A stray thought on clarifying clan and bloodline membership upon marriage.
A key distinction has to be made between membership 'in law' and membership 'by residence'. The Heortlings themselves seem to make this distinction a clear one - ROTO makes note that the idea of the 'family' is an extra-legal one.
"Family is an informal (non-legal, but practical) term which includes the immediate relatives of an individual. It always includes his wife, parents, siblings, and children. It often includes any uncles, aunts, or first cousins who live within the same stead. Families have no official legal standing, and are a matter of biology and affection rather than law and custom."
I believe that this has key importance. In many instances of daily life, we should assume that the description "and their spouses" be added to most criteria of eligibility for clans and bloodlines..
Lets say Nalda of the Twin Maples bloodline of the Tresdarnii clan marries Larni of the Big Rock bloodline of the Red Deer clan. It's a standard marriage: she goes to live with him and his kin on his tula, and her children will be Big Rock/Red Deer.
Nalda's clan and bloodline do not legally change: she is still Twin Maples/Tresdarnii. Obviously though, as the years go by her interests and investments become more closely aligned with her husband's bloodline and clan. She is, after all, now "family".
Her status as 'wife' in fact gives her de facto membership of her husband's bloodline and clan. Not formal membership, but in day to day life her contribution is as valid as any others. Who may speak at the moot? Clan members "and their spouses". Who is eligible to be elected to the Ring? Clan members "and their spouses". Who can clash their bronze and whoop in electing a chief? Clan members "and their spouses". Who participates in the great ceremonies? Clan members "and their spouses". If a bloodline is found guilty of a crime and must pay wereguild, whose private herds will be used to pay? Bloodline members "and their spouses".
Nalda still has rights and responsibilities in her original clan and bloodline, though these will naturally lessen with time. She will always enjoy the support and protection of her parents, her brothers and her bloodline.
Rather than go through the messy convolutions of multiple membership or changing clan identity, this is simple and relatively elegant. It is also close to what the term "WIFE" or 'HUSBAND" actually means in tribal settings. It's a term of status vis a vis the clan as much as a designation of relationship to one's spouse.
Nalda is also a member of the women's circle, a group that yields a vast amount of informal power, most commonly expressed through the earth priestess and through the influence of hearthmistresses (the senior female in each household).
(The women's circle is one of three institutions that are not kin-based. The second is certain religious cults, though the distinction between religion and family is often difficult for a Heortling to make, and many cults *are* organised on kin lines. The third is the lodge of the chief's weaponthanes, mainly unmarried men who form their own household.)
Cheers
John
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