Firstborn son

The first born son is a very important position in a family in the Zeribian culture. The title is the most relevant to the Zeribian nobility and rich commoner families that have a lot of property and titles to be inherited, but the first born son's importance within the family is evident even for the poorest of Zeribians.

Qualifications

The title is gained by the first born or eldest living son of a family. The title can only be held by males. If a female or šyrzir (Zeribian 3rd gender) child is born first, their younger brother gets the title.
In normal circumstances, there is no way to archieve this title. The only fully legitimate way would be a younger brother to manage to murder their brother before they turn seven and gain the title (of which there unfortunately are examples). If the eldest son dies later, the title will in principle pass to the second-oldest son, but often they will never truely gain the same respect that the oldest son had.

Appointment

A kid is often treated like they have the title straight from birth, but he will only gain it officially once he has performed the Second naming ritual at the age of seven, and thus gained a full personhood. The reason for this is, that because the child mortality is so high, the risk for a child dying before this age is big. It is also important to know that the child has a male identity, since šyrzir people cannot hold the title.

Duties

The first born son is the sole inheritor of his fathers titles and possessions. In the case of the father's death he in practise becomes the owner of the rest of the family. He has to learn about all the responsibilities of the father e.g. taking care of all the family's wealth and business, caring for children, wifes and younger siblings wisely, and performing rites to gods and spirits to protect the family.

Benefits

He will be the sole inheritor of the family's property and the father's titles, although he is responsible for caring for his siblings by providing for them or arranging their marriages.
Before his father's death he shares the leadership of the family. He has rulership over all the other siblings, and they are required to show respect to him. He is also treated differently by the adult members of the family, and he has privileges, like often invited to join the drinking of sahfyl younger. On the other hand he is also punished more harshly for misbehaving.

Grounds for Removal/Dismissal

A child has to be dismissed form the title if he no longer identify as male. A father can also go through the legal process of disowning the son, if he commits serious crimes, or suffers from severe physical or mental illness, meaning he is not capable of handling the responsibility. After the death of the father the other family members can apply for the removal of his rulership, for the same reasons, of it he is mistreating them.
The removals are desided by the elders of the noble family the family belongs to, or the settlement leaders in the case of commoners.

Type

Familial

Form of Address

la 'elder brother' or name + la (by all family members)

In Ngad i zerib la 'big brother' is used by siblings to address all the older brothers, but unlike for ga 'older sister', urga 'younger sister' or uza 'younger brother', la is used even by the adult siblings to address their oldest brother, as well as by the other members of the family such as the parents and slaves.