Magical Matriarchies [Fantasy]

[AlexanderHowl]

So, imagine that you have a fantasy world where 80% of the people born with Magery are female and 20% are male. In this world, magic functions similar to RPM and an average of 1% of the population has Magery (1.6% of the female population and 0.4% of the male population). Magery starts at 0, but practitioners can improve it, and develop Ritual Adept, through studying Thaumotology and developing the elemental Paths (Air, Dark, Earth, Fire, Metal, Light, Spirit, Void, Water, and Wood).

The elemental Paths include conceptual as well as material aspects and produce mental effects as well as physical effects. The possible effects are Control, Create, Destroy, Restore, Sense, Strengthen, and Transform. Mental effects are lesser effects while physical effects are greater effects.

What would be the impact of sexual disparities in magical populations? What would you do with such a setting? What would you add to the settings?

[Varyon]

Hmmm... this would set magic being fairly common compared to most settings with it, but I think I'd need a better idea of what mental effects the elements would have before I could go further (physical effects being Greater means they'll likely be far less influential... except for maybe Wood, as I assume that can be used to enhance crop growth).

[Shostak]

Just because there are more females with magical abilities than males does not necessarily lead to a matriarchal society. After all, men's scarcity could just as well make them more highly esteemed and powerful than seen as subordinate to women. Now, if Greater Effects or certain paths or effects were exclusive to females then perhaps there is more certainty of matriarchy within the mage community. Either way, though, the conclusion to have the population disparity lead to matriarchy would follow from your vision for the world more than anything else.

[AlexanderHowl]

While the general society may not be matriarchal, magical society probably will be because of the 4:1 ratio of women to men, thus the name magical matriarchies, magical societies dominated by women.

[The Colonel]

IIRC there's a series of fantasy novels where the magic users are all female which may help you. Not sure what it's called but I recall someone telling me about it at length … apparently the fluff behind it is that whilst men can actually use magic, some historical BBEG poisoned the well so that they go mad if they do.

[AlexanderHowl]

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, which possesses a system more like Sorcery than RPM. The Aes Sidai are the mages of the setting and are rare rather than uncommon.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

IIRC there's a series of fantasy novels where the magic users are all female which may help you. Not sure what it's called but I recall someone telling me about it at length … apparently the fluff behind it is that whilst men can actually use magic, some historical BBEG poisoned the well so that they go mad if they do.

That would be Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time". "At Length" is the correct description for the series. Its 14 books long. Or 4 million words, or 11,000 pages, depending on how you like to count such things. It elevates the position of women generally, but not by much. It does make the magical society very female-dominated though.

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It has been my observation that society is ruled by those skilled in leadership and politics, regardless of what actually makes the society powerful. Engineers don't rule the modern world. Soldiers don't rule it either. Even warrior kings and military dictators rule through military leadership, not through personal prowess. I don't think that adding magic to a world will make it so that mages will rule.

On the other hand, your setup will improve the status and lot of at least some women compared to history. Economic and military power tends to result in the wealth and influence of those who generate it. Life will be a little more egalitarian. How deep this effect extends is probably culturally and world-specific. Will that 1 in 60 women leverage her abilities to aid other women, or is her immediate family and career more important? Just how well does power trickle down in that situation?

[Michele]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

What would be the impact of sexual disparities in magical populations? What would you do with such a setting? What would you add to the settings?

I think you might do whatever you want. You wouldn't be forced to have a female magocracy. After all, in the Middle Ages the archetypal magic user was the witch - a female. That was a subversive, antagonist "power", but the real power was traditionally in the hand of noblemen. So, if magic is real and mostly used by women, you might very well have a set up not very much unlike the Middle Ages, save that the witches have real power. And the inquisitors, witch hunters, witch-killing paladins etc. are totally dedicated to eradicate them, in order to save the established traditional order. Some of the witches might opt for a (very) low profile, others might want payback. Some might even go for covert subversion tactics, by secretly helping non-witch women.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Michele

I think you might do whatever you want. You wouldn't be forced to have a female magocracy. After all, in the Middle Ages the archetypal magic user was the witch - a female. That was a subversive, antagonist "power", but the real power was traditionally in the hand of noblemen. So, if magic is real and mostly used by women, you might very well have a set up not very much unlike the Middle Ages, save that the witches have real power. And the inquisitors, witch hunters, witch-killing paladins etc. are totally dedicated to eradicate them, in order to save the established traditional order. Some of the witches might opt for a (very) low profile, others might want payback. Some might even go for covert subversion tactics, by secretly helping non-witch women.

You might even hold that the women of the nobility practice arts as their husbands practice arms and that a key part of being a successful noble is keeping a powerful magical trait in your distaff line. This would work particularly well for a ritual magic setting where D&D style combat magic is rare to non-existent and most magic is intelligence style work (information handling and covert killings) or strategic in nature (like meddling with the weather) - this then allows for a relatively non-divergent setting.
As for witches … well, even assuming that they are not the traditional "person who has made a bad deal with an infernal power" … why would a commoner woman practising magic in such a regime be any more appropriate than a commoner man bearing arms?

[AlexanderHowl]

It could be a way for common women to marry into the nobility. Perhaps nuns provide training to, and select members from, magically gifted women, giving the Church substantial magical assets. Commoners could go to an abbey to receive training, magical and social, leave to marry a nobleman or wealthy commoner, and return to take vows after their husbands die (as could a noblewoman).

The question them becomes of magically gifted men. Would the priesthood or mones be the inevitable destination of such men? If so, that would give even more magical power to the Church. With priests, monks, and nuns being mages, and any female mages outside the Church being Church-trained, they would probably have more power than any secular authority.