Choths III

The People Of The Wind, V.

Ythrian cultures regulated public affairs differently. However, since Ythrians are "...intensely clannish and territorial...," (p. 496) their social arrangements differ fundamentally from those of human beings.

Planha speakers:

were the wealthiest and most progressive group on Ythri when the Grand Survey ship, Olga, made first contact in "Wings of Victory";

adopted modern technology quickly;

absorbed other Ythrian societies;

adapted their own system as necessary.

That system had the advantage that it did not require uniformity. Families are amalgamated into choths but each choth, like each Monwaingi "Society," in After Doomsday, is independent. Each independent choth has possessions, either "...scattered or a single block of land or sea..." (ibid.) Within those possessions, what constitutes the choth is determined by changing tradition. Anderson lists several possibilities:

tribe;
anarchism;
despotism;
loose federation;
theocracy;
clan;
extended family;
corpoation;
"...concepts for which there are no human words..." (ibid.)

However, the choths that we see do not vary as widely as this.