Who should oversee the distribution of tributary incentives?
So local governments options:
[ ] [Pay] The matriarch and patriarch of each extended family.
Organization by clan. Highly stable and effective, but expect systematic disenfranchisement of new ideas and younger family members.
Pick this if you value efficiency and stability...but take note that its sheer stability means it's very hard to break the grip of.
[ ] [Pay] The head of each individual family.
Organization by individual family. The problem here is that larger families would have far more benefit to concentrate on their prosperity, while smaller families will gradually be unable to compete.
Theres also the problem of being too granular, divided to this extent, there really isn't a whole lot that COULD be done.
[ ] [Pay] The informal council of elders.
Organization by seniority. Expect conservative applications of resources.
Great for avoiding crisis of famine(which IS a big deal), stable, but systematically disfavors warriors and hunters, who rarely live long enough to be elders due to their risky lifestyle.
Will need additional work to keep the military from overthrowing this by force later.
[ ] [Pay] An elected council.
Relatively fairest. Expect disenfranchisement of migrants and refugees due to being minorities.
Is quite good at allocating resources to building infrastructure, planning festivals, etc, but unpopular ideas will be like pulling teeth.
Is vulnerable to government fractures. These work while things stay stable, but they tend to face issues once urbanization starts happening and "elected" no longer means "representative".
[ ] [Pay] An appointed member of the Big Man's Slate.
Increased centralization. This is functionally a command economy, and can get big projects done VERY well. Its stable as long as the Big Man retains control of the warriors.
Its also the easiest to abuse the shit out of.
How should the People reform their political system?
Regional government options:
[ ] [Politics] Give Hill Guard their own Big Man
Each settlement gets a leader, which means local issues are seen to effectively. Model would be early city-state, with overall influence swinging in many directions, but pretty stable even if Crystal Lake is going to assimilate them de-facto later on.
Discourages founding new settlements.
[ ] [Politics] Put Hill Guard under Crystal Lake's Big Man
Early hierarchy. It establishes that some settlements are subordinate to others. Convenient and encourages prosperous settlements to found more, getting more subordinates, but the top-down power level is going to be messy.
[ ] [Politics] Select one Big Man to become a Bigger Man (likely Crystal Lake)
Early Monarchy. More ability to organize big projects(again), more dissatisfaction from unmet demands. Keep them roads alive.
[ ] [Politics] Organize a council with elected representatives of all settlements.
Early republic. Every settlement sends someone, so everyone has a say.
Quite effective at keeping people happy and stable, but if a problem shows up that is beyond this threshold, things tend to fall to panic. In times of crisis this tends to end unless you do like Rome and build roads everywhere you don't have rivers.
[ ] [Politics] Organize a council from everyone selected by lot.
Selection by lottery to pick by the will of the spirits. This can't easily be corrupted, but you have to take shitty leaders as they come.
How do the People organize their Trails of Adulthood?
[ ] [Men] Trial of War: a boy is only a man after killing an enemy combatant.
Consequences are obvious the moment we run out of enemies to kill.
[ ] [Men] Trial of Acclaim: a boy becomes a man after he is recognized by a vote of his settlement.
Creation of an underclass, especially bad with receiving migrants of any type.
[ ] [Men] Trial of Ordeal: a boy becomes a man after he proves himself in a dangerous situation
Reinforces our elitism value, which is good, at the cost of attrition, and leading to polygamy down the road from loss of male population.
Disfavors men from being artisans or academics however.
[ ] [Men] Trial of Utility: a boy becomes a man when he becomes an asset to his settlement.
This is going to need revisions later on, but it pretty much means you have to complete an apprenticeship in a recognized trade. Not bad.
[ ] [Men] Trial of Fatherhood: a boy becomes a man once he has children born.
Promotes early marriage and population growth. Great if you want to go for settlement sprawl, not so great once you run out of land and population pressures start mounting.
[ ] [Women] Trial of Age: after going through puberty, a girl is recognized as a woman.
Impossible to subvert, but at the same time the women not undergoing trials to pass means that they are valued more or less only for birthing ability. Implications vary a lot by the male trial of course.
[ ] [Women] Trial of Life: there is no such thing as a girl, only women and younger women.
This depends on the male ordeal. If the men have a harsh Trial(War or Ordeal), it leads to de-facto matriarchy. Otherwise considering our elitist value it's going to invert the intent. "There is no such thing as an adult woman fit to make her own decisions" can happen easily.
[ ] [Women] Trial of Motherhood: a girl becomes a woman when she gives birth.
Promotes early marriage. Significantly riskier than the male version.
[ ] [Women] Trial of Acclaim: a girl becomes a woman when she is recognized by a vote of her settlement.
Creation of an underclass, especially bad with receiving migrants of any type.
[ ] [Women] Trial of Utility: a girl becomes a woman when she becomes an asset to her settlement.
While superficially egalitarian this will pose difficulties as specialization happens, since women have a more limited number of trades where they can be an asset in, simply due to the physical strength gap.
Depending on how we set things up, women would either be pushed to develop and maintain useful feminine trades(as in, establish certain trades as a women-only career), or potentially lose the ability to vote on matters entirely.
