Kindred, Followers And Travers

Mirkheim, X.

On Hermes, the Kindred are the thousand families whose ancestors were the first passengers from Earth. Those ancestors founded corporations and their descendants head the domains. However, one family of first arrivals, the Tamarins, worked as professional freelancers instead of founding a corporation. The constitution of independent Hermes specifies that the presidents of the domains elect the Grand Duke or Duchess from among the Tamarins who, however, must remain without a domain. It seems to follow that Grand Duchess Sandra is not of the Kindred. If she had not become Duchess, then her options would have been:

to earn a living, differing from a Traver only in having a vote;

to marry into either the Kindred or the Followers.

Travers are latecomers, either employees or business people, whereas Followers hold entailed shares and therefore are junior partners in domains. Members of the Kindred have ten votes in domain affairs whereas Followers have only one. (XIII, p. 185) Finally, certain courtesies are necessary to higher-ranking people. Sandra, brought up among the Kindred, would have found such courtesies embarrassing if she had become a Follower. In fact, however, she married Peter Runeberg of the Kindred.

Not only is this slightly more complicated than I had realized (I have had to correct an earlier post) but it also seems to be designed to maximize dissatisfaction among later generations, as if a demon had drafted the constitution.