Omban gender relations

Inequality

Gender relations are rather egalitarian in the Omban successor states compared to many other similar ancient societies, and definitely moreso than in imperial Omban society, though they are still patriarchally biased. Military leaders tend to be male, which is a significant source of power. Lineages tend to be led by male hengis most of the time, and descent is patrilineal to a significant extent. However, the access to magic through fos, available to both sexes, and the dyadic relationship between the female Hand and the male Voice (of which the former is far wealthier) mitigates gender inequality throughout most former Omban territories.

Daligash, Basai, and especially Hasmala are more egalitarian. In Basai there is a female Chancellor at present, and while the governor of Hasmala is male, it is well-understood that the Hasmalan governors are beholden to the Heart, the leader of the Hand of the Dead in Kigraz. Khutu and Taizi are significantly more male-biased than other nations. Because Khutu is run strictly by Eluli Ula and his nineteen Conduits, all noble Voices, there is very limited role for women in high-level politics there.

The division of labor is muted but undoubtedly present. Of course, the priesthoods are strictly divided. Beyond that, in principle, there is no strict limitation on women or men holding any profession or role. Agricultural labour, in particular, is widely practiced by everyone, including small children. Because leadership roles within lineages tend to be held by men, hereditary noble leadership in both urban and rural areas tends to be held by men in most cases. Whaling, practiced widely and commercially in the northern countries, also tends to be a male profession.

Sex and Marriage

Sexual relations among teens starting around 15 or 16 are quite common and well-tolerated for the most part. In general, sex outside marriage for unmarried people is considered normal. There are contraceptive spells common enough that every village has access to them, which is not to say that everyone uses them. Infidelity in marriage is far more problematic, and is often the cause of divorce, inter-lineage rivalries, and homicide.

Pregnancy is the domain of the Hand, who have specialized midwives who attend women while pregnant and manage childbirth. The Hand holds a deep repository of centuries of knowledge about childbirth that they guard quite closely. Smaller villages may also have herbalists who perform some of these roles. Pregnancy outside marriage is not a grave social problem, so long as it is clear to which lineage the child will belong. It is not uncommon for such children to be born and raised in the mother's lineage, if the partners are not going to wed. However, among the nobility, and among very wealthy commoners, there is an expectation that an unplanned pregnancy is reason for either a quick marriage or an abortion. Violations of the social order of class and lineage are the primary concern here.

Marriage is part of the fundamental role of lineages, to ensure that partners are suitable socially. It is not principally seen as an individual decision - even when motivated by the partners. The Hand of the Dead brokers marriages in consultation with important members of lineages. Marriage for love is actually not uncommon, but always in the partners' minds is how to convince their lineage elders that the union is a good one. Marriage across social ranks is highly problematic and is almost never approved. Omban marriage custom involves bridewealth, which involved the groom's lineage paying the bride's lineage to compensate for the loss of her productive labour for them in the future.

Within marriages, responsibilities depend greatly on residence. It is customary that, when the lineages of the partners are geographically distant, the family will live with or near the husband's lineage, either in the lineage or in a nearby home. In such a situation, the wife may be expected to take on new responsibilities alongside other women who have married into the lineage. But in other cases, where both partners are already economically independent and contributing to their own lineages, the economic role of marriage is secondary to the social tie between the two lineages, and of course the production and care of children.

Nurturing and caring for children is shared among marital partners outside of infancy, where breastfeeding is nearly universal (wet nurses are used only when necessary, not for convenience, even among the upper nobility). Fathers are regarded as having a significant role especially in the education and care of boys, and while child care definitely falls more heavily on women, it is not inordinately so, and a distant or absent father is regarded as a failure. Beyond the nuclear family, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, etc., within the child's lineage all have obligations to them, and so, especially if one or both parents have social roles that require their absence for long periods, it is understood that a well-governed lineage will have many to care for each child.

Sexuality and Identity

Homosexuality is well-understood, relatively commonly practiced and well-tolerated for the most part. Young people experimenting with their sexuality is seen as ordinary. Because marriage within the lineage system is related to economic and land rights and procreation, however, there is no institution of same-sex marriage; those wishing to do so must socially transition genders (see below). Nonetheless, long-term same-sex pair bonds do exist and are tolerated well, so long as they do not interfere with the marital interests of the couple's lineages.

Transgender individuals are not a single category, but rather, there are a couple of different understandings. Among the priesthood, there are well-accepted paths, the Northeast (ardames), in which those born as men become women ordained as Hands, and the the Westsouth (huthajai) by which those born as women become men ordained as Voices. These transitions are regarded as permanent, irrevocable commitments to the other gender and its order of the Corps, and are not possible if the individual is already a member of the other order. The names of these paths, which are also the social categories for these individuals, are taken from the Quartering of the cosmos in which the north-south axis is male and the east-west axis is female.

A second understanding for trans individuals is non-religious, but linked to marriage, lineage, and the rights that come with them. Sometimes an individual will socially transition in association with getting married, taking a role as hengi, or being adopted into a new lineage. Such individuals (regardless of their birth or ultimate gender) are known as ghembudor 'becoming-lemur'. Ghembudor become socially accepted because their new gender is clearly associated with well-understood social rights, as opposed to abandoning responsibilities. There is magic that will allow physical transitioning, though it is not always easy to find those skilled enough to do it. Omban societies are not highly individualistic and the idea of transitioning socially out of desire, while not unknown, is frowned upon - but normally that just means that the individual wishing to transition finds a way to become accepted as a ghembudor.

There is no well-established third gender or nonbinary role that is universally acknowledged and accepted, but of course individuals who aren't strictly male or female do exist, either intersex, nonbinary, genderfluid, etc. There simply isn't a rigid or expansive terminology by which they are referred and these individuals manage gender relations on an individual basis within their lives. Corpseborn have the concept of haren which is a true third/nonbinary gender.