As the designated Orlanthi "expert", I'll make a crack at these excellent questions.
>The report emphasises that
>- - the smallest legal unit is a bloodline,
>- - the law does not recognise that any crime can be committed by one
member
>of a bloodline against another and
>- - a bloodline suffers all penalties against and enjoys all rewards to an
>individual member of that bloodline.
This is essentially correct, but allow me to rephrase the statements: - --the bloodline (or extended family) is the basic unit of Orlanthi social organization which has certain legal ramifications, one being that legal disputes between Orlanthi are effectively legal disputes between bloodlines. The most important thing to keep in mind is that an Orlanthi bloodline is not a rigidly formal concept - it is an organization that exists because its members say it does.
An example of this is given every time the Greeting is given. The Greeting traditionally involves an Orlanthi stating his/her name, his/her prominent kinfolk and his/her bloodline, e.g. "I am Tostig Haralfsson of Blasted Oak, grandson of Angangeot Six Brothers, the nephew of Faralf Lightning who founded Blasted Oak!" With this, Tostig is establishing who he is by stating who his kinship group is, and thus putting other Orlanthi on notice if they have any claims against that kinship group. One possible response might be, "The same Angangeot Six Brothers whose nephew Hroddr the Otter who killed a thrall of my kinsman Bolik the Stout and stole six of his cattle?"
>I think that given the above, there must be some further religious and
>social bonds between members. I feel that each bloodline should have a
>council or some other leadership mechanism to actually runs its affairs
>(dividing up the lands that the clan have given it between members,
>arranging marriages and punishing misbehaviour)? Also, there should be
>frequent worship of the Founder, perhaps the spirit of the Founder will be
a
>member of the leadership?
A bloodline's main bond is that of kin. Orlanthi organize the world in concentric rings of association - kin, clan, tribe, strangers, foreigners. Some bloodlines might have a de facto council or leadership mechanism - but the overwhelming majority don't. Instead, most bloodlines are led by consensus - or at least by the consensus of the important members of the bloodline. The heads of steads, the elders, and other prominent members of the family determine how land is to be divided, negotiate marriages and punish misbehavior by the members. Orlanthi law places strong incentives for a bloodline to police its own - the transgressions of any member opens up the possibility of reprisals against any other member of the bloodline, usually the weakest members.
A bloodline rarely worships its founder - unless the founder was a heroic figure with his/her own cult independant of the bloodline. This is part of the distinction between a bloodline and a clan - a bloodline exists in a particular time, a clan is (in theory) perpetual.
>How often would a new bloodline be established? My feeling is that, once a
>bloodline exceeds 50 adults, there would be a tendency for it to split, as
>the temptation and opportunity to cheat would increase as members could not
>easily keep track of one another. Furthermore I suspect that almost all
>Heroes will be chosen as a new Founder by his/her children and possibly
>other close relatives.
New bloodlines can be established anytime members want to stake out their own claim or anytime particular groups no longer are willing to acknowledge close kinship. Usually a bloodline only goes back around four generations - after that, the members have difficulty keeping track. Many bloodlines are only three generations and some last only a generation or two.
Let's say that Hroddr the Otter is a complete an utter bastard and his thieving ways have alienated the other members of the bloodline. They can refuse to protect him (effectively kicking him out of the bloodline) and let the other members of the clan know this (a very dangerous precedent), or they can kick him out of the bloodline - effectively outlawing him. At which point, Hroddr becomes very exposed....
>In the case of a Clan Founder and (possibly) Bloodline Founder, will the
>ancestor worship take them out of the cycle of rebirth?
Nope. Orlanthi ancestor worship doesn't really work in the method described in Cults of Prax. A worshipped ancestor comes in two basic forms: a genuine community hero worshipped by the clan as a whole (e.g., Old Man Varmand), or as a deceased kinsmen that is offered "worship" in exchange for protection, favors, blessings, etc. An example of this might be Tostig periodically holding a feast for Faralf Lightning in exchange for his fabled battle luck.
>It appears that, in the majority of marriages, the wife will move to her
>husband's home but this implies there will be cases where the opposite
>applies, but I do not wish to explicitly spell it out in each of the
>following cases. How involved in a bloodline will a wife be? How does a
>bloodline regulate the behaviour of its married daughters? Obviously a
>wife's original bloodline will protect her interests, especially if it
comes
>to divorce, but from a practical and legal point of view I think she will
>have become a member of her husband's bloodline.
Yes, but remember a bloodline is not a terribly fixed and formal entity. A wife's original bloodline will protect her interests especially if she gets a divorce, however her husband's kin will generally protect her, because not doing so is grounds for a divorce AND an action by the wife's kin. An example could be: Tostig married Hildebrun daughter of Thorwulf of Green Hill from the Hemendi clan. Hildebrun's dowry cattle were grazed on land claimed by Grettir the Arbitrary, who killed her servant and stole her cattle. If Tostig does not seek vengeance (either through violence or through the law) against Grettir the Arbitrary, Hildebrun can divorce him and Thorwulf's bloodline can maintain an action against Tostig and the rest of the Blasted Oak bloodline for the lost cattle and the slain servant. A feud can easily result.
>Moving on to clan and tribal behaviour.
>The clan chieftain is expected to be a warrior. Is a chieftain expected to
>voluntarily retire when he loses his fighting abilities or would the clan
>chuck him out? I suspect that this would depend on the times and that a
>retired chieftain would usually remain on the inner ring (and frequently an
>ousted chieftain would still have enough support to remain there too).
A chieftain is expected to voluntarily or involuntarily retire when he can no longer lead the clan. What happens to a "retired" chieftain depends often on the circumstances of his "retirement".
>Would a clan raid against another clan of the same tribe? I had a chat
with
>Simon Hibbs and we came to the conclusion that intra-tribal raiding would
be
>quite ritualised with maybe only one cow taken, just to show that they
could
>do it. Perhaps the owner would come over a few days later to collect their
>cow and give the raiders a few beers and have a laugh?
Depends. Intra-tribal raiding always runs the risk of tribal action. Some clans might have generations of ritualized raiding that takes the form of sport rather than warfare (I imagine that relationships between the clans of the Nymie vale or around Runegate take this form). Other clans might demand tribute from their fellow tribal members in exchange for immunity from clan raids - woe be it to the clan that fails to pay the annual tribute (the Varmandi have traditionally had this relationship with their neighboring Colymar fellows).
Hopefully these answers made some sense -
Jeff
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