The Aiel fifth... Practical?

[Wulf]

So, I'm halfway through tSR on my re-read.  The Aiel have claimed a fifth of the loot from Tear, and it's mentioned that in the Waste they take a fifth when taking an enemy hold.

 

From other Aiel.

 

Which made me wonder...  How often would a hold get taken?  The Aiel defending their hold wouldn't stop until every last one of them was dead, so why bother leaving 80% of the loot for the corpses?

[Forshookt]

Well, not all of the defenders would die, since there are people in Aiel society who are exempt from combat, such as children. Not to mention, most Aiel prefer to take gaishain rather than kill outright, so those people have got to go back to the hold after a year and a day. So no, the four fifths left behind in an Aiel attack would be used by those exempt from combat and gaishain to rebuild, and eventually by any gaishain who are released after their time in service.

 

Which would actually make sense, because if Aiel went around killing everybody, they would never propagate enough to be hundreds of thousands strong.

[solarz]

23 hours ago, Wulf said:

So, I'm halfway through tSR on my re-read.  The Aiel have claimed a fifth of the loot from Tear, and it's mentioned that in the Waste they take a fifth when taking an enemy hold.

 

From other Aiel.

 

Which made me wonder...  How often would a hold get taken?  The Aiel defending their hold wouldn't stop until every last one of them was dead, so why bother leaving 80% of the loot for the corpses?

 

No, if the battle was lost, Aiel would flee. Only the Stone Dogs would never retreat (which makes me wonder how they manage to keep existing as a society).

 

The "fifth" rule is to ensure that the defeated Aiel can return to their hold and rebuild.

[Sabio]

It's not that Stone Dogs wouldn't retreat, as the companion says they were often used as the rear guard for a retreat.  So it was more of a they would be the last to go type thing.

 

Each clan had many holds, some small and some large.  So small hold might be a small village thus easier to take.  As Forshookt said also not everyone would fight, wiseones, blacksmiths, women who weren't maidens, any gaishain currently at the hold, etc.  So there are going to be people left behind to rebuild.

 

The Aiel weren't out to wipe you out, which is why they had things that couldn't be part of the fifth.  I think food was one of the things they couldn't take.  So it was set up so the people could rebuild there.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2018 by Sabio

[JamesBrown]

How was "the fifth" calculated? Wouldn't it require a careful tally of the entire amount of wealth, to be then divided into five parts? Who was in charge of the accounting? Were they trustworthy?

 

And was the fifth then divided equally among the conquerors? So I walk away from a battle with a diamond necklace as my share of the Fifth. Is that equivalent to your gold bar or to your silver cup? What if I want a sprawling mansion for my share?

[BFG]

3 hours ago, Sabio said:

It's not that Stone Dogs wouldn't retreat, as the companion says they were often used as the rear guard for a retreat.  So it was more of a they would be the last to go type thing.

 

Also each clan had many holds, some small and some large.  So small hold might be a small village thus easier to take.  As Forshookt said also not everyone would fight, wiseones, blacksmiths, women who weren't maidens, any gaishain currently at the hold, etc.  So there are going to be people left behind to rebuild.

 

Also the Aiel weren't out to wipe you out, which is why they had things that couldn't be part of the fifth.  I think food was one of the things they couldn't take.  So it was set up so the people could rebuild there.

 

 

Just pregnant women or women with children under the age of 10 (to complete the list of people who can't be captured) 

 

Eg married women aren't allowed to be maidens but can still be captured

Edited March 15, 2018 by BFG