jamesjhawkins wrote:
> A few people have mentioned Uz marriages and the family unit. MGV:
>
> I imagine that if you're an Uz your family consists of:
<snip>
> with fathers not playing too much part.
IMO, while fathers don't play the most significant role in a family, mum should still keep 'em around. After all, males should be contributing food, protection and labor to the family -- why let the buggers sneak off and loaf? Sure, they *want* to, but...
I think if a female can, she (and her fellow wives, if such) will try and keep the husband(s) around. Even when the males are out doing dangerous jobs like soldiering, guestworking, mercenary work, the family is presumably getting a cut of the pay. Males lack the leverage to just sneak off (usually).
Why? 'Cause wifey has a lot more "oompf" in the KL cult, in all likelihood, and can make trouble for her husbands if they piss her off. (After all, to keep the ties to KL strong, you have to worship at your *home* clan, or get a dispensation). Of course, every family will have their own arrangements.
Another reason why those ZZers are untrustworthy husbands: they have cult ties to a cult that's a bit more flexible on such issues, and where the fems have a lot less power. So you can't threaten to cut off the magic, darn it.
There's a really nice Sandy Petesen bit from the Glorantha Digest (or RQ Digest...?) on fathers from long ago -- e-mail me off-list if you'd like it. A nice bit on love and responsibility.
> Also, I don't really see male Uzko as husbands, generally. They
> fertilise, maybe stay around a while for companionship, then move on
> or go back to soldiering or whatever other dangerous activity they do
> all day.
>
> Further to my original mail, I suppose a male Uzko who had fathered
> only Uzko, rather than Enlo litters, would be regarded as a
> desirable "stud".
Depends on the uz clan if they've made that connect, I think, and (IMG) I think only uz with a *lot* of familiarity with hoomans may have puzzled this one through. IMG, male uzko have about squat to do with reproduction *aside* from helping to take part in the big Fertility Rituals (e.g., the orgies) and such. Males only are involved because of Korasting's Woe -- after all, she and Kyger Litor didn't need no man to procreate the first uz!
So males were basically surplus to requirements, and Kyger Litor made 'em mostly to be good sons and do what she said. Once that bastard Yelm Komosha trapped Korasting in his False Hells, though, females lost a lot of power and lost part of the apppropriate rituals, and for the first time had to get the help of males in order to conduct the great rituals. (Up till then, it was just *recreational* sex).
I've got a myth lying around for this somewhere, I think.
(Of course, this doesn't meant that the biological act *isn't* important, but IMG it's MGF to stress the magical aspect. And, by god, there's a few female uz looking forward to the day they get Korasting out, can reproduce without the males, thank you, and go back to shoving them around even more. All hail sexually alternative uz!)
Cheers,
James
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