There are no hard and fast answers for many of your questions. It all depends on the type of clan and the actual relationships involved. Being free, the child can to a certain extent choose their own destiny.
> Children of thralls in Heortling society are born free and adopted
> into the clan.
>
> Does that mean they are adopted as well to the bloodline of the
> mother's owners. Or do they form a new bloodline? I guess first, but
> that means they may become carls rising in two levels of status at
> once. Is that correct? Or are they always cottars?
I think that in most cases they would be 'attached' to one bloodline, and might be formally adopted when they become adults. Or they might wish to maintain the name of the bloodline they were born into (i.e. the bloodline their parent(s) belonged to when they were first captured, or even return to be initiated among their bith clan. Heortling women are more used to changing bloodlines (on marriage), while men are not. There are exceptions to both cases of course.
Most bloodlines are fairly closeknit, and value their identity. Any newcomer, be they a new wife, freed thrall or adopted outsider will be regarded with suspicion at first and will have to prove their worth. Letting a criminal or unduly violent person become a member of your bloodline may have serious effects on every member, given the communal nature of Heortling justice.
Status would usually be resolved independently. As children of course, they will have no formal status. On initiation, most would be simple cottars, but have the same opportunities to rise and accrete wealth as any other clan member.
> What would be other consequences? Would they have equal right to
> heritage? Would they introduce themselves in the Orlanthi Greeting as
> son/daughter of their new parents? Would they have any legal/religious
> relation to their bodily parents?
They will be born as free folk, though probably raised by their thrall parents and will become social adults upon initiation. That's fourteen or fifteen years, maybe longer given that initiation ceremonies are only held every few years. A lot will happen in that time - captives will be exchanged, parents may die, friendships and emnities formed, and attitudes will harden either for or against their adoptive clan or bloodline. I'd imagine most will adopt their true parent's patrinomic, but there's a vast range of possible stories here. Of course, earning a fitting epiphet is a major concern especially among Heortling men, and *anyone* would rather introduce themselves as Danwyr Three Battles or Danwyr the Plough or even Danwyr Can't-Be-Moved or Danwyr Kegbelly than Danwyr Karimson. I think patrinomics are more formal, and more important in legal and ceremonial areas, or when there are two or three Danwyr's gathered in one place. In the Greeting, among strangers, most would give their epiphet.
And a few may wear the epiphet "thrallchild" with pride, but not that many. :)
> If thrallkeeping was common among Heortlings and is not anymore since
> the lunar invasion I would expect plenty of thralls to be released and
> went back to their old clans during the last years. Is that right?
Personally I think thrall-taking has increased since the invasion. There's a *market* for it now, and you can sell thralls for silver. Pro-Lunar clans are encouraged to take thralls, and Imperial authorities are not likely to let enemy warriors go free after a battle.
Of course, the distinction is now very stark, so resistance clans are indeed *less* likely to take thralls, especially from another resistance clan. Its seen as a mark of being polluted by the Lunar Way.
Cheers
John
nysalor_at_... John HughesQuestlines: http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/
Karim rose on the day with songs. He shouldered his
shield to the wind.
He heft high his spear, his glittering spear,
And he rushed, in his joy, to the foe, through the foam,
And his challenge it echoed a third time around,
That his foe they shall pass no more!
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