[Glorantha] Matriarchy

> Parhaps not quite a matriarchy, but one could argue that the women held
> more wealth and power than the men.

One could argue that in quite a few societies. In my current Prax campaign, when the girls were having their initiation rites, a couple of the more adventuresome ones wanted to know why (to cut to the nub of it) they didn't get to do all the cool stuff (running around with pointy sticks, hitting things) like the boys, and what was their purpose in the tribe?

The priestesses were genuinely puzzled by the question. As far as they were concerned, the women *were* the tribe, and the function of the men was really just to provide protection for them, so that they could get on with the real task at hand. They pointed to the story of Waha's birth as evidence of this; he was born to do Eiritha's bidding, to rescue and protect his sisters, and to ensure that they continue to thrive.

I think I'm right in saying that some of the Nomad tribes actually are matriarchies, and that the others are supposed to be matriarchies, but are led by the Khans on a more or less permanent basis, because the violent world they inhabit makes it necessary. And also, the men don't necessarily see the world in quite the way the priestesses do.

Naturally, being PCs, the girls in question didn't give a rat's arse about such subtleties, they just wanted an excuse to hit things with pointy sticks!

Cheers -

Malk. Received on Tue 04 Jul 2006 - 11:25:01 EEST