Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

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Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by Khemehekis »

Does your conworld have same-sex marriage, polygamy, child marriage, interspecies marriage, necrophiliac marriage, etc.? Is interracial or intercaste marriage banned?

Kankonia has no government to recognize marriages; marriages are performed by religious officials, who are free to marry any number of people of any gender combination. More than half of all parents have never had a wedding ceremony performed. Same-sex marriage is performed by all religious officials from all major religions. There are no restroctions on race or ethnicity of the marrying parties. Polygamy (both polyandry and polygyny) are also performed by most religious officials. The parties who wish to marry are recorded on a maritogram, a two-dimensional graph that shows the name of each entrant to the marriage going down, and against going across. At the place where any two names intersect, there is either a dot to indicate that the two are married to each other, a Kankonian equals sign to indicate that the two are the same person, or a blank space to indicate that the two are not married to each other. Both the religious official and the newlyweds keep a copy of the maritogram to keep track of exactly who is married to whom. Marriage of children under 13 is not performed anywhere, neither to an adolescent or adult, nor between two or among more than two children. It is also legal for a human to marry a zhoar (non-human sapient). Some churches solemnize marriages between a human and a goat, or a human and an ape.
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by cntrational »

I fully expected this to be in Everything Else when I clicked on it via the new posts list
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by HoskhMatriarch »

My conworld does not have the same concept of marriage throughout the whole world. Different cultures have different concepts, and different people within the same culture can often disagree about how they think things should be.
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by Khemehekis »

Then what is marriage like in a sampling of cultures and religious traditions from your conworld?
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by HoskhMatriarch »

Khemehekis wrote:Then what is marriage like in a sampling of cultures and religious traditions from your conworld?
I don't have actual names for a lot of my conworld's cultures and religious traditions at the moment. I just know that a lot of them allow general polygamy, and there's the Hoskh myth about how the Sun Goddess got her two husbands, which isn't particularly informative about marriage itself. I think Leunaniea only allows polygyny, which ticks off a lot of the Northern States (who they also historically tried to invade and force their culture on).
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by cntrational »

I should note that it being in their myths doesn't necessitate they actually practice it. For example, Hindu mythology features a promenent polyandric marriage, but monogamous marriage is pretty standard in India, and has been in many places for most of its history. Not even the later Islam's polygamous tranditions changed that.
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by Foolster41 »

Does your conworld have same-sex marriage, polygamy, child marriage, interspecies marriage, necrophiliac marriage, etc.? Is interracial or intercaste marriage banned?

In Saltha, polygamy is very common, at least among the more wealthy. It's seen as a status symbol.

There may be some social stigma for being gay, and while gay marriage isn't recognized by the church, there's no law against same-sex relationships and living together etc. A lot of the problems of discrimination (i.e. visitation rights, medical or insurance issues) seem like they wouldn't come up because this is a pre-modern civilization.

Interspecies/racial marriage would have gotten you killed in the pre-senate days, but that mostly had to do with they were an extremely isolationist nationalist monarchy back then. After the transistion to senate people got used to the idea over the next 100-200 years.

Child marriage? No. Salthans see children (under 10) as separated by innocence. The idea would revolt them. Marriage between people under the age of 18 may have happened now and then, but generally marrying young people under 15 was frowned upon.

necrophiliac marriage? No.
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

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Khemehekis wrote:Does your conworld have same-sex marriage, polygamy, child marriage, interspecies marriage, necrophiliac marriage, etc.?
I wish people could make a different thread for same-sex marriage and polygamy, which are legit practices. I don't think it sounds right to compare it to child marriages and necrophilia, which are sick paraphilias.
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

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Khemehekis wrote:...The parties who wish to marry are recorded on a maritogram, a two-dimensional graph that shows the name of each entrant to the marriage going down, and against going across. At the place where any two names intersect, there is either a dot to indicate that the two are married to each other, a Kankonian equals sign to indicate that the two are the same person, or a blank space to indicate that the two are not married to each other. Both the religious official and the newlyweds keep a copy of the maritogram to keep track of exactly who is married to whom. ...
I can't quite visualize it; would you have a picture example that you could show to us?

