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[Tabor Murn]

I agree with Arnulf. While a Tribe may produce noteworthy individuals in certain fields, they are largely autonomous and would require all social roles to be filled within the Tribe in order to function. Sebiestor may be noteworthy for great engineers, but there are also Sebiestor shamen, soldiers, farmers, doctors, bureaucrats, and so on.

[Saede Riordan]

I agree with Arnulf. While a Tribe may produce noteworthy individuals in certain fields, they are largely autonomous and would require all social roles to be filled within the Tribe in order to function. Sebiestor may be noteworthy for great engineers, but there are also Sebiestor shamen, soldiers, farmers, doctors, bureaucrats, and so on.

This.

[Pieter Tuulinen]

That's the whole point of a Band/Clan/Tribe level setup, they're supposed to be self-sufficient because they aren't supposed to have the globalised trade of the Nationstates.

The idea that a bunch of Sebiestior would stand around looking at the goats in blank bemusement because they're waiting for a Vherokior herder to come milk them is a bit silly...

[Arnulf Ogunkoya]

Now I think about it.

There is a series by C.J.Cherryh, the first book is called Foreigner. It's about a colony ship that has a jump drive malfunction that strands it light years from known space with an inhabited by some (large, dark skinned, humanoid) aliens who are at a late steam age level of technology.

A faction of the humans initiates first contact, and it almost ends in utter disaster because they fundamentally misunderstand how the aliens relate to each other. Their society is all about personal obligation to each other and to various groups. These networks are largely independent of trivial things like location. The misunderstanding leads to offence, which leads to a war that almost wipes out the humans. When the main part of the book starts interaction between the small human enclave & the rest of the world is handled by a specialist trained translator & xenologist.

Possibly Minmatar society might run along these lines, only to a lesser degree. What is important is your obligation to the clan, and theirs to you. The clan to the tribe and the tribe to the Minmatar people as a whole.

[Louella Dougans]

the old minmatar empire's technological craftsmanship being unsurpassed, I had a thought about that earlier.

Greek bronze helmets. They were made from a single piece of bronze, hammered into shape. This requires a great deal of skill and craftsmanship, and is or was thought to be impossible to replicate, even by modern blacksmiths.

However, it's still a bronze helmet. A well made iron or steel helmet is possible, and performs better, while requiring less skill to make.


so the old minmatar empire things could be similar - artifacts that show a very high level of craftsmanship, beyond anything in contemporary new eden, but which don't necessarily outperform contemporary artifacts of similar function.

[Elmund Egivand]

That's the whole point of a Band/Clan/Tribe level setup, they're supposed to be self-sufficient because they aren't supposed to have the globalised trade of the Nationstates.

The idea that a bunch of Sebiestior would stand around looking at the goats in blank bemusement because they're waiting for a Vherokior herder to come milk them is a bit silly...

I'm not implying that. Just like the Chinese stereotype of the Tiger parents forcing the kids to get A+ in everything and be a doctor didn't stop the Chinese from having farmers and such providing for the country.

I'm saying that there could be a stigma attached to the idea of the Sebiestor lumberjack, the idea that the Sebiestor lumberjack might become a subject of ridicule. Even members of a rigid Caste system still has to be able to take care of themselves while providing a very specific role to the society at large. Nothing's stopping the Warrior caste to go out and hunt a deer or two if they need to to feed themselves when marching into a warzone, and nothing's stopping the Merchant caste from cooking meals using materials taken from their stocks.

[Saede Riordan]

I don't think I'd compared the clan/tribe system to castes exactly though, I'd say that each tribe is more like an independent nationstate then a caste.