Manuel chuckled. “I understand, Your Highness. But you have to understand that the women of the empire, not most of them anyway, are nothing like the women of Mavieland. Actually, even the women of Mavieland are not like the women of Mavieland anymore. I wasn’t kept as a slave by my mother-in-law, I was her honored son. Once I realized how things were…I just accepted it. Well, I wasn’t going anywhere anyway, now was I? I was on another world in another dimension and I was now married to, not one, but three of the hottest girls any man could want. Hah! Besides…life for a mutant on Earth was one of fear, hiding your gifts and being ashamed…a freak! I got used to not hiding and walking tall real quick!”
“You fought the Akkadians,” said Roc. “They were Earth mutants like you.”
Manuel nodded. “The Akkadians were trying to use outdated and dangerously irresponsible means to develop their nation because they were convenient. You’d think that after seeing what such practices had done to their old home they would avoid such damaging industrial methods at all cost on their new home. After all, better alternatives had been perfected and were in use here already.” Manuel snorted in disgust. “The effects of their industry were already being seen on the land and local wildlife. Our scientist also began to notice a slight but perceptible difference in the air quality of their region and how it was affecting ever so slightly everyone else’s. They were also trying to infect the Bellasarian people with their notions of decency, materialism and organized religion. I trust you have seen and heard many things in Akkadia already that you have never seen anywhere in the empire, Barratia…or even Mavieland.” King Roc nodded grimly. “How would you have liked their love of money, materialism, selfishness and what all this breeds being adopted into our peoples? Or perhaps the slums and crime had an appeal to you? Would you like their notions of morality, sin and guilt spreading like a plague everywhere until we were just as prudish, judgmental and hypocritical as them?”
“No,” said Roc.
“Mutants or not, they had to be corrected for the good of all! I, and many other Earthborn mutants, fought even harder than the Bellasarian mutants to do this.” Manuel scowled. “The Akkadians didn’t hesitate to try and use forbidden high level destructive weapons of war either! That was the first and LAST time we had to use our advanced weaponry on this world and actually target mutant cities and civilian populations. I’m not proud of fighting in that part of the war…if you can call that shit fighting at all! The fools had allowed themselves to believe that we could only fight with spears and swords. We showed them that we were quite equipped with weapons far superior to anything they had and we had people well-train to use them. We blasted the hell out of them and one by one destroyed their factories and processing plants. Finally, outnumbered and outclassed in military technology, there were some who at the end decided to forgo guns, aircraft and artillery and fight like men. Naturally, once they stopped using guns and other such killing tools, we did too. These people actually proved very skilled in man-to-man combat. It was then at this point in the war that I truly proved myself as a warrior and gained some fame against the Akkadians. Well, to make a long story short, the Akkadians put up such determined resistance that a truce was called before the death toll rose any higher. They agreed to cease their dirty industrial methods and policies in favor of the clean ones everyone else used. And we agreed to withdraw our warriors from their lands and allow them to keep their independence and way of life so long as they minded their own damned business and kept their values and missionaries in their own country.”
King Roc nodded and smiled. Elder Manuel was being too humble and had deliberately down-played his deeds during that part of the war by not going into details. The truth was that the Akkadian mutants that came against the Bellasarians towards the end of the war had fought so ferociously and savagely that many didn’t believe that they were descended from Earth mutants at all…and they were powerful by anyone’s standards. This man had taken on five of them singlehandedly in close physical combat and killed them all. And what he did later…Well, aside from Lord Cato and his progeny, there were only a handful of men here that were shown such respect as Elder Manuel. The Zani Clan had chosen well.
“I have heard that all the people on Earth are just like the Akkadians,” said Roc. “Money obsessed, selfish, prudish and hypocritical. I hear their women are all mercenaries. They take mates for material gain rather than real desire or love. Then they take the poor bastards for everything they own when they become dissatisfied…even their children. Worse, they still demand support financially afterwards rather than just take their spoils and leave. I have heard the Akkadian and Earthmen speaking of this. Even I must admit that the women here are nothing like that! Yet they dare to judge us?!”
Manuel had to shake his head and chuckle. It had been a very, VERY long time since he had been on Earth, but he did remember the issues there…and their root causes.
“Your Highness,” said Manuel, “people do marry for love and it is not always the woman who is the villain in these instances, and often such support is warranted. But there is much truth in what you say. The reasons for this mentality in women on Earth and their counterparts/descendants in Akkadia are very old and were ingrained in many Earth cultures many, many centuries ago, longer than even I have been alive. Aside from the fact that women look for good providers for themselves and their children, women were once little more than chattel historically in many societies on Earth.”
“I do not understand,” said Roc. “They seem to have everything in their favor today…at least that is the impression I get from the drunken human man from Earth there. Booze has loosened his tongue. When asked what women were like on his world he spilled all. And many of his fellow Earthmen agreed with him.”
