Is the ‘Mustache’ Trait required if you take the Mandarin Lifepath and you’re playing a female character? I don’t want to drift. 
Yeah, but it represents the strong impression of a mustache and your sinuous chin-stroking gestures rather than real hair.
Or…
There are no female Mandarins. Which do you think it is?
-L
Next you’ll tell me my male character can’t take the ‘Lady’ lifepath.
Man, I don’t want my Burning Empires campaign to be a total sausage party, and I really wanted that Lifepath. Curse the Empires and their gender inequality.
Yeah, because there are so many other gender restrictions in the lifepaths.
You’re not the first person to bristle at the fact that I made Mandarins all male. Mandarin is not a frequently chosen lifepath. I wonder why more than one person has wanted their female character to be a well-placed, educated, scheming bureaucrat?
-L
so… are you saying you’ve never had the urge to play Margaret Thatcher in a game before?
Actually, I never ever have.
But now I must.
Damn you.
(Burning Sheep: The Falklands War Knitted on the Burning Wheel)
You better tech-burn some AV-8 Harriers 
Only after I figure out how many points you get for the tech trait Flammable Aluminium Hull.
I wasn’t bristling, I was joking around - from Subject line to last reply I’ve only been half-serious about this question. I’ll either change the lifepaths or make the character male. I’m just trying to burn up a Court Lord who hasn’t gotten there via the Lords-Pilot lifepaths. I wanted someone who could slap the Anvil and Hammer Lords around in a Duel of Wits, so I went via Mandarin -> Justiciar -> Chamberlain. The gender was a result of, “Man, we need more female characters in this game,” not the result of, “A scheming bureaucrat needs to be a female because that’s, like, what chicks do.” I still have a Merchant League Chief Executive and a Serf Insurrectionist to burn up, and I’m positive there’s no gender restrictions there, so I’ll have my happy ending.
Funny, I had this come up in my BE playtest. I just said the character could take a similarly stereotypical cosmetic trait (Ridiculously Long Fingernails or some such nonsense) instead.
Really? I just assumed the Moustache was part of the uniform - you get up in the morning, put on your moustache and chinese gown, and go to work!
It’s not really so strange - other people get permanently balded for their position (the wuzzitcalled - corvus?).
(havent bought the game yet though, so whatdoiknow…)
I would like to say that should be a position simular to Mandarin in the Matriarchal Empire (Sorry, I can not remember the name at the moment). Thus at least in some places in the Iron Empires, there should be females in a Mandarin-like role. And of course each planet has their own tradtions.
I suggest an experiement (in the name of science). I think you should break the rules, then see if Luke comes to your house to deliver 'justice" unto you.
Though a warning is called for: Due to the high level of interaction by the Powers That Be, I would have an escape route handy. I thnk your only hope might be that the “apocolypse” keeps him busy for a few days.
Sorry it is almost 5, I am still at work,and it is friday; it makes me sarcastic. I like your long nails idea, btw.
I buy the cultural restrictions for Mandarin. That makes sense, but what about Thinker and the Bearded trait?
Sure, we’re all imagining some sort of Socrates figure, but Thinker, as I read it, is one of the least culturally constricted roles–it almost suggests a retreat from the culture. All a woman would need is a modest income and a ‘room of one’s own’, and I think the culture in BE provides that.
Is Bearded required for Thinker?
-L
Yes it is.
My, my, that’s offensive. Sucks to be a woman in the Iron Empires.
-L
Not if you’re a Hammer Lord. Eat molten death, worm-head!
See, this is exactly why we need that conversion table for which I’ve been lobbying. Being able to import a Girdle of Gender Changing from AD&D would solve all of these problems!
However, being male is not a requisite of Bearded. So we can have bearded women thinkers.
OK so that may not be the best solution but then again I don’t have a beard.
-Luke