The Gallatene Family
Cooperation. That is the key word in the order of the Gallatene family. All members of the family are not only expected but required to participate in the familys commercial enterprises. The family therefore serves as the smallest economic unit within Gallat. Many times, families connected by blood, marriage or contract will combine their efforts to run a business, but each family is at its root a whole and cohesive unit.
For example, a family of weavers may divide responsibility for the weaving amongst themselves. The loom is likely to be operated by the father of the household, the oldest male member still physically able. He may be fed thread by his wife, who will also perform other specialized tasks such as spinning the thread. Children might wash and then dye or bleach the wool before the wife prepares it.
Because children tend to perform the most basic tasks essential to the economic success of any Gallatene family, families tend to be very large, often up to six or eight children surviving infancy. Many will not survive into adulthood, of course, and this is reflected in naming practices. Children receive true names at the age of twelve. Prior to this, they are known only by the number of the order of their birth (Second Son, Fourth Daughter, etc.). In rare cases, a childhood nickname may be adopted as the childs adult name, but more common is to forbid such names from mention following the twelfth birthday. This practice is most widespread in the north and east of the country.
Husbands have some degree of supremacy over their wives, but, given the essential nature of children in Gallatene society, women have power. Many wives may be able to separate from or even divorce their husbands, but the arguments put forward are always on the basis of the welfare of the children. Husbands are more able to separate. However, the primary male argument for separation is lack of fertility, so a family with many children may make it easy for a wife to end a relationship but difficult for a husband to do so.
Most marriages are arranged, often between families which have intermarried before or are united in contracts. The nature of the arrangement of a marriage varies depending on the nature of the two families relationship. Previously intermarried families may arrange marriages as a part of a promise in the original marriage contract or as an agreement between the new mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Such marriages are typically arranged by women only. This contrasts with business contract marriages, which are often, but not always, arranged by the male heads of household who have previously temporarily united the families for economic purposes. A third method of arranging marriage consists in the possibility of buying children, almost always daughters, for marriage by wealthier families; poor families which may not be able to provide for children may marry them off for lucrative contracts with other families.
The elderly, those no longer physically able to participate in the economic activities of the family, are often sidelined in Gallatene society. Family obligations require that they be provided for, but their inability to work reduces their value substantially. Ironically, old women often possess more power than old men because they are still able to influence marriages and other domestic affairs while old men are typically excised from discussions of economic and external affairs entirely.
Question: Is that city to my north (across the straits) a part of Ritti? I can't tell.