This is pretty much how the Welsh divided up their clan lands during the middle ages and earlier. Celtic clans are probably similar. Its not some sort of 'commie utopia' but a machine for preserving the greatest number of people as best they can.
Remember, each bloodline/stead has its traditional lands it claims and usually is realloted each year. The clan is the basic social unit, not the post-modern nuclear family or even the pre-modern extended family you might find in a farm. The unit for survival among the Orlanthi is the bloodline or clan which holds the real wealth (land and herds) in communally. Heck, even the Vikings did this.
The concept of one family owning a set piece of land is actually a concept that is not embraced by many of the Orlanthi peoples. If you want a pseudo-feudal land allotment system along the lines of the Saxons! system, you'd probably have to go to Hendrikiland which has been heavily influenced by the Esvulari and Malkioni settlers over the centuries.
> At the same time we have thanes, carls and cottars, at their
> respective social neaches, ultimately based on individual (or at
least
> bloodline and family) wealth.
No, its more in keeping with social position. I think your viewpoint is far too modern/materialist.
You might want to read up on how some of the cultures functioned such as the pre-Roman Celts and the like. Or, for example, the fairly sophisticated Iroquois tribes who had very extensive farming systems which were under a somewhat similar system.
Jeff
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