Rereading a book...

[beccastareyes]

So, I'm rereading Martha Wells's Book of the Raksura and I'm trying to figure out a bit of worldbuilding...

Raksura come in winged and non-winged variety, a relic of once being two different groups of people*, and a healthy 'colony' of Raksura has roughly even numbers of both. Most winged Raksura are sterile 'warriors', whose main role for a colony is supposed to be fighting, with the occasional role of 'diplomat', 'scout' and 'transport' but their actual role (besides 'plot shit is happening, we have to deal with it') mostly seems to be 'professional nuisance' (and occasionally 'advise the colony's leadership'). They are capable of hunting, but social mores discourage it. It's possible trading/diplomacy is a normal occupation of warriors and we don't see that much of it because the characters we are following are part of a colony pulling itself out of some Deep Shit and the warriors actually have to focus on defending the colony. Or that the natural hazards of the area, even in long-settled parts, are sufficient that you need that many fighters. But mostly I wonder how a settlement can support half its adults not directly or indirectly contributing to it.

As I mentioned, one of the problems is most of what we see is Indigo Cloud in crisis, so warriors are earning their bacon. If you have someone to fight or need to move a lot of things quickly (in which case, wings help), having a bunch of self-sufficient aerial fighters is handy. But when things are quiet, what do you do with people whose only skills are killing dangerous things and flying?

Add in that it's rare-but-canon that when a colony is in Deep Shit, some of the non-winged Raksura will suddenly find themselves gaining wings (surprise!), but it doesn't even seem like a peaceful colony even has the ratio of winged-to-non-winged Raksura change, let alone having its existing warriors have to cope with being grounded.

Mostly I just wonder about the math and the economics. (Then again, a prosperous society can support a lot of people who aren't fulfilling direct needs. OTOH, the Raksura don't (or can't?) use domesticated animals, but are omnivores, so have the limitation of hunting enough meat for the entire colony. Actually, here it would make sense to have the warriors, and not a caste of non-winged Raksura, handle hunting, since warriors can apparently cover more territory. OTOH, having them flying long distances instead of hanging around being nuisances probably also burns more calories. )

* 'Subspecies' might be the best word here, in that they were clearly distinct, but could interbreed and have it actually work as a long-term strategy.

Comments

[everbright]

I honestly never thought about this while I was reading the books, but you raise an interesting question! In the short stories Wells put out and in fic I've read (and I may be conflating the two, so please excuse my memory) it seems to be assumed that the Aeriat are in charge of (and/or have the most interest in) diplomacy and trading and things external to the actual colony, just as you posited.

Oh wait, that was an actual story from Wells: http://www.marthawells.com/compendium/trading.htm

Anyways, it may just be that the warriors are genetically destined redshirts: expendable bodies to defend the skilled Abora.

(YAY, ANOTHER RAKSURA FAN!)

[beccastareyes]

(I know there were a could of Yuletide requests that I'm eyeing for the New Years Resolution Challenge, so you might see fic or art.)

True. Aeriat are more mobile than Abora, so it makes sense to have them on inter-colonial business (diplomacy, trade, scouting, harassing people who don't respect territory boundaries), and Indigo Cloud is poorly set up to show half of that since only near the end of the trilogy do they have actual connections with other courts close enough to not delegate visits to Stone.

This also means that the Abora don't have to feed Aeriat on business, since warriors and queens and Stone and Moon* hunt while out flying. I mostly wonder how sustainable this is, given the tech level: I know as technology advanced, fewer and fewer people-hours were required for feeding and clothing everyone. I don't know where that meets 'at least half of our people aren't directly involved in feeding or clothing anyone'.

* IIRC, it's implied that this is another reason Moon is weird, as warriors and Jade are supposed to provide for him. I assume line-grandfathers like Stone are sufficiently respected that 'acceptable behavior' is pretty broad, so no one cares if Stone hunts for himself. (Plus, given his flying form is huge, everyone is probably happy he can feed himself.)

[everbright]

I do get the feeling Wells sort of glossed over how much work is involved in non-industrial production of THINGS, since all the stuff they craft is pretty sumptuous. On the flip side, they don't seem to be profit motivated so a lot of the waste inherent in capitalist consumption models is avoided. They don't have things just to have things, it's just the useful things are pretty (with the exception of the jewelry, though only the Queens and consorts seem to wear it?)

[beccastareyes]

Yes, the Raksura seem to be terrible capitalists: they make pretty things because they enjoy having beautiful things, and not so much about the value. (The short story you linked on Wells' website kind of shows that: even the thought of 'you can get a better price for this by bargaining because of scarcity of what you're offering' is something Moon learned from groundlings, and is only really willing to employ against groundlings.

I'm trying to remember if anyone else wears jewelry. Certainly queens and consorts wear more of it. (Though queens also don't wear clothing, so some of that is probably just a 'want to look pretty'.) It also seems to have a ceremonial role in courtship and celebration. (Jade gave Moon jewelry when she was trying to figure out how to express her interest, and the Abora were making him something to celebrate their first clutch, whenever they managed to get one.)

There does seem to be a limited role of 'don't look impoverished': Raksura have nicer clothing for greeting guests from other courts, but it seems to be a matter of court-wide, even if queens and consorts are the ones with the precious metal. I have a feeling if guests showed up to a court and the Abora were in rags, it wouldn't matter how nice the warriors were dressed or how much bling the queen had. (It might even be worse if things were nicer for the Aeriat: 'you guys are in deep trouble' is at least understandable, but 'you are breaking every duty you have to your court' would get people pissed.)

[everbright]

Jesus, forget stealing consorts, you'd probably have queens stealing Arbora from if you they were in rags.

[beccastareyes]

Yeah, or at least offering rides to their colony where they can clothe everyone. (Or possibly just kicking the ass of the reigning queen if she objects... with help from every other colony in the area.)