Ch. 2 - Pg. 26
KimLuster on Feb. 15, 2018
Ruh-Roh!
Someone's dallying around might'a kinda got them in trouble!
Still, rather jarring that this ‘Maatrii-Son’ would claim exclusive courting of Rhiaan with his two mates (daams) right along with him, but this society just isn't monogamous!!
Speaking of polygamy: in most cultures that practiced it, it's usually a single male with multiple females, instead of a female with multiple males, or a group marriage of many males and females. While this may irritate modern females, seem unfair and sexist, it really does make sense from a biological perspective.
A female can only bear a single child at a time, no matter how many mates she has (that's just biological fact) while a male can impregnate as many women as he can impress to mate with him. So, cultures where mating ‘with the best’ (however that's defined,) in a pseudo-Darwinian manner, actually matters, a ‘strong’ male having many wives makes sense.
That said, in this world that's been recovering from an eco-apocalypse for a long time, rearing many strong children was of supreme importance. And while the critical need has leveled off in recent generations, once things become tradition, they don't go away easily.
But women are NOT considered property. A woman may always say no when being courted, even with this ‘exclusivity’ thing (which we'll go further into). Also, it's not unheard of for a woman to have more than one mate, but it'll be considered foolish and wasteful by those willing to say it to her face (which, for some powerful ladies, doesn't happen…)
Well, what a blurb for Valentines!!
Life and Good Dreams!
Jason Moon at 2:30PM, Feb. 18, 2018
Good luck on trying to force Rhiaan as a partner lol
Peipei at 2:19AM, Feb. 16, 2018
I hope she rejects them both o.o But I don't suppose she'll do that, judging by that grin on her face! xD This tribe reminds me a bit of the Miqo'te in FFXIV, where males and females are equal but females will go after the toughest honcho in town! Males have even been known to kill each other to receive exclusive access to the maidens in the village! The Polygamy system is also similar to Ron's culture, where a nobleman can breed with sometimes up to 10 women or more, but claim 0 ownership nor exclusivity over any of them, it's literally for reproductive purposes, nothing personal xD!
KimLuster at 4:18AM, Feb. 16, 2018
Very interesting! I had to look up these Miqo'te people. Now I wanna play Final Fantasy!!
jerrie at 1:37AM, Feb. 16, 2018
How DARE he claim exclusivity...I saw Rhiaan first!!!! I call DIBS dude...BACK OFF!!!
KimLuster at 4:23AM, Feb. 16, 2018
hehe, ya know... the biggest aspect of the Exclusivity claim is this! It's more directed to other males. It's means, "I'm willing to fight..." So, you could challenge :D
Jamie59 at 4:22PM, Feb. 15, 2018
But girls just wanna have fun.
KimLuster at 7:25PM, Feb. 15, 2018
Yeah, and every time we do, in every time and age, we get in trouble!!
usedbooks at 8:45AM, Feb. 15, 2018
This exclusivity seems like news to Rhiaan. XD A female with multiple male partners is called polyandry. It happens in some modern tribes. But in societies where property ownership became a male thing, and females became property, polygamy is more common. (Biologically, polyandry among animals is practically never done because it doesn't make sense in terms of propagation.) Multiple partners both ways is called promiscuity, biologically the most common practice in non-civilized mammals.
KimLuster at 7:25PM, Feb. 15, 2018
Yeah, she got blindsided for sho'! And even though polygamy is more common in this society, females are never considered property or less than males. It was simply that the human population reach dire straight in a forgotten past and reproduction took on practical terms (as you mention in biology) and then became custom. Exclusivity well be explained more next page, but it doesn't mean a male owns a female and she has no say in the matter...
Banes at 7:12AM, Feb. 15, 2018
I love how this turns Rhiaan's flirty nature on its head and gives her a bit of a dilemma. Very interesting info on polygamy in your Author Notes, too! Do you find it hard to come up with these "alien" words? Seems like it'd be tough!
KimLuster at 7:21PM, Feb. 15, 2018
Yep, and you called it!! As for the 'alien' words... Honestly, each and everyone is based on how I think some modern terms could change, mutate, corrupt, become mythic, far into the future, after a cataclysm and recovery...
El Cid at 7:12AM, Feb. 15, 2018
She should take this as a compliment. A horrible, suffocating compliment.
KimLuster at 7:18PM, Feb. 15, 2018
It's a pyrrhic compliment!
plymayer at 6:57AM, Feb. 15, 2018
Some of her other talents include making really good peanut butter sandwiches and standing in really cool and impressive poses.
KimLuster at 7:17PM, Feb. 15, 2018
With an emphasis on the peanut butter sandwiches!!
bravo1102 at 6:05AM, Feb. 15, 2018
Read the Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond. Males gather as many females as they can afford. And now the protagonist is a princess. So is he a cruel master or a kind one and will she have to run away? And two previous daams? Two gang up on one? Four is thr ideal number. Two and two are friends for each other. ;)
KimLuster at 7:17PM, Feb. 15, 2018
Yeah, I imagine the dynamics of such arrangements could get interesting indeed... As for how kind or cruel Tylar (or his daams...) might be... Well... ;)
bravo1102 at 6:08AM, Feb. 15, 2018
Then there are the relationships that develop in single sex groups. Sexual preference is often conditional even among other species. One dominant male has a monopoly so the other males and even the population of females in the harem have relationships with each other.