Shades of Gray

Author notes

455 - A household name

avsaroke

on Aug. 3, 2018

We’re finally getting into some of the good bits of T’hyrian culture!

To expand a bit more on it, T’hyrian society is very status-oriented. There’s a lot that goes into figuring where a person fits in their society, and you basically have to be born into it to really understand it.

It’s not clear-cut at all, especially to outsiders. It’s almost more like a point system, and the more points you accrue, the higher your status in society is. And your status changes over time.

For example, male ranks higher than female (though families are traced through the female line). Older ranks higher than younger. Married with children ranks higher than married but childless, which ranks higher than being single. (But the number of children matters too – three is the ideal number, being being that it provides replacements for the parents, plus a spare – more than three children starts becoming socially questionable.) Educated ranks higher than uneducated. Host/owner ranks higher than guest/visitor. And then there’s social ties. Who your parents are. Who your siblings and friends and in-laws are. What they do. How much money and influence they have. How you and the people you associate with conduct your lives, your business, etc etc.

There’s a lot that goes into it and a single “bad egg” in a family can screw everything up for everyone around them.

The pressure to conform, excel, and rise in status becomes more intense the higher up the social ladder a person is. The only ones who don’t pay it much mind are those at the bottom. Their lives are unlikely to “improve” much in society’s eyes, but in certain aspects they live freer lives.