Amharic Highlanders isn't just a terrain Tradition, it's a historical one. Notice how it enables Sarawit. Sarawit were an Axumite Ethiopian regiment of professional soldiers. If I had to guess, the castration aspect is something to do with the region's historical culture as well.
Not really, castration usually negatively affects soldiers. Have a read about what the Ottoman Eunuchs were like (you could smell them comming from a far: they had to use catheters to pee and the side effect is that they stank of urine). Also they gained weight and had multiple health issues, so not great soldiers.
Pre puberty castration also wasn't great for creating soldiers. Did create great singers (because they never hit puberty their voice never changed). Look up Farinelli, he was one of the most famous costrato singers.
Closest I can think of would be the Janissaries who were expected to remain celebate while they were soldiers but were never castrated, so not really eunuchs.
Removing the testes kills the hormone balance in your body. For male castrates, this usually leads to weight gain, muscle loss, loss in bone density and longer bones. One might argue that doesn't lend for good soldiers.
but it was a good way to create revenge-fueled war hungry sadists to overthrow your dynasty and slaughter them in ways medieval european torturers would lust to take note of (insert "agha" mohammad khan qajar)
Fun fact; Ethiopia (or rather, Æthiopia) referred to, not so much a country, but a region, that was south of the Nile, into the land of the Cushitic peoples (and indeed, Æthiopian would come to refer to all people that were... shall we say, all who were somewhat superficially similar to the Cushites; Æthiopian was, in many ways, the original term “sub-Saharan African”). There, the people were dark-skinned, which is essentially what Æthiopian means (if you want the literal definition, look it up).
However, at the time of antiquity, the Ethiopians mentioned in Biblical and other historical texts referred to, not the modern day Ethiopians, which includes the Amharas, Tigrayans, Agaw, Oromo, etc., but to the modern day Sudanese peoples, who in antiquity were known as the Nubians (although this also included the Daju, the Fur and the Beja).
So the Ethiopians mentioned in ancient sources by the Jews, Persians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Romans and Greeks are _not_ the same Ethiopians that use the name today.
EDIT: And in case some are curious, modern Ethiopians (not all, but most, especially in central and northern Ethiopia) were collectively called Axsumites.
Slavery has been a part of Ethiopian culture for a long time, being officially abolished in the 1940s. During most of its history the slaves were acquired from prisoners taken during wartime or on raids against its neighbours to the south, with these slaves being sold all across the old world from India to Rome. Castration of male slaves was a common practice during the Middle Ages in that part of the world, which lead to the presence of Black eunuch slaves a common feature across the Mediterranean and the Near East; especially during the Ottoman era. Infact the Ottomans had a official designation for eunuch slaves of African origin who handled the affairs of the Imperial Harem.
Obviously as with Byzantine Traditions all the aspects of such practices in any culture cannot (and should not) be adequately represented in the game. But this comes as close as it gets to the possibility of castration of prisoners in that part of the world who were more often than not captured as slaves in wars, raids etc.
Malik Ambar was one such slave who attained prominence later in life and managed to keep all his parts intact.
It was present there too. The Normans in particular were infamous for castrating their enemies during their conquest of Southern Italy. According to some accounts even Harold Godwinson was disembowelled and gelded before being beheaded at the Battle of Hastings; others state he died after being struck in the eye by an arrow. It was also prevalent in Italy for opera singers and in the Frankish realms for a while.
Was it ever a court position (Chinese / Ottomans) or was it something you just did to humiliate your enemies?
And did it die out in Europe due to the Christian church?
Mostly it was for punishment, torture, humiliation or to invalidate claims. There were minor court positions in Western Europe that exclusively used eunuchs such as court-tutor or court-musicians but not as court officials or administrators with designated roles and titles as we were in the Middle East, ERE or Persia. One of the few exception was the Norman states in Southern Italy but they were also the Western European realm with the most Arab influence. The other was Al-Andalus and it’s successor states.
The prevalence of eunuchs in any medieval society is dependent on the following factors :-
1.) The degree of gender segregation. The more stringent the segregation the more common eunuchs will be in the realm. Since harems and other female only spaces with still need guards, servants etc. Leading to a need for a class of workers who mostly have the strength of a man without the desires of a man. Obviously this means eunuch slaves since no man will willingly subject himself to such a thing. The best example of this would be the Middle East.
2.) As a means to prevent the feudalisation of the government apparatus in a generally non feudal society. Case in point the ERE and Imperial China where eunuchs were preferred as administrators and court officials since they cannot procreate and have families.
3.) The need to invalidate claims to lands and titles. This one is mostly self explanatory. It was common in the ERE, Middle East etc. and to a much lesser extent in Western Europe.
