How Would Lamia Defend Themselves From Each Other?

Question

After posting (Would Lamia Keep Themselves In Check Through Intraspecies Conflict), I realized that for Lamia society to form, Lamia would need to protect themselves from each other.

As you'll see from the linked question above (or the information supplied below), Lamia naturally seek dominion over one another, which means they'll try to vampirize (exchange blood through a bite to gain control over a victim) or sunder and absorb other Lamia. Besides that, they are capable of parthogenesis, which births a subservient clone, so my question is twofold: How Would Lamia Defend Themselves From Each Other?

Consider (if you chose to not look over the linked question):

1. Lamia can bite another member of their species and exchange blood, one fang draining the victim's blood while the other expels the attacker's blood in the bloodstream. This gives the attacker power over the victim equivalent to how much blood was exchanged; if only ten percent is exchanged, the attacker has only a ten percent influence over the victim. On the other hand, complete exchange=total control.
2. If a Lamia is cut in half, the result is a telepathically linked woman and giant snake pair. The human upper half controls the serpent and can become a regular Lamia again after consuming her serpent half. However, if another Lamia consumes another Lamia's serpent half, she absorbs it and the human half is drawn to and absorbed by the offender. If a Lamia absorbs another two Lamia, she becomes a Maralith (six arms, tripled intelligence, doubled strength) and develops the ability to compel other Lamia to do her will (compel meaning 'to drive or urge forcefully' in this case). The Lamia absorbed cannot be clones of her, and a Maralith holds only one personality; the personality of the victorious Lamia (the one who absorbed the other two) with aspects of the two victim's personality mixed in.

Please Note (Criteria for answers):

1. Since the fact that Lamia will likely form society despite the above (humanity proves this) A good answer will concern the rules, agreements, and protective methods Lamia society would have to implement to function. That's what I'm looking for; I know Lamia society will exist, but I don't know how they'll ensure their safety when they have the ability to enthrall and even absorb their own kind.

If you need more details, let me know and I'll add them ASAP. As always, thanks for your input!

Answer 1

A Modern Solution

A Lamia can not gain power over another Lamia without leaving distinctive forensic evidence. Bite patterns among most animals are unique enough that they can be used like fingerprints to positively identify an assailant. So, if a Lamia is discovered with bite marks, they compare the bit to their police registry of bite patterns to find and prosecute the attacker.

Maraliths are even easier to prosecute because evidence of their crimes are immediate. You do not need to know who they ate to know 100% for sure they murdered a couple of people to become who they are. Unlike just biting people, a Maralith does not need a trial to be proven guilty; so, they would be killed on sight, hopefully before they could dominate the enforcers dispatched to terminate them.

If Maraliths are too strong for normal Lamias to stand against, then there may be a state-sponsored special tactics unit of Maraliths made by consuming death-row inmates, terminal patients, or something morally excusable of the sort who specialize in hunting down illegal Maraliths

A Medieval Solution

Human medieval society was governed by feudalism in which a chain on vows of loyalty bound societies together. These vows were declarations between lords and servants in which the Lord was expected to provide protection in exchange for some of his servants' freedoms. Your Lamia are no different, but instead of vows of loyalty, the servants would allow their masters to minorly enthawl them.

The reason they would accept this willingly is because once enthralled, a person could be compelled not to violate the laws of the land which would include not enthralling and cannibalizing each other. So, by everyone in the community being enthawled by the lawful lord, everyone would be protected from crimes between each other. This would also ensure that if the Lamia ever went to war, that the enthawlment of one's master could be used to naturally resist the enthawling gaze of enemy Maraliths.

Lords would naturally desire the power and wisdom of becoming a Maralith to be a strong leader though; so, they would be the exception to the cannibalism law. I could see this going two ways: either they would consume anyone who does manage to break the law making it a form of punishment, or they might choose loyal servants whose personalities are most compatible with thier own to sacrifice so as not to lose a part of themselves in the process, in this case being chosen would be considered an honor because it would mean that you could become a part of the lord.

By becoming Maralith's themselves, lords would attain the power they need to combat any unlawful Maralith that might ascend in his realm, and help him better fulfil his knightly duties to the higher lords in times of war.