After the Sword and Helm wars the matriarchs realized that male leaders = would inevitably wage war and bring destruction to their people. By = putting ownership of land in the hands of women, and by reckoning = bloodlines by female descent to keep it in their hands, they established = firm control over politics. They still needed to protect themselves, = though. While many women became warriors they still needed men to serve = as cannon fodder - they could not endanger too many female lives. Also, = they needed a new way to prevent inbreeding, since their daughters now = stayed in their clan of birth instead of leaving when they married.
They changed marriage customs, as we know; men have to relocate to their = wife's clan. However that only solved half the problem. The queens = were still dependent on their husbands for protection, and still had to = deal with the violent escapades of their teenage sons. This was fixed = by introducing two new institutions. First they began to demand large = bride-prices for their daughters, assuring that only the richest = families would be able to marry off their sons as they reached maturity. = Secondly they started to hire mercenaries. Those young men trying to = save up a bride-price could apprentice in a trade with an urban guild or = find employment in independent mercenary companies. Those companies = were hired by the tribal queens - traditionally from different regions, = so that the men were separated from their families. Removed from all = kinship ties, they had loyalty only to the matriarchs who paid them and = who could arrange marriages to the local women. They protected the = women against both outsiders and their own husbands.
The troops' loyalty was limited by their greed, of course, so they were = never particularly war-like. Those few who liked the military life, or = who sought more freedom than the society offered them could pursue a = career in the ranks or hire out to foreign kings - an important outlet = for frustrated and ambitious men who would otherwise create problems = domestically (such as player characters.) The rank and file, though, = were more concerned about saving their wages and striking an imposing = figure to impress the ladies. I think they are subject to the = Sukhomlinov effect (the army with the prettier uniforms usually loses a = war,) as well as lack of training due to quick turnover. The companies = loaned them money for their initial equipment, but few mercs spend their = savings on improving their gear; the extra expense only delays their = retirement. Thus they are ill-equipped as well as inexperienced.
Hired by tribal queens, they garrisoned the land on a local scale and = did not form large scale armies in normal circumstances. Thus the = queens rarely pursued war with outsiders, even to the point where = raiders were not pursued back to their bases. If the queens wished to = lend their support they could always provide mercenaries to another = army; this thinned the herd of men and assured that the chaos of war = would happen outside their borders rather than within. Of course too = many mercenaries could cause problems, so occasionally they had to be = sent to a slaughter like the Lion King's Feast ...
--__--__--
Powered by hypermail