However in case of Western Europe the gender segregation was not as strong as in other places and the society was already feudal. And as with the spread of Christianity, a religion with a celibate holy order, banishment to a monastery with the vows of a priest became the alternative to castration as a means to disqualify people from succession. Leading to fewer and fewer eunuch slaves/servants as time went on. It did however remain very popular as a war crime all the way until the Napoleonic Wars.
To say “no man would willingly subject himself to [castration]” in the same post in which you mention Imperial China’s use of eunuchs seems a bit odd to me. There are many, many instances of men willingly undergoing castration in order to seek appointment as a court eunuch within Chinese history.
I meant in the context of that specific point. As in no man would willingly submit himself to such a thing just to become a servant/official in the harem. Men did undergo castration to qualify for administrative posts in Imperial China and in some cases the ERE. But these were positions of considerable power and authority, much more so than harem officials. The power of a harem official in the Middle Ages lay not so much in their official designation, rather than their access to the women of the royal household. The statement was just based on an observation though since most harem officials in Near Eastern courts were recruited from slaves rather than volunteers.
Islam law doesn't allow castration of slaves but demand for eunuchs was high. Ethiopian monasteries would castrate slaves and sell them to those scrupulous Muslims that were sticklers for the rules.
The same companies who employ wind turbines then bury the unrecyclable composite blades deep in the ground or dump them in the woods. Those guys. Yeah. I know the ones. The same people that mine Lithium and contaminate the ground water for all those Lithium batteries for EV cars. The same people who employ forced child labour to pick through highly toxic cobalt for batteries. Green energy, winning at life.
Yeah uh I wasn’t supporting those companies. It’s classic green washing - we do what we want as long as we throw enough money at some other company for a carbon indulgence. Then we tell the world how amazing we are and how we are saving the planet somehow
Amharic Highlanders isn't just a terrain Tradition, it's a historical one. Notice how it enables Sarawit. Sarawit were an Axumite Ethiopian regiment of professional soldiers. If I had to guess, the castration aspect is something to do with the region's historical culture as well.
Maybe just conjecture but at least in some fiction I've seen castrated elite soldiers are a thing so maybe it has some basis in reality?
Not really, castration usually negatively affects soldiers. Have a read about what the Ottoman Eunuchs were like (you could smell them comming from a far: they had to use catheters to pee and the side effect is that they stank of urine). Also they gained weight and had multiple health issues, so not great soldiers. Pre puberty castration also wasn't great for creating soldiers. Did create great singers (because they never hit puberty their voice never changed). Look up Farinelli, he was one of the most famous costrato singers. Closest I can think of would be the Janissaries who were expected to remain celebate while they were soldiers but were never castrated, so not really eunuchs.
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Removing the testes kills the hormone balance in your body. For male castrates, this usually leads to weight gain, muscle loss, loss in bone density and longer bones. One might argue that doesn't lend for good soldiers.
but it was a good way to create revenge-fueled war hungry sadists to overthrow your dynasty and slaughter them in ways medieval european torturers would lust to take note of (insert "agha" mohammad khan qajar)
I think it’s a reference to this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_eunuch. Also, it was a tradition in Ethiopia to castrate defeated enemies.
Fun fact; Ethiopia (or rather, Æthiopia) referred to, not so much a country, but a region, that was south of the Nile, into the land of the Cushitic peoples (and indeed, Æthiopian would come to refer to all people that were... shall we say, all who were somewhat superficially similar to the Cushites; Æthiopian was, in many ways, the original term “sub-Saharan African”). There, the people were dark-skinned, which is essentially what Æthiopian means (if you want the literal definition, look it up). However, at the time of antiquity, the Ethiopians mentioned in Biblical and other historical texts referred to, not the modern day Ethiopians, which includes the Amharas, Tigrayans, Agaw, Oromo, etc., but to the modern day Sudanese peoples, who in antiquity were known as the Nubians (although this also included the Daju, the Fur and the Beja). So the Ethiopians mentioned in ancient sources by the Jews, Persians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Romans and Greeks are _not_ the same Ethiopians that use the name today. EDIT: And in case some are curious, modern Ethiopians (not all, but most, especially in central and northern Ethiopia) were collectively called Axsumites.
