Warrior Cultures in Speculative and Fanatasy Literature I

I've always been fascinated by warrior cultures in books, ever since I was very young. Whilst i don't subscribed to any formalized honor system myself, the idea is interesting, even entrancing, to a nostalgic romantic such as myself. So I'm going to be posting short little blurbs on my favorites as time goes by, purely for my own enjoyment. I've decided to cover something fresh in my mind, since the author is recently deceased after haivng nearly completed the series.

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Aiel - The battle-hardened, incomprehensibly honorable denizens of the Aiel Waste in the Late Robert Jordans Wheel of Time series.

Their culture is the deformed, unrecognizable descendant of the the followers of the Way of the Leaf, a society which preached, and practiced, absolute non-violence. A vestige of this is the cultural impetus regarding swords, that they are the weapons of cowards and cannot be touched.

Their honor system is based on the persons balance of toh, which is honor-debt. Doing something shameful is the eyes of Aiel earns oneself toh. Methods of redress are based on the amount of toh incurred, and usually are paid off via physical testing of the offender. This has bred a hardened people, as the weak do not long survive the harsh climate of the desert like Waste.

Toh can be great enough to make physical redress an impossibility. In cases where this is true, the Aiel in question is made gai'shain, they becomes the property of the person to whom they owe toh for "a year and a day". In this tine, they willingly become meek. It is forbidden to touch a weapon, even in owns defense. To do so incurs toh great enough that exile may be the clans only recourse.

All Aiel belong to a sect of the stratified society, regardless of their clan affiliation. Most belong to one of the multiple warrior societies. However, any woman warrior must be a part of the Maidens of the Spear, an odd contrast in regard to the rest of the cultures gender-equality. Other members belong to the clan chiefs, the Wise woman, the Blacksmiths, or herders. Interestingly, warriors sharing a warrior society will not fight one another, even if their clans are at war.

The weapon of choice among the Aiel is the spear. They use a modified, shorted spear, more suited to close combat slash-and-stab techniques. Often, one is wielded in either hand. They have no aversion to full-scale combat, but they are also trained from a very early age in hand-to-hand combat and stealth. Very few people, and no specific culture, can match an Aiel in stealth, and fewer can track them.

The philosophical outlook of the Aiel reflects several other similarly isolated people whose cultures are derived from before the Breaking. THey view life as a dream, and beleive that death simply allows them to awake. THus, there is little fear of death among the Aiel, and what little there is is internalised and never shown, as to do so would incur toh.