How Can A Potion Change Lashunta Society?
As part of _A Castrovel Adventure: Part 5: Chapter 36_, we revisit the issue of clade relations among Lashunta, the recurring problem of social disenfranchisement for male Damaya and female Korasha (and also male Korasha) under the Damaya Matriarchy. Lady Vaeol reacts to a proposed medical, chemical ‘cure’ to males and females born outside of their stereotypical clade. By way of inclusion of Starfinder Canon in my Pathfinder homebrew, we have the advantage of knowing that, ultimately in a future age, Lashunta will empower their children to choose their clade identities: whether they wish to be gracious, charismatic Damaya or powerful, decisive Korasha. So what we witness in today’s chapter is a point in time along a cultural evolution toward a more equal, inclusive society, which may continue along this path for centuries.
Nothing along that long path requires it to be straightforward. With today’s chapter as a case in point, I foresee a lot of crooks and bends.
My homebrew interpretation of Pathfinder Lashunta sits between PF1E, where all females were Damaya and all males Korasha, and Starfinder, where self-determination in adolescence is the hallmark of a much more egalitarian society. In my take, Damaya females stand atop the social hierarchy with Korasha males subservient, while Damaya males and Korasha females occupy awkward, problematic niches that don’t fit neatly into the social paradigm and are therefore subject to abuse. From a worldbuilding perspective, this is intentionally rife with messy social conflict, and which provides justification to evolve towards Starfinder. Compared to Pathfinder’s gritty, pulpy theme for Lashunta, Starfinder Lashunta have always stricken me as rather Star-Trekky. Starfinder Core Rulebook has this to say on how Lashunta choose their clades: “Through psychic ritual and force of will techniques applied at puberty, modern lashuntas have mastered the ability to determine what subspecies a child will grow into, activating certain epigenetics and shutting down others. While some lashunta city-states attempt to steer children in particular directions, such a s via government-run aptitude tests, most lashuntas believe passionately in a child's right to choose. In ancient lashunta history, their starkly divided gender roles led to subspecies almost universally correlated with gender, but as lashunta culture has frown more egalitarian, gender balance between the two subspecies has become roughly equal.” What we saw in today’s Chapter 36 is the very early, primitive beginning of this technique, and which definitely has drawbacks.
My narrator Lady Vaeol knows nothing of what the Lashunta will later become, only what is happening now in her world (although she flirts with the idea of using the treatment to self-choose one’s clade). Ironically, she sides against use of the potion, because at this time, its development is not intended to empower Lashunta with options, but instead to limit them. It has been developed to force Lashunta to develop into prescribed, stereotyped paths and so reinforce the Lashunta’s existing Damaya Matriarchy. She rejects its due to love for her maidenmate Kaure, who is a female Korashe, who, in Vaeol’s words: ~Ushiafte komante, o’shili-hei hishasse,~ - “...was born wholesome/perfect, but merely else.”
Lady Vaeol’s nemesis in this scene, Lady Soriel, takes a more nuanced position, but with a starkly different viewpoint. While she doesn’t blame ~Rahyathalma~ (cross-clade Korasha females and Damaya males) for their state. Yet neither does she blame the ~Difithalma~ (‘rightkind’ cis-clade Lashunta. Yes. I created this to be similar to how ‘straight’ is used in English) for resenting them. She holds preservation of the social order paramount. When Vaeol challenges the potion’s intended use, and even proposes the hypothetical that Lashunta could use it to self-choose their desired clade, Lady Soriel sees only society’s breakdown, to the point of demanding whether Vaeol would also see males made equal to females(!). While Vaeol contemplates the possibility of a more just society, Soriel contemplates chaos. As much as she regrets the danger and harm her potion treatment presents, she accepts it as a needful sacrifice.
Knowing what we know of how Lashunta will evolve by Starfinder’s era, Lady Vaeol is in some ways a naive commentator on her society, even when she means well. Ultimately, she chooses her position due to personal reasons - love and loyalty to Kaure - and develops her logic to fit that end. She also does so from a position of relative safety, since as a Damaya female, anointed outrider, and a mother, she is pretty much the epitome of the Lashuna Damaya Matriarchy. Many cross-clade Lashunta might automatically perceive her as the enemy. Yet she questions whether she does enough to be the kind of ally Kaure needs, and also to Hauronil Kaure’s Damaya-Elf lover and to Oshis her male Korasha who break stereotypes by riding Shotalashu, and in so doing seeks the opportunity to do more.
Ultimately, I fantasize about a world where people find the courage to do the right thing.
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