The world of
The Floating Isles
 

Created by Trystl

Basic Introduction

The World of the Floating Isles: As I mentioned at the beginning, all this discussion was to get you familiar with Farrell�s theories, so that we could discuss the setting for my stories from familiar ground. However, the world setting�even before you get to the way humans socialize�is rather complex as well. So now I�ll give a brief overview of the world setting in general:

The Floating Isles: There are a number of isles that float on a sea of water, much as the planets float in space. They are, in fact, directly analogous to the solar system, with most solar elements having an analogous representative in the world of the Floating Isles. For instance, comets and meteors are represented by smaller, very fast moving isles. Planetary atmosphere is analogous to something called heavy water, because it is a breathable liquid that seems to cling to the isles. Each isle has a layer of this heavy water surrounding it, but some isles seem to have much more of it than others. At the center, there is one very large desert isle, around which all the others move. As you move further away from the center isle the climates on the isles become much more extreme and the yearly cycles become much longer. So isles have years that can last for decades or even centuries.

The third isle out is Meswitch. It is by far the most hospitable of the isles: a veritable paradise, and thus the most coveted. It is the seat of human government on the isles, and the most highly populated.

Amorians: Originally, Meswitch was inhabited by magical, humanoid creatures, called Amorians. These creatures have a much wider racial variation than humans�more along the lines of dogs or cats. A number of Amorian racial variations can, in fact, pass for human, (up to and including sexual intercourse.) Only a careful check by someone who knows what to look for would give them away. Others races could not possibly be mistaken for human. For instance, there are several races small enough to be called elves or fairies, and some of these even have wings. The sexual politics of each race varies widely as well, but most races can generally be divided into three genders. Alphs are loosely analogous to the queen of an insect colony, because they are commonly the child bearers. The Betas are analogous to worker bees. And the drones are the males. Different Amorian races have different configurations, but generally an alph can start a new hive by herself. By giving birth, via auto-stimulation, to a drone. Intercourse with the drone creates a Beta, and sexual interaction with the Beta generally produces another Alph. The social structures of each race varies widely, but in general there are a fairly large number of both alphs and betas, depending upon the various needs of a races community and the abilities of it�s members. Generally speaking drones can be birthed very quickly and are born physically immature in every aspect except for their ability to reproduce sexually. Thus certain races of alphs could give birth to a drone and become pregnant with a beta within a few months. Drones tend to be short-lived, and generally become more and more ungovernable as they mature, thus they are often routinely killed after impregnating the alph. Those that survive frequently become monster-like, a walking bundle of raging hormones looking to eat, sleep and get laid. The Amorians are primarily peaceful, and their land was the prime real estate of the Floating isles so when hi-tech human invaders came they drove them out rather easily. Many Amorian races were killed out completely and others were enslaved. A number of Amorian hives fled to other, less hospitable isles, or into the magical UnderCaves, where humans were less equipped (mentally and spiritually) to go.

The UnderCaves: This is a network that interconnects all the floating isles. Intuitively, it would be thought of as existing largely under the seas that separated the isles, but this is not necessarily so. The UnderCaves have some very strange and unusual features, one of which is frequently the presence of a natural overhead source of light that is very much like our sun. Sometimes this light source is permanent, sometimes it is not; sometimes its source can be seen, sometimes not. Like the seas of the floating isles, various parts of the UnderCaves have the ability to move and change in various ways. An Amorian can take the same path a dozen times and reach a dozen different destinations, simply by using a magical technique called navigating. Sometimes this movement in the UnderCaves is fairly regular or easily controlled. Other times, it is complex or resists being controlled. The possibilities go on and on, but each area has it�s own unique qualities that someone trying to navigate can feel. For instance, Secretive Land has a slippery feel, as if the land is trying to push the navigator away.

In general, most of the Amorian races are far more adept at navigating through the UnderCaves than are humans. This gave them an escape when the humans began conquering Meswitch, most of the Amorians spread to the other less hospitable isles on the fringe of the Floating Isles, but a few of the more adept navigators, (or those lucky enough to find stable pockets,) made the UnderCaves their home. Many of the Amorian races that survived became much more war-like. Other�s developed their ability to hide. A number of smaller winged-Amorian races took to the trees, or adapted to the heavy water around the isles.

