The rivetting image of the great Red City to the north was the image iconified in the minds of others when Crescent is mentioned. It is a place of endless opulence where anything one might desire could be had for the right price. Unrestricted in indulgence, limitless in potential for sin it was nonetheless a centre for the disciplined as much as for those who sought true abandon. Here a man might take as many wives as he could justify by his social standing, the same right could be afforded by a female but it was far more uncommon both for a female to be in such a position and secondly that she would choose so.
Inspite of this difference many of the same morals and principles upheld in the Eastern world were exemplified here as trade was common enough to bring customs as varied as their customers. Perhaps to avoid losing face, or to better relations there had been a shift in the past from the old ways. Here it was the same male dominated society one would find from Avalon to Heaven's Tear. Perhaps it was an even more exaggerated contrast than in the East as the application of law and control were applied with a less forgiving grip here than in most of the so called "civilised" countries of the world.
Here many of the laws governing social boundaries and civil liberties were measured only by one's own personal standing. The laws existed but when it came to enforcement it was understood that a Papa would not be trifled with in the same manner a commoner might. By the same token, a woman was bound by laws man was not and although the same could be said of man, it was weighted heavily in their favour to represent the male dominion.
In the north it was taught that this was the way things have always been, that man has always ruled over woman and that their southern neighbours were in fact the savages who had broken tryst with the proper ways of life. Of course in the south, they all felt their ways were proper and knew for a fact that they were the traditionalists not the pretenders to the north. The truth of the matter would forever be disputed as little tangible record can be produced to support one side or the other so distantly did this cultural shift occur.
To the south, by those nomadic tribes and isolated communities that followed the old path, things were different from how they were elsewhere. Here there were laws carved by the unforgiving landscape indelibly into the minds of the people. Laws borne up out of turmoil and sheer subsistence living where a concept such as community order could make the difference between a settlement flourishing or dying out to be buried beneath the shifting sands.
Here only a woman might own property; for as mother to her children she can appreciate the land, she can tend and nurture it in a manner that man simply cannot. Where a man might blindly in his crude anger do harm where delicacy was required, a woman could appreciate the fragility of living amidst the sere. A woman could read the signs because her eyes were open to nature, mother to us all. She could make life grow in the barren lands of the south and had done so, for it was both the seeds and the practices spread by their ancestors that allowed for communities such as these to exist. The preservation of the water tables and the controlled warring that universally perceived scorched earth tactics as the most heinous crime possible.
It was this and notions like it that were the origins of those southerly cities one could hardly imagine growing up out of the desert surrounding these oasis'. To honour this history, woman was given unquestionable authority over her domain. Amongst these tribes there were no rulers, no military leaders, no religious figures that could supercede the simple authority of gender. One sought permission of the roofmistress upon her territory no matter how low or highborn one was. In times of war it was only the most barbaric of tribes that did not adhere to this rule, for amongst those who lived and died by the sands, every woman was precious.
Hand in hand with dominion over land, came dominion over the family unit. It was the woman's choice upon whom to lay her bridal wreath. The man had the choice to refuse, however it would be a great dishonour to the female and her family. Perhaps even grievous enough to encite the male relatives of the family to take vengeance upon the male either in trade or in flesh. Once accepted however it was a bond only death could break.
When a woman's husband died, it was her right to remarry; it being improper for an unmarried woman to own property or vice versa and inevitably a husband would die before his wife, this was done to keep the family intact. In fact few of the marriages that occurred were not designed in nature in the south. Another practice of necessity as in the harsh climate it was rare that new blood entered the community. Both to preserve alliances between tribes and to expand the blood pool to keep their offspring healthy, marriages were arranged. Inevitably women coming of age would inherit a tract of land along with their husband so that they might tend it and preserve the fertility of the land with the fruits of fecundity of her own womb.
Often a wife would choose another woman to share the honour of the family, the origin of this stemmed from the offering of brides by nomadic clans to keep the bloodlines fertile and untainted. Now it was an outdated practice in the south but still often enough amongst some of the more orthodox of believers to the south. Many Avalonians might think this a practice that favoured the man, but they would have an interesting surprise awaiting them should they find themselves bonded to a southern Crescenti woman. Quite the opposite of the male dominated societies to the north and the rest of the world, it was the woman who made decisions and the man who was to abide by them.
This authority was kept in check by the disciplined observance of respect for one's husband even if it was not at all evident to the public. In terms of foreign trade, or war the man's authority overruled that of his wife. If there was a danger to the family or property, it was the man who's choice and responsibility it was to defend what they laid claim to. That is not to say that the women of this culture are feeble in any way, but it was an uncouth thing for them to bare steel beyond the roofs of their houses.
