More Tales of MU - As The Underworld Turns Chapter 6: Missed Conceptions

Typos

“But tt would perhaps behoove you to maintain your current position until our Dee returns to us.”

should be it...

If ceramikal chooses

missing a space ...

Wonderful chapter... I can almost see the sweat on Dareks' forehead

Re: Typos

“I would not use the word ‘jeapoardize’.”

I wouldn't either, 'cause it's got an extraneous letter "a". >:=)>

Re: Typos

One more:

“Oh, I hardly think I’m as embarrassing as all that,” Darek said, and the matriarch smiled slightly. “If Dania Allena chooses to pursue this, she will be opening herself up to a response, will she not?”
“Perhaps,” the matriarch said. “But it is not likely to be as simple as all that. In any event, we could avoid much of this if we did not choose to shield Alea.”

Needs another carriage return between paragraphs.

Okay okay okay...could someone explain for the slow kid exactly what's going on with the elves of House d'Wyr? I know there's some succession issue, but damned if I can keep straight who's who and what's what. Just a quick-and-dirty overview, because I'm pretty sure these stories would make a lot more sense if I had a handle on the politics.

OK, here goes.

House d'Wyr is a matriarchy, obviously. The current matriarch and ruler of the society is Duala Deneira, who is Dee's-- great-great-grandmother, or some such. The elves don't die of old age, but they die of all kinds of other things, so although the succession must pass to a living firstborn daughter of the direct line of descent from Duala Deneira when Duala Deneira dies, it doesn't necessarily pass to the eldest of the living candidates. Also, everyone in the line of succession between Duala Deneira and Daella Degra (Dee's mother) has apparently died. So if Duala Deneira died right now, then the two potential candidates for matriarch-- both firstborn daughters of their mothers, in the direct line of descent-- would be Daella Degra (Dee's mother), and Dee herself. Which one gets chosen would depend on whom the council deemed a fitter ruler.

Duala Deneira doesn't want Daella Degra to be matriarch (we don't know why, although it may have something to do with Daella Degra's scheming, social-climbing, Dee-resenting wife Durilla Degra). However, Dee, who is the other option besides her mother at present, doesn't want to be matriarch; furthermore, she's away at university, so if Duala Deneira dies and Daella Degra is rejected as the next matriarch, there will be no matriarch present until Dee is able to make the long journey home. Therefore, Darek is requesting that Duala Deneira not die until Dee gets home.

Meanwhile, Duala Deneira is attempting to conceive a daughter of her own (who would be eligible for matriarchy, being the firstborn living daughter in the direct line of descent). Duala Deneira would obviously prefer that her own (as-yet-unconceived) daughter succeed her, rather than either Delia Daella or Daella Degra. So Darek, per her instructions, is trying to father a child on Duala Deneira, preferably a daughter, although as he points out, he has no willed control over that particular aspect.

How was that? Clear as mud? :P

Oh-- and Daella Degra is also attempting to conceive a child, which she hopes will be a boy (to replace her dead baby son), but if it is a girl, I think it would be eligible for matriarchy only if Dee died, because Dee is the firstborn of her mother. And Dee can't die because she is awesome, so just forget I even raised that possibility.

I'm not 100% clear on the Durakesh politics, of course, but I can see at least one flaw in your explanation...

Meanwhile, Duala Deneira is attempting to conceive a daughter of her own (who would be eligible for matriarchy, being the firstborn living daughter in the direct line of descent).

If Duala Deneira is Dee's great-grandmother (or some such), which I think she is, then if she conceives a child with Darek it won't be her firstborn! She's obviously had children already.

Like I said, I'm certainly no expert here, but I don't think that "firstborn" is a necessary qualification for house matriarch. With her talk of other options, it seems likely that a matriarch can be chosen from any number of positions within the house.


Man, trying to follow the politics of Durakesh is harder than tracing the line of the Habsburgs!

That's why I said "firstborn living daughter." Yes, she's had at least one daughter already (to be the forebear of Daella Degra), but that daughter is dead, or else she'd already be a candidate. So this one will still be Duala Deneira's eldest daughter when she is born.