On Drunworld: (note that reliable contraceptives have existed for some time)
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The Dŕun have marriages between men and women, though they are mostly just reproductive contracts, arranged by the participants' mothers. (Both participants have veto power.) Polygyny is not practiced, and polyandry is only found in marginal cases where the woman and her family are extremely powerful and well-respected. Monogamy between married individuals is expected. Marriage is an adult responsibility, much like taking care of finances.
The Eyþï are a patriarchal society where women are considered property. Punishments for adultery are severe. Men typically marry in their twenties, and women in their late teens to early twenties - earlier in the countryside, later in the cities.
The Žilèði have a conception of marriage imported from the Dŕun, with slightly less emphasis on arrangement and agreements, and more on individual choice and feelings.
The Kixaḷi have polygamous marriages as a form of agreement. Reproduction is not necessarily involved, unless the participants want to. Neither is cohabitation. Marriage is an allegiance, and it is not uncommon to have complicated, intersecting webs of marriage that make deciding which rival family to take down very hard. Marriage is the responsibility of young adults, with anyone being considered for clan membership obligated to divorce all hir spouses. Cohabitation and reproduction happen between friends, though living with a member of a rival family is seen as an insult to one's own clan.
The Mira don't have an institution of marriage. People cohabit and reproduce at will, with no-one objecting.
Serena wrote:
Khemehekis wrote:Does your conworld have same-sex marriage, polygamy, child marriage, interspecies marriage, necrophiliac marriage, etc.?
I wish people could make a different thread for same-sex marriage and polygamy, which are legit practices. I don't think it sounds right to compare it to child marriages and necrophilia, which are sick paraphilias.
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by Lao Kou »

Serena wrote:
Khemehekis wrote:Does your conworld have same-sex marriage, polygamy, child marriage, interspecies marriage, necrophiliac marriage, etc.?
I wish people could make a different thread for same-sex marriage and polygamy, which are legit practices. I don't think it sounds right to compare it to child marriages and necrophilia, which are sick paraphilias.
The question as stated is loosey-goosey all over da place. Does "marriage" refer to relationship of presumed affection which leads to a "contract" (as culturally loosely or legalistically as that may mean), or is it a "contract" (ibid.) from which some sort of relationship of affection may or may not evolve? I'm not advocating, but European (and most likely other) monarchies married children to form alliances, and no one necessarily expected the kids to consummate at that age. That's a different "child marriage" from a 40-year-old man marrying a 10-year-old girl 'cause he likes 'em fecund and fresh. Too, I care not to think of what a "necrophiliac" marriage might entail, but marrying a dead person (say, a king) could possibly confer contractual (ibid.) rights, properties, and obligations to the living spouse (or maybe even, marrying two dead people for purposes of contractual (ibid.) transferrals which behoove surviving families/territories). And that's different from marrying a cadaver 'cause that's what you're into. The legit practices/sick paraphilias distinction you're asking for presumes it's about love object/who you're getting your freak on with (and indeed, that can be part of the case), and that'll be an "ew" factor of how you perceive my marrying my same-sex partner, my network of polyamorous relationships, a child of (5+? 10+? 13+? 16?), my dog, or a corpse. If it's about contractual constructs (ibid.) and not necessarily cheek-a-bowwow freakazoids, then we don't need separate threads about my marrying the Prince of XXX, the harem of XXX, the child bride of XXX, the cat who inherited my aunt's vast fortune, or the dead dilettante I didn't get to marry while s/he was alive, though we planned it. (I think some of those are, cross-culturally speaking, "legit" and not "sick").

I don't know if Khem wanted to initiate a thread that discussed all of that, but why do we need a separate thread to determine what is normative (if distasteful to modern Western sensibilities), repugnant, or "sick" in a discussion of cross-cultural, and in particular, cross-concultural practices?
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by sangi39 »

I suppose it depends on how you define "child marriage" and "necrophiliac marriage", as Lao Kou said.

If we're talking about "consummated" marriages between an adult and either a child or a corpse, then yeah, that could be pretty iffy ground for grouping them in with polygamy and same-sex marriage.

However, if we're talking about "marriages" as a kind of social contract, with certain rights/obligations/benefits attached to them, then it's not really all that bad. For example, say two people were engaged to be married, and the state or whatever recognises their future marriage as legitimate. Now say that one of those people dies. If marriage influences inheritance and the transfer of wealth and engagements are seen as formal proposals which are in an of themselves legally binding, then it doesn't seem out of the question that the death of one of those people would halt the formation of a marriage and the things that go along with it.

Similarly, with arranged marriages arranged early on, it doesn't seem out of the question that an adult might marry a child, with the rights/obligations/benefits of that marriage to come into force straight away, save for anything regarding sex, restrictions over which would apply until the child reaches the recognised age of maturity.

