Gender Dynamics In the Greater Yenarian Cultures

Most of the nations and cultures in Greater Yenaria are matriarchal. The matriarchy remains from the The First Descendants and early Nil Yeni cultures. Their populations were very small and they focused heavily on rapid population growth. Scholars think that this led them to the idea that men were extendable and good for risky manual work, while the women's role was to expand and guide the Village Himoth]. Over time this notion became the foundation of most of the cultures in the region.   The one major exception to this are the Tern and Tern Bas. While their origin is less clear, many scholars believe they were descended from a small fraction of the The First Descendants that ended up on the Plains of Tern away from the Tresbort Lakes river system and thus they do not adhere to a matriarchal system. Instead their cultures believe that it is a mans job to lead his family to success while women are in touch with the spiritual world. Thus in the Yenari Empire the empire is led by a Tern Gran Father who technically has control of the empire, but the priestess of Gran Saminism control the church and have almost as much control as the Gran Father.  

Gender Dynamics in the Yenari Empire and Dal-Aria

  Gran Saminism is the dominant religion in both nations and has very strict proscriptions about gender roles and acceptable behaviors for the genders. In Gran Saminism everyone is made in the image of Samin and to achieve enlightenment who attempts to get closer to them. In the religion all the races and genders are simply distorted reflections of Samin. Thus everyone one needs to perfect oneself in a different way in order to get closer to Samin. For example, the Tern people are less distorted and thus it is only natural that they should rule. Women are reflections of Samins wisdom and intelligence, and thus should spread that knowledge to everyone else. While men are reflections of Samins instinct, power, decisiveness, and thus should lead the empire. Variations of this logic are also used to explain how why the perfect union is between a man and a women. The priestesses teach that men and women are distortions of Samin, but complementary distortions. This means that a union between the two results in the perfection of the two sexes. The priestesses also teach that a union between the same sexes is gross distortion of Samins perfection. They equate it to being blind and asking Samin for two extra ears to grow in ones eye sockets.   Since the priestesses of Gran Saminism have almost as much control as the Gran Father himself in the Yenari Empire these gender roles are strictly enforced by the church. Specifically, the church has very draconian punishments for people caught in engaging in same sex relationships. A male convicted of engaging carnal distortion, is castrated and then a clockwise spiral is branded on his forehead. A women is only branded on her forehead with a counterclockwise spiral, she also forfits any legal rights to her children born or unborn. These punishment are typical of the justice administed by the priestesses of Gran Barsaminism. The nation of Dal-Aria also adheres to Gran Barsaminism but they institute less severe punishment. For example, castration is not allowed but both criminals are branded on their inner forearm.   Finally, the strict gender beliefs have fueled many tensions with other nations over the days. To followers of Gran Saminism the Delnarian and Vordenese people, who openly embrace same sex relationships, are considered distorted reflections of Samin that are barely human. The Delfian people do not explicitly allow same sex relationships. They do tattoo their bodies purposefully distorting their own images, a disfigurement only slightly less unthinkable as same sex relationships.    

Gender Dynamics in The Delnari Coalition and Vorden Nations

  The Delnarian and Vordenese people trace their cultural roots to the Old Delarian people and therefore share many of the same views on gender sexual relations. Like most of Greater Yenaria the cultures are highly matriarchal with women holding all of the power and men relegated to fulfilling grunt work and objectified for their muscles and virility. In fact the culture have extremely rigid gender roles, where women in a Mars are encouraged to create a family consisting of several of their friends and then they all share one to two men that they find attractive or politically advantageous to invite into their family. This arrangement for the man is not legally binding and it is not unheard for for the men to be cast out after they are older and no longer considered attractive. This arrangement means that a large portion of men are not deemed attractive enough to join a family. They are supported by the Mar and do the menial jobs that the mar requires. These men take a small bit of comfort in the concept of Comate, a belief amoung the Delnari and Vordenese that their exists a strong brotherhood bond among these men that leads to unbreakable friendships and sometimes into romantic relationships.  

Gender Dynamics in the Independent Delfic Cities

  The Independent Delfic Cities have a strict matriarchal cased based system based around being born into a specific Marth, which determined your class and your available occupation. Within each Marth, families are arranged around matrilineal lines and the delfians are obssesed about the their blood linage. This fascination with ones blood ancestors can be traced back to the founding of Barsaminism and the prophet Darmsel Darmin belief that her blood carried sacred spirits within it. This Barsaminic belief in the power of blood reinforces the matriarchy, because the only sure way to know who you are related to is through your mothers line.   The delfians  do not have a strong concept of individual familial marriage. Instead if a individual women started a relationship with man, they would have to get the Marths approval to adopt the man into the marth. Once this adoption took place, the couple was presumed to be monogamous and exclusive. However, the relationship did not work out it could be ended without much consequence. Their was a social expectation that the Marth would continue to support the man and the man was expected to contribute to the Marth. If a women had several failed relationships and the Marth had to support a lot of unwanted men, she would quickly find the Marth refusing to adopt any potential future partners.   While the ideal relationship is one that furthers ones sacred bloodline, the delfians acknowledge that other relationships do happen. However, they are looked down upon and might cause a scandal if reveled. A relationship between two women would be looked upon as selfish and unproductive, since their is no chance of it producing offspring. Additionally, if it happened within a Marth it would be an even bigger scandal because that would mean the relationship was between extended family. If the same sex relationship happened between two men, it would be seen as just as selfish and unproductive. However, the transgression could be used as a reason to disinherit the man and cast him from the Marth. This would mean he would become a Vrukian without a marth and without any rights, no better than a slave.