Post by Admin on Feb 24, 2015 20:23:23 GMT -5
As one of the oldest peoples of Archades, they remain strongly steeped in tradition, seldom admitting even the most minor of changes without much deliberation. Theirs is unquestionably a patriarchal society, though it is not a society as one might expect. There are few variances between the nomads and the settled tribes.
Their social strata is rigidly defined between men and women, but also within the genders themselves, there is an unmistakable order that is seldom, if ever, altered. The men are the open leaders of the tribes; they are the masters of all they survey, the warriors, the hunters and the traders. The camps and the cities are run in accommodation to the needs of the men, functioning as the men decree.
However, the tribes share a peculiarity - men do not hold their own wealth whether nomadic or sedentary. Within the tribe, each man owns his horses, his weapons, his tools and his saddle but no other property. The tents or homes, the herds or crops, the household goods belong to the women, as they make the home whether they are nomadic or settled. Gold and trade goods belong collectively to the tribe, held by the tribe chief to be used for the tribe’s needs.
Within the men, the hierarchy is simple: the sheikh is the absolute leader. His merest word is law. He delegates as needed among the warriors, the hunters and the guards to ensure that all runs smoothly. Disobedience and insubordination are not tolerated among the men and are dealt with swiftly. Discipline is rigidly maintained.
Society within the women is slightly more complex by contrast. The older women are the de facto leaders among the females of the tribe, as a matter of course, though the foremost leader among the women is either the Sheikh’s mother if he is unmarried, or his wife. From there, each tent is led by the wife, the mother, the eldest sister or the eldest daughter. That one woman holds the property for their family - the tent or home, the herds or crops, the household goods. She also decides the marriages within the family.
Marriages are never for love among the Rohari. They are to combine herds, settle feuds or arguments, bind tribes or to secure a line, and they are arranged with the sheikh’s blessing as he performs the ceremony. Betrothals last at least two months, as the prospective bride must spend those months in the tent of her future husband’s mother or eldest sister, learning the family’s ways and her husband’s preferences. During that time, if the man’s sisters are yet unmarried and of sufficient age, his mother and his betrothed begin selecting husbands for them to prevent conflict within the family from too many women in one tent or house. Dowries and bride prices are negotiated by the families as well, conducted as a formal ceremony before the camp’s central fire or in one of the city’s residential squares under the supervision of the older women and the sheikh.
Marriages are performed once a month - on the night of the full moon. The sheikh of the tribe, or if the tribe is fortunate enough to possess a priest, performs the ceremony where the bride and groom each receive a small cut to their left palms. Their hands are pressed together so that the blood mingles while a cord is wrapped around the joined hands to signify the binding of husband and wife. A blessing is spoken over them and then the cord is removed, given to the couple as a reminder that they are forever bound together.
Children are very important to the Rohari, for they ensure that the tribes endure and signal blessings from the Gods. The birth of a child is a cause for celebration, where feasting ensues and gifts are showered on the new parents. Pregnant women are closely guarded and protected; their value increases when they carry a child, and for those in the cities, she enters confinement two weeks before she gives birth where she is unable to leave the home. Only women are permitted to attend birthings, so the Rohari midwives are some of the best in the realm, able to perform the dangerous surgery to remove the child from the womb. Two weeks after the birth, the mother goes through a purification rite and is once more able to leave the home.
When a child is five years old, he is brought to the sheikh to receive a blessing and is anointed with sweet olive oil as a sign of the Sun God’s favor. The sheikh then bestows a colt on the child, one who will grow with the child and bond with him. This will be the first horse a child rides on his own.
Children become adults at fifteen years of age. For males, this means they end their training as warriors, join the men in the fields, or begin to study their father’s trade as a man though they do not receive their first wife or household until at least twenty years of age; the young man must prove that he is capable of providing adequately for a home and family first. For females, they become eligible for marriages, learning the household tasks expected of them, how to cook, tend basic wounds, sew and weave, and tend to the children. Women do not work the fields, tend the herds or enter into professions; the Rohari are adamant in this. Their society has functioned efficiently and smoothly for almost two thousand years in this pattern. They see no reason to alter it.
