Aliit be'ade
The aliit be'ade, or wards, are a social group in Khaghate society comprised of abandoned and orphaned children. Literally meaning "children of the clan" in Khaghat'oa, aliit be'ade are an important part of the Khaghate's clan based social structure and integral to their understanding of familial bonds and fictive kinship. Their treatment and care are prescribed in the Ogadinui , the foundational legal and philosophical text of the Khaghate people. This suggests that the group has existed within proto-Khaghate societies since the First Intermediate Period or Early Mithril Era.
Structure
In a warrior society such as the Khaghate, many children find themselves orphaned at a young age. Surplus livestock and booty taken in raids goes towards the wards and the protection of the wards is as important to a clan as the protection of any one family. The tradition of raising wards dates back to the earliest records of the Ogadinui, suggesting that it is a critical part of Khaghate culture.
Interestingly, wards do not always have to be born into the clan in order to be accepted. If a clan conquers another clan, any adult Khaghate that survive are taken as thralls or slaves. However, any children that survive are taken in by the victorious clan and incorporated into their pool of wards. It is considered taboo to treat captured wards as any less than those born into the clan. In fact, many children taken in war along with their parents end up rejecting their parents, seeing their status as thralls to be indicative of their failure to protect them as children.
Groups of Khaghate that operate as mercenaries often end up incorporating refugees or POW children as wards, leading to further intermingling of Khaghate with other ethnic groups and cultures.
Though wards are typically raised collectively, some children are adopted and raised as true-blood offspring by members of the clan. Before a child is incorporated to the alit be’ade, an alor may offer the child to any married same-sex couples in the clan. Later, after they have spent several years as wards of the clan, some wards are adopted by their trainers or by parents whom have lost their child to illness or misfortune or who see great potential in them as a warrior and heir to their family name.
Even adults are sometimes formally adopted, often if they are inducted into the clan from other species or ethnic groups. This allows the new clansfolk to learn the Khaghate way of life from someone who can be considered a trusted family member. Alore will often adopt adult members of their aranate whom have lost their parents and have shown great bravery for the clan or for the alor’s inner circle.
Type
Social, Group
Alternative Names
Children of the Clan
Demonym
Ade
Location
Related Ethnicities
Comments