Honing, The

From SOTS

In traditional Morrigi society, female Morrigi seldom travel from star to star, preferring to remain planet-bound and hold their terrestrial territory. The exception to this rule was an occasion known as “The Honing”. During this ritual, selected female emissaries from the various feminine tribes would seek passage from allied male tribes to a place called “the Dancing Ground”. At this pre-selected gathering point among the Morrigi home worlds, the female representatives from many worlds would meet in council on the planet’s surface while the male tribes engaged in an intensely competitive ritual series of “sports” in the air and space above. These events were recorded and broadcast to the entire Morrigi civilization, with competitions including a full gamut of possible battle simulations: single combat in the open air, armored combat on a neighboring moon, classic ship-to-ship dog-fighting engagements, and mock battles between entire fleets being the highlights of the spectacle.

The results of competition among the males at such an event would set the hierarchy of leadership among and within the otherwise largely egalitarian male tribes for the next “cycle”, each “cycle” being an indeterminate number of years or centuries based on the Morrigi’s complex galactic calendar. The leader of the most victorious tribal fleet at the Honing would become “Morru Qu’aan”, “First Among Travelers”, until the next competition; the females allied to this tribe would gain the privilege (and obligation) of hosting the next such event, along with the other advantages associated with political leadership.