On the other hand, some cultures do recognise "consummated" marriages involving children and possibly the dead if you believe some sources. We might view them as sick and disgusting, but there's nothing to say that all cultures will, and some of those cultures might not recognise same-sex or multiple marriages. Personally, I'm fairly happy having one thread about these sorts of marriages as a whole, but I think it should be looked at from the perspective of "what kinds of marriage do your cultures recognise" rather than "do your cultures recognise these specific kinds of marriages which are viewed within certain cultures as "not the norm" or completely unrecognised".
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by Lao Kou »

sangi39 wrote:... I think it should be looked at from the perspective of "what kinds of marriage do your cultures recognise" rather than "do your cultures recognise these specific kinds of marriages which are viewed within certain cultures as "not the norm" or completely unrecognised".
[+1] The way you've framed it makes it a potentially less provocative, more neutral "anthropologically curious" question. [:)]
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by alynnidalar »

Answering for the Sanmra, the speakers of Tirina. As a preliminary note, the extended family is a distinct legal entity in Sanmra. When you get married, either you leave your family and join your partner's, or they leave their family and join yours, or you both leave your families and start your own. Also, the dalar (the primary species in the nation of Sanmra) don't get pregnant nearly as easily as humans do, so children aren't a big factor in most marriages.

Same-sex marriage: Not actually sure on this one. I know that there's no laws against same-sex relationships in general, but I haven't actually worked out how same-sex marriage could interact with the family system in a legal sense. I don't think it's treated the same way as heterosexual marriage, but I'm not sure how those differences play out.

Polygamy: Totally illegal--it's never really been a thing for them. If anybody wanted to legalize it today, most people would argue that it would upset the balance between families, because now one person could bring in multiple people into a single family. The Sanmra aren't even all that comfortable with somebody remarrying after their spouse dies. They generally practice straight monogamy.

Child marriage: Regardless of whether we're talking of the "betrothed in childhood but no naughty business until adulthood" kind or the "horrifying pedophilia" kind, it's all disallowed--you can't get married until you're a legal adult at age 48.

Interspecies marriage: The dalar are the primary population in Sanmra, but some humans live there as well. Interspecies marriage is entirely legal, if seriously frowned upon. (partly for elitism reasons, and partly because half-human, half-dalar children have a whole host of common medical problems, both physical and mental, so there's a very big social stigma against such relationships) If we're talking non-sentient species, then... no?

Necrophiliac marriage: I... assume you mean just marrying someone who's already dead, not actual necrophilia? Like ghost marriage or something? In that case, no, it's not legal, although there could be the odd case where if two people were betrothed and were going to join one of their families, and one of the couple dies, the other might still be adopted into the other family. But it'd be an adoption, not a marriage. (and for the record, actual necrophilia is also illegal...)

Interracial marriage: Ain't nobody care what color you are. I mean your family will be quietly horrified if you marry a Tuanmali, but that's not a race thing, it's a "the last time our nations got along was three thousand years ago" thing.

Intercaste marriage: There's no legal castes, so there's no legal laws against such things. People tend to marry within their social stratum, but that's a social thing, not a legal one.
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

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Serena wrote:I wish people could make a different thread for same-sex marriage and polygamy, which are legit practices. I don't think it sounds right to compare it to child marriages and necrophilia, which are sick paraphilias.
sangi39 wrote:I suppose it depends on how you define "child marriage" and "necrophiliac marriage", as Lao Kou said.

If we're talking about "consummated" marriages between an adult and either a child or a corpse, then yeah, that could be pretty iffy ground for grouping them in with polygamy and same-sex marriage.
There are indeed people who are of the opinion that all four of these practices are sick and repugnant paraphilias. And with justification. Just as there are others who will argue that all four ought to be seen as legitimate. Also, possibly, with some justification. The matter of "legit" vs not is one of culture and individual opinion -- perhaps we shouldn't be so quick to judge two of them as "legit" and the other two as "sick" when I or anyone else could just as rationally and just as legitimately judge all four to be equally sick!

But on to the actual questions...

In the Eastlands of the World, marriage practices vary considerably. I won't go into great detail here, but will note some practices that answer to the questions.

