Talechasing Topic of the Week ~ Family
May. 17th, 2010 04:22 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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yrae
Talechasing Topic of the Week ~ Family
What are the family relations like? Are same-sex couples allowed? Are the people matriarchal or patriarchal? What's everyone's position within a family? Does the eldest child inherit or the youngest?
Tsayth
Family is everything to the Tsaythis. A married couple with however many kids they feel like, usually three. Unlike in the other kingdoms, where it's more or less expected that the kids will move out and start their own life when they grow up, Tsaythi families generally live together on the same boat until death do they part. There may technically be two or three families living on the one ship, but the entire crew works together as though they were one big family. Everyone is responsible for raising a child, not only the child's mother and father. MEERKATS.
So when it comes to family dynamics, you can't~ really talk about individual families, rather the crew of the whole ship. They have a captain, who is the strongest leader, and beyond that there's not really any specific roles. Everyone has to know how to do everything--rigging, hauling nets of fish in, diving for pearls, repairing the ship, sitting in the crow's nest spotting stuff on the horizon or in the water, sword fighting, whatever. If one person is better than the captain at one thing--for example, ship repairs--then they'll sort of take over the captain's roll for that area.
Tsaythis are, as we know by now, practical to a fault. Same-sex couples are not allowed, because the point of couples is to make babies, end of story. There wouldn't be any punishment as such, but you're going to have the whole ship against you, and in such cramped quarters, that's quite harsh enough.
As far as inheritance goes, the deceased's possessions will get divided up amongst the crew by the captain. This is fairer than it sounds because of the close-knit nature of a Tsaythi crew. If the captain dies, usually his/her successor is quite clear because the captain will probably have been training someone up. On the rare occasion that there's any challengers to this, then the crew will vote on who they think the next captain should be. If there's still animosity, then it'll be a good old fashioned fight to the death.
And then there's the other kind of family, the one with children born out of wedlock: mother and child and nobody else. Illegitimate children are disowned. The mother is shunned by society for the duration of her pregnancy, and the ship will dump her and the father (if he's available) at the nearest port. The father, more often than not, pisses off never to be seen again and leaves her on her own. By the end of it she'll either hate the kid enough to kill/abandon it, or hate society enough that she keeps the kid and lives a life of unofficial exile. Those relationships are incredibly strong.
Llayad
Llayan families are also very strong, but in very different ways. No such thing as a wet nurse in Llayad. Even in the royal family, the bond between mother and child is highly respected, and her greatest achievement will be to raise her family. Sons will spend more time with their father as they get older. There's very little disobedience from the kids, and they'll only begin challenging their parents in their latter teenage years. Even then, only if they absolutely in their heart of hearts can not do what they've been told and it would change their entire life for the worse if they did.
Same-sex couples are allowed, but in the same 'oh, isn't that quaint?' kind of way they look at foreign cultures. Heterosexual Llayans don't understand same-sex couples. They think any form of love is beautiful, but if you can't have a child, then wouldn't you be better off with a member of the opposite sex? In the end, though, it's their life, and only finicky parents who so desperately wanted grandchildren, and have no other children to give them any, will try and interfere. Then the gay kid will just turn around and say 'well it's your own fault for only having one kid, then, isn't it?' XD
Inheritance goes to the eldest child, almost exclusively, unless there's a really bloody good reason why not. Marrying the eldest child of a richer estate is a pretty awesome reason. The point of this is to keep relations between siblings civil: respect your big brother/sister and s/he may well split the inheritance, which is usually what happens.
Llayad likes to think they're a fabulously equal society--they have a king and queen with equal power, mum and dad both share equally in raising the family, men and women are both theoretically allowed to have any profession they wish--but really they're patriarchal. In law, there's no preference given to either gender, but in practicality, people will shun a woman taking on a 'man's job' like a hunter, blacksmith, farmer, anything that gets her hands dirty. The reality is, though, that the vast majority of women wouldn't want to take on those jobs, anyway, so there's no issues there.
Kazin
Kazinians don't marry, because it ties them down too much. They want to have flexible lives and not be bound to one person until the day they die. As a result, families are, well, more flexible. Kazinians are more open to being open. This isn't to say that every woman has three toyboys on the go, but let's say that what our society would class as half-brothers and half-sisters aren't uncommon. If the kids have the same mother, though, they're siblings. They wear the same family Colours, they live in the same house, they're brother and sister. Same father but different mothers doesn't count. They're related in the same way that you're related to your mum's cousin's nephew. Needless to say, Kazinian family trees are as messy and confusing as everything else in the empire, but all that really matters is the mother.
Very, very matriarchal society. The only thing the male species is good for are their muscles. The only hope of being anywhere in an intellectual capacity is as a leader in the province's army.
Inheritance goes to whichever daughter's the most worthy of it, and most women will make certain they have a daughter for such purposes. If they die without having had a daughter, then her stuff will go to whoever she named--sister, niece, best friend, maybe even, if he's really lucky, her son.
Same-sex couples, sure thing, go for it. Male couples will be laughed at behind their backs because aww, the boys are trying to make a life of their own without women, how cute.
Raykin
Laptop battery is almost flat and the cricket's just finished anyway, so I'll finish off Raykin later, maybe. They have pretty standard families, anyway.
