Spotlight on:
 |
“Hard work, little to eat, makes the sun rise again”
| Category: Corrupt Dictatorship | ||
| Civil Rights: Some |
Economy: Powerhouse |
Political Freedoms: Outlawed |
Regional Influence: Apprentice
Location: Ridgefield
4
Family and Kinship in Kay Pacha
KAY PACHA
"Tʜɪs EᴀʀᴛʜʟʏSᴘᴀᴄᴇ"
Fᴀᴍɪʟʏ, Kɪɴꜱʜɪᴘ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ Tɪɴᴋᴜ Pᴏʟɪᴄʏ
standardized by the corporate imperial style. A
foyer buffers the only entrance. Beyond is a paved
courtyard is partitioned by a sheltered, rectangular
dining and gathering pavilion. The block is flanked
by housing units for families, as well as a shared
nursery building. Against the far wall is a storage
shed for food and tools.
Kinships tend to be the most significant boundary of group insularity. Variable in both population and geographic distribution, kinsmen define their collective identity by claiming a common ancestor (whose remains are often mummified and preserved by their descendants). Kinships are genealogically isolated (or at least attempt to be), and the geographically-demarcated moieties within these units bisect the group's ways of life, but not their gene pool. The moiety is a group that lives in a separate environment than their counterparts, and produces resources and refined goods that are exclusive to their ecological zone. This is possible because of the rapid changes in altitude, climate, and soil quality of Kay Pacha that allow for kinships to be tightly bound by square mileage, but not by elevation. By only marrying their children to members of the other moiety, never within the moiety or outside of the kinship, these groups maintain a tight and unbreakable loyalty to one another, reinforced both by mutual dependence as well as by interest in the wellbeing of their families. For more information, see Agriculture in Kay Pacha.
Highly specialized moieties rely on their other half to guarantee access to the necessities of life, and the imperial government of Kay Pacha was able to masterfully exploit this interdependency to break down regional identities that could undermine the authority of a centralized empire. The Tinku Policy divided moieties in newly conquered regions and relocated them to a foreign tracts with familiar terrain. They were then paired with another relocated moiety whose specialization also mirrored that of their previous partner group. Because no unit could survive in the alien land without the help from the other, a quick realignment of notions of kinship and relatedness took place. On a large scale, novel understandings of belonging and identity between newly assigned moieties allowed for the insertion of imperial ideology and dependency to the state.
Tʜᴇ Nᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ ᴀɴᴅ Cᴏᴜʀᴛ Lɪꜰᴇ
realms for the luxurious estates that
radiate inland from the capital.
The lifestyles of the nobility are variable. Standard imperial law forbids polygamous marriage arrangements for commoners, and presiding over a house with many wives is an exclusive privilege. Even so, a noble's prestige must be maintained by only marrying women from families whose status demands a high bride price, resulting in only the most powerful noblemen of the empire possessing a notably large quantity of wives. Marginal noble families may even pass their title to a firstborn daughter if an adequately capable son was unable to be produced by the ruler's narrower selection of consorts. Polygamous arrangements' inevitably bloated households allow noble families to only marry among one another, which has partitioned their gene pools from the general population, while also closed the gaps between the nobility of different regions and cultures.
The noble's throne is passed to his firstborn son. Unlike most societies, however, this inheritance does not include his personal possessions or privately held land and slaves. It is believed that the deceased noble never forfeits these assets, and they are maintained by his younger sons. This property is heavily taxed by the empire to alleviate the perceived burden on the living kinships, and the remainder of the generated goods are taxed directly by their ruling eldest brother or donated to the priestly guild that provides maintenance for the deceased father's mummified corpse. This process forces the eldest son to acquire his own property through lobbying the empire for land, seizing the assets of his subjects through taxation or falsified charges, or inflating his contribution of levied soldiers to the imperial army in exchange for captured slaves or looted goods. The younger sons are also given considerable influence over their brother's government by collectively speaking for the will of their dead but not departed father, and in extraordinary cases will bring the mummy to court to speak on an issue through a medium. This precarious balance of power prevents contesting claims to the nobleman's throne after his death, but also guarantees the less fortunate sons a considerable amount of power, wealth, and a guaranteed luxurious quality of life to sate any envious impulses.
The most powerful families are sometimes able to exert influence in the otherwise meritocratic landscape of empire-wide politics. Nobles whose influence, land, and constituency extend beyond the normal scope of moiety and kinship (this usually occurs in the more urbanized coast, or around lucrative ore, oil, and salt mining regions) may choose to sever their cultural roots altogether, often by publicly burning their mummified ancestors and declaring direct descent from a star or planet in a dramatic ceremony that sends attendees into a willful memory-altering group psychosis. These dynasties who transcend their geocultural origins may disappear entirely from their homelands. While the urban area of the imperial capital is small in comparison to many other nation's primary cities, it is surrounded by a sprawling suburban region of vast, lavish, stone-hewed estates carved along the spines of heavily terraced mountains are commissioned by the wealthiest of families; first as retreats, and eventually as permanent residences. This caste of wealthy aristocrats thrive on passive income taxed from their faraway kinships, neglect teaching their homeland's language to their heirs, and are attended by whispering eunuchs in gilded halls above scenic vistas.
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