usually. Most women of the clan will only agree to a marriage where the children join their clan. Of course, they don't have to marry in order to have children. Or the marriage could be a year-marriage. All sorts of options, really: as Alex says: the "seven forms" are only the most common options. Anything agreeable to both parties and fair to the children might happen: look at Sartar and the FHQ!

If a clan is matrilineal, and sees healing as more important than fighting, I would expect female chiefs to be more common than is the norm. I wouldn't expect a rule that chiefs must be female, any more than a standard clan has a rule that chiefs must be male.

The original suggestion that the clan consists *only* of women is one that I'm not convinced of as yet. Why, after all? For a Peace Clan (a rarity, as Jeff says) with a strong healing tradition to be femaledominated  is perhaps understandable: but why exclude men completely? I can't think of any Orlanthi religious reason for it, and a ban like that would have to be religious. Even the Esrolians don't go that far.

But, as I understand it, what Guy wanted was an excuse for an allmale  party of PCs to take part in a tribal-level contest and do some showing off. Fine. We don't need a female-only clan for that.

Let's say that it is the norm for people to marry someone from outside their own clan. (Outside their own *bloodline* is the actual rule, which isn't quite the same). How are they going to meet them? Interaction between clans is limited: raiding, and interaction through the tribal king. So we need some social events, set up at least in part to get people to meet each other. I'd suggest that for each tribe, there's an annual tribal celebration, at which the deeds of the tribal founders are re-enacted. Each city ring will have a city-level celebration. Any cult that takes more than one clan to support will have its own celebration (and you don't have to be an initiate to show up for the drinks, of course!)

At any of these, there will be drinking, showing off, and contests. That's what happens when Orlanthi get together. Formalise it as much or as little as your plot requires.

Maybe there's some local spirit that has to be appeased once a year, with bad consequences for more than one clan if it isn't happy. Let's see: this is a mountainous area, isn't it? Without looking at the map, I bet somewhere there's a point where a vital trade route goes through a narrow pass. The earth spirit who lives there has to be kept happy (by handsome young men), or the pass is closed by rockfalls. Quite what they have to do for her I have no idea: race up the mountain to place their offerings at the shrine at the top? Re-enact Umath's meeting with Kero Fin? (Offspring? Sorry, no idea.)

Placating Inora might be a good idea, too. And there we have the HoG myth to fall back on.

I'm sure I read a scenario somewhere about competing for the favours of a water spirit.

Clan names for the Kheldon: sorry, but "Kallyr's Companions" lists some clans and people that definitely aren't Kheldon. While the previously unknown clans *might* be Kheldon, they don't have to be.

The two BlackRock Companions, incidentally, are the Fireman and Insterid Fire-Eyes. Which makes me wonder if the whole clan, whereever it may be, has some Fire link, and leads on to speculation about coal mines. Probably time to stop :)

Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/


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