Harems of the Kosinbian Princes

 

    Each prince or princess of Kosinbia has a harem. Most people inside them belong to two groups:

• Individuals with useful skills to the power and administration of a principality. Pyrographers, hunters, tribal leaders, craftsmen, generals, adventurers, pyromancers, etc. The reliable and competent people that any ruler needs to keep his position and/or the safety and stability of his principality, are united through the bonds of matrimony. Many of said bonds are symbolic, having more in common with the oaths of fealty towards a suseran than a relationship based on love.

• People without anything or anyone. Orphans, cripples, exiled foreigners. The harem is a charity which receives certain people and offers them a home, food, perhaps some kind of education or training, in exchange for service to the prince or princess.
  

Amazons of Danxome

 

Do you see the officers decorated with cowry shells and ruby teardrops? They are from the principalities' harems. Most are women because there are currently more princes than princesses. No kosinbian would fight for someone which isn't willing to suffer personal sacrifices. With the harems here, they know that fighting the orcs is more important than going against rival tribes.

-Common instruction to the newcomers at the Sacrificial Bastions.

     The most famous harem's members are the Ahosi, nicknamed "amazons", of the Danxome principality. Being at the extreme north of Kosinbia, it shields the other principalities from the orc migrations. This results in many orphans and widows. The 12º danxomian prince started the tradition of sheltering these women in his harem, training them so they might seek revenge against the orcoids. Candidates become amazons' aprentices. When one of them kills a beast such as a crocodile, lion, hippopotamus, rhino or elephant, and presents the animal to the prince, she becomes part of the harem. At the wedding cerimony, the prince gifts his new wife with: sword, spear, repeater musket, cowry crown, ammunition and either armor, scepter, drum or shield made from the gifted animal. Many Ahosi are virgins and decided to never give birth, although the relation between an amazon and her aprentice(s) is similar to adopting a daughter. The sacred status of the Ahosi is confirmed when they receive blessings from Kahonua, such as: pyroclastic ammunition, hollow lava balls filled with an incandescent liquid which burst in impact; or brigandine and padded armor made from "Kahonua's hair", light and golden fibers of volcanic glass. Many amazons defend the Sacrificial Bastions, others spend months inside the Orcoid Belt and some travel to outside Kosinbia, exterminating orcs all over the continent.