> >Given the recent discussions on marriage and clans ... is one of the
> >factors in the move from clan to tribe as basic social unit the change of
> >marriage patterns due to Lunar settlement of Tarsh? As more people marry
> >incomers (and not their traditional clan marriage partners) the clan
social
> >unit becomes weakened.
Peter:
> Given that the Lunars have clans too, I think Pelorian clan traditions
> are being adopted rather than the clans being weakened.
"Clan" is a very versatile and vague label, and can cover a multitude of sins *esp* when people translate it between languages. The Tarshite word for "family", which in reality most closely resembles a Sartarite bloodline, may get translated into Sartarite as "clan", because that is its equivalent functional label. (One of the possible explanations for Illaro Blacktooth's tagline).
Certainly any large influx of new people and new customs is going to play hell with a clan-based marriage system - Sartar is just beginning to feel this (as well as the effects of a centralised, punishment-based law system based on abstract morality, money-based economy, Lunar/Solar notions of succession, private property, land ownership etc, etc). As intermarriage becomes more common, tribal traditions and imperatives will rapidly break down.
The other main general factor is urban living - IRW, as large sedentary settlements and towns evolve, kinship systems (which are also economic, resource exploitation and work-organisation systems) evolve to match the new reality. This is certainly a major factor in Esrolia, and I believe, a significant one in Tarsh. Once towns and large settlements evolve, demands are made by other organisations - town councils, guilds, cross-clan religious groups (which are now practical) as well as your clan. If dealing with another clan simply means crossing the plaza, then traditional clan-based methods become less relevant, and will change.
Widespread use of money also cuts deeply into the intra-clan bonding of barter and gifting, weakening traditional loyalties. Trade means dealing with strangers and non-kin on a daily basis. Money and trade subvert many of the reasons a clan exists.
Evolution can go many ways, but its easy to see in Tarsh why tribes have taken on some of the responsibilities previously dealt with at a clan level. The next step may be greater identification with a city or region rather than a tribe: this seems to be the primary Lunar mode of identification. So a people become a state.
Cheers
John
I wonder if I'll end up like Bernie in his dream,
A displaced person in some foreign border town,
Waiting for a train part hope, part myth,
while the station changes hands.
- Bruce Cockburn.
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