The Shattered Chain has much information about sexual mores, traditions and prohibitions on Darkover. Also, repeatedly throughout the series, women's thoughts (seldom expressed aloud) are concerned with being "brood mares"; e. g. "I was of no value; the daughters I bore him at risk of my life were of no value; I was nothing but an instrument to give him sons." (Kindra, speaking in The Shattered Chain, Chapter 2). In Darkover Landfall, it is made clear to the colonists by the ship's officers that for the colony to survive, the women must bear as many children as possible, with as many male partners as possible for genetic diversity. This led to women having an inferior social position to men.