On Merseia, a "tribe" seems to be an extended family within a Vach:
"The whole tribe waited, Elwych's stepmothers, sisters and their husbands and cubs, younger brothers." (p. 28)
See Peace-Holy.
Elwych is Brechdan's Heir. Brechdan is the Hand of the Vach Ynvory. He returns the salute of a sentry and of a gardener who are not slaves because their families have been clients of the Ynvorys since before planetary unification. Brechdan's wives are thrifty, trustworthy and cultivated "...as females should be." (p. 24) The Merseians read like a parody of backward human attitudes. Are they as a species stuck in that aristocratic/semi-feudal social setup or can technology and inter-species contacts help them to advance from it?
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I have zero use for the Roidhunate and its ideology of racial supremacism, but I feel obliged to protest here. You are projecting your preferred ideas, even prejudices, on what is seen on Merseia, assuming they are better. I disagree because I don't think everything that seems "feudal" there are bad. And it's wrong to dismiss being "thrifty, trustworthy, and cultivated" as somehow bad, which they are not.
One thing is sure, the coarse and barbaric mores of our times are going to be regarded with disgust by future generations. Because the mores, manners, fads, whims, etc., of our debased era will not last forever.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: an ancient Persian king is reputed to have asked his wise men to come up with a saying that would be true in all times and places.
They eventually produced: "This, too, shall pass."
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
A good one, I agree! Something from Ecclesiastes might also be apt.
Ad astra! Sean
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