> Actually, we know quite the opposite.
Aside from Jane's fairly evident irony, there seems little basis for making any sort of firm, pan-Gloranthan conclusion either way. I will, however note that at least one known form of Orlanthi marriage _is_ known to include (indeed, is basically simply) a vow of monogamy. (Clintonesque dissembling about the meanings of "monogamy" skipped.) Anyone planning on getting married in an Orlanthi ritual, I'd advise paying _close_ attention to the wording of the liturgy, and the oath you speak, to work out exactly you're signing up to...
> many if not most Orlanthi marriages are term, not whole-life, anyway.
This is true for many _ritual_ marriages, at least. And there's divorce, of course. I don't know that fixed-term "civil" marriages are common, though.
> One of these days I am going to HAVE to write up that monograph "Coming
> of Age Among the Kitori" to nail down just how unstandard Kitori sex
> lives are (think interspecies infertility, oriface size differentials,
> and smaller thus more deft fingers and tongues).
I don't think the Kitori are into inter-species sex, no matter what the Night Jumpers and their (many) other detractors might have told you. Excellent fodder for "Tales heard down the Uleria temple", though.
> Anyway, Thomas's beliefs of Orlanthi chastity probably ARE valid among
> Aeolian Orlanthi, even if nonsense among, say, semi-stone age Brolians
> (who are still Orlanthi, at least by courtesy), or the East Ralians.
I agree with this general sentiment. Not sure I'd want to characterise the different "types" of Orlanthi this broadly, and I'm not at all sure I agree about the East Wilds guys, but you can bet, if not the farm, then your Traditional Grazing Rights to it, that different kingdoms, different tribes, and even indeed different clans have conspicuously varied social attitudes to this sort of thing. And indeed, it would be a pretty pass if there weren't room for different _individual_ attitudes.
Slainte,
Alex.
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