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The river kingdom sociology post

Organization inspired by this post of Amaril’s, gender checklist inspired by Josie, and societal virtues done in the fashion of the TBD school, whose master is Phlox, with innovations by Loch.1 For EcksianRaven.

warka vase

Gender

As all things are in the river kingdom, gender is defined by proximity to Lugal. Masculinity is that which Lugal resembles; femininity is that which Lugal desires.

You are considered a man if you publicly display at least three of the following traits. You are considered an exemplary man if you publicly display all five.

You are considered a woman if you publicly display at least three of the following traits. You are considered an exemplary woman if you publicly display all five.

If you are considered neither a man nor a woman, you’re weird. If you’re considered both a man and a woman, you’re weird.2

Character classes fill a certain social (and sometimes sexual) role that often comes with gendered expectations. An Obligator is expected, for example, to be a man; should you wear the cerulean raiment of an Obligator, you will be treated as a man even if you would otherwise not be considered one, at least at first glance. Classes will also often have consistent traits that ensure they align with their expected gender. All children taken to the House of the Graces, for example, are feminized, and Man-Killers of the Iron Cult—sterilized, shorn, and masked—are the closest thing the river kingdom has to a specific third gender beyond the blanket term “weird.”

Beauty Standards

Urukites consider the following traits beautiful if you are a man:

Urukites consider the following traits beautiful if you are a woman:

No matter your gender, Urukites consider the following traits beautiful:

You need to publicly meet at least six of the beauty standards of your gender to be attractive, eight to be alluring, and all ten to be magnificent. You will never be magnificent unless you are considered both respectable and either a man or a woman.

Respectability

There are four virtues the river kingdom values above all others.

Obligation

Above all things, fulfill your role in society. This means obeisance to your betters, but your lessers are also due respect; the patriarch is just as obligated to keep his son clothed and well-fed as his least slave. The idea of rebelling from these obligations is taboo, due social stigmatization and divine punishment. You are obligated to extant hierarchies, and hiding either your identity or intentions is considered a subversion of your obligation to Lugal’s other children. Truth-telling is highly valued; the liar’s tongue is forked.

Fertility

The river gives life to all; be as the river. This does not just mean birthing as many children as possible, but also fertility in deeds—be productive in everything you do. This does not mean that all killing is prohibited; killing another human is taboo, but the lion hunts the sheep to feed its young, and the rotten bud must be excised from the tree so that the rest may flourish.

Musicality

Sing songs of self-aggrandizement and relish in the pride of your deeds and the deeds of your ancestors. Sing equally loud songs of praise for others. Sing loudest of all your worship of God. Do something glorious and sing a song about it; feuds are loud and beautiful in the river kingdom. Fighting is just another dance.

Gold

Adorn yourself in the metal of the river, that golden gift of God. Make yourself and others beautiful. Be bright in mien, and shining. Gold is that pure metal which cannot be tarnished, but always remember it is malleable enough to be hammered into shape.

You need to publicly embody at least two virtues to be respectable, three to be admirable, and all four to be revered. You will never be revered unless you are considered both attractive and either a man or a woman.

Family and Social Organization

All of the river kingdom is structured as a microcosm of the order of the world, which is a macrocosm of the great temple-palace at Uruk. As Lugal is God of His temple, He is father of His household, and He is king of His kingdom. He is loved by His Graces, who are His wives and slaves; He is worshiped by His Obligators, who are His priests and slaves; and He is served and clothed and fed by His slaves, who are His slaves.

All of Urukite society runs on slavery. The river’s bounty would never be harvested without the labor of debtors, defaulters, criminals, outcasts, drifters, and their children. It is said you can tell a nome’s prosperity by looking to its slave market; when egos grow large and mines run dry, slaver-catchers are hired to retrieve skilled and beautiful debtors and criminals from neighboring communities.6 Old grudges are inflamed, conflicts are started, justifications are imagined.

Slaves are not entirely without protections, however; a patriarch is just as obligated to provide for his slaves as he is the free members of his household. A married slave cannot be sold to another household without their spouses, nor can a child be sold without their parents. They are protected from sexual abuse and guaranteed food, clothing, and shelter enough to live. It is a common enough occurrence for someone to sell themself into slavery solely to join a wealthy household.

The household is the basic unit of Urukite society, and each is governed by its patriarch. Brothers7 and sons and daughters and wives and slaves are all subservient to him; everything and everyone in his household is his to do with as he pleases.8 He is, simultaneously, responsible for everything and everyone in his household. If his slave steals from his neighbor’s orchard, it is the patriarch’s obligation to discipline his slave and compensate his neighbor; if his son beats his neighbor’s daughter, it is the patriarch’s obligation to discipline his son and compensate his neighbor. If it is from his orchard which is stolen, or if it is his daughter who is beaten, it is the patriarch’s obligation to pursue retribution from the offender.

