My take would be that Esrolian men are all too well
aware of their emotional instability (their
grandmothers kept admonishing them while they were
growing up) and just as afraid, as the rest of society
about the dangers of their rule. Offer one of them
power and I would expect them to decline in favour of
female kin. There are probably even local tales like
'The day men ran the village' told as a cautionary
tale. Greg's Green Age Tales in Fourtunae Succession
like 'How men got useful' are very much the order of
the day.
Now outsiders my regard them as 'repressed' and seek
to undermine Esrolian culture for their own ends, but
cultural norms are often just as harshly supported by
the disadvantaged as the advantaged. Frx, women who we
might regard as oppressed by their choice of clothing
are often the first in line to throw stones (often
literally) at those whose dress standards are more
licentious. I expect that Esrolian men would
justifiably worry about any man who sought or had too
much authority, continually concerned that they might
'go off on one', and might seek to bring him to book
for everyone's good.
Of course player characters are always different...
"Give the kids tools, so they can go build their own houses; not the blueprint of what the houses should be." Tori Amos
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