In The Beginning by Gail Daley (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

settled by a cadre of wealthy women whose leaders had concluded the patriarchal system controlling most of Old Earth was the cause of the majority of the power struggles producing conflict. They theorized that changing how political power was controlled, would in turn change how society reacted to resolving conflict. They also blamed the breakdown of the extended family on a lack of responsibility felt by both men and women for the children they created. To counter-act these influences, they designed a planetary government loosely based on Clan structures copied from Old Earth. Clan rule was entailed in female lines. Inheritance of titles, ruling offices and property would descend through daughters (although not necessarily blood related) instead of sons. Men could hold a lifetime interest in hereditary titles but only in trust for daughters or daughters-in-law if they had no girl children.

Since each of the women came from different ethnic groups and ancestry on Old Earth, they had different ideas of how their own Clan should be run. It was agreed that inside their own jurisdiction, each Clan was free to set up laws to reflect their ancestral traditions, providing those laws adhered to the principles set down by the colony designers.

The Clan based culture provided a stopgap when individuals fell through the cracks of society. The founders reasoned there would be less violence if everyone felt they had a place in the social order, and the loose makeup of a Clan would provide room for individuals who wanted to improve their lot in life or move up the social scale. A factor causing trouble in the past was the power holders on Old Earth (males) wanted to ensure their families kept what had been earned, but they had no real way of guaranteeing it. Without extensive testing there was no way to ensure their own sons inherited since they could not be sure if their progeny belonged to them. A woman would always know to whom she gave birth. Vensoog was not a true matriarchy (men were allowed hold positions of power but could not pass along those positions or property except through their daughters). Allowance was made for those individuals who didn’t want to join a Clan; they fell under the authority of the Clan’s joint Security Council.

A ruling parliamentary body of representatives from each Clan and Guild was created, with provisions for additional seats as the need occurred. Representatives met three times a year to make major decisions concerning planetary welfare or joint Clan enterprises such as the Azorite mine. This body regulated laws in areas outside of individual Clan control, such as Port Authority, River and Ocean navigation or joint Clan ventures like the Kitingzen mine on a yearly rotating basis. To ensure that no one Clan could dominate the government or planetary resources, a different Clan took responsibility for different areas of governance each year.

To suit planetary needs the Gene Makers Guild genetically enhanced some abilities already found in the domestic animals and plants brought from Old Earth. To insure inbreeding didn't damage the human gene pool, The Makers tracked all Clan members DNA and twice a year during the Harvest and Planting Festivals, suggested breeding partners to encourage biological diversity. When they reached the age of seventeen, all young men and women were issued "Match Lists" of ten or twelve suggested mates who would be a good genetic counterpart. It was for this same reason that the two types of marriages, the  Year and a Day (a temporary marriage that could be ended at the end of one year) and the Forever and A Day Handfasting (a permanent life-time committment) were created.

Rigorous psychological testing had been given the original prospective colonists to certify they would be flexible enough to adapt to the new power structure. To help ease the transition, during the voyage the colonists were subjected to sleep training and mental manipulation to accustom them to accept the changes.

The prospective colonists, had also been tested for "special talents" (high aptitudes for psychic gifts). The overt reason was that greater empathy should encourage group consensus. A covert reason was several of the Clan bloodlines had always had the talent to perform what could have been termed "magic" by uninformed persons.

The founders erred on several assumptions. The theory that greater empathy would provide greater group harmony had not turned out as expected. While the Makers breeding program had produced high levels of certain types of psychic ability, it had not improved either communication or willingness to heal areas of disagreement. Human women were just as susceptible to jealousy, envy and downright cussedness as were human men.

The Vensoog colony had been settled for nearly three hundred years when The Karamine wars (another star-faring race with whom humans had come into conflict) started up again and wreaked havoc. Some planets were reduced to radioactive ruins, others devastated by Bio-genetic weapons. Economic disaster, starvation and anarchy now stared many planets in the face. After years of sustained warfare, the Confederation finally pieced together a truce of sorts with the Karamine Empire. The truce came about because both sides had used up so much resources they could barely feed their populations and maintain communication within their sphere of influence. In the Confederated Worlds, outlying planets like Vensoog now subsisted on meager alliances with the few Free Traders who had held aloof from the conflict and fought off onslaughts from the Jacks who preyed on them from space.

The Karamine policy was unless the planet was of strategic importance or had usable resources, to destroy a planet opposing them. On planets the Karamines intended to bring into the Empire, biogenetic weapons were used.

Vensoog had large deposits of the valuable mineral Azorite, so instead of trying to destroy it, they attacked with a devastating bio virus aimed at male humans. A study of human societies had convinced the Karamine Legion that in human society the males were the most aggressive, so the Bio-weapon used on Vensoog targeted males. All the men and