Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2015-04-23 10:35 pm
azurelunatic) wrote2015-04-23 10:35 pm
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Barrayaran Rituals: severance of armsbearer status in absence of the responsible Vor
For reasons which don't need exploring at this juncture, I got to thinking about Barrayaran rites. There 's the one where the Armsbearer* takes oath to the Vor, and (like any reasonable binding rite) the Vor promises to do right by the Armsbearer. There's the one where the Armsbearer petitions the Vor for release and the Vor releases the Armsbearer.
* Eventually, Barrayar will deal with a Herm, a Ba, or some other non-binary individual taking up arms.
Armsbearers are only human, and in the course of everything that's gone down since the Time of Isolation, there have to have been enough who have scarpered or otherwise betrayed their oaths in a non-immediately-fatal way that they've had to be replaced. Barrayar being Barrayar, everything will need to be done properly, so I imagine there's some sort of ceremony for formally dismissing the absent Armsbearer from their duties, so the Count never exceeds his twenty at any given time. (And, Barrayar being Barrayar, there have got to be various machimi plays in which an Armsman appears to have betrayed his oath and then either comes back just in time before being formally cast off, or tragically comes back just too late and everyone suffers the consequences/regrets.)
Likewise, Vor are only human. At some point in the great tapestry of Barrayaran history, some Vor has to have betrayed one or more of their Armsbearers badly enough to violate the standards of the most lackadaisical of Emperors. I'm talking full-on "march into this mutagen for no good reason" bone-deep abusive horror terrible. In the Barrayaran military, it would be well past illegal orders. And in the face of that, what's an Armsbearer to do?
Some Armsbearers might well realize the limits of what a mortal ought to put up with, and call it quits. Some Armsbearers might take their oath deep enough to stand through even that, to the point where the Emperor might intervene and discharge them of their oath. Sometimes a Vor might betray an Armsbearer and then flee. In the absence of the responsible Vor, the heir would most likely hold the responsibility, or the nearest reasonable authority. The Armsbearer might have the choice of taking oath to the heir or choosing freedom.
What form would all these ceremonies take? Barrayaran oaths are very hand-centric, the hands of the vassal between the hands of the lord. One does wonder how people with limb differences manage on Barrayar -- does a hand lost in battle affect the ability to take or give oath? How about arthritis?
I could see an emperor having some terrible excuse for a Vor frog-marched in front of him, required to kneel. Perhaps the Emperor would hold the Vor's hands between his, looming over his subject and physically compelling obedience. If touching the erring subject was beneath the Emperor's dignity, perhaps two of the Emperor's armsmen take a hand each and place the Vor's hands around his Armsbearer's hands. The Vor would be made to recite the words of release, perhaps at the point of a sword or nerve disruptor. I think Gregor might take a grim pleasure in watching the Armsbearer's hands fly free, requiring the Vor to perform the last duties of a Vor before stripping him of his title.
Without another Vor, without the Emperor, left abandoned -- what might an Armsbearer do, to lay down arms in defiance of a deserted Count?
* Eventually, Barrayar will deal with a Herm, a Ba, or some other non-binary individual taking up arms.
Armsbearers are only human, and in the course of everything that's gone down since the Time of Isolation, there have to have been enough who have scarpered or otherwise betrayed their oaths in a non-immediately-fatal way that they've had to be replaced. Barrayar being Barrayar, everything will need to be done properly, so I imagine there's some sort of ceremony for formally dismissing the absent Armsbearer from their duties, so the Count never exceeds his twenty at any given time. (And, Barrayar being Barrayar, there have got to be various machimi plays in which an Armsman appears to have betrayed his oath and then either comes back just in time before being formally cast off, or tragically comes back just too late and everyone suffers the consequences/regrets.)
Likewise, Vor are only human. At some point in the great tapestry of Barrayaran history, some Vor has to have betrayed one or more of their Armsbearers badly enough to violate the standards of the most lackadaisical of Emperors. I'm talking full-on "march into this mutagen for no good reason" bone-deep abusive horror terrible. In the Barrayaran military, it would be well past illegal orders. And in the face of that, what's an Armsbearer to do?
Some Armsbearers might well realize the limits of what a mortal ought to put up with, and call it quits. Some Armsbearers might take their oath deep enough to stand through even that, to the point where the Emperor might intervene and discharge them of their oath. Sometimes a Vor might betray an Armsbearer and then flee. In the absence of the responsible Vor, the heir would most likely hold the responsibility, or the nearest reasonable authority. The Armsbearer might have the choice of taking oath to the heir or choosing freedom.
What form would all these ceremonies take? Barrayaran oaths are very hand-centric, the hands of the vassal between the hands of the lord. One does wonder how people with limb differences manage on Barrayar -- does a hand lost in battle affect the ability to take or give oath? How about arthritis?
I could see an emperor having some terrible excuse for a Vor frog-marched in front of him, required to kneel. Perhaps the Emperor would hold the Vor's hands between his, looming over his subject and physically compelling obedience. If touching the erring subject was beneath the Emperor's dignity, perhaps two of the Emperor's armsmen take a hand each and place the Vor's hands around his Armsbearer's hands. The Vor would be made to recite the words of release, perhaps at the point of a sword or nerve disruptor. I think Gregor might take a grim pleasure in watching the Armsbearer's hands fly free, requiring the Vor to perform the last duties of a Vor before stripping him of his title.
Without another Vor, without the Emperor, left abandoned -- what might an Armsbearer do, to lay down arms in defiance of a deserted Count?