Taphoshipping story: Matriarchy
Usually after each round, I'm beat. This time is especially the case as I've had 2.5hrs of sleep for the past two nights and was boning up on neuropsych at the same time.
Anyways, I decided I'm going to use this space to explain all the headcanons I've had to develop on the fly for these characters. Some of them could potentially make sense, while others are downright sloppy. And, as per usual, I fear my lack of extensive research will bite me in the butt.
Edited June 24th
1) There must be more than a singular family existing as official Tomb-keepers.
- The incest issue: they can't possibly last over thousands of years as functional people if they only survived via incest
- What would happen if they didn't have children?
- How do they survive without provisions?
- Weren't there servants seen in the anime escorting Malik to the site of the ritual?
2) There may be other families existing in varying social classes.
- like the servants we see in the dub
- In order to survive, there must be someone to bring them provisions
- In case the head family doesn't produce a son or any children at all, they can still choose someone to be the Ishtar heir (assuming that heir absolutely MUST be a boy)
3) Some part of the Tomb-keeper society can leave the underground.
- to fetch provisions
- Mother Ishtar is seen in the anime above-ground. This is how she found Rishid.
- In the anime, Ishizu seems pretty competent on the surface world for someone who hasn't left the underground.
- My headcanon is that only the male Ishtar head can't leave the underground. That or Mr. Ishtar's over-controlling personality barred Malik from doing so and this isn't a norm.
- The issue of where they leave their dead. This part is up for debate if we consider how extensive their underground home is. There seems to be a general consensus that it's a network of catacombs but we can't sure.
4) The wife of the Ishtar head has some power aside from producing an heir.
- If the Tomb-keeper society is, in fact, a society, the wife of the Head needs to be someone worthy of him. She reflects his authority and enhances his image.
- If something happens to him, she needs to be able to make decisions in order to prevent anarchy
- I just like strong women in my fics
5) There is some cross-cultural influence.
- If the Ishtars lived completely isolated from the rest of the world, Rishid, Ishizu and Malik would have had a much, much more difficult time navigating the surface. I highly doubt they would have risen to the expert authorities that they did.
- The way I bridged this was to have those fetching their provisions carry information about the surface to them.
6) Education of non-fiction works was preferred.
- In Ancient Egypt, even the fantastical tales of the Gods were believed to be truth.
- Especially for the future head of the Ishtar family, anything other than facts were a waste of time.
- Resources were limited and were reserved for textbooks.
7) Drug-use was a possibility.
- though frowned-upon
- used to cope with the gloom and sense of helplessness that likely leads to depression in adulthood
- hallucinogens were preferred
- part of the reason why the Ishtar head acts in "insane" ways
8) Mental health goes a long way.
- I don't think a society can survive this long without some sort of resiliency in their mental health. I actually think they would go insane.
- The children were given a relative amount of freedom to play and be kids.
- Most of the pressure to conform is on the head Ishtar family.
- This doesn't mean that they don't feel oppressed by their situation - it just means that they live with it while attempting to make the best of the situation.
- Kinda soft, I know.