A number of interesting biological traits made it easier for the Amorians to adapt to the harsher terrain. For example, all Amorians are cold blooded, but they have a blood mixture that serves quite effectively as antifreeze. Various races have various tolerances, but this quality allows the more extreme races to move into the typically very cold climates at the outer reaches of the Floating Isles, or the very hot extremes on Nimesphia, the large desert isle at the center of the Floating Isles. In very cold climates, they are often seen wearing very little clothing without adverse effects.

How Humans Fit In: The name of the conquering human races was the Torians. They quickly populated Meswitch and began to expand outward from that point to the other isles, slowly squeezing the Amorians into ever smaller and smaller living spaces. Because of the Amorian skill in the UnderCaves and their greater ability to adapt to harsh climates, it is unlikely that they will ever be wiped out.

Over time, the Torians developed a complex guild of seafarers, often called navigators, in deference to the great skills needed to chart the positions of the isles at various times through out the years, and then use that information to calculate where the isles would be in the future. This is analogous to astrophysics, only on a two-dimensional scale�but it still takes a rather high level of math, and other knowledge skills. As this guild�s sea faring skills increased, the Torians continued to expand their empire further and further into the extreme climates at the extremes of the isles, and these various start up communities began to be more autonomous as time went on. Eventually they became Nations in their own right�although generally speaking, they maintained reasonably friendly ties to the Torian nation.

One of the more interesting features of certain locations within the Floating Isles is that they tend to exert a metamorphic influence on the children of its inhabitants. Not only might a given isle have a specific influential effect, but also various locations on the same isle might have a distinct effect. Thus, in cases where the social groups tended to remain more isolated, that group could take on a somewhat unique visual identity within only a few generations. This metamorphic influence accumulated over the generations, so the longer a group remained isolated, the more cohesive their identity tended to become. Some of these upstart nations quickly formed their own traditions and national identities, etc.

On a particular archipelago, known collectively as the Zylomian Isles, this metamorphic influence was particularly strong, but often far less specific than elsewhere. Sometimes, instead of creating specific ethnic looks, what these Zylomians discovered was that they could, in certain areas, participate in shaping the development of a given species, creating new races with new traits by shaping the young of various candidates. This was essentially a program not to dissimilar to the breeding of dogs, only the magic of the isles allowed they Zylomians to do in a few generations what might take dog breeders decades to achieve. Over many generations, this guild of Morphs evolved into a fairly complex and powerful magic and economic community. There was a magical/science of Morphology, which this guild studies and perfected, with the aid of the magic natural to the various places on the isle. Among the many various tools that allow this work are two areas that are actually vast parts of the UnderCaves, but have a number of nodes that breach the surface, (or come conveniently close) there in the Zylomian isles. One such area generates spontaneous healing and regeneration. The very rocks plucked from this expanse of caverns holds within it the ability to heal. Another area has approximately the opposite effect, causing cells to effectively age or die. Other areas tend to create spontaneous mutations, and the Morphs have learned to use their magic to create a template, so to speak, for those changes; thus effectively bringing about whatever changes the Morph desires. Thus, they can essentially engineer custom races, to rather exacting specifications when paid sufficiently well.

Meanwhile, these Zylomians routinely export the products (or creations) of this work, in the form of both animals and human slaves. Sometimes, if the Morphs still controlled the genetic line of human slaves, and that line had a particularly rare or unique racial trait, they would routinely be sterilized before being exported. For instance, the phylum known as Bremarians, was highly prized by those rich enough to afford them. The Torian Emperor, in particular, bought them on a regular basis and trained them in his renowned school of dance. Such women were known as Bremarian Dancers; they were extremely valuable because of their legendary dancing skills.

These Morphs are commonly referred to as the Zoo Ogres. This is because the largest and most prolific group of Morphs inhabits a particular isle whose metamorphic influence has caused them to resemble the mythic Ogre. These Zylomian Ogres have what amounts to a large zoo, where they house a sample of virtually every species of plant or animal, including the various humanoids racial forms. Because of their zoo, and their success with breeding, they have become particularly well known throughout all the isles, even those on the fringe. Children entertain themselves by telling scary stories of the Ogre�s Zoo and parents sometimes threaten to send their children there when they�ve been bad.

