But since you did ask (and my players, having just become adult, are frantically investigating the possibilities inherent in there being two different genders), I'll give it a try.
Basicaly what we all (well, me, anyway) tend to forget is that Orlanthi society doesn't think of children the same way as we do. A child is brought up by the clan: primarily by the parents, but with assistance and support from the whole clan. A "single mother" has plenty of live-in childminders. Also, a child is very soon (three?) a source of labour, not just a drain on the resources. They live in an area and a universe which is under-populated, not over-populated.
So, why not have children before marriage? It proves you're fertile, making you more of a catch. It keeps your family happy, as they like having more children around the place. And, believe it or, not, sex is fun. Children often result.
Look, this whole idea of virginity somehow being seen as an asset depends on men thinking they "own" women in some way and have a right to say who they go to bed with. Orlanthi aren't that daft. And it's linked in with a hang-over from some early Christian ideas that sex of any sort is somehow "sinful". (Blame Augustine). Again, Orlanthi didn't get infected by this sort of thing, so they don't have the problem.
In fact, I wouldn't mind betting that in some clans at least, there are no adult virgins. Anyone read the "Clan of the Cave Bear" series? Remember the idea of "First Rites", where a newly-adult women has her first time with a very experienced adult man, to instruct her? A very sensible idea, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if Orlanthi used it. (Apple Lane actually suggests this, doesn't it? Though with Uleria priestesses only, no priests, since as we know all PCs are male.)
The only limits I know of on having as many children before marriage
as you can manage are
1) pregnancy would actually be harmful, for medical reasons
2) your occupation (wandering mercenary, frex) is such that you
wouldn't have the clan support you'd need.
3) you have taken religious vows against it. (Voria priestesses,
Yelmalians, Yelornans, etc.)
How wooing happens: take a look at the various stories about Orlanth wooing Ernalda. And wotsit-of-the-Vanak-Spear doing that quest for his wife. Now grab some similar stories from the Mabinogion and Malory, and there you go.
Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/
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