>What incentives are there for a clan to spend time and effort
>training women in specialist roles if those women will be lost
>to the clan when they marry?
"Lost to the clan? Does a father's love for a daughter cease when she marries? Does a brother cease going to his sister for advice just because she rests at another hearth? Does a young woman cease to care for her kin and clan as soon as she takes a husband? To all of this I say, 'No'!"
There are a couple of different typical responses to your question, and I'll go through them one by one. Our major sources are 'Report On The Orlanthi' in King of Sartar, and of course, Thunder Rebels. I don't have the sources handy, so I won't be quoting chapter and verse.
Firstly, the Heortlings have at least seven different types of marriage, temporary and permanent, and involving different arrangements concerning habitation and the clan identity of children. There are also differences depending on the class (wealth and status) of the couples, and whether a clan is patrilineal or matrilineal. So there's lots of choice in determining what sort of marriage contract best suits a couple and their clans - and Heortling marriage is as much a contract between two clans as a union of two individuals.
One of these marriage types is, as you've identified, 'Wife and Underhusband', or 'Esrolian' marriage, and a wealthy woman like Halorica might well choose this type. If so, then the underhusband might well come to live at Halorica's birth stead, and any children would belong to her clan.
Of course, being a trader, Halorica might be used to having several homes, as well as being away from her hearth for long periods of time. Even if she lived elsewhere, you could expect frequent visits.
A general response would be that clans practice reciprocity in marriage arrangements. If your wealthy and highly skilled daughter goes in marriage to the Shouting Rock clan, then your clan will expect a similarly gifted bride in response - if not to your son then at least to one of your kin, probably a nephew or cousin. It's not quite one-for-one, but the matchmakers and bloodline elders are remarkably sophisticated when it comes to negotiating marriages. Gifts (and nearly every Heortling contract is disguised as a 'gifting') are always repaid. The 'ledger' will be close to balance.
And of course a wealthy woman attracts a high bride price. The Heortlings practice both dowry and brideprice, and the exchanges between the two kin groups will continue for years after the actual marriage: a source of friendship and alliance and trade opportunities, as well as the actual exchange of goods.
A woman or man's change to another clan identity upon marriage is a major life event, and not always an easy one. But we shouldn't think that birth clan allegiances and relationships are forgotten, or even that they should be. For a woman especially, life as a junior wife at a strange hearth can be difficult at first, and she may not be accepted fully into her new clan until the birth of her first child. (Halorica's marriage won't be like this of course). But marriage partners are always expected to speak for the interests of their birth clan as well as for their marriage clan - indeed this coming together of clans in mutual interest is one of the main reasons Heortling marriage is predicated the way it is. A bride will continue to have formal religious responsibilities in her birth clan, as well as the strength of her personal relationships with family and bloodline. This is why clans have informal or formal marriage alliances - friendly clans that they prefer to swap brides (and husbands) with, why feuds can be so deadly and divisive, and why marriage is such a powerful diplomatic tool for ensuring peace - either by continuing exchanges with long-time allies or by marriage contracts on the making peace between warring parties.
Cheers
John
>__________________________________________
John Hughes
Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research
Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2600
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