She does indeed have a brother, and I need to flesh him and her both out.
Their people are a bit Mongolian, a bit Mercedes Lackey's Shin'a'in, a bit Fire Nation in the love of reds and a bit ancient Celt/Semitic in that they're big on herding and hunting, things that keep you on the move but with strong home-bases to return to. Shaan's palace is a tent that houses her family and their treasures, and it moves from season to season as they rove through their territories.
There's this tendency to have nomads as barbarians- that's not really what I'm going for. They have a very wealthy, sophisticated, and mobile kingdom.
Back to Shaan and her brother. Because she was born first and because all children of the king/khan are princes, she's been pushing herself as a warrior- but a certain level of badassery is considered the norm for any member of the moving people. Her brother is a bit more scholarly by inclination, possibly in training to a priest or a magic user (or both). In this situation where the girl twin is born first and must take the role of a man, it's normal for her brother to back her up when it comes time for children- unless she were to marry a boy who has taken the role of a woman, such as an actor or a shaman. They've got a firm man/woman role setup for marriages- but the actual sexes behind the roles can be negotiable. Someone wears the topknot and someone wears the earrings- someone orders the household from the inside and someone protects it from the outside.
Shaan and Rahnjen look similar, but Rahnjen smirks a little more slyly and has always got a book or a scroll or a brush to hand, and he's always got a note written in ink on his arm or his wrist. When he can get away with it, he joins his sister while she's observing the herd for danger and he studies in the sunshine. Sometimes there are small wars fought with fruit-pits.
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Their people are a bit Mongolian, a bit Mercedes Lackey's Shin'a'in, a bit Fire Nation in the love of reds and a bit ancient Celt/Semitic in that they're big on herding and hunting, things that keep you on the move but with strong home-bases to return to. Shaan's palace is a tent that houses her family and their treasures, and it moves from season to season as they rove through their territories.
There's this tendency to have nomads as barbarians- that's not really what I'm going for. They have a very wealthy, sophisticated, and mobile kingdom.
Back to Shaan and her brother. Because she was born first and because all children of the king/khan are princes, she's been pushing herself as a warrior- but a certain level of badassery is considered the norm for any member of the moving people. Her brother is a bit more scholarly by inclination, possibly in training to a priest or a magic user (or both). In this situation where the girl twin is born first and must take the role of a man, it's normal for her brother to back her up when it comes time for children- unless she were to marry a boy who has taken the role of a woman, such as an actor or a shaman. They've got a firm man/woman role setup for marriages- but the actual sexes behind the roles can be negotiable. Someone wears the topknot and someone wears the earrings- someone orders the household from the inside and someone protects it from the outside.
Shaan and Rahnjen look similar, but Rahnjen smirks a little more slyly and has always got a book or a scroll or a brush to hand, and he's always got a note written in ink on his arm or his wrist. When he can get away with it, he joins his sister while she's observing the herd for danger and he studies in the sunshine. Sometimes there are small wars fought with fruit-pits.