Their social strata is rigidly defined between men and women, but also within the genders themselves, there is an unmistakable order that is seldom, if ever, altered. The men are the open leaders of the tribes; they are the masters of all they survey, the warriors, the hunters and the traders. The camps and the cities are run in accommodation to the needs of the men, functioning as the men decree.
However, the tribes share a peculiarity - men do not hold their own wealth whether nomadic or sedentary. Within the tribe, each man owns his horses, his weapons, his tools and his saddle but no other property. The tents or homes, the herds or crops, the household goods belong to the women, as they make the home whether they are nomadic or settled. Gold and trade goods belong collectively to the tribe, held by the tribe chief to be used for the tribe’s needs.
Within the men, the hierarchy is simple: the sheikh is the absolute leader. His merest word is law. He delegates as needed among the warriors, the hunters and the guards to ensure that all runs smoothly. Disobedience and insubordination are not tolerated among the men and are dealt with swiftly. Discipline is rigidly maintained.
Society within the women is slightly more complex by contrast. The older women are the de facto leaders among the females of the tribe, as a matter of course, though the foremost leader among the women is either the Sheikh’s mother if he is unmarried, or his wife. From there, each tent is led by the wife, the mother, the eldest sister or the eldest daughter. That one woman holds the property for their family - the tent or home, the herds or crops, the household goods. She also decides the marriages within the family.
Marriages are never for love among the Rohari. They are to combine herds, settle feuds or arguments, bind tribes or to secure a line, and they are arranged with the sheikh’s blessing as he performs the ceremony. Betrothals last at least two months, as the prospective bride must spend those months in the tent of her future husband’s mother or eldest sister, learning the family’s ways and her husband’s preferences. During that time, if the man’s sisters are yet unmarried and of sufficient age, his mother and his betrothed begin selecting husbands for them to prevent conflict within the family from too many women in one tent or house. Dowries and bride prices are negotiated by the families as well, conducted as a formal ceremony before the camp’s central fire or in one of the city’s residential squares under the supervision of the older women and the sheikh.
Marriages are performed once a month - on the night of the full moon. The sheikh of the tribe, or if the tribe is fortunate enough to possess a priest, performs the ceremony where the bride and groom each receive a small cut to their left palms. Their hands are pressed together so that the blood mingles while a cord is wrapped around the joined hands to signify the binding of husband and wife. A blessing is spoken over them and then the cord is removed, given to the couple as a reminder that they are forever bound together.
Children are very important to the Rohari, for they ensure that the tribes endure and signal blessings from the Gods. The birth of a child is a cause for celebration, where feasting ensues and gifts are showered on the new parents. Pregnant women are closely guarded and protected; their value increases when they carry a child, and for those in the cities, she enters confinement two weeks before she gives birth where she is unable to leave the home. Only women are permitted to attend birthings, so the Rohari midwives are some of the best in the realm, able to perform the dangerous surgery to remove the child from the womb. Two weeks after the birth, the mother goes through a purification rite and is once more able to leave the home.
When a child is five years old, he is brought to the sheikh to receive a blessing and is anointed with sweet olive oil as a sign of the Sun God’s favor. The sheikh then bestows a colt on the child, one who will grow with the child and bond with him. This will be the first horse a child rides on his own.
Children become adults at fifteen years of age. For males, this means they end their training as warriors, join the men in the fields, or begin to study their father’s trade as a man though they do not receive their first wife or household until at least twenty years of age; the young man must prove that he is capable of providing adequately for a home and family first. For females, they become eligible for marriages, learning the household tasks expected of them, how to cook, tend basic wounds, sew and weave, and tend to the children. Women do not work the fields, tend the herds or enter into professions; the Rohari are adamant in this. Their society has functioned efficiently and smoothly for almost two thousand years in this pattern. They see no reason to alter it.