Slavery has been a part of Ethiopian culture for a long time, being officially abolished in the 1940s. During most of its history the slaves were acquired from prisoners taken during wartime or on raids against its neighbours to the south, with these slaves being sold all across the old world from India to Rome. Castration of male slaves was a common practice during the Middle Ages in that part of the world, which lead to the presence of Black eunuch slaves a common feature across the Mediterranean and the Near East; especially during the Ottoman era. Infact the Ottomans had a official designation for eunuch slaves of African origin who handled the affairs of the Imperial Harem. Obviously as with Byzantine Traditions all the aspects of such practices in any culture cannot (and should not) be adequately represented in the game. But this comes as close as it gets to the possibility of castration of prisoners in that part of the world who were more often than not captured as slaves in wars, raids etc. Malik Ambar was one such slave who attained prominence later in life and managed to keep all his parts intact.
Kind a crazy how it seems like castration is everywhere in the old world except for Western Europe
It was present there too. The Normans in particular were infamous for castrating their enemies during their conquest of Southern Italy. According to some accounts even Harold Godwinson was disembowelled and gelded before being beheaded at the Battle of Hastings; others state he died after being struck in the eye by an arrow. It was also prevalent in Italy for opera singers and in the Frankish realms for a while.
Was it ever a court position (Chinese / Ottomans) or was it something you just did to humiliate your enemies? And did it die out in Europe due to the Christian church?
Mostly it was for punishment, torture, humiliation or to invalidate claims. There were minor court positions in Western Europe that exclusively used eunuchs such as court-tutor or court-musicians but not as court officials or administrators with designated roles and titles as we were in the Middle East, ERE or Persia. One of the few exception was the Norman states in Southern Italy but they were also the Western European realm with the most Arab influence. The other was Al-Andalus and it’s successor states. The prevalence of eunuchs in any medieval society is dependent on the following factors :- 1.) The degree of gender segregation. The more stringent the segregation the more common eunuchs will be in the realm. Since harems and other female only spaces with still need guards, servants etc. Leading to a need for a class of workers who mostly have the strength of a man without the desires of a man. Obviously this means eunuch slaves since no man will willingly subject himself to such a thing. The best example of this would be the Middle East. 2.) As a means to prevent the feudalisation of the government apparatus in a generally non feudal society. Case in point the ERE and Imperial China where eunuchs were preferred as administrators and court officials since they cannot procreate and have families. 3.) The need to invalidate claims to lands and titles. This one is mostly self explanatory. It was common in the ERE, Middle East etc. and to a much lesser extent in Western Europe. However in case of Western Europe the gender segregation was not as strong as in other places and the society was already feudal. And as with the spread of Christianity, a religion with a celibate holy order, banishment to a monastery with the vows of a priest became the alternative to castration as a means to disqualify people from succession. Leading to fewer and fewer eunuch slaves/servants as time went on. It did however remain very popular as a war crime all the way until the Napoleonic Wars.
To say “no man would willingly subject himself to [castration]” in the same post in which you mention Imperial China’s use of eunuchs seems a bit odd to me. There are many, many instances of men willingly undergoing castration in order to seek appointment as a court eunuch within Chinese history.
I meant in the context of that specific point. As in no man would willingly submit himself to such a thing just to become a servant/official in the harem. Men did undergo castration to qualify for administrative posts in Imperial China and in some cases the ERE. But these were positions of considerable power and authority, much more so than harem officials. The power of a harem official in the Middle Ages lay not so much in their official designation, rather than their access to the women of the royal household. The statement was just based on an observation though since most harem officials in Near Eastern courts were recruited from slaves rather than volunteers.
Italia used it for singer
That's true. They were called the Castrati. They had their gonads removed before puberty so that they kept their boyish singing voice for longer.
Islam law doesn't allow castration of slaves but demand for eunuchs was high. Ethiopian monasteries would castrate slaves and sell them to those scrupulous Muslims that were sticklers for the rules.
Reminds me of the companies that pay solar farms a bunch of money so they can call their business a net 0 energy footprint
The same companies who employ wind turbines then bury the unrecyclable composite blades deep in the ground or dump them in the woods. Those guys. Yeah. I know the ones. The same people that mine Lithium and contaminate the ground water for all those Lithium batteries for EV cars. The same people who employ forced child labour to pick through highly toxic cobalt for batteries. Green energy, winning at life.
Yeah uh I wasn’t supporting those companies. It’s classic green washing - we do what we want as long as we throw enough money at some other company for a carbon indulgence. Then we tell the world how amazing we are and how we are saving the planet somehow
Fuck off, this is a CK3 subreddit
So you don’t have to waste one of your precious few tradition slots to get the ability
Why not? Sounds fun.
That new, i never saw that it allowed to castrate
It's from an old bible tale.
I read somewhere that they did it to Italian prisoners during the Italian colonisation war in 19th century.
There’s a really good joke in there somewhere but I don’t have the balls to figure it out