Herald of Steel

Alexander had once planned to visit Ptolomy’s harem—partly to catch a glimpse of Lord Assazd’s fabled daughter, and exactly see just how beautiful she was that she managed to steal Ptolomy right from Seelima’s nose so easily, and partly out of sheer curiosity for the place.

The phrase ’a king’s harem’ brought up all kinds of alluring middle eastern images inside him- of heavy smoky incense, scantily clad women, alluring bare bellies and velvet beds beckoning to him.

Alexander really wanted to test how true that description actually was.

Of course deep inside he was quite aware things were never that sexy. The movies and shows intentionally exaggerated and hyper sexualized the shots for fan service or the shock factor.

Things in most imperial harams were really quite... ’mundane’ and the sex slaves and concubines certainly did not lounge every day on soft cushions and luxurious couches all dolled up, simply waiting for their lord to visit.

Life was not yet that cozy for them.

Yes, they were generally expected to put on some makeup and keep themselves prim and proper at all times, such as styling their hair, wearing good quality clothes, and putting on some light jewelry.

But that was a basic necessity for most regular noblewomen as well.

If Ptolomy were to really come and visit them, they would usually be informed of his intent at least a few hours ahead of the night. Then they would do all they can to beautify themselves, taking scented baths, putting on expensive jewellery and wearing sexy, provocative clothes like the ones Hellma wore to Alexander.

Otherwise, during the daytime.... only the most favored wives and concubines could expect an unannounced visit from the king. And for them... the presentation was not that important.

The man was already smitten with them, so what mattered much more was showing off that innate sexy charm to keep the man beholden to them.

This usual arrangement was in much contrast to Alexander’s own house, where the man hardly ever restrained himself with his wives. If he saw them in the house and he wanted a good time, he would just drag them to one of the empty rooms for a one and one, regardless of what they were doing, and no matter the meager protest they summoned.

And usually the girls only resisted as a mock show- as women they did not want to seem too wanton in front of everyone and in broad daylight. So they pretended to be shy and reticent.

Now, such ’free and unrestrained love’ had even resulted in a few awkward instances with the maids of the houses, with them unexpectedly walking in on the amorous couple in the middle of the act.

The girls might have been there to clear, or get something and just pushed in the door without any thought... and then...

Once Alexander was caught with Mean in that compromising position and out to her mind in anger and shame, the feisty girl suddenly gave him a tight slap using every inch of her strength- that day Alexander’s cheek bore a five finger print for the whole day, producing untold mocking laughs from Cambyses and even more muted smirks from Gelene.

While Alexander could only jokingly complain about his wives’ lack of compassion.

Now the reason for such huge differences between the two households was obvious- Alexander’s women were not ’bought’ or ’taken as gifts’ like others. There was actual meaningful connection with all of them.

In the palace harem, however, most concubines were simply tributes given to Ptolomy to show that house’s allegiance to him. So the man used them mainly for carnal pleasure and little else.

Thus when the man was not actively in their room, many of these girls followed a routine very much reminiscent of a regular noblewoman- most of them would pass the whole day eating, drinking, gossiping and perhaps taking a bit of a walk in the back gardens. Then once dusk descended, it was off to bed and repeat for as long as they lived.

It was honestly quite a boring lifestyle.

But... at least you got free housing, good food and most of all, stability and security. And to be a bit bored in exchange for all of life’s essentials delivered to you right at your doorstep... for that age, it was a deal most women were willing to bend hand over foot for. Even the occasional ’night parties’ they were made to attend was not enough to dampen their mood.

While some of the more learned ladies would also sometimes try to pass the time by reading books, reciting poetry, singing, practising dancing, knitting and embroidery and even praying and performing various rituals.

The most talented among them even wrote books.

In fact in Adhania, a surprisingly significant number of books of literature and poetry were actually written by women, many of them even being famous enough to be taught as textbooks at renowned institutions like the Meisters school and large, renowned temples.

Of course, almost all were published under a male pseudonym in order to hide the author’s real identity... it would not be historically accurate without a bit of misogyny in the mix... as most men would turned their noses in disgust if they knew they were taking knowledge from a mere ’woman’, someone inferior to them, but still, this statistics was something extremely impressive for the time being.

As for the reason behind this- Alexander believed it was a unique product of Adhania’s practice of having large harems, the presence of highly educated noblewomen within them, an endless amount of time in these women’s hands and perhaps the most important of all, being actually allowed to publish their works.

Yes, indeed, that last bit was perhaps the real secret sauce. Because there were other countries which also practised polygamy and had similar harem structures...but no significant works of art ever came from them.

These societies simply did not allow women to express themselves. And some of the most extreme ones even barred the female folk from learning how to read and write.

In that sense, Adhanian society was actually quite modern and advanced, where noblewomen were taught nearly an identical curriculum to their male counterparts.

Philosophy, ethics, history, natural sciences and classic literature, this was common for both sexes...only the topic of war and governance was substituted with household management and how to be a proper wife. And some very ambitious families would even teach their daughters those skipped topics.

This was the lifestyle usually afforded to concubines who were from good, reputable noble families, as they, by the very nature of their birth had a higher standing than most.

So Ptolomy could not outright treat them too poorly.

Plus many times they would also receive stipends from their father’s family that would allow them to maintain a decent lifestyle, even if their source from the royal treasury were to suddenly run dry.

Each royal concubine was allotted a fixed amount of gold from the royal treasury per month, which would then be distributed to them, not in the form of cash but after being converted into things like meals, maids, candles, lamps, and other essentials such as firewood and blankets for the winter.

So if you did not have cash... you could not do a lot of extraneous things.

For example you could not order extra supplies like oil and light, ask the kitchen for an extra cut of meat, or an egg or a larger portioned meal, have any messages delivered or even get gather information on somebody.

To get almost anything done here in this palace, you needed cold, hard cash.

Hence unless you were not the likes of Ptolomy or a Pasha like Alexander, whose authority was impossible to ignore, all the maids, guards and even the various slaves and servants all wanted their wheel greased.

Thus it could even be argued that in some ways, these men and women, though mostly lowly in status, were sometimes even more powerful than many of the resident lords and ladies.

In fact, some of these maids and servants, such as the high ranking ones were almost as rich as some Shordars (barons), possessing substantial lands and multiple houses and manors both in the city and in the countryside, and their children regularly rubbing shoulders with the scions of nobility.

In addition to commoner maids, the palace also had girls from legitimate noble families.

And due to a myriad of reasons, that was actually not that surprising.

For example- Lady Inayah’s family had a couple of their folks here too- as for generations her family had been part of the palace administrative staff, i.e.- these ladies supervised the rest of the slaves and maids.

Some noble families sent their daughters here to network and meet other ladies- here, you got to rub with the country’s elite of the elite after all.

A younger sister might also be sent to serve her elder sister who was an imperial concubine.

And some noble families, particularly large and powerful families, would send girls with various clandestine agendas, such as to act as spies, informants or perhaps even just to keep all of them informed about the happenings at the capital.

Lastly, these noble girls could also come from various remote parts of the country, their families’ hoping that she would be able to catch the eyes of some big shot noble and thus rocket their obscure family into fame and fortune.

And interestingly, Alexander, even whilst in his relatively short time here, had actually encountered a few such gold diggers.