Among Men it is agreed that marriage is a thing done between women and men. Therefore, no same-sex "marriage" as it is sometimes understood e.g. here in the USA. But there are certainly options available. While the State Paganisms of both Auntimoany and Rumnias (and indeed elsewhere) do not recognise any kind of same-sex union, the Kristians do have several kinds of non-marital union available. I think the Jews (Habireans) and Buddhists (Bodhians) also reject the concept. Contrary to nature and all that. In the tradition of the Kristians (Religion of Light), marriage is a sacramental contract made between one woman and one man. There are, however, other kinds of non-sacramental (but still blessed) unions, some of which may or may not be contractual in nature that two men or two women can avail themselves of. These kinds of unions are not designed for homosexual use per se -- the concept itself as we seem to be evolving it *here* is not even understood *there* -- and may be used by anyone regardless of what we would call 'orientation'. (It is, for example, considered de rigeur for both the Emperor and co-Emperor to be joined to a trusted other in addition to their proper marriage to each other.) Although the State does not get itself involved in marriages (unless one or more of the contractants in question is owned by the State (so, an Emperor or Emperor-apprentice; a state-owned slave; a state-managed debt-slave; soldiers & sailors to some extent); there are laws, as of inheritance, that apply to people in contractual relationship. Generally speaking, married people fall under such laws, and they will apply to the estate(s) of a deceased partner. Not all same-sex unions fall under marriage laws, though some do. Two women wishing to contractually bind themselves in that way ought to consult with a solicitor that deals with this area of the law to ensure that things get taken care of properly.

Daine concur on the basic nature of marriage, though allow for various kinds of multiple marriage. It is not rare to find two women married with one man, a little less common to find two men married with one woman. Twins will almost always marry with complimentary twins; or if a set of twins can not be found, then two willing and very close siblings. There are many different kinds of marriage: usually it will be a matter of mutual esteem, attraction & love; there is a kind of marriage expressly for making children (when the children so made are sufficiently grown, the man is released); there are "marriages for a fortnight" (usually made between a willing local girl and a boy passing through town on some travel -- good to mix up the gene pool a bit, I suppose!); some kinds may be done for treaty or dynastic purposes. It is still valid for a warrior to seize an enemy and compel that person into a marriage (which may last more than the first night, if he's lucky enough to survive without a knife sticking in his ribs and she can be sufficiently tamed). In Westmarche and Withwandiê is is the norm for families to arrange marriages for their young children, so in those places child marriage is the norm. But in these instances, the young couple will generally not even meet until after they've come of age. It is considered highly improper and out of the question for a marriage to be arranged between a child and an adult.

Necrophilic marriage is licit in Auntimoany, though according to the statutes of 2012 (An ACT: Allowing for the Marriage of Those No Longer Quite Among the Living), both contractants must, in point of fact, be registered zombies. Messing about with ordinary corpses is, shall we say, generally considered to be ick. Even the folks IARAL (Imperial Association for the Rights of the Alternately Alive) draw the line at banging those at quiet repose. The only exceptions have been in extreme cases where some dynastic crisis needs to be averted by such a marriage. Anymore this kind of marriage can not happen, since the imperial dignity is conferred by election and acclamation of Parliament rather than by mere inheritance. Back in the old days, the days of heritable monarchy, if a young emperor had a dalliance with some random kitchen wench and then went off and got himself whacked in battle, well, the poor girl would have to marry the emperor's corpse (or, absent a body sufficiently all together, she will marry the imperial hat) (a nonconsummatory marriage either way, to be sure, it having already been, as the lawyers say, hanteconsummato yndurante bibintem, consummated before all the religio-legal niceties. Once the baby is out, her job is done and the marriage is considered nullified. She has in no case any claims to remuneration (apart from the legally stipulated surrogacy stipend -- which ordinarily would involve a whole different kind of temporary marriage, that of alja yn nomini altras) and no claims to imperial authority in any event. Not that smart girls haven't tried to usurp in the past; but few indeed have gotten away with it, Wolfheledez (r. March 1502 - March 1503) is the record holder on that account. She managed to grip the arms of the throne for a whole week before being dragged off to spend the rest of her reign quietly immured in the Halls of Silence.

As for inter-racial marriage, those are actually pretty rare, though not actually disallowed by law or religious custom. There have been rare instances of Men and Teyor marrying. Daine will generally only marry Daine -- Men and their various cousins simply don't last long enough, and Teyor live far too long! Out in the hinterlands, it's not unheard of to find a Man and a Dharg happily married. Some Daine have been known to marry Hotai girls; and Turghun (half-Hotai-half-Daine) will happily settle down with just about anyone. Yttuun are too incomprehensible in nature with only one mind/soul, but they have been known to take a fancy to settling down with a Daine from time to time.