Upon the death or de-gendering of a household’s patriarch, the authority and obligation of the patriarch traditionally passes to the next eldest man in the household. Typically this is the patriarch’s younger brother, though feuds are known to occur between brothers and sons—depending on personalities involved and the power and wealth of the household, this can turn violent or even split one household into two.

While the patriarch is the master of the house and those in it, it is traditional for the mistress of the household—his first and primary wife—to take a prominent role in household governance and upkeep, while the patriarch’s focus lies on relationships with other households and community politics. She manages family members and the household’s slaves, and is often the patriarch’s most trusted source of information regarding any internal household conflict. She is the hostess and primary point of contact for any visitors, often greeting them before a more formal announcement and meeting with the patriarch and other prominent men in the household. It is her role to identify the visitor’s intentions and to prepare the patriarch so that he might maintain the upper hand.

More broadly, Urukite society is an agricultural one, and organized around that fact. Men are expected to labor in the fields, planting or harvesting, and otherwise work trades outside of the home. Women are expected to labor indoors, inside the home, except in circumstances where they are forced to help with planting and harvesting—it is a sign of wealth for a woman never to labor in the fields. Children labor where they are needed by each individual household, with no preference for indoor or outdoor labor.

Marriage

It is the duty of the patriarch to broker marriages for all members of his household upon their coming of age, and thus a man’s first marriage is typically political or economic in nature—akin to any other business transaction. It is common for a husband and wife to only meet for the first time on their wedding day, unless the husband-to-be traveled with his father or uncle to negotiate the marriage.

In imitation of Lugal, polygyny is the Urukite norm. A man is empowered as an adult upon his marriage, and thus has more sway in social dealings, especially if he has a child on the way. It is extremely common for a man to marry a second wife within a month or two of the first; promises between lovers are often made before the first marriage has even occurred.9

A bride-price is typically paid in advance to the bride’s household, or a bride-service is done by the husband’s household for the bride’s household. This is considered distinct from purchasing the debt of a slave; it is a symbolic gesture recognizing the loss and gain of a laborer. If the wife should die within a year of the marriage, the husband’s household is due compensation for the money paid or the service rendered. Likewise, should the pair be unexpectedly unable to produce children, the husband’s household is due compensation.10 In the latter instance, divorce (with varying levels of amicability) is customary but not required.

Weddings are day-long events to which both households and their communities are customarily invited. Friendships are solidified and business dealings are conducted between wrestling contests, singing and dancing, and feasting. The ceremony is conducted at midday, officiated by an Obligator, and invariably occurs standing knee-high in the river. The bride is given from her father to the father of her husband, and in this act enters into his household.11 The husband’s father then presents the bride to his son. The Obligator seals their marriage with bands of gold.

The above applies when both husband and wife are free. A free woman who marries an enslaved man becomes a slave of her husband’s master. A free man who marries an enslaved woman, however, must buy her debts from her master in order to marry her in addition to paying a bride-price to her household.12 The patriarch of the enslaved woman’s household acts thus as both master and father.

Sex and Childbirth

To the Urukite mind, sex for procreation and sex for pleasure are two distinct concepts. Intercrural, oral, and anal sex is common both between married couples as a form of contraception and between unmarried people; they are social activities, and while considered deeply intimate, do not necessarily connote romance.

Broadly, sex between any two or more adults is acceptable, but there are various specific permutations of relationship that are stigmatized in Urukite society. For example, it is considered feminine and ignoble for a man to be penetrated by his partner; frottage is considered a more equal and respectable form of sex.13 It is likewise stigmatized for a male slave to have even intercrural sex with the free women of his household, though he may be offered to please visiting guests regardless of their gender. It is also common for women to keep their hair bound and clothed during casual sex; it is considered unfaithful for a woman to let loose her hair for any man but her husband.

Sex for procreation is a sacred and important act. Birth rates are low enough and rates of infant mortality are high enough that it is the first goal of any marriage to birth one or more children.14 Procreative sex is often aided by strong psychedelics which participants use to induce a vision-fixation on a prominent ancestor or recent cultural hero. It is believed that this ritual will create a vessel attractive to the shade of the imagined figure. Births invariably occur in the river, during which the attracted shade may be reborn into the infant. Should an infant be born before the parent can reach the river, it is brought to the temple and killed; born outside the river, an evil spirit could enter it before a holy soul.

Children

In the river kingdom, children have essentially no rights. They are assets of their household and treated as such, though they are typically prized and cherished due to their inherent value as workers, heirs, and living beings.

