I was wondering if this is mentioned anywhere in the AP, or what approach other GMs take? It would affect stuff like:
Whether Cressida Kroft is unusual as a female commander.
Size of Gray Maiden recruiting pool.
Possible PC backgrounds.
I was thinking about using something in the 10%-25% region, but it could go higher if Cheliaxan culture is gynarchic, or lower if female warriors are unusual.
My current thinking on the Grey Maidens is to present them initially as very much a volunteer high-prestige elite bodyguard, like Hitler's Leibstandarte SS, with onerous indoctrination rituals, scarification etc all *increasing* their prestige, as commonly happens IRL - basically the extreme hazing you see in many similar RL organisations. This would argue for a broad recruitment pool of potential female warriors, and female fighters not being seen as too unusual; although it also works well if supply outstrips demand - eg lots of young women who *want* to be fighters, but families who want them to be wives & mothers.
What do you think? If you ran CoTCT and thought about this, what approach did you take?
(If for some reason you think this is a stupid question, please ignore this post, thank you.)
My current thinking on the Grey Maidens is to present them initially as very much a volunteer high-prestige elite bodyguard, like Hitler's Leibstandarte SS...
Talking of which, I thought a sort of '1930s Berlin' vibe might be quite a good approach to go for in the early part of the AP; 'Cabaret' and all that. :)