For the most part, these kinds of unions don't yield children (which is kind of the point of getting married, for the most part). Genetics being as Lamarkian as it is, it sometimes leads to surprising results. Daine-Hotai unions are able to churn out the babies at an unbelievable rate; and the resulting Turghun are similarly prolific.
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by sangi39 »

elemtilas wrote:
Serena wrote:I wish people could make a different thread for same-sex marriage and polygamy, which are legit practices. I don't think it sounds right to compare it to child marriages and necrophilia, which are sick paraphilias.
sangi39 wrote:I suppose it depends on how you define "child marriage" and "necrophiliac marriage", as Lao Kou said.

If we're talking about "consummated" marriages between an adult and either a child or a corpse, then yeah, that could be pretty iffy ground for grouping them in with polygamy and same-sex marriage.
There are indeed people who are of the opinion that all four of these practices are sick and repugnant paraphilias. And with justification. Just as there are others who will argue that all four ought to be seen as legitimate. Also, possibly, with some justification. The matter of "legit" vs not is one of culture and individual opinion -- perhaps we shouldn't be so quick to judge two of them as "legit" and the other two as "sick" when I or anyone else could just as rationally and just as legitimately judge all four to be equally sick!
That was pretty much the point I made at the end of my last post, i.e. that what "we" find sick might be recognised as completely normal in other cultures and vice versa.

I'm trying to remember, but I think I once worked very briefly on a conculture (for a collaborative conworld project which ended rather abruptly due to a hacking issue, IIRC) that did have a concept of necrophiliac marriages, especially amongst the upper classes where marriages were often arranged. Death didn't prevent a marriage from being formed and once married, the wealth, land and titles of both individuals were shared, meaning that if one of them died after the marriage was formed, the living spouse took the titles/wealth/land as a whole, with the potential to carry that on into another marriage.

The concept probably wouldn't have been too bad in the beginning, but later on, I'd imagine, assassination attempts might have become more and more common (they also had a system of absolute primogeniture when it came to land ownership and titles with an unequal inheritance in relation to moveable wealth). You marry your son off to the daughter of a wealthy land-owning family, wait until she inherits her land, titles and wealth, and then kill her off. Your son then takes on all of her lands, titles and wealth. You then marry your son off to another woman and do the same thing again. Inheritance occurs regardless of who brought the wealth and land to the marriage, in relation to the child, only birth order. So the son's first son would inherit all of the titles and land that his father had collected through multiple wives.

This could, thanks to necrophiliac marriages, be achieved without the daughter having to be alive. Upon the death of her parents, as long as a marriage had been arranged for her before her death, the land, titles and wealth that would have been passed on to her would pass on to her intended husband. However, her intended husband could not marry until the death of her parents, with her being considered "technically alive" until her inheritance was received.

I never quite worked out the history for this process, but I had imagined, IIRC, that the system would have been abolished or greaty simplified in order to reduce in-fighting and assassinations, an indirect result being the fall of the empire.
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by HoskhMatriarch »

cntrational wrote:I should note that it being in their myths doesn't necessitate they actually practice it. For example, Hindu mythology features a promenent polyandric marriage, but monogamous marriage is pretty standard in India, and has been in many places for most of its history. Not even the later Islam's polygamous tranditions changed that.
Yes, that's true too, as for example most Christian and Jewish countries don't have kings running around with a bunch of wives and concubines, but I still thought it would be interesting to have cultures that practice things like that.
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by Salmoneus »

Necrophilia is a sexual perversion. Sex is only tangentially and circumstantially related to marriage, which is a way of regulating the transmission of property. The word you are looking for is 'posthumous marriage', not 'necrophiliac marriage'.

-------

Among the Là, 'marriage' in the legal sense, as they understand it, is rarely carried out at all in the modern era. However, there are regularised and ritualised relationships that are essentially marriages in practice. These relationships, however, are not defined in terms of individuals, but rather in terms of residences.

- same-sex? Sisters have a right of residence in their mother's house; this also includes adopted sisters. Aristocratic household formation often does involve adoption of sisters. Descent and inheritance are matrilineal.

- plural? Aristocratic households typically include several men ('husbands') and several women (native to the house and/or adopted) (in the case of the largest houses, there may be several 'households' with right of residence). Descent and inheritance are matrilineal.

- pre-adult? Children reside in their mother's house. Descent and inheritance are matrilineal.

- interspecies? Some families do have pets. Descent and inheritance, however, are matrilineal.

