Lineages

A lineage, or clan (ifti, pl. iftir) is a group of people socially related to one another through real or purported descent from a common ancestor (volabas). It is the principal way in which social life is structured in most of the Omban successor states as well as in Ashnabis. Small lineages may be a single nuclear family, but most lineages have between 50 - 500 members at any given time, across several generations, and some very large ones may have thousands.

Descent and Membership

Ombesh descent is ambilineal with a patrilineal bias. In other words, children can reckon their descent through two distinct kinship groups, one from each parent, but choose one or the other to be the lineage from whom their descent will be reckoned, and determining what social obligations they have. Where parentage is firm, it is normal for a child to be considered a member of their father’s lineage, and even in adulthood, most people (perhaps 70-80%) are members of their father’s lineage. But if, whether by virtue of a distinguished ancestry, an unknown father, or simply by geographic proximity, the mother’s lineage is more prominent, a male or female child may well be a member of their mother’s lineage - this is not seen as abnormal, and among elites especially, is a tool for political and social mobility, if the mother’s noble lineage is more powerful. People known to be descended from saints almost always wish to use that lineage, regardless of male or female line. In adulthood, it is not uncommon for a child to choose to affiliate with their matrilineage, even if raised within their patrilineage. There are rituals associated both with leaving one's birth lineage, and joining a new lineage. Conversely, however, to be a member of a lineage one must both exercise one’s obligations towards the lineage in order for the connection to be socially recognized. One can claim anything one wants, but being recognized as a member of a lineage and enjoying its rewards is a privilege, not a right.

A few lineages have customarily chosen to reckon descent through the female line instead of the male, as the default; these matriclans (mirifti) are also more likely to have female chiefs. This inevitably causes some tension when marriages take place with more male-focused lineages, but lineages that practice matrilineal descent have developed strategies to manage these conflicts.

Adoption is regulated among the nobility, but is otherwise a matter for the lineages to determine. Adoption into a lineage can happen during childhood or early adulthood, but almost never after a person has married or had offspring, due to the complexities this brings for the lineage system. The children of Corpseborn are often brought into communities for adoption and treated in every respect as the child of their parents. One is normally adopted formally by only one person, not a set of parents, into whose lineage the person is then socially recognized thereafter. Inevitably adoption causes the usual and expected range of conflicts over inheritance.

Governance

In general, given the choice, male leaders / chiefs (hengi, plur. hengge) are preferred for lineages. There is no specific rule of primogeniture or inheritance in most lineages; rather, when the hengi dies or steps down, the various elders of the ifti gather to select the new one, theoretically, at least, on the basis of merit, but in reality, involving a lot of social considerations. The general principle that a woman has to be twice as good as a man to be considered to be hengi is, unfortunately, true in this world as well as our own. A larger lineage may have one or more subchiefs, particularly for a lineage with multiple lineage houses in different communities. These are all called hengi. In exceptionally large lineages, the most important lineage head may be called sunu hengi (Great Chief) as opposed to pero hengi (Small Chief). In some cases, there can be disputes over the chiefship, with competing claimants to be hengi, but these are seen as very disruptive to the social order and most communities try to deal with this quickly.

The role of hengi comes with various authority with respect to the lineage members and property - for instance, final adjudication over the purchase and sale of lands, a voice (and if necessary, a veto) on marriages, authority over internal disputes among clan members and their immediate families, responsibilities for feasts and rituals, patronage of artistic works, and more. Lineages are the principal social institutions through which kin relations are expressed. Lineages are responsible for the care and wellbeing of any ancestors whose remains are in the care of the Voice, as well as for various social and economic duties toward the living. Lineages hold rights over land and property, which are distributed among members in good standing. Additionally, many larger communities and regions have gatherings of hengge (moots, conclaves, things, etc.) where matters of broader concern are dealt with. However, simply being hengi does not come with any automatic external authority.

Residence

In traditional villages, newly married individuals come to the lands of the husband's ifti to reside. Over time, as society has become more urban and diffuse, and as professional roles outside the lineage have grown, this rule of patrilocality has become greatly weakened in many places. However, in rural Khutu, you will still find that agricultural and craft workers typically follow this norm.

