Re: OT: Corpses, etc. (was: Re: Gender in conlangs (was: Re: Umlauts (was Re: Elves and Ill Bethisad)))

>Ah. In most of the lands around Westmarche (and
>including Westmarche) fighting is considered a
>normal process of human (and Daine) behaviour.
As I said in an earlier post, the Trehelish do have a strong sense of
maintaining good order.  (Actually, you supplied the word "order" for
me.  "Propriety" also works.)  This sense of order includes not
fighting.  Sure, there are plenty of fights that don't get reported; you'd
be a fool to report something that was going to get you whipped.  Fighting
is not seen to be normal.  That doesn't mean that it *isn't* normal; it
just means that it isn't labled as normal, and there are laws to govern
it.  Now that I think about it, Trehels may indeed set up fights and bet on
them, but it isn't a passtime that *polite* people engage in.

Cwendaso simply do not fight.  Striking another person is *totally* illegal
and there will be a fine and a public apology, if it occurs.  (If you
strike your wife, she can separate from you, and you will pay her a heavy
fine.  They don't recognize the idea of divorce, but a couple can separate
and may be reconciled later.)  There are such strong cultural inhibitions
on fighting that it is rare for fights to break out, and, when they do,
other people will step in and end it very quickly - and then the involved
parties get to explain themselves before the king, who will very definately
not be pleased.  Getting into a fight results in you publicly humiliating
yourself.  When Cwendaso want to have fun (and compete with each other),
they wrestle.  Wrestling is never done as an alternative to fighting
however; arbitration is the alternative to fighting.

>Fighting in and of itself isn't criminal; but
>some of its side effects are, like destruction of
>property and disturbing the peace
Yes, the side effects are most of what the Trehelish find troubling about
it (and a minor fight will not be reported or, if witnessed by soldiers,
may simply be broken up and the parties sent home without being brought to
court, *if* it was minor), but fighting itself doesn't quite fit into the
Trehelish concept of what totally "civilized" behavior is.  One of the
potential side effects that they object to is that a fist-fight can turn
into a knife-fight, and that can turn deadly.  Even fist-fights aren't
safe; they aren't *as* deadly, but they can become lethal.

>  (if you do it
>too loudly or too bloodily or in the presence of
>vested clergy).
Are the clergy often vested outside of the churches?  I should hope that
you don't have fights breaking out in church.  Or are you talking about
clergy wearing vestements outside of churches because they are leading
religious processions through the streets?

Isidora

Replies