Thanks for the comments Jeff. They added a lot, and helped bring to life my usual my usual dry delivery. In particular, the minor gods and goddesses were a great addition. Niskiss seems my kind of guy :)
> I was looking for a rule of thumb or useful generalization.
I guess the most useful generalisation would be, for long-term marriages bridewealth should be high enough to be difficult, and high enough that the clans of both parties need to be involved. Twenty or thirty cattle *is* a lot, but then choosing a bride or a husband is one of the most important decisions of your life. Conducting the courtship, honourably negotiating with kin, and balancing the demands of interested parties is *itself* a rite of adulthood (a bit like buying a house and taking on a mortgage for us).
(Stray thought: year-marriages might be a form of 'pay by installment' for the poor but worthy. :))
> As I recall, there is a subcult of Ernalda The Queen which deals
with
> this important aspect of clan life -- matchmaking becomes
lessimportant
> when the clan is in a more settled region and the alliances forged
> through marriage are less crucial.
Marriage is as much a clan business as an individual matching. In some circumstances a matchmaker's role might be to *stop* you doing things as much as assisting you to get what you think you want. An ancient and delicate art... no wonder its an Ernaldan subcult. Can you imagine asking Uncle Boz the Learing Uroxi to be your matchmaker... :)
> > 4. All Heortlings take marriage partners from another clan.
Beyond this,
>
> This is to prevent incest, unwitting and otherwise.
This is properly a pedantic anthropowanky aside on my part, but exogamy (marrying outside your social group) and incest (the ban on sex with close kin) are very, very different things. In kinship seminars (kinda like hell, but with more terminology), we were made to chant "SEX AIN'T MARRIAGE, MARRIAGE ISN'T SEX" in order to pound the distinction into our tiny brains. Marriage rules are about alliances between groups, and seldom have anything to say about sex. Incest taboos - bans on sexual activity among close kin - of one form or another are universal, but the categories they ban are *not* the same as forbidden marriage partners. So Nalda Heortling might discretely take a lover from *within* her clan, even though she can never marry within it. (Of course she would never dally with close kin from her bloodline - that's INCEST! "Besides... we share a hearth and I've seen what he looks like first thing in the morning - its GROSS...") Enough of the obscurity!
> There are a few events of this
> nature in KoDP and the entire Melissande's Hand scenario from Sun
County
> is built around this concept and stands the test of time very well
when
> moved inoto the HW envirionent (Ian? Any ETA on that?).
I happen to be doing the final layout right now. :) Ian has been chasing me up, and I believe the final playtests will be concluded this weekend. As someone who had a hand in MOB's original scenario, let me say I think Ian and his co-authors have done a BRILLIANT job in updating it for Hero Wars. Stay tuned. Now if only I can get the map right...
> Your view of the Heortling society seems to be very client/patron
> intensive, more so than I recall similar earthly societies? I'd
expect
> this sort of status for the more settled folks of Hendrikiland and
> demand it of the urbanized Dara Happans.
I've probably been over-emphasising it of late in order to get the idea across - but I believe the idea of gifting and patronage is absolutely central to understanding how a kin-based, virtually coinless, communal society works. Its more abstract and background than overt - a gift is never called a loan, but if you don't repay it in some way you're total rubbish and won't be taken seriously by anyone. Patrons are never called such, but everybody in the clan knows that Kierston Two Worlds helped you set up your personal herd, and that she expects your support in her law case against those lazy thieving Maplebarks. Every Heortling has a very finely tuned sense of status and obligation, and though it doesn't often manifest in overt ways (for we all are free), it *does* form the bedrock of how they perceive each other. (In the same way, 'status' and 'class' are totally pervasive in our own society, and they often determine how we treat each other and deal with strangers, even though we almost never talk about the concepts and may even deny that they exist.)
You don't have to give it much attention in play - just remember that in a kin-based society like the Heortlings, there are *always* people you owe a favour to, *always* people who owe you a favour, and that publically reminding people of these favours and subtly calling them in is very much the way that things are done. For those with a rules bent, you could probably work out a simple system using Wealth and Hero Points.
> By having the proper bride-price availble, the male bloodline
> demonstrates that they are a worthy home for the woman... But the
gifts
> being exchanged means that neither home is impoverished at the
expense
> of the other -- usually.
On the large scale, a clan will have as many daughters as sons, so it will all balance out. Its the circulation that counts. However, the loss of a young, fit, productive daughter (or son in certain types of marriage) to another clan is a *real* economic loss to a stead, and deserves compensation.
> > Kandreya herself will inherit a hereditary cult title from her
mother, so
> > she knows she will attract a good deal of attention during
courtship.
>
> Most cult titles are non-hereditary among the Heortlings, I
thought?
> Though amongst the Earth Tribe, it probably differs.
A personal foible. I tend to use them occasionally for female, earthbased cult positions. I wouldn't want to over-emphasise them, but since Heortling society is
I always try and built in little things to emphasise Ernaldan power. Hereditary positions passed from mother to daughter is one of them.
Cheers
John
My girl is the queen of ten villages
We live on the fruits of her pillages
She eats other queens - she's very religious
She doesn't use a fork
I don't think I'll go back to New York.
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