Inheritance

Given that the Caliphate is rather patriarchal, I was just assuming that inheritance would always pass to the firstborn son, but then I started wondering if that was true? Are heiresses a thing in parts of the Caliphate? What if a man was cursed blessed with a gaggle of girl children rather than boy children?

Differing traditions of inheritance are really cool--but interestingly, real-world Islam/the Quran is actually far more egalitarian than some religions/cultural behaviors of the time. Securing the positions/safety of widows/the family was very important.

That said, it might be more cultural in Avaria from what I read. At least the Salawi are someone you should read about--they explicitly have their unique form of titular vs. wealth inheritance, and women inherit the wealth/land/goods, while men inherit the titles and names.

http://songofavaria.com:8080/mediawiki/index.php?title=Salawi

It might take a little while for me to get around to putting together a full Mistsparrow lore dump (TM) for this topic, but in the meantime, Illi is pretty much correct. While there are some culturally specific traditions in the different parts of the caliphate, generally speaking Azadi law and custom are very concerned with "fair" distribution of heritable assets and no close family member would be completely left out. There is no primogeniture law for inheritance, and while it may be more common for certain assets to go to males there is nothing strictly demanding or expecting this, and also no custom favoring the eldest son in a family.

Although women are more limited than men in what they can do in Azadi society, they are generally viewed as responsible asset managers, and it is seen as extremely important that vulnerable family members are left with the means to live by and support themselves. So there certainly would be heiresses in the Sirdabi Caliphate, as well as young women in a position to inherit enough assets to help provide for themselves and even furnish a dowry for marriage.

Thank you both so much!