OK, I have been here for a week or so, and have been digesting information as quickly as I can.
My question is this: I have a character I wish to bring here. She has been a soldier all her life, has trained as a soldier and is gifted in swordcraft and military tactics. Hates mages with an undying passion, and in fact carries a weapon that is the bane of magical creatures and casters (prevents them casting after being struck, for a time) and is herself highly resistant to magic.
I have looked through the various nations. Connlaoth seems the best fit, bit the gender roles there seem very strict. Would a warrioress such as herself be able to break defined gender roles, no matter how difficult it may be? Really, I would prefer to have her climb the ranks.
*laughs* I hope this is the right place to ask this :)
In the army, women are out of the question. They'd likely have to disguise themselves and to their best to blend in. Only Knights of the White Lily are all female (special Mordecai types with a stronger form of anti-magic field known as Adharism)
Mordecai, as long as they possess the gift, can be either male or female.
That saddens me greatly. No Aeyliea on this site for sure, guess it'll just be Luna. Thanks for the answer.
While Connlaoth is rigid, there are possibilities of working with your idea, but as I said in the cbox, I can plot with you on this some tomorrow~
With the civil war going on in Connlaoth, I think there's some leeway for female soldiers. I'm pretty sure the rebel (mage) side will employ female soldiers out of desperation, but I don't think the Grand Duke's army employs women other than the aforementioned white lily's. I'm pretty sure mercenaries and militia roles are both fair game, but I'm not positive.
Keep in mind that wars are generally times of turbulence and change. More women could become active in things that men normally did, like how more women joined the workforce during WWII. What happens when the war is over, is another matter altogether.
@Lion is absolutely correct!
You can definitely use her in Connlaoth. 8D There are multiple options to work with!
Keep in mind that, historically, in our world, women have fought in literally every battle, even in patriarchal nations where they weren't allowed to fight, even in nations where the punishment could be death if they were outed. Women have always found ways to participate, and have always fought against and challenged the gender roles of their society. Just because society says, "Women, you can't do this here!" doesn't mean they can't and don't, it just means they face unique challenges and risks.
SotE follows the same understanding. ;D Even if the society for one of our site nations says one thing about gender roles, it doesn't mean people in that society can't and don't break and challenge them! Just like in our real life world.
Women who did this typically cross-dressed. That's the best way to get them IN.
Also, historically, there were cases of women in patriarchal societies where women weren't allowed to serve in the military who, despite that, won over the hearts and trust of the people they lead. Often, the men they lead didn't know they were women at first, but by the time they learned they WERE a woman, they didn't care, because she had lead them to victory enough times and proven herself a good leader. They probably wouldn't have trusted her if they knew she was a woman going in, but if she was later outed? They would trust her, and her gender wouldn't really matter.
I mean, like, the most well known case is Joan of Arc, of course! She faced a lot of criticism and hate from her enemies, but the men she lead trusted her, because she had proven she was a great leader. And there are a ton of other historic cases of women military leaders in restrictive patriarchal societies. It's actually really cool stuff to research because there are sooo many cases--and then so many more we don't actually know about because most women in wars weren't actually discovered except when they were slain on the battlefield and their corpses were being collected. So a lot of historians say there were more women in wars than we actually know, because most
weren't outed while they were alive, and a lot managed to survive and return to their old lives without being discovered.
So I see no reason why that can't happen in Connlaoth. x3
Also, on a lesser level, if a woman presents as a man in the military, gains friends and trust, and is later outed, chances are her friends would cover for her and keep her secret to protect her. Even in horribly restrictive societies, humans are humans. Most people won't try to get their friends murdered. xD Of course, if someone didn't like them and that was the person that discovered things, then that's another story, ahaha.
So tl;dr: women can be soldiers in Connlaoth even if they weren't a Lily/Mordecai. It's just very, very risky!
<3 all the risk, all the drama!
If none of the nations work for your character you could put her as an Independent. I have a character myself I am not sure where she would go. But I posted all this in another thread.
This site is pretty flexible in terms of characterization, so if something doesn't work there's always the Wanderers and Independents section! Or even Open Roleplay.
Me and visual are working on it together! Aey needs a nation to serve; independent does not work for her at all, and all the other nations but Connlaoth do not fit so....I have to work with what I got :)
As it's your character you would know more about her than I would. So, if she crossed-dressed she could fit in Connloath as the others already said.
yeah, I've been working with Aey and we got her character to work with the lore without breaking anything :) so no worries