Melant'i

Definitions of melant'i

This concept / word is central to Liadens and their Code of behavior. It’s one of the most important Liaden Tenets, along with Balance and Necessity. (See also sociocultural section at Liad)

The word melant’i is High Liaden. In usage, lower case is fine. It need not be capitalized.

From an early dictionary:

"melant'i " - Who one is in relation to current circumstances. Also, who one is in sum, encompassing all possible persons one might be."

“melant’i is High Liaden, denoting the status of a person within a given situation. One person may fulfill several roles: Parent, spouse, child, mechanic, thodelm. . ."

Liadens act from one melant’i or another, and then there is overall melant’i.

“Allow Ren Lar to tend the vines and he is complacent and calm. Invoke his melant’i as nadelm and remind him of his larger duty to the clan, and he is implacable.”

“The chel’Gaibin heir aspires to the melant’i of a port tough.”

Simplified

melant’i simplified

“who one is, in whole or in part, depending upon circumstances”

“the description of the hat one is wearing while performing certain actions.”

"Melant’i he had down for a philosophy of hierarchy— a sort of constant tally of where you stood in the chain of command in every and any given situation."

Related Concepts

Melant'i is similar to honor.

“Respect, duty, honor— all arise effortlessly from one’s melant’i.”

“The melant’i of Master Trader Norn ven’Deelin is above reproach”

“I know that it is not possible for you to dishonor me. I know you for a person of melant’i, whose every instinct is honorable. I repose the utmost confidence in you, my child, and I am at peace, knowing that you hold my name in your hands.”

Universal Balance

Social and Universal Balance is key to melant’i.

"Melant’i depended upon right action. Right action and complete social Balance was the core of the Liaden ideal. More -- melant'i called to melant’i, a truth so universal even Terrans had a true-say for it." (Er Thom yos'Galan)

Identity and honesty is an integral aspect of melant’i. By Code, one must never wear a mask, cosmetics, or otherwise obscure identity.

"A person of melant'i deceives by neither word nor deed and shall have no cause to hide his face from the world." —Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct

Modes & melant’i

“The delm is quite busy,” he said now, speaking the High Tongue in the mid-mode reserved for strangers whose melant’i was yet unclear. “If you will acquaint me with your difficulty. ..”

Developing melant'i

“Melant’i is not acquired; it is built.”

"To a Liaden, melant'i is more precious than rubies, a cumulative, ever-changing indicator of his place in the universal pecking order. A person of high honor, for instance, is referred to as "a person of melant'i," whereas a scoundrel—or a Terran—may be dismissed with "he has no melant'i."

Shared melant’i

By The Code:

“Proper behavior is that thodelm decides for Line and delm decides for clan, cherishing between them the melant’i of all." 

“We are lifemates. And a portion of our shared melant’i involves standing as lady and lord to Line yos’Phelium.”

A Terran’s Definition

melant’i — A Liaden word denoting the status of a person within a given situation. For instance, one person may fulfill several roles: Parent, spouse, child, mechanic, thodelm. The shifting winds of circumstance, or 'necessity,' dictate from which role the person will act this time. They will certainly always act honorably, as defined within a voluminous and painfully detailed code of behavior, referred to simply as 'The Code.' To a Liaden, melant'i is more precious than rubies, a cumulative, ever-changing indicator of his place in the universal pecking order. A person of high honor, for instance, is referred to as "a person of melant'i," whereas a scoundrel—or a Terran—may be dismissed with "he has no melant'i." Melant'i may be the single philosophical concept from which all troubles, large and small, between Liad and Terra spring.

—From A Terran's Guide to Liad

a Terran’s melant’i

"There were some who argued that Terrans possessed neither melant'i nor honor. It was a view largely popular with those who had never been beyond Liad or Liad's Outworlds. Traders and Scouts tended to espouse a less popular philosophy, based on actual observation."

Honor Feuds

Insulting one’s melant’i is a mistake.

“Those foolish enough to threaten a Liaden's melant'i were plunged into honor-feud, to their impoverishment, often enough. Sometimes, to their death.”

Melant'i may be the single philosophical concept from which all troubles, large and small, between Liad and Terra spring.”

Melant'i of a child

"Children -- little children -- were understood to stand within the melant'i of their clan. Their own melant'i was ... flexible and open, and very specifically did not pursue Balance. It was tradition, to give a child upon their twelfth Name Day a Small Debt Book, in which entries were made by the child, and reviewed with a clan elder. On the fourteenth his Name Day, a private Debt Book was given, and it was considered at that point that the child was competent to take up the keeping of their own melant’i and Balances."