Female Warriors

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

She might have organised a revolt but it is unlikely that she participated personally in the fighting.

I came across a lot of this sort of thing when I was researching an Omniscient Eye article about woman warriors. The "name" women involved in wars almost always acted as political organizers, figureheads, or, at best, generals well behind the lines. Joan of Arc is another one; she accompanied armies, but there's no strong reason to believe she actually fought anyone. Countess Matilda of Tuscany (11th/12th century) is a possible exception, though I'm not positive about her.

Now, there were some women who actually fought, or at least popped up here and there in military trappings with the apparent intention to fight: a few around the Celtic fringe, women who showed up to troop musters in England, a few volunteers during the Crusades. Their names, though, were rarely recorded.

[Verjigorm]

Gaita, Robert Guiscard's wife seems to have maybe participated in battles. She certainly caused Victory in one battle...

[Tyneras]

Unless you're running the type of campaign where the Erotic Art skill gets a lot of use, I don't really see what difference the gender of a warrior makes. Just take any famous warrior, set gender to "female" and go from there. Socially, they will always be either the dominant or oppressed gender (or equal, for some settings, then it really doesn't matter) at whatever the social level such a warrior occupies. Add social advantages/disadvantages to taste.

As it is Infinite Worlds, you are free to play with whatever social system the local timeline has. No female warriors? OK. Only female warriors? OK. Only female knights, only male foot soldiers? OK. Total equality? OK.

I just don't see how real world female warriors are needed, unless you want to say that history is different because Joan of Arc became Queen of France and conquered all of Europe then colonized the Americas, which then disintegrated in a nuclear civil war, and that is why all tank drivers are female.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

She wasn't a queen as we might define it; she was the daughter of a minor chieftain. She might have organised a revolt but it is unlikely that she participated personally in the fighting.

She personally killed some Romans early on, but that was more of an execution than a fight. IIRC she wasn't the daughter of a chieftain but an actual clan chief, although I could be wrong.

[pyratejohn]

I'll add Mary Read of piratical fame. Prior to going "on the account", if the story is true, she served as a cavalry trooper during the War of the Spanish Succession.

[quarkstomper]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

She wasn't a queen as we might define it; she was the daughter of a minor chieftain. She might have organised a revolt but it is unlikely that she participated personally in the fighting.

Well, like the feller said: "When fact becomes legend, run your RPG based on the legend."

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Tyneras

I just don't see how real world female warriors are needed

Because IW is a big game of "spot the historical reference." It needs as many real world [fill in the blank]s to play with as possible.











(Yes, I know that's not necessarily literally true, but that's certainly the vibe I get from it.)

[knarf]

And remember, especially in eras and societies where female warriors are not prevalent, that just make the ones that do fight all the more exceptional.

[MKMcArtor]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

I came across a lot of this sort of thing when I was researching an Omniscient Eye article about woman warriors. The "name" women involved in wars almost always acted as political organizers, figureheads, or, at best, generals well behind the lines. Joan of Arc is another one; she accompanied armies, but there's no strong reason to believe she actually fought anyone. Countess Matilda of Tuscany (11th/12th century) is a possible exception, though I'm not positive about her.

Now, there were some women who actually fought, or at least popped up here and there in military trappings with the apparent intention to fight: a few around the Celtic fringe, women who showed up to troop musters in England, a few volunteers during the Crusades. Their names, though, were rarely recorded.

And, honestly, this is true of men as well. History books talk about the leaders of battles; they rarely record the names of the poor folk who had to do all the actual fighting. It's entirely possible that a lot more women have fought in battles in the long record of human conflict than we assume, but because nobody cared enough to talk about the people slogging it out in the mud we'll never know.

[Victor Maxus]

Mary Read and Anne Bonny. I love pirates in general, a favorite topic of mine, and those I would put forth for a time travel setting.