>This has been discusse many times before, and I doubt
>if we want to rehash all the arguments again (do we?
>Moderator decision).
Arggh, no! Please... :)
>Heortling *bloodlines* are exogamous. Definitely. All
>source agree. Whether that means merely "no marriage
>within the bloodline" or "no sex within the bloodline"
>has been the subject of a little debate, but I think
>most of us would agree on the stronger definition.
Without getting too theoretical and anthrowanky, exogamous (out-marrying) groups build a certain type of society and encourage a certain type of social order: endogamous (in-marrying) groups have less recourse to wider society, and so can thumb their nose more often and develop more idiosyncratic traditions.
And when dealing with kinship (and human behaviour generally) you always have to make a *strong* distinction between the laws and generally accepted mores of what people believe happen or what should happen, and what people actually *do*. Doubly so when dealing with sex and romance.
In campaign terms:
Most Heortling clans are exogamous. Some aren't.
People are strongly encouraged not to take sexual partners from their own bloodline: this is 'incest', an aversion to which is culturally defined but common in most human societies, though not universal. If you share a common hearth, its actually rather uncommon to be attracted sexually to someone you have continued 'family' contact with: in kinship studies this is known as the 'kibbutzim factor', after studies of Israeli communes showed that people were disinclined to date people from their own communal house. (Whether this evolution in action or the 'dirty underwear factor' is besides the point here). As most Heortlings live in large common hearths with twenty of more adults from their bloodline, most will be more attracted to the lure of the exotic - people from beyond their hearth and beyond their bloodline.
HOWEVER, human nature and sexual experimentation being what it is, anything can, (and does) happen.
In my campaigns, the best place to meet potential sexual and marriage partners is at the shielings in Sea Season. Sheep instinctively head to the high country, the clans follow, and sheep being what they are, folk from different steads or clans end up in close proximity. There ar elots of opportunities for Braggi BentBow to meet his Nalda Mudshins, and for them to take long walks in the heather.
Fairs, markets and religious ceremonies are also big. Parents tend to engage matchmakers as a matter of course, though their selections are of course less hormonally-charged than the young people themselves.
Some readings of Heortling society indicate that certain clans ban sexual intercourse before initiation, and readings of this range from 'a custom honoured in word though less in deed' to 'common sense and generally followed' to 'initiation *creates* the biological changes that allow sexuality to flourish.
Sex and marriage in Heortling society is very different to our own concepts, but also very similar. Outlooks, expectations and processes vary greatly from our own society. Heortling marriage is not C20th western marriage. But the demands of biology are the same. And the immediacy of sex means that the rules and guidelines get broken or ignored. Often. *That* is universal :).
Cheers
John
>
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