Ythrian And Avalonian Diversity

A choth is more than a tribe but less than a nation so what else is it? First, it is territorial but not as we know it. A choth's possessions might be a single block of land - or sea - or scattered. Secondly, it is independent. Thirdly, the constitution of any given choth is determined by slowly changing tradition. Examples given are:

tribe

anarchism

despotism

loose federation

theocracy

clan

extended family

corporation

nonhuman concepts

In no way do the choths that we are shown vary as widely as this. The Weathermaker Choth in "Wingless" is described as an extended household. The others that we see are bigger. We are told that the mainland choths whether they are approximately analogous to:

clans

tribes

baronies

religious communes

republics

etc

- have memberships in the thousands or more whereas, in the Oronesian archipelago:

"...there were single households which bore the name; grown and married, the younger children were expected to found new, independent societies."

-Poul Anderson, The People of the Wind IN Anderson, Rise of the Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 437-662 AT III, p. 464.

And, of course, Ythrians are even more diverse than that:

"'Some, even, is from different societies and belong to no choths at allses. Ythrians got as much variation as the Commonwealth - no, more, because they not had time yet for technology to make them into homogeneouses.'"

-"Lodestar," p. 650.

(We must make allowances for van Rijn's misuse of Anglic.)

On Avalon, some Ythrians, the "Walkers," adopt a human lifestyle, leaving the choths, living instead as atomic individuals in a global community.

Finally, for yet another comparison, we remember that not all Merseians live in Vachs or speak Eriau.

The diversity of choths gives me hope that, on Avalon, there would be nothing to prevent the founding of a new choth based on modern technology and economics and leaving behind the barbaric concept of deathpride.