Also, their social system is probably similar in some ways to the Borderlands, with their cooperation and communal assistance memes, the reasons for which have been lost as they have not been a warrior people for two millenia, but which the story seems to be asserting are maintained out of first a sentimental attachment to the nation lost in the Trolloc Wars and an iron-clad determination to hold on to what Aemon & Eldrene died to save at all costs, and then as they forgot Manetheren, maintaining the ethos out of habit, inertia and their characteristic stubbornness. Note as well the near universal contempt for social hierarchy among the Two Rivers characters. None of them follows orders or plays nice with the powers that be very well at all, from Egwene's rebellious student days, to Nynaeve holding Elayne's rank against her, to Mat's general disdain for the aristocracy on principle, and various low-key or sidebar notations of the general lack of proper respect for authority. Their familiarity with Moiraine & the Amyrlin scandalize the Shienarans, Nynaeve takes Tylin at her word to speak freely, Rand (though it is not mentioned at the time), in retrospect was almost as arrogant in his behavior with Morgase as in the prepared demeanor calculated by Lan to send a message to Siuan. Dain Bornhald notes as well the lack of deference, despite an outward show of courtesy, among the Two Rivers folk even with the Children's boot on their necks. This attitude and social meme is not conducive to permitting exploitation or subjection, and should be very much considered the exception that proves the rule.


You can probably get into an entire treatise based on Rand's experiences with the nobles and the discussion of the disposal of their agricultural surplus in the early chapters of tSR.

Most of whom would seldom be in a position to capture gai'shain on their own, and the Wise Ones and roofmistresses never. There might be a system where the chiefs are entitled to a portion of the captives as they are a tenth of a place they take in battle, since they are rarely shown to be in a position to fight directly, but the Wise Ones and roofmistresses would never be in a fight to have the oportunity to take captives on their own right.

Note that the Wise Ones speak of this as a not-uncommon phenomenon, and contrast that to the dwindling population of the wetlands (whose apparent easy access to effective birth control and relative sexual liberation of women appears to have had a kind of "zero population" effect), and the struggle to simply populate the land a nation claims.

Not to mention the polygamy practices & the marital economic arrangements I refered to in the original post maximize the breeding potential of the population, and overcoming any attrition from the warrior-hunter class succumbing to battle and their environment. The customs neatly circumvent the issue of Maidens removing themselves from the breeding population by minimizing the maternity drawbacks to their vocations, and providing stable environments to raise their children (and allowing for more offspring for the physically fittest women with the strongest combat/military proclivities), and the potential shortage of male mates as a result of ongoing warfare, by arrangements to share male partners and keep the wombs filled.

In addition, as I am preparing for a future post and ommitted from this one due to length, there are definite indications that they don't put much value on monetary gains, since there really is nothing to spend it on. Aviendha says in PoD that beauty is more valuable than financial gain, which explains how Marin al'Vere acquires probably the three most valuable objects in the Two Rivers as casually as one might present a bottle of wine to the host of a dinner party, in spite of Mat's observation in the same book that the Aiel are not spend-thrift or ignorant of the worth of such items. This all supports your contention of a more communal system of sharing food and other necessities, which in turn reinforces the notion of the importance of ji'e'toh to societal survival. Communalist efforts generally fail in the real world after a generation or so, because eventually human nature intervenes and the ideals falter as everyone seeks individual advantage. A more rigorous honor system is needed to make such a system work (such as the Aiel have) or else a selective membership process (i.e. religious communities and so forth), or else a situation which forces individuals to depend absolutely on the community for day-to-day survival, let alone prosperity. The Aiel Waste provides the impetus to support the honor code, which in turn makes the rather level society possible.

Which positions are given to people selected primarily for their ability to cooperate with the battle leader (i.e. their wives). The Wise Ones and the rest of the female community also are involved in arranging the pairing of a suitable partner to a chief, and I would not be surprised to learn that sometimes one candidate for a chieftainship is chosen over another, or one chief is chosen to go to Rhuidean over another, because of the qualifications of his wife as roofmistress. And the two wives issue (note that three of ten married clan chiefs have such an arrangement, despite the books claiming it is not all that common even among the Aiel) helps smooth over the problem of an otherwise acceptable clan chief with an unsuitable wife. In such a circumstance, the Wise Ones and other roofmistresses of the hold or sept or clan get together and let her know in no uncertain terms that she WILL be taking a sister-wife, and from a very short list of candidates. Sorilea suggests as much when she is trying to hook Egwene up with a young man she has her eye on as a future chief, telling her to keep an eye out for a sister-wife who would make a good roof-mistress (as she envisions Egwene as a Wise One in her scenario). Also, regarding the intelligence issue, even if they are not dragging chiefs to the altar to pair them with suitable wives, Real World IQ studies suggest that spouses are more likely to have similar IQs than to come from similar educational or economic backgrounds (despite people being far more likely to use the latter two criteria in selecting a spouse, and almost never using IQ in that process). In other words, smart people tend to marry other smart people, meaning that men who are capable of handling the burdens of leadership are very likely to marry on their own women who are equally capable of handling their end of the deal. Note that all of the leadership-oriented characters end up with similar mates: Perrin & Faile, Egwne & Gawyn, Rand & Elayne/Aviendha, Mat & Tuon.