damoselcastel: agoddamn:@gascon-en-exil No, as near as I can tell bastardhood is still pretty unpopu
damoselcastel: agoddamn:@gascon-en-exil No, as near as I can tell bastardhood is still pretty unpopular, especially for the mother. It has a lot to do with the social/historical influence of the family registry, which bastard children don’t get to be on and single mothers can get kicked off of for getting knocked up out of wedlock. FE gets to be different because they’re exotic foreign Westerners, I think. Now this is one thing I’m consistently irritated about with Treehouse’s use of the word “Mistress” rather than “Concubine”. Within the (especially monogamous) western world, yes the children of a royal Mistress would be illegitimate bastards until legitimized. However, the children of royal Concubines are legitimate and while of lower standing compared to the Empress/Queen’s offspring, could still be chosen as full heirs to their father’s rulership. By this logic, all of Garon’s kids have a shot at the throne, which makes way more sense as to why the Concubine wars would’ve happened in the first place- every mother wanted the power that came with their child inheriting the crown.Just for one historical example: In the Ottoman Empire’s polygynous harem, virgin women of the harem would have the title of Cariyes, only one step up from a female slave, and those who were never called to the Sultan’s badchamber (thus were never given monetary rewards) would often become handmaids or servants within the harem as they were forbidden to leave (unless the Sultan gifted them to a different man). The next title is Ikbal, or Concubine, for women who’d lain with the Sultan, this status could be considered the most risky in that the favorite of the moment was not only the rival of every other Concubine but also the target of legitimate Wives should she become pregnant. Which leads us to the Kadin, the legitimate Wives, who gained this status by giving birth to a child of the Sultan and particularly sons. This was the status where serious power was gained and also where harem politics ramped up, because traditionally any princes (who were all legitimate options) who didn’t ascend the throne were killed- leaving their mothers practically destitute. Wives often had ranking among themselves (first, second, ect.) which could be determined by birth order of children or whomever was most favored by the Sultan. Within the harem the most powerful woman would be the Dowager Empress, the mother of the current ruling Sultan, she was the ultimate leader of the harem and was considered to have the most influence with the Sultan- this was the end dream for every woman within the royal harem.I often wonder if the Northern Citadel was meant to be a harem-esque building, after all it was separate, isolated, which was part of the nature of a harem. There were also many historical examples of cut-throat harems where the male ruler had decidedly hands off policies- because he didn’t want any wives/sons who were incapable of surviving the microcosm of backstabbing to join him in the larger, possibly more dangerous, arena of the royal court and governance. Which while makes Garon look like a true sleazebag even while human, has its own consistent internal logic for a meritocracy’s survival of the fittest. -- source link
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