It's possible, though, that I'm mistaken, and that Duala Deneira's "plans" involve living long enough to see her new daughter grow up and have a (first) daughter of her own, who will then be a candidate for the matriarchy.*

I'm pretty sure the firstborn aspect is important in some way, though I can't check direct quotes right now because I'm at work and MU is filtered. Duala Deneira does mention the possibility of "jumping lines," but both she and Darek seem to find that idea a bit distasteful and sort of a last resort ("any matriarch is better than no matriarch").

And yes, with each successive Durekesh story I realize more and more profoundly how sincerely Dee's people worship intricacy...


*Edited to note that I just realized that wouldn't work either, because if Duala Deneira's daughter doesn't count as "direct line of descent," then neither would the daughter's daughter. But I think fka_luddite is correct below, it is the eldest living daughter who counts.

Your point about Duala Deneira's projected heir not being not being a firstborn daughter is correct, although not as you worded it (since sons are not daughters). The succession candidates are the eldest living daughters in direct line of descent.

Well, since the position is house matriarch, I figured that "female" was implied in my argument. Obviously boys don't even count... :-P

Thanks! It helped, especially because I could be sure I was calling people the right names. Someone noted below that their naming conventions can get tricky, and I've been suffering from that.

I'm struggling too, if only because I have trouble telling one name from another. They all have the same initials, and all names seem to end in a "a"!

I guess I need to work a refresher course into the next two chapters. :P

Their society puts a lot of cachet on the firstborn daughter... not the eldest living daughter but the firstborn daughter, because in the bad old days if you could raise your first to maturity with neither one of you dying it meant you were a good protector and provider. When a matriarch dies or steps aside, a firstborn daughter of her line is selected to take her place.

House d'Wyr's claim to fame is that every member of their ruling family has managed to raise a firstborn who lived to have her own firstborn for longer than any other house, which is the lineage that Dee recites. Dee's younger sisters, produced by Daella Degra's efforts to have another boy, aren't part of the line of succession, and neither would Duala Deneira's next child be. They (and other surviving not-firstborn daughter of line members) would be the next logical choice if the line of succession got broken, but it would diminish the house's social standing.

Re: I guess I need to work a refresher course into the next two chapters. :P

Oh! Okay! That makes sense, and yes, I think I remember now, that it was mentioned that Dee's lineage was all actual firstborns and that it was a big point of house pride. So actually, the only way for Dee to dodge matriarch-hood without putting her mother on the throne would be for Dee to have a firstborn daughter of her own (and, if Duala Deneira hangs on long enough, for that daughter to have a daughter, etc.)-- since neither Duala Deneira nor Daella Degra can supply another "firstborn daughter" of the line.

Thanks for clearing that up, Ms. Erin. (Yeah, probably a lot of us could do with a quick refresher course, if you could work it into canon. :P) And now I wonder what Duala Deneira's plans are, and why exactly she's so eager for a daughter by Darek...

Re: I guess I need to work a refresher course into the next two chapters. :P

Maybe a good way to do it would be a d'Wyri family tree? I know all my Norse books have family trees in them, because people could not stop naming their children after Thor, and consequently keeping the kiddies straight can be hard.

Re: I guess I need to work a refresher course into the next two chapters. :P

I concur.

Re: I guess I need to work a refresher course into the next two chapters. :P

It should be kept in mind that in any political system, important words like "first-born" are apt to have surprisingly flexible definitions when necessity, or political advantage, requires it. So it is quite possible to shove in a surprise candidate at this point. Indeed, with a little work, such a candidate could first appear at the council to decide the next ruler.

Ven'dui.

I do love Darek. He's an asshole and a bastard, and a back-handed swine. My kinda guy.

I'm terrified at how much I'm enjoying this.. then again, drow culture has always fascinated me. Your turns on it are beautiful.
E

Matriarchies need
Suitable firstborn daughters
To keep their lines straight

The line of descent
Is vital to those seeking
Lower offices

Darek is taking
The telepath to success
With deceit in mind

Decoy

The reason that was originally adduced for Duala Deneira to become pregnant was to improve the chance that would-be assassins would kill her great-daughter by mistake. The current matriarch is a sentimentalist, in the sense that she'd hate to see someone she cares about be killed.