Γ 29

[silk_for_calde]

They say in Trivigaunte, the women fight like guardsmen...

This is a new curse for me. It's... awkward. A little embarrassing, though certainly far from the worst this City has to offer.

I was not afflicted the other day, when a great many of us were offered a glimpse of a life that might have been, had the whorl treated us differently; I'm almost sorry. Who would I have become, if I'd gone into politics as my mother wished, if Scylla hadn't chosen me to be an augur? What would have happened if the Outsider had not prepared me for the purchase of my manteion?

If I'd been a daughter instead of a son, would I have become a sibyl for Patera Pike? And who would have come to aid the old augur-- or would the Chapter have let Sun Street fall into disrepair, abandoned like the building on Music Street, to become a home for ghosts and devils?

Curious questions, and ones with no answers.

Comments

[sleepyseer.livejournal.com]

You are an augur?

[silk_for_calde]

I am.

[sleepyseer.livejournal.com]

That involves magic, does it not?

[silk_for_calde]

Ah... In my whorl, no. It means I've been trained to serve the gods, to read the signs they leave us.

[sleepyseer.livejournal.com]

Your whorl?

[silk_for_calde]

Where I'm from.

[sleepyseer.livejournal.com]

I see. And you have nothing like magic there.

[silk_for_calde]

There are those who'd claim otherwise, but it's either trickery, or man claiming responsibility for the work of the gods.

1/2

[sleepyseer.livejournal.com]

It's not the same...but still...

2/2

[sleepyseer.livejournal.com]

Being able to speak with the gods...is that a skill you learn? Or is it a talent you are born with?

[silk_for_calde]

It's... complicated. Augurs have a vocation; we're chosen by the gods, but we must study as well. In the schola we're taught to interpret the Chrasmologic Writings, the signs in sacrifices, and are introduced to other forms of divination-- though hepatomancy is the only one commonly employed.

However... when the gods choose to speak, plainly, they may choose to speak to anyone. Although, of course, only those men who have not known women, those women who have not known me, can see the gods' faces.

[sleepyseer.livejournal.com]

But it is not something you choose. In a way, it chooses you.

[silk_for_calde]

In a sense, yes. I could not have decided to become an augur if I were not intended to, no more than I could decide not to be one, having been so intended.

[obliviomancy.livejournal.com]

Is being a girl that different in your world?

[silk_for_calde]

Only men can be augurs; I could have become a sibyl, if I'd been a woman, but their duties are somewhat different. Had I come to Sun Street I would be the junior among them, as Maytera Mint was; I'd have assisted whoever took my current post in sacrifices, would have instructed the younger children. I don't believe I'd have done as well as she has.

I couldn't have gone into politics, as my mother wished for me-- not in Viron. I could perhaps have found a lay trade, but it's somewhat more likely that I would have married. Women do not often run businesses, though certainly there are some.

[obliviomancy.livejournal.com]

Why? What's the difference?

[silk_for_calde]

To an extent, I suppose there isn't one. In Trivigaunte-- another city of my whorl-- women are soldiers and merchants, women run the government; and according to some, men are no better than beasts or servants. Though, perhaps in Trivigaunte they say the same about Vironese women. It is merely... the way things are done, have always been done.

[obliviomancy.livejournal.com]

That's kind of a weird reason.

[silk_for_calde]

You're probably right.

[obliviomancy.livejournal.com]

"Probably"? It's your world. Shouldn't you know?

[silk_for_calde]

It is... the way things are. I'm accustomed to it. It doesn't mean we disregard women, or that they're inferior... There may be no apparent logic to the way things are done, but I don't take that to mean that there isn't a reason for it. The whorl is as the gods will it to be.

[obliviomancy.livejournal.com]

So it's about gods again.

[silk_for_calde]

In Trivigaunte, they attribute the structure of their society to Sphigx, their patroness.

Scylla, our founding goddess, does not use such a strong hand in Viron; if she did, perhaps things would be different.

From a practical point of view-- a secular point of view-- I believe Trivigaunte has a higher population of women than of men, so it makes sense for women to take on more roles. In Viron... women bear children and care for them in their infancy; whereas men may work continuously, through the same time, to support the family. Trades that require physical strength tend to attract men as well. So men accumulated money, and power; leading to more power, and the respect of others, leading to political power.

Why augurs are always men, and sibyls are always women... that is strictly a religious matter; it's simply how such things are done.

[obliviomancy.livejournal.com]

I guess that makes sense... kind of. What's an augur, anyway?

[silk_for_calde]

We act as intermediaries, of a sort, between the gods and the people of the whorl. I preside over sacrifices in the manteion, invoking the gods and interpreting the signs they reveal to us. I interpret the Writings for those who attend services, and tend to the religious education of our students.