- posthumous? I'm not sure. Wouldn't entirely surprise me, though as descent and inheritance are matrilineal, there would be little purpose to this. Sounds like something that might have happened in former eras, but that has probably died out now.

- interracial? Sure, though descent and inheritance are matrilineal. [That's not to say there isn't racism, of course. Mixed-race children, particularly those with unfashionably pale-skinned fathers, may face some prejudice. But there is no specific taboo against miscegenation or prohibition of interracial marriage]

- intercaste? There are no formal castes. There are informal unclean castes, and marriages into these castes (associated closely with certain professions) would bring ridicule and disgust. However, it would not be illegal, just a faux pas.


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Two quicker sets of answers for two other cultures I've not been thinking about as much:
- Vajhorans: no same-sex per se - upper classes see same-sex relationships as necessary stage in life, and they are partly ritualised, but are different from marriage; no plural marriage per se, but upper classes often practice concubinage; child marriage practiced among the high aristocracy, though no consumation until puberty; no interspecies marriage; yes, posthumous marriage but I'm not sure of the details (primarily for maintaining noble linneages); yes, interracial; not sure how caste works for them.

- Handorians: no same-sex marriage; no plural marriage; marriage from 13-14 onwards in the upper classes, maybe lower in exceptional cases; no interspecies marriage; no posthumous marriage; not sure about interracial marriage; no caste system.
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elemtilas
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by elemtilas »

Salmoneus wrote:Necrophilia is a sexual perversion.
That, sir, is an insult to Zombies everywhere! [}:D] It's also rather a matter of opinion as to whether it is a "perversion" or not. It may coincidentally be the prevailing opinion -- but prevailing opinions change, as we have seen with that other paraphilia, homosexuality.
Sex is only tangentially and circumstantially related to marriage, which is a way of regulating the transmission of property.
Actually, sex is pretty central to the Christian concept of marriage. Go forth and multiply, you see. Can't do that without some serious shagging. Shagging within the confines of marriage, of course!
The word you are looking for is 'posthumous marriage', not 'necrophiliac marriage'.
Could be. I'll let Khemehekis clarify whether he meant necrophiliac or posthumous. What I described, however, was indeed a I guess sexual attraction involving what can really only be called corpses. Since it involves corpses, I guess such a marriage by definition would also be posthumous...

Actual posthumous marriage, such as seems to be allowed in France, and such as I think you might be thinking of would I think not exist in the cultures I'm aware of in the Eastlands. Twould be seen as just a touch odd! And anyway, there would be no sense or use in it -- contracts become nullified when one or the other of the parties dies; a contract can only be made between two (or more) consenting people of proper age; dead bodies can no longer consent, and so can no longer fulfill their contractual obligations.
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Omzinesý
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Re: Gay marriage, polygamy, etc.

Post by Omzinesý »

The concept of marriage is very different in Rkuom. What I call wife should maybe be called an employer and what I call husband should maybe be called an employee. Thus, thus marriage is a juridical agreement according to which a man works for a woman and is allowed to live in her house and and the village. Children always belong to the woman and they don't socially have a father. Polyandry is possible. A woman can have some husbands or employees. Marriage is legal only in the village, so a man can have another wife/employer in another village. Women spend all their lives (This should actually be called existence because women are believed to reborn) in one village while men wander between villages and live long periods at the prairie.

Marriage is a juridical agreement between two adults (though the juridical status of men and women is always different). Child marriage is by definition impossible. When boys live in their mother's village they cannot marry. Incest in marriages I'd banned. A woman cannot marry a man from her own village.

Husband's practice of sexuality is limited in villages. They are allowed to have sex with their wife exclusively. Women can always have sex with anybody. Lesbian sex is allowed but two women cannot marry, of course. Men can do anything at the prairie, and gay sex is common there but homosexual marriage cannot happen, because a man cannot 'employ' a man.

Shamans have quite strict relations with treecats and some of it could be interpreted sexual but it is not called 'marriage'.

Marriages rarely end when one partner dies. People normally separate and end the agreement. Socially, old women are seen as young girls. They cannot be wives, anymore. But I the wife accidentally dies a marriage cannot be ended at once. So necrophiliac/posthumanous marriage can be legal for a moment before the woman has gone through the rituals of loosing womanhood.

There are no casts in Rkuom villages.
Last edited by Omzinesý on 04 Sep 2015 02:38, edited 2 times in total.
My meta-thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5760
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