Cadarian and Berkanan society?
Thesis: Othala was matriarchal in the days of yore.
According to actual theories the main characteristic of a matriarchal society be that women, one or the other way, have the possibility to chose their mates and thus provide a secondary form of natural selection that leads to the production of a superior gene vehicle.
Excerpt: science of matriarchy
Darwin's theory of natural selection was adopted, in spite of its contradictions of many fundamental religious beliefs, because it could be used to legitimize British and European colonialism in terms of a survival of the fittest, the fittest being taken as white northern European males. Yet Darwin's equally brilliant discovery of sexual selection was initially attacked and then ignored for decades as sexual selection means feme selection of males and males adapting to the criteria upon which femes selected. […]One of the most serious questions, however, deals with the issue of whether or not femes dominated males within the ancient matriarchies. The problem arises because many assume that femes within matriarchy would be the same as femes within patriarchy, that is to say, feminine. They thus deny the very feme aggression and sexuality that maintained feme domination over males. Just as patriarchy is not only political, it is also sexual, so matriarchy is equally sexual, but matriarchal sexuality is very different than patriarchal sexuality. If we are to understand the nature and structure of matriarchy, we must understand the links between sex and aggression in both matriarchy as well as patriarchy. […]
The war of the sexes is not a battle between feme and male but is a conflict between the male over-rider geneplexes (demonism) which attempt to suppress feme mate choice and selection and the feme negator geneplexes which have evolved to suppress male demonism. Thus the battle of the sexes is a conflict between the geneplexes which seek to maximize male reproductive interests and the geneplexes which seek to maximize feme reproductive interests.
The overall interest of gene replication is maximized when feme mate choice and selection prevail. The economics of reproduction determines that in most species, most of the time, the reproductive interest of the feme will prevail because it provides a secondary form of natural selection, that is the sexual selection of the gene vehicles or the gene machines, the terms which Dawkins uses to describe the individual organisms. When femes choose males to mate with and when their bodies select between sperm, the selection process is choosing the superior genomes which will form one half of the genetic code of their offspring, thus producing a superior gene vehicle.
Considering this explanation we may classify nowadays Teshwan as patriarchal (as it is generally men who determine womens’ mates) while around the midlands in spite of the society’s seemingly patriarchal structures most women still have the posibility of choosing their partners after their own will. What also explaineth the significance of tourneys, contests and feasts within our midlandish traditions as mens' opportunity of wooing the women, who in the end take the choice and thus determine what bloodlines prevail.
Thesis: The Church of Cadaris was established by male revolutionaries in an effort back up the struggle of Teshwan’s early patriarchs.
Assuming Othala once was a matriarchal society we must wonder about the origin of Teshwanian patriarchy. According to our theory it was about -1200 BoY that, inspired by Teshwanian philosophers like Simeon Dabovar and Alister Black, men began doubting the old order -- the numbers of actual renegades however remained low as Berkanan belief held no prospect for the independent man and most could not imagine a society as depicted by the rebels.
That was why the revolutionaries, more precisely speaking John Cadraque, one of the intellectual leaders of the namely movement and a gifted seer, founded a new religion that would back up the rights of the self-determined male and offer a spiritual antithesis to our mother Berkana. His prophesies of heavenly warriors that with flaming swords would fare down to vanquish the malevolent influences of the dark witches that previously determined mens’ fate initially were laughed at –- but eventually came true. Whereupon his followers declared him, as well as the arrived jedi knights, envoys of god and many, impressed by the heavenly warriors’ crusade against the ‘witches’ pawns’ joined the new established church of Cadaris.
The Cadarian belief hence -- though influenced by the belief of the faction of Jedi that participated in these early crusades and later on were expelled by the order and the traces of their deeds erased from their records –- mainly was coined by the patriarchal ideas of John Cadraque whose ideals also lead to the foundation of the Cadarian inquisition, that should eradicate harmful influences (Berkana’s temptations, the insidious tools of female manipulation) before they could affect the new order.
Differences of Cadarian and Berkanan belief
Cadarian belief can be depicted as the ‘breaking of the circle’.
While the Berkanan understandeth his existence as a part of nature’s perpetual ‘death – life – death cycle’ the Cadarian imagineth his life as a linear existence, that beginning with his birth experienceth its continuation in a form of spiritual afterlife the quality of which the Cadarian believeth to be determined by the individual’s conformism to proclaimed rules. The linear concept thus favouring the willingness to submit to ‘religious laws’ (in order to improve one’s chances on a desirable afterlife) alloweth religious authorities to more easily steer their people after their own preferences.
Another critical effect of the linear approach in mine opinion is that it furthereth exploitative attitudes towards the manifestations of Berkana (earth as well as the women) –- for those who reject the law of the cycle in expectation of a higher existence after death have less impetus to preserve the ‘fields of sin’ or to honor those who are regarded the 'potential tools of the temptress'.
I am aware that these notes are tinged by my prejudiced attitude towards Cadarism. I shall work on a more balanced portrayal an am open for all comments and critique.
Another matter I would like to become clear about is the nature of the berkanan belief itself that might be similar to the celts' religion -- honoring male qualities along with the female ones as only their combination secureth the clan's continued existence.
Example: Pagan belief -- wicca
[...] we do not see ourselves as masters of the Earth, but as an intrisic and inseparable element of the Earth. [...]The Gods aspects tend to fall into light and dark aspects, depicting Summer and Winter - the force that brings forth form as consort to the Goddess. The Goddess in this respect is seen as a nature Goddess who moves between the light and dark as different aspects of herself, but she is constant and never 'dies'.
The God aspects are divided into two. There is the Holly King who is reborn at the height of the summer solstice goes through a process of 'sacrifice' to bring fertility to the Goddess (the land) and finally gives way to his twin brother the Oak King when they overwhelm each other at the winter solstice. The Oak King also goes through a similar process of 'sacrifice' for the purposes of fertility. This is marked throughout the solar-orientated Sabbat ritual process.
The Goddess is also represented in a triple aspect of Maiden, Mother and Crone, represented by the three phases of the Moon; this reflects her Earthly aspects of Spring, Summer and Winter . There is also an Earth Mother Goddess and a God of the forest or of the animals (the Green Man).