>From: Kmnellist_at_aol.com
>Subject: Re: Praxian Exogamy
>
>In a message dated 2/26/00 0:00:44AM, you write:
>
><< A more pressing question is whether Praxians are exogamous or
> endogamous. Given that individual tribes can be fairly small, endogamy
> seems dangerous for the long-term viability of the tribe. Rather, they
> seem more likely to practice exogamy, with the men transferring from one
> tribe to another upon marriage. The tribe retains the females in order to
> maintain the herd size, since otherwise marriage would reduce the herd
> size, which in turn could endanger the survival of the tribe. If a man
> wishes to live with the tribe he was born into, he needs to capture a bride
> in a raid. >>
>
>I am not convinced that a 'normal' Praxian marriage would be outside the
>tribe because various tribes need to have certain characteristics(think Rhino
>Rider and Impala). A Rhino Rider could not really marry an Impala woman and
>move into her tribe - he, or his children, would squash his new herd beasts.
>Hence, I think 'most' Praxians marry within their tribe, but outside their
>'clan'. The exceptions, which would be quite common, would be children of
>slaves, captives, oasis people, foreigners etc. which would possibly be
>excepted as part of the tribe, or not, depending on their size/suitability. I
>am kind of assuming Darwinian genetics here (on the inheritance of size frex)
>but think they should hold true(ish) in this case. The different tribes DO
>have differing characteristics (other than size) which have been described in
>various sources so they are, to some extent, inbred. The degree of inbreeding
>though would be no more (IMO) than amongst sedentry farmers who never travel
>very far from their home village.
I was under the impression that 'clan' referred to 'national'
groupings like Impala and Rhino riders, and that 'tribe' referred to the
subgroups, such as the Blackstripe Zebra tribe and the Whitestripe Zebra
tribe. That was my intent as I wrote the above. If I reversed the
terminology, my apologies. Your critique about size issues is certainly
correct, and is no doubt one of the factors that prevents interbreeding
that might reduce friction between the nations.
Andrew E. Larsen