Moah writes:
> >Wouldn't that be adultery? I believe Orlanthi look down on adultery?
> >(that it actually brings bad fortune on the clan until it's fixed).
Donald responds:
> I can't believe adultery is that badly regarded - these people are
> human after all. I think the real objection is to kinstrife which
> adultery tends to cause. If all parties are content with the
> situation then no one else makes a fuss - it's their affair. Only if
> one of the parties complains or threatens violence does the clan get
> involved and then the middle party will get told to make up their
> mind - divorce their spouse or kick out their lover.
On the one hand I think most Heortlings feel comfortable with monogamous marriages and find alternative arrangements unsettling. On the other hand, their gods give them really mixed models.
I guess I've been making assumptions about the behaviour of Wind Lords. My take on it is that when he's embodying Orlanth Adventurous, and Orlanth is going "Phwoah, she's cute" or "Earth priestess's parched earth needs my life-giving rain, yes!!" the Wind Lord doesn't exactly get to say "Sorry about this Orlanth, but I've got a wife back home and I'd really rather not."
Hmmm... that brings up some interesting philosophical questions about rape, especially for the rape-hating Heortlings. Luckily, this isn't usually an issue, because in order to be an appropriate vessel for the god, the disciple has modelled the god's virtues and characteristics, and wouldn't be expected to have a problem with the god's behaviours. It all works well so long as people get to choose their gods.
I think the default Heortling reaction to a husband becoming a Wind Lord is that it would be tidier to have the partners divorce, even if nothing else about the relationship changes. The ex-wife who is a mother can continue her role at the ex-husband's stead, the couple can get together whenever the Wind Lord comes home, and what happens betweentimes is covered by the fairly liberal approach to relationships between consenting adults of different clans. Despite all this, I find it hard to picture Unn without her marriage braids and bracelets.
As for the Wind Lord's wife and the Elmali brother... we'll see. When I described them as being "the functional equivalent of the married couple" I meant that they share the same division of labour, consultation and decision-making that is common to Heortling married couples. Whether they share a blanket would likely depend on whether Unn still braids her hair. I'm inclined to think that prudence argues against adultery for a woman living in her husband's stead, and that this is a stead with a lot of energies to sublimate.
Besides, could someone fill me in on how you're meant to conduct a discreet affair when you live in a stead? Where? When? With whom? For example, if the young pre-marriage Kandreya is permitted to take lovers discretely [sic, hmm, maybe I'm reading this wrong and it's just that's she's meant to have them one at a time], how does she do it? (http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/marriage.html)
Cheers,
Jennifer
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