You both have valid points, and some not so valid points.
When it comes to whether or not the Nunh has an influential position in the tribe, that's up for debate. Their purpose in the tribe is clearly not that of a leader or any sort of authority, and I don't think they would jeopardize their position within the tribe by shirking their duties and withholding sex. Remember, they're not called Alpha males, they're called Breeding males. They're the males who have earned the right and duty to breed. I imagine it sort of like the heavy-weight champion of the world title. It doesn't mean you get to make decisions, or that you're somehow in a priveleged position, it just means you were the best at punching people in the face until they passed out.
But that doesn't make them unimportant.
And I certainly don't agree that they need protection. I think the mere existence of this caste system among males shows that the strength of the males is highly valued. If they weren't able to fend for themselves, I think few females would give them a second glance.
The naming conventions I think is just a practical way of keeping track of which kid belongs to which male. You wouldn't want any accidental inbreeding. It makes sense that a male has a lot of kids, but the females probably only have a few each. So by giving the child the name of the Nunh who sired them, it's easy to keep track of who the child's parents are.
What I do agree with though, is the notion that the females don't hold any particular loyalty to a Nunh, and I'm backing that up by the lore outlining how easy it is for a Tia to replace a Nunh by simply besting him in combat.
The Nunh would then revert to a Tia, and all of the females would now mate with the new Nunh. Surely if they were loyal to him, rather than the tribe, they wouldn't abandon him the moment he lost a fight?
However, I don't think that makes them discardable. Males are supposedly rare. I don't know where I read it but I definitely did. And since the males are key to the continuation of the species, it would make sense for them to be treated as a valuable commodity.
Even if they're not one in a million, you wouldn't want to lose your males unnecessarily. One could speculate that seeker society would have very detailed rules for how and when males could challenge and fight eachother, and strict punishments for anyone who broke the rules.
For instance, if a Nunh felt threatened by a young Tia and attacked him pre-emptively, that would probably go over as well as Frey family wedding.
I'm thinking the challenges are probably quite a ritualized affair.
When it comes to whether or not the Nunh has an influential position in the tribe, that's up for debate. Their purpose in the tribe is clearly not that of a leader or any sort of authority, and I don't think they would jeopardize their position within the tribe by shirking their duties and withholding sex. Remember, they're not called Alpha males, they're called Breeding males. They're the males who have earned the right and duty to breed. I imagine it sort of like the heavy-weight champion of the world title. It doesn't mean you get to make decisions, or that you're somehow in a priveleged position, it just means you were the best at punching people in the face until they passed out.
But that doesn't make them unimportant.
And I certainly don't agree that they need protection. I think the mere existence of this caste system among males shows that the strength of the males is highly valued. If they weren't able to fend for themselves, I think few females would give them a second glance.
The naming conventions I think is just a practical way of keeping track of which kid belongs to which male. You wouldn't want any accidental inbreeding. It makes sense that a male has a lot of kids, but the females probably only have a few each. So by giving the child the name of the Nunh who sired them, it's easy to keep track of who the child's parents are.
What I do agree with though, is the notion that the females don't hold any particular loyalty to a Nunh, and I'm backing that up by the lore outlining how easy it is for a Tia to replace a Nunh by simply besting him in combat.
The Nunh would then revert to a Tia, and all of the females would now mate with the new Nunh. Surely if they were loyal to him, rather than the tribe, they wouldn't abandon him the moment he lost a fight?
However, I don't think that makes them discardable. Males are supposedly rare. I don't know where I read it but I definitely did. And since the males are key to the continuation of the species, it would make sense for them to be treated as a valuable commodity.
Even if they're not one in a million, you wouldn't want to lose your males unnecessarily. One could speculate that seeker society would have very detailed rules for how and when males could challenge and fight eachother, and strict punishments for anyone who broke the rules.
For instance, if a Nunh felt threatened by a young Tia and attacked him pre-emptively, that would probably go over as well as Frey family wedding.
I'm thinking the challenges are probably quite a ritualized affair.
