THE PATRIARCH
Courtesy CD Mjollnir

The ss'tiss of Tahnn are essentially a tribal race. Usually-nomadic groups roam the desert from oasis to oasis, rarely concerning themselves with other tribes or with the outside world. But they are not an ignorant race...they just usually don't care what others are doing when they're so concerned with their own survival. I've been in that desert...survival is very important!

But a long time ago, right after they were first introduced into the world, the ss'tiss understood that there were some situations when they would need to be led as a whole, instead of going their seperate race. Their sages ruminated and prayed, and a revelation came to them.

Thus was the title of Matriarch of the Clans born.

It was an honourary title, and there was no one to fill it yet. No one would be the Matriarch until there was need...but when the need was there, anyone who was chosen as Matriarch would never age, to ensure that the Matriarch would live long enough to fulfill her duties.

The ss'tiss telling me then said the first time a Matriarch was ever so entitled was during the Scourge. During the Race Wars, there was no need...few races thrived in the desert at the ss'tiss did, and so they had the area to themselves. But when the Dark Enemy stretched out his hand, the tribes gathered together and named her.

When the Dark Enemy killed her, the crisis was still not over...but there was no female to take the position. It was when a scarred male stepped forward that the primarily matrilineal ss'tiss realized that a male might become the leader of the clans.

Rlis, the female I was speaking to, seemed at the same time fascinated and shocked that this was possible. Women definitely ruled in Tahnn, and the fact that a male might lead the ss'tiss...before, the ss'tiss had laughed at the patriarchal races for their foolishness, but now, they couldn't, and they didn't know quite how to deal with it.

The male was made Patriarch by default, but to everyone's surprise, he managed to survive the Scourge. Still, his race found it very hard to deal with him, and soon after, he disappeared.

The Patriarch is still alive somewhere...and having been alive since the Scourge, possesses great knowledge. I, myself, would dearly love to talk to him...but it wasn't until I had left the ss'tiss camp I was travelling with that I realized the female I had been speaking to had a very peculiar scar on her belly. Very much like the description of the Patriarch...

Not, that wasn't possible. I must have had heatstroke.

--By the hand of El'ian Bjor'dian, Bard