Over many generations, with the various major-isles working to create distinct racial forms (or phylums), and the Morphs of the Zylomian Isles perfecting them into ever increasingly pure and perfect strains, these new races commonly become the new norm for that given area. It is not uncommon for communities to have strong taboos against interracial sex, when both parents are fertile. No such universal taboo exists if one is sterile, although in hostile environments such taboos are much more common. Since there is a built in unifying element, the rational for such a taboo isn�t necessarily genetic. It probably involves not wanting to have children that will be seen as different. Mutts, as mixed children are commonly called. There is also a rationale that might go something like this: �God shows us what he wants us to become� and it is sinful to taint that.� 

Under certain circumstances, such a mixing of lines was acceptable. For instance, if the only available male that a landowner could adopt as his heir was an exotic breed, then it was better to take that male than to let the line expire. However, being of pure blood, even if it isn�t the local variety tends to increase ones status�or at least one�s value as a saleable commodity.

Each isle is unique. Some might have a relatively minor over all morphing effect. Others have very strong effects, or they might have a large number of areas that create distinct morphing effects. This fact frequently defines the natural borders of various nations. There are pockets, sometimes rather large pockets, where no distinct morphing effects occur. These places are often used by foreigners and immigrants as birthing places, especially when the immigrant has pureblood. This keeps the children�s blood from being tainted by the morphing effects of the land. Such places generally keep the women for the full nine-months of her pregnancy. A very few such places are also rumored to have an affect on the sex ratio of the child, and such a place can charge incredible sums for a rich man�s woman to spend her pregnancy there. However, such places are quite rare.

The social status of a given phylum can vary radically from one isle or community to the next, depending on a large number of factors.  Generally speaking, however, the phylum with the highest social standing tends to be whichever one is indigenous to the area. One possible exception to this general rule of thumb is the Meswijan racial line. The Zylomian emperor, of course, lives and bears his children on Meswitch. On Meswitch, being Meswijan has little or no influence on one�s social standing, but on many other isles, particularly those who maintain strong ties with the Zylomian nation, it marks one as being of the same bloodline as royalty.

This is a somewhat strange sort of class distinction, because it doesn�t necessarily make one more desirable for marriage, for instance, but it does tend to accord them certain favorable considerations and treatment. Even among communities with weaker ties to the Zylomian nation, being Meswijan is a mark of distinction, particularly among the more fringe isles, for whom trading in female slaves is a fairly common occurrence. Because of the relatively high expense of traveling to the fringe isles, any foreign traveler can pretty well be assumed to be rich by the average local comparisons. The further they�ve traveled, the truer this is. That alone gives Meswijan�s (and other nearby races) a good deal of social clout. Aside from being a trader, there are few things that would bring a Meswijan to one of the outer isles. One possibility is if he is a nobleman who has been given a dowry that has allowed him to make a voyage to a new land and there make a new start. Occasionally, a group of lesser wealth will also pool their resources in order to move away and make a new start on one of the fringe isles, but this is far less common. It is also not uncommon for the Zylomian nation to send Magistrates to help govern its colonies that still have close ties, but this is much rarer the further out the isle is. If the region doesn�t have strong ties to Zylomia: then a Magistrate might be accompanied by a contingent of soldiers, intent on conquering a new territory or reclaiming a colony that has rebelled. But slavers are by far the most common Meswijan visitors.

An Abundance of Women: Another oddity caused by the Floating Isles, was a marked effect on the sexual ratio of its inhabitant�s offspring�s, or in other words, how many girls were born for each boy.

This varied somewhat randomly from isle to isle, but seemed to follow this general statistical pattern: the further you got from Meswitch, the more likely a child was to be born female. On Meswitch itself, there was actually an over abundance of males. This preponderance of men left a shortage of woman for wives and concubines. Which made it a good arena for training men to be more aggressive and ruthless.

The most lucrative professions for Meswijan men, were:

1. Being a trader.  Hi-tech (and other) conveniences were shipped from the inner isles, where such things were common, and exchanged for female slaves, or occasionally exotic magical artifacts.

2. Being a soldier.

Both, of course, necessitated traveling over the water� and thus the navigator�s guild was the most powerful organization in all the Floating Isles. As a collective group, even the Zylomian emperor had to listen carefully to what they said. Even journeymen became a class of royalty to the sailors on whoes boats they sailed.

In some of the outer Isles, the birthrate could favor females in excess of 10:1. Thus, although a female slave was a very valuable commodity on the inner isles, they were much devalued and expendable on the fringe isles.

