The Empeor and his mother,The Matriach
As Sasacramax said,the Eshal mind is very different from ours.Every Eshal is spawned with a specific purpose in life,all the way from the Emperor himself to a lowly peasant tending his flock of fish. The situation being such,the empire of these eel men has never been put in peril by power struggles.
Deep beneath the vaults of the massive,submerged palace of the Emperor,lies the bloated thing known as the Matriach.Measuring 500 feet from massive snout to garangutan tail,she lies in an almost comatose state,slumbering in the massive cavern that she never leaves.It would not be an exaggeration to call her the life-giver of the Eshal.Without her,their glory would not exist.She is old beyond the reckoning of time,having outlived generations of her people and is seen as a gift from the gods to the Eshal.
When the current emperor dies,a great sacrifce is held.Hundreds of bound slaves are led by priests,into the cavern of the Matriach.There they are bled by the priests.It is then,that the Matriach awakens,pulled out of her slumber by the rich,tantalizing scent
of spilled blood.
With her gaping maw,she devours the the sacrifical victims.During this,the priests work themseves into a religous estacy,in which some even fling themselves into the jaws of the Matriach.When she has finally sated her appetite,she lays a clutch of eggs,after which she returns to her slumber.The eggs are then collected by the priests and watched carefully.The first hatchling to emerge is declared the Emperor and the rest are selected to become the priests that conduct the sacred sacrifces and help their lord govern his vast relam. It only takes a week for the hatchling to mature and take over thier duties.
So it is with every Eshal,whose place and duty in society is determined by s the caste his or her mother hails from.This is due to the fact that the traits unique to each caste,are inherited almost soley from the mother.Females from different caste groups,spawn certain kinds of Eshal,explaining the physical differences that exist among them.Eg: Warrior Eshal are physically stronger than the peasants and have stronger jaws.Every Eshal is compelled by his genes to carry out his job to the best of his ability,for the well being of the Empire.Hence,blind obediance is the force that powers the empire of the Eshal,much the same way as it would an ant or termite colony.Unlike mindless ants however,the Eshal genuinely take pleasure in what they do,feeling that by carrying out the will of the Empeor,they keep the empire strong.They also enjoy pleasures of the senses and flesh,especially male Eshal who love having multiple mates,regardless of the caste they come from.
Now to give you a better picture of Eshal society.It is made up of 3 castes or social orders,with the Emperor at the top,the warriors in the middle and the peasants at the bottom.The primary job of the Emperor and the priests is to honour the water sprites with rituals and sacrifces,spread the glory of Eshal and rule the empire effectively.The warriors spread the glory of the Emperor by invading new lands and guard peasant colonies and settlements from the more savage folk of Tarrod,such as the Anura and the Lurdi..They are rewarded handsomely by the Emperor for their services with land and merfolk slaves.Senior war leaders even live in large,spacious,lavishly decorated mounds that have a special system for the disposal of waste and refuse.
This is in stark contrast to the lives led by the humble peasant caste,who are only allowed to keep the bare minimum of their produce that supports them and their mates and children.In most cases,3 families share one den,a small,cramped squalid mound,nothing at all like the dwelling of the warriors. The more fortunate ones are craftsmen and scribes that are not taxed asIt is important to note however,that a peasant cannot be harmed or abused in any way by a priest or warrior.All Eshal are considered''The Brave People'',thus making them all brothers and sisters.Any priest or warrior that forgets this and kills a peasant in a fit of rage,will be sacrificed.Moreover,in lean times the peasants will not go hungry,as produce from the private holdings of the High Priest will be used to feed them.
Non- Eshal however,with humans and the mysterious Cauda as the only exceptions,are regarded as no more than animals and thus have no rights at all.This is especially true of enslaved mer folk that work in the sea weed plantations of the Emperor. As for the status of females,they have a suprising amount of respect for what seems to be a male dominated society.Females are revered for the role they play in creating new life.For without the Matriach would there be any Emperors to rule the Eshal?,goes a popular saying. It does not bother them that their mates consort with other females.They realize and accept that every male has to father as many children as possible,to keep the land strong and mighty.If their population was to drop,the savage people would devour their empire and people.
Coming soon:More stuff on the Curd(Croc men) and Lurdi(Piranah folk).Decline of the Merfolk may take some time,Im afraid.