What are the family relations like? Are same-sex couples allowed? Are the people matriarchal or patriarchal? What's everyone's position within a family? Does the eldest child inherit or the youngest?
Tsayth
Family is everything to the Tsaythis. A married couple with however many kids they feel like, usually three. Unlike in the other kingdoms, where it's more or less expected that the kids will move out and start their own life when they grow up, Tsaythi families generally live together on the same boat until death do they part. There may technically be two or three families living on the one ship, but the entire crew works together as though they were one big family. Everyone is responsible for raising a child, not only the child's mother and father. MEERKATS.
So when it comes to family dynamics, you can't~ really talk about individual families, rather the crew of the whole ship. They have a captain, who is the strongest leader, and beyond that there's not really any specific roles. Everyone has to know how to do everything--rigging, hauling nets of fish in, diving for pearls, repairing the ship, sitting in the crow's nest spotting stuff on the horizon or in the water, sword fighting, whatever. If one person is better than the captain at one thing--for example, ship repairs--then they'll sort of take over the captain's roll for that area.
Tsaythis are, as we know by now, practical to a fault. Same-sex couples are not allowed, because the point of couples is to make babies, end of story. There wouldn't be any punishment as such, but you're going to have the whole ship against you, and in such cramped quarters, that's quite harsh enough.
As far as inheritance goes, the deceased's possessions will get divided up amongst the crew by the captain. This is fairer than it sounds because of the close-knit nature of a Tsaythi crew. If the captain dies, usually his/her successor is quite clear because the captain will probably have been training someone up. On the rare occasion that there's any challengers to this, then the crew will vote on who they think the next captain should be. If there's still animosity, then it'll be a good old fashioned fight to the death.
And then there's the other kind of family, the one with children born out of wedlock: mother and child and nobody else. Illegitimate children are disowned. The mother is shunned by society for the duration of her pregnancy, and the ship will dump her and the father (if he's available) at the nearest port. The father, more often than not, pisses off never to be seen again and leaves her on her own. By the end of it she'll either hate the kid enough to kill/abandon it, or hate society enough that she keeps the kid and lives a life of unofficial exile. Those relationships are incredibly strong.
Llayad
Llayan families are also very strong, but in very different ways. No such thing as a wet nurse in Llayad. Even in the royal family, the bond between mother and child is highly respected, and her greatest achievement will be to raise her family. Sons will spend more time with their father as they get older. There's very little disobedience from the kids, and they'll only begin challenging their parents in their latter teenage years. Even then, only if they absolutely in their heart of hearts can not do what they've been told and it would change their entire life for the worse if they did.
Same-sex couples are allowed, but in the same 'oh, isn't that quaint?' kind of way they look at foreign cultures. Heterosexual Llayans don't understand same-sex couples. They think any form of love is beautiful, but if you can't have a child, then wouldn't you be better off with a member of the opposite sex? In the end, though, it's their life, and only finicky parents who so desperately wanted grandchildren, and have no other children to give them any, will try and interfere. Then the gay kid will just turn around and say 'well it's your own fault for only having one kid, then, isn't it?' XD
Inheritance goes to the eldest child, almost exclusively, unless there's a really bloody good reason why not. Marrying the eldest child of a richer estate is a pretty awesome reason. The point of this is to keep relations between siblings civil: respect your big brother/sister and s/he may well split the inheritance, which is usually what happens.
Llayad likes to think they're a fabulously equal society--they have a king and queen with equal power, mum and dad both share equally in raising the family, men and women are both theoretically allowed to have any profession they wish--but really they're patriarchal. In law, there's no preference given to either gender, but in practicality, people will shun a woman taking on a 'man's job' like a hunter, blacksmith, farmer, anything that gets her hands dirty. The reality is, though, that the vast majority of women wouldn't want to take on those jobs, anyway, so there's no issues there.
Kazin
Kazinians don't marry, because it ties them down too much. They want to have flexible lives and not be bound to one person until the day they die. As a result, families are, well, more flexible. Kazinians are more open to being open. This isn't to say that every woman has three toyboys on the go, but let's say that what our society would class as half-brothers and half-sisters aren't uncommon. If the kids have the same mother, though, they're siblings. They wear the same family Colours, they live in the same house, they're brother and sister. Same father but different mothers doesn't count. They're related in the same way that you're related to your mum's cousin's nephew. Needless to say, Kazinian family trees are as messy and confusing as everything else in the empire, but all that really matters is the mother.
Very, very matriarchal society. The only thing the male species is good for are their muscles. The only hope of being anywhere in an intellectual capacity is as a leader in the province's army.
Inheritance goes to whichever daughter's the most worthy of it, and most women will make certain they have a daughter for such purposes. If they die without having had a daughter, then her stuff will go to whoever she named--sister, niece, best friend, maybe even, if he's really lucky, her son.
Same-sex couples, sure thing, go for it. Male couples will be laughed at behind their backs because aww, the boys are trying to make a life of their own without women, how cute.
Raykin
Laptop battery is almost flat and the cricket's just finished anyway, so I'll finish off Raykin later, maybe. They have pretty standard families, anyway.