From: Alex Ferguson (alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk)
Date: Sat 04 Jun 1994 - 04:55:52 EEST
> Pam Carlson rants:
> >THERE SHOULD BE MORE DOGS IN RQ! Where are the big dogs who guard
> >caravans at night? how could so many cultures fail to keep such a
> >fabulously useful beastie?
Sandy "nice posts, shame about the subject lines" Petersen feebly concedes:
> er... (embarrassed shuffling) ... I guess it's really because
> neither Greg nor me nor Steve Perrin have ever been particularly "dog
> people".
Actually, there were howls (meows?) of indignation at Convulsion for dogs getting better treatment than cats in Glorantha. (Yinkin is the best of a meagre lot cat god wise, while Brother Dog is quite well-developed and ubiquitous, allegedly.)
> [In Prax] One of their jobs is to slink around the campsites
> and bark when something or someone shows up that they don't like. And
> to eat offal.
Isn't that what Praxian slaves are for?
> I bet the High Holy Day prayer for Storm Bull includes lengthy mentions
> and evocations of Ernalda, Eiritha, Zorak Zoran, etc.
Wouldn't that involve having initiates with an actual attention span?
> On Malkioni Castes:
> >One interesting thing to note is that tecnically only the men belong
> >to different castes; all the women belong to one of their own. At
> >least among the Brithini.
> This is true. I think that the Hrestoli have women join the
> regular four castes, but they probably interpret the caste strictures
> _very_ differently for men and women, as I picture Malkioni in
> general as rather male-dominated. But I'm open to suggestions.
Actually, I think the Hrestol maintain the one-female-caste situation. Or else they have very funny rules for promotion among women. What happens when one of a married couple is promoted? Spouse is bumped up too? Society is shocked by a mixed-caste marriage? Divorce? Of course, for all real purposes, a wife is going to be measured by her husband's status (or her father's; moral: don't be an unmarried female orphan), so this is a minor matter, pragmatically.
Female caste stricture: do what hubby/daddy/nearest upwind male authority tells you to.
One the other hand, I'm tempted to believe that Orlanthi-influenced Malkioni, such as the Jonatings (?), have a caste structure into which women are more integrated. I'm not sure if Jonatela has a Hrestoli-type sect, or a heresy of its own, so I'll shut up before putting my foot (further) in it. Info?
> How about the Rokari? Do they have a separate Female caste?
> Does it make chauvinistic sense for a woman to take on the caste of
> her husband? Other suggestions?
I'm not sure what the Official Rokari situation might be, but I'll bet that even if all women are notionally of a single caste, they are de facto members of their parents' caste, and people are scandalised if a wizard's daughter marries a knight. Actually, I think many Rokari are scandalised three times a day, and four times on Clayday, and write lengthy letters to their local herald or cryer saying so.
Digusted of Tunbridge Wells,
Alex.
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