Black Elf Matriarchates

> "*I care not for what they call us, and neither should you, for being enraged by falsehoods is what the pinkskins want. You have nothing to prove to mortals, only to the Gods. What does it matter to them if we are ruled by women? The Gods know that the accusations the outsiders level at you are baseless - they know that you are true and righteous men.*"
> ― Unan Remua, Prince of Anaiya, to his kinsmen
>
>

"Matriarchate" is the English term usually given to the autonomous Black Elf city-states in Roulonne, due to their peculiar female-dominated political structure. The Matriarchates continue to exist to this day as self-governing communities within the Kingdom of Roulonne, but this page is concerned with the historical Matriarchates prior to the Glorious Rebellion.

## Politics and Society

As mentioned, Matriarchates are politically dominated by females, but one should not mistake this for meaning that their entire society was female-dominated. A Matriarchate was ruled by a Matriarch who was served by a High Council of Ladies. As one might expect from the names, these were all women without exception. However, Matriarchs also often employed men as advisors and statesmen, but these were not permitted to be part of the High Council. They could attend High Council meetings, and rarely were permitted to speak in them, but could not be part of the Council itself. Judges in the courts could be either male or female, but the majority of them were women.

Although noble ladies were typically treated as above their husbands and took precedence in inheritance, this was not the case for commoners, and in most cases men and women were legally equal. The households of commoners were inherited by the eldest child regardless of their sex (unless the previous owners had stipulated otherwise in their wills), and husbands and wives were on equal legal footing.

Although women were more politically powerful in the Matriarchates, it was usually men who were chosen as representatives to other realms, since they understood well that men were more likely to be readily accepted and respected by the patriarchal societies of outsiders. The major exception was in their dealings with the hermaphroditic Vampires and Dark Elves, who were more likely to respond positively to female ambassadors, and also the Dragons, who simply did not care.

## Military

The militarites of the Black Elf Matriarchates were a mixture of men and women, but the lower ranks tended to be dominated by males whereas the officers were mostly females. The major exception to this was the Matriarchate of Adyona, which had a far more female-dominated civilian society than other Matriarchates, but left the province of war entirely to men. It was widely recognised amongst the Black Elves that although the females were largely on equal physical footing to the males (unlike most other species), females were less expendable in war from a grand strategic standpoint, and - barring illness and injury - males were always physically capable of fighting whereas females had to deal with periods and pregnancy. This is primarily why women were only the majority amongst the officer class, which was rarely expected to fight in direct combat, and also why Adyona barred women from the military entirely.

The Matriarchates were generally capable of fielding strong and versatile professional armies, which were able to punch above their small numbers due to their rigorous training and their high concentration of powerful plasma mages. Even the common infantry had a high prevalence of mages amongst them, but their most elite unit, the Plasma Lancers, consisted entirely of skilled mages. The Black Elves were able to field this due to their naturally very high prevalence of plasma mages, but it is common knowledge that this power came at the cost of a low concentration of relatively weak healing and shield mages, and a total absence of air mages.

### Plasma Lancers

The Plasma Lancers were the most feared and respected Black Elf military unit for virtually the entire history of the Matriarchates up until the disappearance of magic. Comprised entirely of mounted powerful plasma mages, the Plasma Lancers did not actually use lances (and were, by definition, actually skirmisher cavalry), instead using "lances" of powerful charged plasma bolts at close range, which they would use by charging in close, shooting the bolt, then rapidly wheeling about and galloping away.

A favoured tactic of the Plasma Lancers was called the Spinwheel - also rarely and jokingly called the Doomwheel - which bears a strong resemblance to the Caracole manoeuvre of early gunpowder-era European cavalry; the Plasma Lancers would travel in a fast-moving circle, charging their plasma bolt as they rode around and releasing it once they got close to the enemy, and in the time it took to circle back around they would charge up another bolt. This tactic could devastate even highly armoured and disciplined infantry formations, as without a shield mage (which was commonly the case) there was absolutely nothing they could do to stop the attacks. Of course, the proximity of the Lancers to the enemy put them at risk of being shot by arrows, bolts or javelins, but this was not a risk particular to the Spinwheel manoeuvre; this is inherent to all cavalry.