The lineage house of an ifti, or iftibal, is a large, multi-family dwelling, usually rectangular with an arched roof, although larger ones may be sprawling and contain multiple outbuildings. Not all of the members of a lineage - nor even all the local members of the lineage - live there, but many do, and it is a site for rituals, political activity, feasts, dispute resolution, and more. The hengi has considerable authority to determine who has the right to live in the iftibal, if there is not enough room for all lineage members (which is often the case).

Marriage

People of your lineage are considered kin close enough that marriage or sexual relations with them is considered incestuous. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen (because lineages are sometimes so big that total strangers would be considered your kin) but it's definitely not supposed to. It also means that people who may be closely genetically related to you (your first cousin's from your mother's line, e.g.) are considered totally suitable marriage partners.

Additionally, the strong norm is that one must marry a member of a lineage (again, not your own) that is of the same rank (mufan). Marriages between nobles and commoners, or between commoners and countryfolk, are known to happen, but when they do, they are affairs of considerable scandal, and normally limit the partners' future access to lineage resources. Children born of such a union are necessarily considered to be of the lineage that ranks lower in the mufan system.

Marriage is normally accompanied by the exchange of bridewealth; i.e. the groom's family compensates the bride's family economically for the loss of her labour to her own lineage. Nonetheless, each partner remains a member of their own lineage - one does not change names or lineages upon marriage.

Ancestors

All of the ancestors of the ifti - i.e. all who, at the time of death, were affiliated with the ifti - are considered as Ancestors of all lineage members. A Voice will normally allow any known member of a lineage to consult any of their ancestors, no matter how remote the connection. Effectively, even after death, ancestors are still considered lineage members and, in some lineages, their opinions are counted towards major decisions. Reverence for and knowledge of one's Ancestors is a sign of civilization and propriety.

Inevitably, the temple where the lineage's ancestors reside may differ from where its members actually live, and ancestors may in fact end up residing in multiple temples across different regions or even countries. Most lineages make some effort to try to consolidate their ancestors into one or just a few temples, but this is a delicate matter, both for the Voice, and for various lineage members.

Rank

Every ifti is assigned to a rank/class (mufan, pl. mufanne) in a fairy rigid manner. The mufans are: noble (+folk), common (+craft), country, and saintly. With very few exceptions, all members of an ifti are of the same mufan, regardless of wealth or status.

• Noble (sajari) lineages are those whose ultimate ancestor is a known member of the Omban imperial nobility. These lineages have survived for hundreds of years and often have massive landholdings, estates, or wealth, although there are surely impoverished nobles as well. In some countries (Omba, Taizi, Khutu, Malfan, Nulu, Sharai), nobility carries political rights and responsibilities; in others (Hasmala, Basai, Daligash, Choradan, Ashnabis) it does not inherently do so, although in all the Omban successor states, rank does matter.
• Folk (barane) lineages are also considered (for purposes of marriage and rank) to be noble lineages. Whereas true noble lineages descend from a known ancestor (to whom all members should be able to trace their descent) folk lineages are noble lineages where the common ancestor is lost to history, or basically a mythical personage with a name but not much else. Both noble and folk lineages may have multiple iftibals, but with a noble lineage, these tend to be ordered hierarchically with an ultimate lineage house, whereas folk lineages tend to be diffuse across various nations and not to recognize any particular one as superior or prior.
  
• Common (galti) lineages are those that are not noble, but whose members trace their descent back to one or more members of the Omban imperial citizenry, or who have some reasonable claim to do so. In Omban times, citizenship was a key criterion for advanced religious, mystical, or military training, and while that is no longer the case, the concept of being from the citizenry still is a distinction, particularly in conservative areas. Often the iftibal for a major common lineage is associated with the Omban ancestors.The majority of lineages of the Omban successor states are common lineages. Common lineages vary enormously in wealth and size - the larger ones have multiple iftibals, large landholdings, and wealth to rival the most prosperous of the nobility, while the most impoverished may be entirely landless.
  
• Craft (okhi) lineages are considered (for purposes of marriage and rank) to be common lineages. Additionally, craft lineages enjoy privileges or skills relating to a craft or profession, or even to some particular technique within that skill. For instance, Nemnu Ula's original lineage was a craft lineage of stonecutters, and today, she is allied with modern craft lineages who are workers in fine alabaster.
  