This is the Part Where I Need Your Help: Okay� I�ve pretty well laid out Warren Farrell�s theory of social dynamics, and I�ve outlined many of the forces at work within the various communities within the Floating Isles. Now I want to come up with religious and legal structures that would follow the cardinal rule of providing support and protection for the most possible offspring.

There are a number of considerations. For example, the same basic dynamics won�t necessarily apply to all the isle communities, the way they tend to in all stage-I societies. Because the causal forces change depending on whether you are on an inner isle or an outer isle. Also, the same motivating forces won�t necessarily create the same religious or legal laws�just as some stage-I societies developed a strategy of protecting women by hiding them and others did not. Also, given the extremely harsh conditions on some of these Isles, the optimum result is not always to increase the number of offspring. Just as too many deer in the winter leads to a larger number of deer who will die, so too, an over production of children (or the wrong kind of children) could be catastrophic.

One stereotype that I want to try to avoid, if at all possible, is the idea that women would typically reject their place in a society such as the one I�m trying to develop here. The social attitudes are so ingrained, from the moment of birth on, that it has become the accepted way. Few women question their place, just as few men today question why they�re the ones who are expected to register for the draft. Instead, a woman would console herself with slogans like: �A woman�s got to do, what a woman�s got to do.� This social conditioning and training would pervade every aspect of society. (I�m thinking that I may even name my female characters with male names, while I�m writing the stories, to make it easier to think of them in disposable terms. Then after the stories done, I can go back and change the names to what I want them to be.)

There are also a number of obvious social stereotypes that I would like to find a viable rationale for disposing of within the logical structure of Farrell�s theory, but keeping the structure logically sound is the most important thing. I would also like to develop at least a couple of different strategies for doing this effectively. But for now, I�ll just list some of my basic ideas concerning the social forces that would shape such a society, and develop them briefly:

Women as the Disposable Sex: Where women are in a serious over abundance, it seems logical to assume that they would probably become the more disposable sex. Because of the mixed dynamics of this scenario, women would probably never obtain such a stranglehold on disposability as men have in our society, but they would become more so.  A by product of this might be that women would be seen as having rougher, less delicate skin than men, and thus, a male child�s punishments (a whipping, for instance) would typically be less severe than a females.

1. Women would be more likely to do the heavier and more dangerous labor: the Death Professions. They would be less likely to hold skilled labor positions, or positions of responsibility or authority�unless those required substantially more personal risk to perform.

   • The bulk of the grunt fighting units in an army might well be women. The officers would still have to be men, and in fact the officer would become the soldier woman�s new fieflord.

   • Hunting, collecting eggs from the high cliff tops where they might fall, etc. These might come to be considered more in a women�s domain of work.

   • Physical activity, particularly dangerous ones, like being a gladiator, or participating in games of sport or chance� these would all be associated more with females. They would all be training, to teach young girls to risk and place themselves in danger.

2. Social custom would be designed much more towards safeguarding men while placing women at risk, for instance:

   • A woman would go first down stairs, last up a stairs

   • A woman would walk on the outside of a sidewalk, closest to passing traffic

   • If a couple were attacked, the female would be far more likely to sacrifice her life in an effort to save the man�s

   • On a sinking ship, it would me male children first, then men, female children and women, in that order.

3. Men, even in poor families, might be more likely to stay at home and watch the children or take care of a few of the easier chores traditionally seen as women�s work. More often, however, the pregnant or specially assigned women would see to these tasks, while the man played the role of supervising the women�s work in the fields.

However, this could also cause some potential problems, since dangerous work generally requires a reasonably high degree of autonomy and responsibility. If women actually felt oppressed, they would be less likely to perform these functions willingly for their fieflords. Here are a few possible strategies for working around this problem: 

1.  If women feel oppressed and are treated completely as slaves: kept shackled all the time and their every act monitored. Then it wouldn�t matter how much they felt oppressed or how willing they were to do these more dangerous things. Unfortunately, that severely limits the usefulness of this whole idea, since as soon as the man got in trouble, the woman might use it as an opportunity to escape. The controlling force then, would have to be threat of punishment and a lack of other viable options.

2. However, if women did not feel overly oppressed, they might perform these same services willingly. Social conditioning can be a very strong force, and a person will agree to a lot if everyone else is telling them that is their role in life, and rewarding them with crumbs of appreciation.

3. Perhaps the best strategy, however, would be if this initial stage of sacrifice was a (possibly) transient phase. Those women who were able to prove themselves could be rewarded by being elevated to a higher social class, where they would be pampered as much or more than the men. This would work well with the hereditary line passing through the female side. (As discussed later.)

