Inconsistency of Female power in Felena

[Waylander]

Has anyone else noticed this or been bothered by it? It seems to me that if the land is ruled by a woman, that the people are obviously a little more tolerant than those of our world or that of Suikoden.

But why does it stop with the royal family? It seems that all the other families would/should be run by the lady of the house. Stranger still is that the women of the powerful families all have convenient excuses not to be the head of their family. Lord Godwin’s wife passed. Lord Barrows’ wife has been despondent since the passing of her eldest son.

I understand why raising a son is important; to have a shot at marrying the queen, but shouldn’t it be the mother presenting him at court? I figured the queendom would have had have a trickle down effect in terms of who wears the pants in the family, or the excessively long sleeves as it were.

[Angelis_Taleria]

Well, not every woman in every family descends from the heavens with a True Rune.

[Desides]

Has anyone else noticed this or been bothered by it? It seems to me that if the land is ruled by a woman, that the people are obviously a little more tolerant than those of our world or that of Suikoden.

That has nothing to do with it. Falena was founded by a woman bearing the Sun Rune--thus it became a Queendom, and due to the Sun Rune's affinity with women of the Falenas line, the women become the monarchs.

Notice that in the case of the Barows and Godwin families, the women are either dead or incapacitated. That may have something to do with why Salem and Marscal head their respective factions.

[Waylander]

[quote="Desides"

Notice that in the case of the Barows and Godwin families, the women are either dead or incapacitated. That may have something to do with why Salem and Marscal head their respective factions.[/quote]

Thank you, I said as much.

I was just thinking that their are a lot of societies that take note from those in positions of power; i.e. "royalty." Anyway, maybe I am alone in this matter. Doesn't bother me that much, I'm as far from a feminist as they come.

[Matt620]

The Prince works in a definitely war-like setting. While the females of Falena seem to run a lot of politics, it's quite distinctly the men that run the war. Let's look, shall we.

Godwin - Lady Godwin is deceased. There is no chance for her to run politics.

Barows - Lady Barows does not leave her room. She can't run politics. Also, although Salum is the seat in the Senate, it is Luserina who runs the activities in Rainwall. Lord Barows is simply the elder.

Raftfleet - Run by Admiral Raja and seconded by Kisara.

Estrise - The only thing we know about Boz is that he runs Estrise's army. Who knows how involved he is in internal politics. He doesn't strike me as the type.

Sable - Lord Raulbel runs this. There doesn't seem to be many women in power here, although I think Solis's daughter is next in line.

Lelcar - This is the only real major discrepency. The three men of Lelcar run the show, no women.

Spiranox - The Dragon Cavalry is a war brigade and does not include women in it's ranks. Therefore, a woman can't run it.

It seems like men run the armies while the women stick to politics. I notice that Arshtat and Sialeeds have extensive political minds, and Arshtat taught this to Lym, as we see in the Sol-Falena throne room

[ninjar]

This is unture, if it were so, Luserina would have been next in line, but instead, it was Euram who was the successor of the Barrows Estate.

[Waylander]

I think I have to agree with ninjar. In the royal family it seems to be the eldest daughter wins the throne, period. But, the same is not true for other families of falena.

[Desides]

Estrise - The only thing we know about Boz is that he runs Estrise's army. Who knows how involved he is in internal politics. He doesn't strike me as the type.

Actually, based on comments from the citizenry of Estrise, you find out that Boz actually does run Estrise. His wife is handling things while he's fighting with the Prince, but it's Boz's show otherwise.

[jonathan_priest]

This is unture, if it were so, Luserina would have been next in line, but instead, it was Euram who was the successor of the Barrows Estate.

Yeah, but would you put Euram in charge? Seriously, I think Barrow senior made a comment of how Luserina runs everything and how he'd be lost without her. It seems to me that women hold a more prominent political role then men, even though most of the senate and nobles that you encountered were men.

[Waylander]

I agree jonathan, but I also feel that Barrows was saying that just to brag about his girl. All fathers do that with their daughters, but for some reason I don't think Luserina held any real power in the family. Bad desicion on their part, as Euram is a tool.

[Matt620]

Not quite ninjar, remember that Euram is older then Luserina. Age does factor (as we see with Sialeeds), and also, remember that Salum is already grooming his son to win the Sacred Games and be at Sol-Falena. By contrast, Luserina, according to Salum, practically runs Rainwall. Besides, Euram is much easier to manipulate then Luserina

[Waylander]

Matt, it seems that Sialeeds may be a different case as she is a member of the royal family. For the first family, gender and age do matter. For everyone else the seem to be inconsequential. In terms of inheriting the Barrows estate age may matter who knows?

Also we never really see to what degree Luserina is running things in Rainwall. Not to say she's not, but... Her dad is the figure head, he may just be doing the dirty behind the scenes stuff while she handles the day-to-day menial task.

I wasn't really sure what you are were trying to say mentioning Salum's son entering the Sacred games, I don't think women can enter.

In terms of women holding power it seems Lord Barrows would want Luserina in charge, both as figurehead and behind the scenes, as you noted she is harder to manipulate and a lot smarter. Why bother with Euram?

[Matt620]

Lord Barows wants Luserina in charge of Rainwall so she can manage the daily politics, while he handles the dirty deals. We agree there. Salum bothers with Euram for two reasons.

1.) He is the only Barows who can marry the Princess. Salum is too old and already married; Luserina is female.

2.) Euram is easy to manipulate. If Euram was Lym's husband, Salum has the royal ear. This is double-ensured if he can get the Prince to wed Luserina (Salum might have foppish tendencies, but he's not an idiot. He knows, or would learn soon enough from Euram, that the Princess idolizes and listens to her big brother.) This allows Salum to push his policies. A deal with the factions of Armes he likes, secret trade deals to garner him more cash, weakening the Godwin influence. Salum, no idiot, knows he can't count on Euram to do those things without him.

When it comes to inheriting the Barows estate, I'm pretty sure age matters. Age always matters in those types of things.

As for Luserina, I'm sure she actually does run Rainwall. Salum has no reason to lie, especially since Sialeeds is there and would know the truth.

[ShardStar]

I disagree there were plenty of Racist people speaking against the Beavers so the population as a whole was not being more tolerant when they tried to commit Genocide on a race without the influnce of a Rune as an excuse.

[Waylander]

Matt those are both good points. If things hadn't happened as they had, I am willing to bet we would have seen a change in power in Barrows family;wether or not Luserina married the Prince or Euram married Lym.

Salum isn't a fool, I'll grant you that but if Luserina wasn't such a goodie-goodie, she would have come to power after big poppa passed. It's speculation, but she may have been the first female head of the family outside of the royal family.