Infants go unnamed until after their first birthday, at which time they are inoculated against the hornèd sons of the Enemy. Should they survive inoculation, they are given a name and properly welcomed into the household as a living child. Before this time, infants are referred to solely by their matronym, though they are sometimes given informal nicknames—sandpiper, pomegranate, lump, kunga, diminutives therein—in the case of twins or particularly sentimental parents.

Infants and children aren’t gendered like adults; they are neither men nor women nor weird. “Child” is not a conscious gender to the Urukite mind, but it has all the social signs of one. Upon coming of age—which occurs at an unfixed moment typically around puberty—a child often takes on the gender that the household needs most politically and economically.

society dot jpg

  1. I have linked her blog enough already. Go find it in another post of mine. Givem e moreclicks!!!↩

  2. This can and will change during one’s lifetime, either because of intentional aesthetic decisions or hormone rebalancing, or simply due to the effects of aging. A renowned hunter depilates her body, yet wears a beard decorated with braids and beads like her scarf-hidden hair; she is considered weird, ill-fit for marriage or as a member of a household, but is respected nonetheless for her virtues and simultaneously offered certain social freedoms—a balance unachievable by men or women. An elder loses his powerful frame and grows impotent, and his beard turns to wispy strands; the once-imposing patriarch is cast aside, his virtues and achievements forgotten, his age having reduced him to shameful, child-like weirdness.

    Binary transition, meanwhile, is universally accepted and understood under specific circumstances. A man who becomes a woman remains respected and accepted in society should she commit to taking on the sexual and social roles of a woman, and if in doing so she does not abandon sexual and social obligations previously sworn. Should she already have a wife or be a prominent fixture of a household, transition is stigmatized due to the accompanying breach of obligations; it becomes akin to social death. The abandonment of obligations is unacceptable in all circumstances. The reverse, however, is more common; the widow of a wealthy patriarch will often become a man after the patriarch’s death, taking on his obligations and becoming the husband—socially and sexually—to the second and further wives.↩

  3. These cosmetics are most commonly made from zinc oxide or ground bark paste, or composite extracts of rice, jasmine, and olive oil, which all act to protect the skin from the bite of the sun. Wealthy Urukites replace these protective cosmetics for more colorful powders made from ground charcoal and galena or crushed flowers, often incorporating perfumes or incense into the blend.↩

  4. Jewelry is kept simple, acting as a highlight for cosmetics, rather than as the primary focus of an outfit. Matte materials are valued higher than polished gemstones for this reason. Gold, either by itself or as a base material, is commonly used and considered pious, though lapis lazuli, jade, citrine, seashells, and ceramic beads are all beloved. Silver as a material and piercing as a medium are eschewed unilaterally.↩

  5. Hair is an important thing in the river kingdom, and more than anything your hair determines your standing. Lugal’s hair is as long as He is tall, and the regal man follows in His example. Long hair, well-kept, is a sign of nobility and wise counsel, but letting one’s hair grow matted and tangled is a sign of ferality and madness.

    An Urukite warrior who has seen battle thus shaves his head to rid himself of the bloody, matted clumps upon his brow, the viscera which has burrowed deep. He has fought with his blade or his hands, and must ritually cleanse himself of the impure stink.

    The weapon of kings is the bow, or it is the warrior; his art is a distant one, that he might keep a clear head for rule. His hair grows long, able to be braided and adorned. Thus goes the saying: the ruler with the longest hair has had the longest rule. One must only look at Lugal to see His nature.

    Stately men who grow bald over the years often wear wigs or choose to decorate their smooth heads with spiraling designs of cosmetic powder. It becomes a statement of the same caliber as lengthy locks; the cosmetics take care and attention to personal aesthetic that the warrior has no time for, nor the ability to create.

    A woman’s hair, meanwhile, is her identity. By undoing her scarf and revealing her hair, she engages in an act of extreme intimacy. A bride’s hair is perfumed and tightly bound by her mother on her wedding day, such that only when her husband undoes her scarf when he takes her to bed does he begin to smell the pleasing scent. He buries his face in her hair while he takes her from behind.↩

  6. Slave-catchers walk a narrow path and, despite their ubiquity, are hardly respected. They are considered violent, transient, and short-sighted. This reputation hardly impacts their revenue, however; they are, at the end of the day, free. And while it goes against the Word of God to bind an honest man in slavery, who will believe his protestations after he is taken to the other side of the kingdom and called a debtor? Who will believe the young woman who claims she is a wife and a mother, when she is oh so beautiful?↩