• Country (tenuf) lineages, despite their name, are not necessarily rural, and in fact, may have the majority of their members in towns and cities. Their members are those who do not trace their descent to the Omban citizenry: they may be remnants of former non-Omban folk, descendants from migrants, or have otherwise sordid histories as criminals, or bastards, or former Hulti. During the Imperial period, non-citizens were excluded from many meaningful political and social roles, and while that is no longer quite so rigidly enforced, country folk are generally less wealthy and prestigious than other mufans.
  
• Saintly (ulaji) lineages are a special case of lineages where descent is reckoned to a known saint, and usually the members are associated with that saint's cult. Saintly lineages stand outside the ordinary mufan system to some degree, and occasionally, members of even highly ranked nobility will seek marriages into a good saintly lineage.
  

Names

Lineage names often reflect the name of the apical ancestor (volabas), i.e., the individual from whom all lineage members ought to be able to reckon their descent. This is often the case with lineage names ending in -i, where the -i replaces the ending of the ancestor's name (e.g. Nemnu → Nemni). Other lineage names come from a place where the ancestor was from, the name of a (former or extant) iftibal, or a characteristic or property attributed to its members. Some have origins lost in time. Country lineages, especially, may have names drawn from non-Omban languages, even as its members are Ombesh speakers who are followers of the Corps.

Association

Lineages in the Omban tradition do not normally have permanent or longstanding relationships of dominance with one another. Of course, every ifti makes deals and arrangements with others (of marriage, business, or otherwise), and most iftis have other lineages who they prefer not to partner with. Some of these ties may last for generations, but others are transient.

There is one exception, which is that certain common (or craft) lineages have a kind of fealty relationship with particular noble or saintly lineages, known as eherdos. Importantly, not every noble or saintly lineage has or seeks out an eherdos, and most common lineages have never had an eherdos either. It is a kind of senior-junior relationship between a lineage and its common counterpart, in which members of the junior typically owe obligations to the senior, with corresponding obligations of land, wealth, or defense. Importantly, though, marriage is still strictly forbidden between partners in an eherdos, as they are of different mufans.

Fission and Fusion

New lineages are being formed all the time. Sometimes a dispute between two or more branches of a lineage leads to a more permanent break. Sometimes two parts of a lineage may live sufficiently far away as to lose close contact. Sometimes a lineage has a revered ancestor so great that some portion of the group decides to reform under that lineage. (Saintly lineages are a kind of special case of this last instance). Whatever the underlying reason, one ifti fissioning into two is not exactly commonplace - it is certainly a momentous event - but also not inherently problematic or scandalous.

On the other side, lineages do die out. Sometimes a lineage dies out completely - i.e., there are no known descendants of any sort. Usually when this happens, though, it is because no descendants have chosen to use the lineage name, but have instead chosen some other lineage (a mother's lineage, or under cases of adoption). Over time, then, a lineage may simply fold into one or more existing lineages and cease to exist. Some Voice temples recognize ancestral rights of some other lineage to continue to commune with ancestors of the (now-defunct) one. Other times, ancestors of a former lineage are spoken to by the priests but no one else.

Exceptions

There are a few lineages that, in particular regions, are recognized as specifically Hulti lineages, and are likely to bring suspicion of one’s membership in the Old Folk in those areas. While there is no necessary correlation between lineage and religious belief, children normally choose the lineage of a parent who shares their faith, and Hulti often choose to be adopted upon conversion to the Corps.

Not all people automatically have lineages. Hithkindred, since they are human, do have lineages, but often do not use them in ordinary life. Of course, their families may have a different view of their obligations than they do! In the Duchy of Nulu, most speakers of Thu Parsh, and a substantial proportion of the Ombesh speakers of the lower classes, do not use lineages, and have patronymic ‘son of / daughter of’ with the Thu Parsh prefix -eng. Finally, there are some individuals who, either by choice or expulsion, formerly had a lineage but no longer have one (unless, in the future, they are adopted into another lineage).

Priests of both the Voice and Hand do have lineages, and exercise lineage obligations occasionally, but because they do not marry and have legitimate children, and because they must attend to the spiritual needs of all lineages, do not use their lineage names on an everyday basis after taking vows. The expectation of neutrality across lineages is observed more often in some regions than others. After death, priests are treated as any ancestor of their lineage would be.