Manuel laughed at this, but nonetheless explained. “That…is not entirely true, but…Well, let’s start at the beginning. Bloodlines were, and in most places still are, traced through the father’s line. Children carry the name of the father’s clan. So females once owned little or nothing as far as inheritance went. Aside from breeders and objects of pleasure, daughters were deemed at best inferior, at worst, valueless to some peoples because they married and left home to become part of someone else’s family. Even women valued a son more than a daughter. Boys stayed home, carried on the name and looked after their parents in old age. Daughters married, left home and often were never seen again. Even if they were around, their first loyalty was now to their husband’s family. Anything a daughter might inherit would belong to her husband’s family upon marriage, thus going out of her original clan. Only a fool would leave all of his land and money to his daughter when he had sons or even nephews of his name.”
Nearby, Luther Jefferies was listening to all of this with great interest. All of this was rather astute for a man who came to Bellasaria as a fifteen year old boy two thousand years ago. But then again, he certainly had a lot of time on his hands to reflect on and research his homeworld’s social issues. With a feeling of some irony Luther realized that this was almost the exact same topic concerning the sexes as the women’s gathering in Illyria a while back. The president and female aides had told him all about it. But this time the topic was being discussed from the man’s point of view. Manuel was surprisingly fair and knowledgeable. His words seemed to reinforce what the women had told President Chambers and the other V.I.P ladies that night.
“If a man put aside his wife for any reason,” continued Manuel, “or if he died, she would be left with nothing if she had no sons to look after her. Thus women learned to get whatever they could…just in case. As my father told me once, ‘They spend your money, but save their own’. Well, that’s why. Of course, there are many, many other ways women behave as far as men go. And they’re not always as explainable, understandable or excusable, but this is a large part of the root cause. Do such conditions still exist in most civilized nations? No. But the mentality is still there.”
“Even in my land, provisions and laws have been put in place to protect free Barratian women,” said Roc. “This was not the case on Earth?”
“Ironically, people have recognized certain unequal realities for women on Earth, and tried to protect women to some degree with laws even in the worst societies on Earth. Because of the few opportunities career-wise for women and especially a housewife, with or without children, steps were made to see that they were provided for should the man die or leave. This is called alimony and child-support. But the cunning and deceitful have learned to escape such responsibilities to their young while others have used these unscrupulously to their advantage as well…and I’m not just talking about dastardly men.”
“How do you mean?” asked Roc.
“Now don’t get the idea that all women on Earth are of this nature,” said Manuel, “but if a woman has less than a noble character she can totally get over on a man on Earth, at least in places like Europe and America. A woman can marry a rich man, stay married for one year, divorce him and then sue him for half of everything he spent a lifetime working for even when she was treated very well. Indeed, especially if she was treated well! She’ll claim that she has become accustomed to her lifestyle and cannot live any other way now. And she’ll win. If she actually has a baby by him, which for most women with ill-intent would be their first priority before divorce, she’ll really own his ass forever.
“Bah,” snorted Roc in disgust. “And the men tolerate this injustice?!”
Manuel shrugged, “They complain constantly, but it rarely does any good. It is not uncommon, even when men are not rich, for women who have conceived by one man, but one of low character, reliability or income, to trap, or at least try to, a more dependable man for financial gain or support. There was a talk show host who became famous for his televised paternity tests. And as often as not, it was the woman who was actually caught red-handed cheating and trying to trap one man, often her husband, with another man’s baby. Those bastards are lucky,” laughed Manuel. “They caught the deed early. Often the poor fool has raised the ill-got child to near or full adulthood before or even if the truth is discovered! Ironically, when this type of underhanded trickery on the woman’s part is uncovered, women are never called to account or forced to reimburse the manipulated man for their deceit in any way…at least not in most ‘First World’ nations.”
“Why,” said Roc in disbelief. “Surely this was a crime? The man has been foully manipulated and exploited for the sake of another man’s bastard!”
Manuel sighed, “It is not illegal in many lands to take advantage of a man in such a way. Sometimes, but not always, the man need not pay any longer for a bastard child once the deed is uncovered. But the woman is never forced to repay what she has taken through deceit. This is true regardless of the man’s wealth or status.”
“And if it was the man who mated with the rich woman and they broke their ties?” snapped Roc.
“Usually, women with wealth or high paying careers know their own natures well enough to protect themselves from such situations,” laughed Manuel. “They usually don’t even look at men who don’t have as much or more than them financially no matter how noble of character he is. Actually, they tend to go for the man who has more than them, even when his character sucks. I suppose this is just as well considering what’s in store for the fool.”
“But you said these women are already rich?” said a now VERY confused Roc.
“Obviously financial security is not really the motive here,” laughed Elder Manuel, “despite what they say. Status and greed are their motivations. After all, the woman doesn’t need support in these cases. She’s already successful or even rich. But just because she is already rich, doesn’t mean she won’t try to take her mate for everything he owns too when they separate. Hah!”
“Barbaric,” said Roc in disgust.
“Indeed, but to answer your question,” said the amused Manuel, “there have been instances when the reverse has happened and the woman was fleeced. And women have hypocritically cried injustice the loudest when it has. Hah! Go figure.”
