[dragoon500ly]

Free State philosophy places the female Natural Aristocrat upon a pedestal, and there she stays. The Free State ideal of womanhood is embodied in the concept of motherhood and family---large families are preferred and begun when the bride has barely reached sufficient physical development to begun having children of her own. This is supposed to be at the age of sixteen, but in some cases, as young as fourteen. Some brides have been even younger, but that causes people to “talk,” a situation that a politically upward Free State young man does well to avoid.

The daughters of powerful or influential Free State movers and shakers are little more than pawns in the political power games that underlies the Natural Aristocracy’s hierarchy. Marriages between those of the “right” social classes are encouraged; hence the existence of the “marriageable lists.” The Free State is not so blatantly racist as to have draconian “mixed marriage” laws, but the consequences of marrying beneath one’s station can be very severe nevertheless. Such a poor choice will effect the higher-class partner of the rest of their life. It will interfere with latter promotions or even end an ambitious man’s rise through the hierarchy.

On the other hand, marrying the daughter of a rich and politically powerful man within one’s own class enhances a man’s prestige. This leads to some interesting situations, such as when a young man marries a woman three or four times his age in order to curry favor with her powerful male relatives. A widow with a large brood of children need not worry about finding someone to support her and her children of she is politically or even materially well-connected. Ambitious young suitors will be falling over themselves trying to win her hand (and even more importantly, the favor of her male relatives).

Having a large number of children gets a NA mother recognition, honors, and most importantly, extra governmental resources as well as the title of “Heroine of the Race.” For a Natural Aristocrat mother, having a large family is not a crushing burden. There are plenty of women among the Thirds who can be hired as nannies, governess, laundress, cooks and maids. A large number of children confirms a husband’s virility and is yet another demonstration of his “natural superiority”. For those of high rank, multiple wives also contribute to a man’s progeny. In the Free State, it is the practice for the husband to install each of his bride’s in her own home, or at least with her own suite of rooms (complete with separate kitchens and bathrooms). Having more than one wife is not an undertaking for a poorly paid junior clerk deep within the KFS bureaucracy. It takes power, prestige, and most of all, money and access to resources in a big way.

While a senior wife (or wives) will be consulted about her husband’s intentions to take another woman to wife, she has little actual say in the matter. Free State laws are quite clear about such things as a husband’s “natural prerogatives.” In theory, each wife is supposed to be treated equally by her husband. In practice, jealousies and rivalries among wives for the attention of their mutual husband are rife. Senior wives tend to gang up on the “new girl” and make her life miserable until she complies with the established “pecking order”. Wives are not without resources of their own, however. Those items that a wife may have been given over the years, from a saucepan to a palace are hers to keep. She may own property in her own name. Some may have been given gifts as wedding presents from parents anxious to get a struggling couple off to a good start. The roof over her head and her children’s heads is hers for as long as she lives, and she may pass property on at her death, but, she may not buy or sell anything without her husband’s permission. The man, not the woman, controls what she owns and how it is used.

The ultimate source of a woman’s status is that of her man. A woman who remains a wife has only the status she receives by sharing the reflected glory of her husband, unless, and this is a very exceptional situation, she holds by virtue of some skill, talent or unique ability, an independent position of her own within the political hierarchy, or as a result of some critical shortage in some vital skill, the state demands her services in the work place. Many young, unmarried Natural Aristocrats work at such jobs as rolling bandages or other similar positions without status.