Re: female characters & Blood Over Gold - St. Endria

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_rqQcPJcFzJC8nwTlO-i0nfywfsEZAOqXHSNNjSowOxMkT4sYSIfPt1AQbVP1SM3yZKv>
Date: Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:03:46 +1200


At 07:51 a.m. 1/08/2008, you wrote:
>In message <g6q9h0+vu78_at_eGroups.com> "Toread DuDerysi" writes:
> >wrote:
> >>
> >> At 08:12 a.m. 30/07/2008, you wrote:
> >>
> >> On a particular note, Malkioni Saints should not be Saints
> >> because they were moral exemplars in life as they are not
> >> Christians. They become Saints through revealing a
> >> philosophical or magical aspect of the Invisible God. For
> >> example Hrestol is not a Saint because he was martyred
> >> by the Brithini - he acquired Sainthood through revealing
> >> the knighthood and joy.
>
> >Thank you, that was a point I was going to make. Saints (and Founders)
> >generally reveal or discover some new truth about the Invisible God or
> >the world that may or may not be compatible with their existing
> >Church. Rokar promulgated the Sharp Abiding Book - an expurgated and
> >"purer" version of the Abiding Book. Saint Caselain was the vehicle
> >through which Ashara revealed itself to the world. And so on.
>
>I would have thought that showing the occupation of merchant could
>be combined with raising children was a big enough truth to warrent
>sainthood.

Given that most Malkioni (men and women) raise children while holding down a day job, I don't see the need for Sainthood for the particular set of circumstances.

>Particularly when the male default is a wandering trader.

The Trader Princes and their subjects are not wandering traders. They encourage trade through their lands and also send out caravans but they are far different in character to a Goldentongue Merchant.

>Now you could argue that there should be one woman saint for all the
>occupations which default to male.

Why should Malkioni woman have to worship a separate woman saint for a specific saint? What's to stop them worshipping the same saint as men do for their day jobs and Menena for woman's magic?

>I'm not suggesting that Malkioni Saints are moral exemplars. However
>they are role models - they show people how to do something - and
>the particular saints recognised tells us much about different
>societies.

Except that the particular role model you have outlined is both highly specialized (raising the kids and engaging in trade) and doesn't really come across as an important philosophical or magical role model on the scale of knighthood or farming.

--Peter Metcalfe            

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