It was all Luther could do to keep from laughing out loud at this summery of the Earth female’s mentality and the plight of the Earth man. It wasn’t that Luther didn’t agree with what the old elder was saying 100%; rather it was because this had quickly turned into a very biased male perspective of the culture. Obviously the women would have had a great deal to say in challenging these statements if they were here…most of them. But they weren’t here, so the Barratian king got only the male side. Seeing that he was a Barratian though, he most likely would not have believed the women’s side anyway.
“Elder,” said Roc, his head hurting and now sorry he had asked about his greedy cousins from the homeworld to begin with, “I am forced to conclude that the Earthmen are weak dogs and all of their problems stem from their people’s love of money and selfishness. And as for their women…Well, even the worst of our women are far superior to those opportunistic grabbers!”
“Really?” chuckled Manuel. “First of all, Bellasarians are not a people who worship money and possessions. Not the way Earth people do. People who can’t pay don’t starve or go homeless here. In that you are quite correct. We ARE superior. But as far as our women being superior in character than women from Earth go, Bellasarian women own everything anyway. They don’t try to rape the man for everything he has because they own it all already!” Manuel threw back his head and laughed as King Roc looked at him. “Look, Son,” said the elder forgetting Roc’s title in his amusement, “bloodlines are traced through the female line in most Bellasarian societies. Children belong to their mother’s clan. Because of this, women are greatly valued. Men here honor women almost to the point of reverence and women rule and are the ones who own land and pass on hereditary titles…unless there is no female heir, of course. If there is strife in the home or the union utterly fails, the man goes to the men’s dormitories or back to his mother’s clan, taking only his personal possessions. The woman keeps house, land and everything else of real import because they were hers to begin with. Children carry her clan’s name. They stay with her unless she is unworthy. It is also unlawful for someone to sue anyone for something they didn’t earn, contribute to making or what the other person already had before they became mates for any reason here…be they male or female. Because of this, aside from royalty, our women take lovers and mates with no regards for status or what they may or may not have materially, but rather, solely on character or physical attraction. Besides…with us mutants the bonding knows no social or financial status. Whatever the man has or doesn’t have, the woman’s feelings are real when she finds her mate and bonds. Her body will not allow any other considerations into the picture. She wants him…only. Historically, our women have never had any reasons to complain anyway, at least not after the humans were overthrown. Women rule almost everywhere…or at least they did. That is why everyone was so pissed at that Mavie bitch. Women had ruled so well and kept their men so happy on this planet that the men didn’t even care if the women were in charge until that bitch came along and fucked everything up! Believe it or not, many women were just as outraged at what was unjustly done to your ancestor and the men of your land as the men here. Queens were eager to go into Mavieland and put both retired Queen Mavie’s and Queen Maya The-Child-Killer’s heads on stakes. The Empress Shoko II was especially eager to do this. But unfortunately, your warriors taking revenge by raping and enslaving the Mavie women forced many potential allies to back away from you or reluctantly aid the Mavie.”
“They had it coming!” snarled Roc. “We only did to them what THEY did to us first! Better to hold the leash than wear the collar!”
“I know what they did to Barrat and the men of your region back then, but you’ve become the same sort of society that made the women on Earth what they are today. Furthermore, our women are scared to death of you and are afraid th
at your mentality will infect their men…and not without cause. For the most part, our people are happy with our system. But your war with the Mavie and your policies towards your women are starting to affect us.”
Roc had no reply to this. He had been in the empire as a young prince and seen what life could be like between the sexes. He had seen none of the behavior among these women that the Mavie were known…or had been known for and had even enjoyed himself there. It was a little difficult to re-enter Barratian society after that. In fact, once he became king, he had wanted to make some changes in his own country for a very long time now, starting with his eldest son, but his council and the hardline conservatives would never allow it.
“Are you saying we were wrong to fight, elder?” said Roc.
“I do not fault you or your forefathers for fighting back the way you did. My sons did fight for you, remember?” said Manuel. “Indeed, many men defied their clan mothers and queens and lent their swords to your cause. Our few kings secretly aided you and on occasions, like when your mother was foully and treacherously murdered at that peace celebration, raised their banners and marched in open war on the Mavie. The empress was hard pressed to pacify them without total civil war breaking out. But that time is done and the Mavie have repented. It’s time to move forward. This conflict between you and the Mavie has been steadily causing discontent among folks in the empire who have every reason to be content! Now the damned Earth humans have entered the picture. That is why the old ones like me and Lord Cato have come out of the hidden land in force. We can’t ignore your behavior anymore, not with these assholes in the picture again.”
“I understand the danger, elder,” said Roc quietly. “I have agreed to lay down my sword against the Mavie and bless the union of my youngest son and Queen Bal. Although I must admit, if it were not for Lord Cato and princess Bellasaris being part of the bargain as his junior wife, I might not have been so…willing. There is also another Illyrian Princess in Barrat right now as a guest of my son, Tidor.”
The Mutant World Page 38