Women as Property: It might be common, without other factors, for a poor family to kill their female children at birth. The way some cultures have in the past. Although such an act was probably always socially destructive, it was productive on a single-family level because women were seen as just another mouth to feed. Only the males typically did the hard manual labor needed to keep a family financially sound, or perhaps there were inheritance issues that made it seem prudent to kill these female children.

Among the Floating Isles, such practices may occasionally happen as well. But there are a number of factors that would lessen the likelihood of this. Chief among them is the fact that woman have a fairly high value as a commodity. Investing in feeding, clothing, housing and training them for a few years would provide a healthy return in most cases. Those who are two poor for that can often even sell their female children to orphanages: essentially an euphemistic term for a slave farm. Typically, they�re run by local governments or private business. Often without the nicety of being keep separate from the adult side of the slave farming trade, since the adult women provide able workers for taking care of the female children until they�re of a suitable age to sell.

No comparable social structure generally exists to care for abandoned male children. However, since males are important in securing the continuation of a family, male children tend to have a rather high social value, so abandoned male children are quite rare.

The Path of Inheritance: With male children in far shorter supply than female children, there might be a significant problem with having the inheritance go through the male line. Either the average family would have to be very large, or there would be a lot of families without a clear-cut line of inheritance. There are two obvious ways to handle this situation.

1.        Have the family name and thus the inheritance passed through the females. This would mean that virtually every family would have ready access to an heir. The father�s job then would be to find a suitable son-in-law to marry his daughter. These landed daughters would be the only class of female that wasn�t second-class. However, despite the fact that name and property passed through the landed daughter, she would still be owned by a fieflord. First her father (or other guardian) and then by her husband.

2.     Reduce the concern over blood relations. In this case, an adopted son would generally inherit a man�s wealth. In fact, it would not be uncommon for a man with blood-sons to choose another son to adopt and give his inheritance, if he felt his blood-sons weren�t fit to have his wealth. Or two family units could join together and give their estates to a single adopted male.

Both schemes have certain advantages:

The first scheme would give us an interesting debutante class of female. Since a man can routinely sell any of his daughters into slavery, this debutante class would be conditional. It would be reserved strictly for the prettiest and most skilled of a man�s daughters (or fiefs, as the inheriting female wouldn�t necessarily have to be the man�s blood kin either). In the case of a rich man, he might even divide his estate among a number of his daughters� But the need to keep a family�s wealth whole would probably make this just as rare as it is when a line passes through the male. The conditional nature of the landed status would also keep all the pretty daughters busy competing against one another. One (or more) daughter might be given the designation of being landed. (This status is generally thought of as being the eldest daughter�s. It is hers to loose, anyway.) This status could be the carrot that encourage women to risk themselves. Thus, a woman can choose to accept the lot her current fieflord has given to her�or she can try to attract the attention of another fieflord and try to convince him to buy her. (Optionally, some women may also strike out on their own. This is part of the risk, but it also gives them their freedom. In a sense then, the lifestyle of a young Free Woman would generally be seen as heroic and adventurous. But the older she became, the more it would come to be associated with poor or low status. It would be similar to the kind of stigma that would have been attached to an old maid or a bachelor in a stage-I society�it would signify someone with no future. Someone who had failed at life�although there are exceptions to this generality. Such a woman could not own land, although certain types of property would be allowed�thus she would still be largely dependent on men, and her life would generally be a hard one, not coveted by the old.) Taking this risk, of becoming a free woman, and striking out on her own, would give a woman an opportunity for a change of scenery, access to new experiences and teachers�military service, for example. In this way, she might learn new skills and become more desirable as a landed heir. This however would require a great deal of risk on her part, without any real guarantees for success.

Although women are much more aggressive, risk taking, production oriented, etc� Men don�t necessarily become overly passive. They allow women to take over some of life�s risk taking, but they maintain their own aggressive edge. Even though there are relatively few men, they still compete fiercely for the attention of the wealthiest father-in-law�s or patrons. Traditionally, a man might be expected to provide a dowry to his future father-in-law. Typically, among the poor this would be something that he had earned himself. Among the more affluent, it might be an endowment from the boy�s father. This tradition, would help encourage men to go out into the world and make a name for themselves, as well. This strategy would spread out the genetic pool within individual families and communities, since an adopted son would move into a new household and become the master of women who were not related to him. Thus, if he had sex with his legal sister or his mother, (as many men holding such absolute control over women might be tempted to do) they would not literally be having incestuous sex, which over time could cause inbreeding problems.

