> Peter Metcalfe wrote:
> >"While Praxians do have clans, they are not fixated
> >on them as the Orlanthi are. The Players Book:
> >Genertela goes as far to state that the clans
> >are "loose and informal organizations which change
> >according to the needs and appeal of leaders" p12."
>
> Yea, I agree. Similarities and differences of the
> praxian clan structure compared with the orlanthi
> traditional one is something I`ve been trying to
> find out...
> But to the point; of course it doesn`t mean that
> praxian clans could not have a history with long
> traditions back in the time to the clan`s founder,
> or does it? The Elder Khans change but after all
> they act as a focus to religious powers of the
> clan`s Founder.
I agree with Peter on this. IMO, Praxian clans morph over time to a degree or at a pace not seen normally in Orlanthi society. Normally, an Orlanthi clan will be formed of particular bloodlines that are stable over time. Each bloodline has a collective of ancestors, and the clan has a collective of ancestors. Things are different for Praxians, at least in my view.
First, the families that make up a clan are smaller, for one thing. If you put a widely extended family on one end of a spectrum and a modern nuclear family on the other, Praxians are closer to the nuclear end. I suspect that this means that, when a common ancestor dies, the single family may become multiple families headed by different people. Also, the fact that Praxians move around so much make it more difficult to keep in touch with distant relations.
Second, the families may leave a Praxian clan much more easily than a bloodline leaves an Orlanthi clan. The Praxian clan is much more centered around its two leaders and their charisma or leadership. If the leaders piss off the followers, the followers can just strike out in a new direction, though practical danger makes this step disfavored. Likewise, it is much easier for a family to join a Praxian clan than it is for a bloodline to join an Orlanthi clan. An Orlanthi clan almost adopts a new bloodline; the commitment is lower in Prax. The analogy might be more like buying property together than adopting a child. The constant coming and going means that the same families may not make up a clan a generation or two from now.
Third, I do not see that the clans have a founder and mutual ancestor like the Tribes do. There may be shared ancestors, which is a good thing, but is neither necessary nor sufficient. Praxian ancestors seem more individualized to me than the Orlanthi ancestors do -- Orlanthi ancestors act as a collective, but Praxian ancestors seem more like discrete spirits to me. In particular, the relationship beetween each individual and their ancestors may be different than that of the individual's sibling. I'm going to leave this mysterious (sorry). Suffice it to say, IMO, that each individual has favored relationships with particular ancestors, rather than all ancestors as a collective, and which ancestor is in the favored relationship is not determined by degree of blood-relations.
> >"Thus if a khan dies, the clan loses whatever
> >special khan magic he provided and gains the
> >special khan magic of his successor."
>
> Humm...even though they worship ancestors too?
Yes, but probably different ancestors, apart from the Tribal Founder.
As always, YGMV.
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