NationStates

Stereotype I:

The Selian Ephyral race is silver-haired and purple-eyed.

Truth I:

The stereotype is not in and of itself incorrect, as members of the Selian Ephyral* race possess genetic physiological mutations that manifest in their most extreme variations as pale silver, almost white hair from birth (and maintained for the entire life), and purple eyes as dark as violet.

However the stereotype zeroes in on the most extreme manifestations of the mutation. These traits are not exhibited to this level by all members of the Selian Ephyral race. The hair mutation is a build-off on the blonde gene, and is therefore recessive. Silver-hair therefore is quite rare across all four major ethno-tribal divisions of the Selian race, exhibited most commonly in the historically isolated Iosorians (per capita), least commonly in the northern Kolkosians (who frequently interbred with darker haired neighbours). In the Panyrians and the Rhoyosians, who are the most populous groups both individually and combined make up close to 65% of the whole Selian race, silver hair is still present in a minority of individuals but not to the lesser extent produced in Kolkosians.

In the absence of silver hair, all four tribes exhibit some variation of blonde ranging from incredibly pale to darker, and almost always display fair hair. The one exception is the Kolkosians, who are not unknown for producing darker blondes to brown, which is about as common as a silver-hair Kolkosian. Rarest of all is black, which only the most diluted of Kolkosians possess.

The eyes however are different, and are in fact highly dominant genetically. This is because unlike the silver hair, which is a mutated extremity of recessive blonde, the purple eyes are not an extremity of recessive blue and are their own individual mutation. The eyes range from deep violet to pale lilac, but there is also a blue variant closer to indigo though it can be icy in some. This blue is considered a mutation of a mutation, and does not function like blue eyes do regularly. Parents with similar eye colours who breed will produce offspring with those eye colours, and aside from the rare mutations that produced the variations in the first place, will not produce offspring that drastically differ.

Ideas of racial purity and identity mean that Selian Ephyral who exhibit the most extreme of these traits tend to selectively reproduce with others who do, and sometimes in a manner that produces the next stereotype.

*The name of the race is Selian, but the nation they are affiliated to is named for the city-state of Ephyra, not the geographic region of [i]Selea. Selian Ephyral therefore is both a racial and national indicator, and in the past other terms such as Selian Arconian, or Selian Kohorian would be applicable.[/i]

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Stereotype II:

The Selian Ephyral engage in incest.

Truth II:

As before there is a strong element of truth to this. Historically, across multiple Selian states, but less so amongst the Kolkosians, incest has been a cultural tradition followed mostly by the nobility of any given state in an attempt to ensure legitimate bloodlines and retain dynastic purity. To some extent, the citizenry of any given state would also engage in tamer forms of incest. Culturally, three types of incest are recognised and they are significantly broader than what is deemed to be so in the rest of the world.

Lesser incest is anyone who is related to you no matter how distant. The most distant relation established by this term however is clan. Every family belongs to one of several hundred ancestral and historical clans whom now all today have hundreds of thousands of members, with the original purpose of the clan no longer functional other than to demonstrate ancestry to a specific region or person. If two individuals were wed from the same clan, even if the common ancestor for these two individuals was located centuries into the past, this would be considered a form of lesser incest. The Ephyral word for incest is kosabylurnon, which literally means 'pure sex', in reference to the purpose of sex which is to reproduce. Therefore the word itself translates no negativity.

Lesser incest can be as close as the following two scenarios. First cousins once removed, or second cousins. Anything between these points, and clan relation, is considered a lesser form of kosabylurnon, or more specifically kosabylurnon minoron. This is by far the most common form of incest in the whole nation and the dominant form practised by the citizenry. As families retain direct connection and communication, and their form of marriage is at least in part, arranged, it isn't uncommon for family members at the level of first cousins once removed, second cousins, or any more distantly to take romantic interest in one another and / or for such a union to be arranged if both branches of the families feel the other individual is of acceptable quality of character.

Greater incest, or kosabylurnon maioron, constitute the closer forms of pure breeding. These include unions between first cousins, half or full siblings, uncles to nieces, and aunts to nephews. This almost always takes places amongst the higher social and wealth classes as part of dynastic tradition. The most common forms of this are first cousins and uncle to niece unions, as marriages typically retain an age gap for purposes of ensuring each partner is at peak sexual value to the other. As a result, aunt to nephew marriages are the least common, whilst full sibling marriages are considered the most pure.

