Seems wasteful. They could at least turn them into driders or feed them to the spiders. Hopefully they torture them to death for the glory of Lloth at least
Isn't a wizard supposed to be the 7th son of a 7th son?
Of course you could still slaughter sons 3-6 at birth.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_son_of_a_seventh_son
I was making a Terry Pratchett Discworld reference, but Terry was making a reference to the belief here on Roundworld.
On the Disc it's the 8th son of an 8th son ("8" being the more magical number, along with the eighth color only wizards can see, octarine). The 8th son of an 8th son of an 8th son is a sourcerer, but they're rare (on purpose).
Reminder of the fetal cannibalism orgasms drow lore from Dragon Magazine.
https://www.realmshelps.net/charbuild/races/elf/drow1.shtml
Scroll down to "Bloodied From the Birth-Sac"
Um, fratricide is a real world practice.
In fact, the Kafes of the Ottoman Empire were an effort to stop the ritual of a successor king having all his brothers executed. Instead, extra heirs would be locked up in a nice dwelling full of harem women. They went mad.
And now they are a tourist attraction and a footnote of history.
It really is.
I guess if I had to pick I'd definitely choose the lifetime of prison, but with the harem, or whatever. It would still get old pretty quick, I imagine. I understand the eventual insanity, for sure.
I definitely feel worse for the women in that situation, but maybe they were allowed to rotate out and leave, at the very least.
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Probably not. Islam and christianity have the habit of enabling subjugation of women. Wives aren't allowed to reject their husbands advances for example. It was really just about power and control, as usual.
Oh it's worse than that. According to a History Channel special on the Kafes (take that for what you will) the prisoners behaved as folks generally do, and developing relationships with their lovers, but getting pregnant was a capital offense (since niblings were additional political baggage), and they often would get pregnant. This contributed to the mental health deterioration of the imprisoned men.
What are you replying to? I don't give a shit about fratricide. A woman orgasming because the fetuses inside her are murdering each other is the part I have a big problem with.
Oh, the original notion in the post of the practice of killing offspring past the heir and the spare. Your response was ambiguous about to what specifically it was reacting.
The Useless Tree.
There was an old and crooked oak tree by the village shrine, every branch twisted and gnarled. The tree was large enough to shade several thousand oxen and was a hundred spans around. It towered above the hilltops with its lowest branches eighty feet from the ground. More than ten of its branches were big enough to be made into boats. There were crowds of people around it, a marketplace.
Passing the old tree, Hui Tzu, a carpenter's apprentice said to Shih, the master carpenter, who without even turning his head, walked on without stopping:
“What a useless tree that is. Its trunk and branches were so crooked, so distorted and full of knots. The wood is so beautiful, but it cannot be cut up, no straight plank can be made from it. The tree serves no purpose at all.
*There it stands beside the road. No carpenter will even look at it. Even you don't look at it master.” *
Shih the master carpenter replied:
*“The tree on the mountain height is its own enemy… The cinnamon tree is edible: so it is cut down! The lacquer tree is profitable: they maim it. Cherry, apple, pear, orange, lemon, pomelo, and other fruit trees. As soon as the fruit is ripe, the trees are stripped and abused. *
Their large branches are split, and the smaller ones torn off. Their life is bitter because of their usefulness. That is why they do not live out their natural lives but are cut off in their prime. They attract the attentions of the common world. This is so for all things.
That tree is useless. A boat made from it would sink, a coffin would soon rot, a tool would split, a door would ooze sap, and a beam would have termites. It's worthless timber and is of no use. That is why it has reached such a ripe old age.
Every man knows how useful it is to be useful. No one seems to know how useful it is to be useless.
This tree has been trying for a long time to be useless. It was almost destroyed several times. Finally it useless, and this is very useful.
So for this big tree, no use? It is planted in the wasteland, in emptiness. People walk idly around it, rest under its shadow. No axe or bill prepares its end. No one will ever cut it down.
Useless? You should worry!”