Peter:> Although the medieval parallel is always there, I've tended to
> infuse the castes with other concepts. The first is the Indian
> _varana_ that Terra's already mentioned. The second is to
> emphasis their sacred nature - after all, if god created them
> then the castes must be something more than a social
> encumbrance. The third is to play up the privileges and
> responsibilities of each caste in legal terms so as to give them
> a quasi-classical and logical basis.
Yes, I need such analysis. I waited you..... And Greg's short mention to Hrestol's quest Four Directions / Death Rune (Symbol of Crusade) / related to his fulfillment to Four Caste?, at last he found the sword "Justice of the Ages" in the court of silence. (Tales #13, RM p.13 See Gbaji's Case, Don't miss the resemblance to Humakt's myth, I think) As I wrote before, Greg didn't write much about Hrestol in RM.
>
> IMO Malkion created the Castes as he needed them and only
> afterwards was some structure placed on them. I think his four
> "sons" created the four caste scheme to bring order to Malkioni
> society at a time when Malkion was losing his grip. If we analyze
> Malkioni castes without restricting ourselves to the number four,
> the following picture emerges:
Hmm, I thought originally the four caste exist as six tribes, but it seems
my assumption was wrong.
See RM p.5
(Snip)
What I found most difficulty in the definition between
> SOLDIERS >KNIGHTS
> SORCERERS > VENERATORS
As Peter already suggested.
> So the Malkioni have to deal with nine (or fourteen) castes within
> the framework of a construct that only admits four. Although
> some decisions are easy (lumping the farmers with the citizens
> is fairly standard), others are extremely difficult (balancing
> sorcerers against venerators or soldiers against knights). No
> matter what decision is made, there is always going to be
> tension that could potentially plunge the society into chaos
> because the fit will never be perfect.
>
It seems that Four Corners Directions are mystically required.
> Knowing
> the Vadeli, it's probably perverse version of the original - a
> model, perhaps, is the Twisted Mentats of Dune.
Interesting suggestion. Sexual perversions? But I think they are worse and chose evil to maintain their immortality.
> Shouldn't the Axemen and Taxmen be members of the
> Ramalian Warrior caste rather than the Lords?
Maybe Jamie knows why because he wrote them as lords section (IIRC) and I should mention here that originally "The Impaler" was from Vlad Tepes of Wallachia (Original "Dracula") and Axemen "armas" were his infamous torturers / bodyguards......
About Loskalmi:
> I've used Overmen instead of Knights because the latter
> has already been defined as a military rank. Although
> most Overmen were once Knights, I do think it possible
> for devout Acolythists to become Overmen. I don't
> know how a Squire might become an Overman though.
Overman is a good concept what I want to talk. In my old high school world history, west europe and east europe have distinct different view to ideal of man, westrons prefer tough-guy a sort of knights, and eastern byzantines prefer monastery monks a kind of silent mystic....
> Lastly for the Safelstrans, the Arkati do not rule openly. They
> require an non-Arkati government to manipulate from behind the
> shadows. Thus their Caste system might look similar to other
> Malkioni.
I revised my chart...but it seems I should add your commentary to my page. As if You can read my silence, you wrote what I wanted to do but cannot.
Excellent.
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