Finally, is abominable incest. This is translated as nakosabylurnon, or 'impure sex'. This refers to direct generational reproduction. Parent to offspring, or grandparent to grandchild for example. This is abhorrent to the Ephyral and all Selians and has been punished with death, exile, and slavery in the past. The reason this is prohibited is due to the difference in bond that exists between those that are siblings, cousins, and not direct parental relations, versus those that are. This is incredibly rare and almost never happens due to the sheer violation of morality and religiosity it represents.

Out-breeding, both outside of direct family and outside the clan, remains the most common form of reproduction however. Incest is not common by any metric unless divided into social class. Physiologically, the Selian Ephyral possess a genetic resistance to many of the defects caused in other races by incest such as physical and mental deformity. This resistance is not infinite however, and psychological conditions manifest before any other. When incest of a close nature is practised, it is rarely sustained across each successive generation.

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Stereotype III:

Women in Ephyra are property of men.

Truth III:

This is where the stereotype becomes wrong. By no law, precedent, ceremony, or perception of reality are women in Ephyra the specific property of men, but the actual relationship dynamic between men and women in the forms of both father to daughter, mother to son, and husband to wife, is quite complex. The Freehold is undoubtedly patriarchal, it operates a patrilineal means of descent, and both men and women use patronymics in their names to indicate descent. Socially, through values and historic precedent, the males of society are considered expendable insofar that they will be the ones who fight to defend the Freehold, and they will be the ones to labour for it, and in return for that sacrifice they are the ones who shall lead its families and the state. Women are to be protected. Children are to be safeguarded at all costs. This is because civilisations that experience a shortage of men but retain an abundance of women can and do survive, whilst those that experience a shortage of women, especially those of fertile age, will collapse.

Males are therefore rulers of the family unit in order to ensure the safety and prosperity of their sons so that they might go on to do the same, and their wives and daughters. Both men and women are expected to regulate their sexuality, women especially, due to the sociological trait that diminishes the female loyalty to the in-group in favour of fulfilling reproductive needs, whilst no such phenomenon tends to exist in men.

Whilst the natural role of the man is to fight and to labour and to lead, the natural role of the woman is to nurture, distribute, and mother. Women are seen as wives and mothers in the Freehold, and are subject to protection. In order to maintain this protection, the male figure of the family must have authority to ensure prosperity and the moral integrity of his family. Because of this he does gain authority, to some degree, over his wife, and to a far greater degree over his children, sons and daughters both. It is he who determines who his children will marry, and the path his family takes. Because the family is seen as a division of the state it is ultimately a political affair, and women in the Freehold have no involvement in politics. They do not vote, nor do they run for office, and similarly wives will defer to their husbands on matters around the political nature of the family.

This is not to say her voice is deprived however. Many a man shall seek counsel from his wife on matters in all things, and a wife has the right to speak her mind on familial issues just as he does. She also retains command over the domestic sphere of the household, and is the primary figure in raising children and the maintenance and respectability of the house, acting as a moral figurehead of femininity and ensuring her house is similarly dignified. As a man earns command of a family through his ability to govern himself and provide, she earns her input through domestic activity.

Children, including daughters, are expected to obey both mother and father, and daughters will turn to their fathers for suitors in marriage.

The misconception is that because women are domestic, they are undervalued. This is untrue, as many a woman both living and dead have been and are honoured for their integrity, chastity, and their dignity as matrons. Often within local communities, one woman might be regarded as an overall matron and guide to all other women in that community, and holds immense respect and influence as a result. Men and women both respect the full embodiment of female virtues just as they respect men who embody theirs. Boys and girls are both raised to emulate their peers who do so, hold to moral principles, and strive to better oneself in this fashion.

Men do not possess women. They are not objects to be controlled, and the Freehold in fact holds in great contempt societies that run on this principle. Men have the ability and therefore the duty to provide for women and protect them as wives and daughters, and take authority over them to ensure this is so. A woman is a daughter first, and a wife second, and mistreatment of a wife will very quickly result in divorce, as families do not take kindly to the mistreatment of their kin.