The second scheme would make male children a commodity too. A father with two or more sons could sell one of his sons to a rich man. This would provide an heir for a childless rich man, give a second son control over property (and possibly create a new alliance between those two families), as well as giving the father immediate money from the sale. It would not be as effective at shaking up the genetic mix within a single family or community as the first scheme. However, since males might be imported from inner isles, much as females are imported from outer isles, it might be considerably more efficient at bringing in a continuous flow of new blood for a whole community or isle. The isles where women are closer to slaves, and there aren�t any Free Women, would be much more likely to have this sort of inheritance scheme.

Other Role Reversals: With such an abundance of women, there would tend to be far greater (and much more aggressive) competition among them for the few males who were available. This might lead to several consequences:

1. Women might commonly be seen as baser, less altruistic sex. From the moment of birth on, women would undergo subliminal aggression/performance training. All these trained characteristics would be seen as inborn, the nature of the feminine beast.

   • Men, of course, would on average be thought of as having finer sensibilities, and purer motives.

   • Sexual lewdness would typically be encouraged far more among the women than among men.

   • Hazing would be far more prevalent among girls, and if a girl teased a boy in a like manner it would be a serious breach of etiquette.

   • Women in general would be seen as being more driven by sexual desires: nymphomaniacs all. While the man would be more likely to be seen as rising above all that. A prudent man would be very careful when picking from his suitors, trying to attract as many to himself as he could. So he might be more likely to wear a higher percentage of societies finery

2. Women would tend to become more performance oriented. A man, with his pick of women literally throwing themselves at him, would be much more likely to sit back and let the women literally beg and compete for his attention. Thus women would become far more performance oriented, and would spend a great deal of time honing their various skills. Because of their greater level of physical activity, the majority of women in the Floating Isles are fit and firm, and the genetic pressure of the Isles tends to keep them all within a normal range. Some women, of course, would still be more attractive than others, and this undoubtedly would influence a man�s choice, but it is generally considered a far less important factor to a prudent man than the woman�s repertoire of talents, skills and holdings (or inheritance).

   • Non-landed women would be far more likely to give a man gifts, (probably including samples of their sexual favors, and samples of their skills and prowess: such as serenading, playing an instrument for him, winning a fight, or a prize in a game of skill, etc.)

3. Women would tend to treat women with much greater deference than men treat women; and this would be reflected by social customs. For instance, women might be expected to:

   • stand up whenever a man enters the room

   • give up her seat to a standing man

   • help a man put on his coat

   • bring a man a present when she comes to visit

   • kiss a man�s hand when they meet

Sexual Taboos: Premarital and extramarital sex might not be taboo. With an abundance of (beautiful) women vying for the attention of men, beauty would no longer be the crucial measure of a woman�s power. Instead, sexual skill might become a more important measuring stick. With this in mind, womn would likely be encouraged to offer their services to any available and willing male, as a sort of practice. 

Since there are already too many women and having children is likely to produce more, this relaxing of taboos could cause a logistics problem�unless there�s some value added to having lots of female children. This is one reason why it is crucially important that females be both a commodity and the disposable sex. They tend to take the more difficult and dangerous jobs�but perhaps even more importantly, they become a disposable source of income as well for their fieflord, the man who owns them. A man could, if he choose, live comfortably by simply raising beautiful and well-trained daughters and selling then to slave-traders. The key words are beautiful and well trained. A man with ugly daughters would not fare well, nor would a man with poorly trained daughters. Thus, incest might also be acceptable, since it involves a man training his daughter to fetch a better price, and thus better provide for the family.

An unattractive woman, who lacked any significant skills, would be a liability to her father, if she were to become pregnant. Thus, it may make sense for a fieflord to assign some of his daughters to a higher status than others. Those daughters granted this higher status are encouraged to be sexually promiscuous.

 Sayings, Myths and Other Social Paraphernalia: 

�      A wise and industrious man could live his entire life without ever knowing the pain of selling his own child, but a rich man could sell them all.

�      A poor man can live his entire life without ever knowing the pain of selling his own child, but a rich man can sell them all.

�      you can choose to be rich or poor�not both.

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