  7. A patriarch’s younger brothers are his facilitators and agents. They will often conduct business deals in his name or travel as his proxies. In this way they act as Lugal’s Obligators do.↩

  8. Initiates of the Iron Cult are tested with a series of three hypotheticals. This is the third: “A dispute is brought to the wise Obligator Lot-Varsha by the son of a rich patriarch, noble in the eyes of his community. The patriarch, on the night of his son’s first wedding, slept with his son’s bride without his son’s knowledge or consent. When the son learned of this, he cursed his father and beat his new bride bloody. She died of her injuries that same day. The patriarch claims that the bride, upon her marriage to his son, became a part of his household and thus became his property—just like his son, who had no right to kill his bride without his father’s permission. The son claims that he did not intend to kill his bride and that his father overstepped his rights—that he has no claim to his son’s bride in that way, whether it be her sex or her death; she is no slave. How ought Lot-Varsha judge the dispute?”

    Often initiates will query as to the intent of the parties involved—Did the patriarch arrange his son’s marriage with the bride solely to bed her himself? Did the son intend to kill his bride?—or the patriarch’s potency—Could their union have resulted in a child, muddying the question of succession?—questions which the proctor always answers. They are both irrelevant questions, however; the puzzle is not one of intent, nor succession. The correct judgement is this one: The patriarch is to be put to death, and his son is to be sterilized and to take on the mantle of Man-Killer. Here is the reasoning: The bride has become a part of the patriarch’s household, but that does not mean she is his to claim. Indeed, in marrying his son she has become his daughter, and in bedding her he has violated the taboo of incest, whose punishment is death. The son was in his legal right to have his bride killed for her infidelity, but the execution was not his to perform, and thus he must suffer the punishment for manslaughter. An initiate who wisely passes judgement on all three disputes moves to the next round of selection, and may soon earn his golden mask.

    One year, the initiate Saya, ever-bold, asked the following of the proctor after successfully arbitrating the third dispute: “Proctor, the world is ordered as the temple. We are all the household of Lugal; we are all His children, and He our father.” The proctor watched silently from beneath his mask of gold, and Saya continued. “Lugal has taken many wives, who are thus His daughters. If the punishment for the taboo of incest is death, ought Lugal Himself not suffer judgement?” And the proctor took off his own golden mask and offered it to Saya, revealing cold eyes and a smile, and answered: “Here is the first law of the world: ‘God may do as He pleases.’”↩

  9. The conflict between a jealous first wife and beloved second wife is a common trope in Urukite poetry—the first wife, granted greater power over the household, makes the second wife’s life miserable. Depending on the generation and the author, the stories typically end in two different ways. The first is the dream of young women across the kingdom: The husband, handsome beyond measure, chastises the first wife—she is invariably ugly and spoiled—and divorces her, then ravishes his true love all along. He never marries another woman, and they live happily ever after. There is another ending told by young men when they gather to drink and laugh: The second wife shows her husband the bruise left by the first wife’s rod, but he tells her to leave him out of it. Let the women work it out themselves. He then invariably takes both wives to bed.↩

  10. ​​Many first marriages are brokered even if it is known the husband and wife cannot have children. In this instance, the husband marries a second wife shortly thereafter, and the second wife’s children become the first’s de jure. This is a positive situation for the first wife, who receives children and heirs, and for the second, whose children take a more prominent place in the household. Often the children are known by two matronyms in this instance, though sometimes motherhood is entirely—and sometimes secretly—transferred.↩

  11. It is customary for a woman to change her patronym upon marriage and transfer to her husband’s household (e.g., Ahava lu Bel-Varsha na Belet-Ahava becomes Belet-Ahava lu Bel-Nisa na Belet-Ahava upon marrying (Bel-)Levanu lu Bel-Nisa na Belet-Enme). Matronyms always remain consistent, however; all the genealogical epics trace the lineages of heroes through their matrilineal line.↩

  12. The act of buying her debts does not immediately free her; she is by law his slave. In these scenarios it is almost unheard of for him not to free her before their marriage, however.↩

  13. A man who is known to be penetrated during sex must fulfill four of the five gender requirements to still be considered a man, and can never be exemplary.↩

  14. Without a Midwife present to deliver the baby, there is a 3-in-6 chance of a complication. If so, roll another d6. On a 1–2, the child dies; on a 3–4, the birthing parent dies; on a 5–6, both die. In any case, both the birthing parent and child must roll flesh. On a failure, the birthing parent recovers slowly. On a failure, the child is sickly or cursed with horns.

    There is a 2+[esoteric]-in-100 chance of an uncommon birth—twins, strange powers, appearance of a strange creature desiring to be godparent, etc.↩

#GLoG #MEGsopotamia