>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."
Seems a reasonable assumption. Of course ritual and magical relationships wouldn't count as adultery but I can't see a monogamous Wind Lord myself.
>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.
The subject of rape has been done to death on various forums. However if someone were chosen by Thed they would be outlawed or killed, not for any rape they might have committed but for following a chaotic god. The same applies to Cacodemon, ogres are chaotic not just because they eat human flesh (the latter is also true of Maran Gori).
>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.
Remember "No one can make you do anything" and "There's always another way". When Ernalda was faced with this problem she became Enferalda and followed him in disguise. I think a woman would have difficulty staying at her ex-husband's stead if she divorced, Heortling marriage is more about property and family ties than the partnership of two individuals and divorce breaks those ties. She'd have to have very strong relationships with other members of the family to continue to be accepted.
One thing we tend to forget in the modern world is that marriage has a social function which can be more important than the relationship between the two partners. I can imagine that a woman who abandoned her marriage because her husband was following his god would be seen as unreliable.
>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.
It does make for a good storyline if there is an unfulfilled sexual attraction. Another alternative is that they get along well but don't have a sexual attraction for each other.
>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)
How have young adults living at home managed to have affairs without upsetting their parents for centuries?
It's even easier in a rural community than an urban one because there are loads of good reasons to be off on your own. The fact that Kandreya always takes Olaf his midday meal when he's looking after the cattle is gossip but not an issue.
I think the discreet element is a matter of not shoving the affair in everyone's face and not getting a reputation for promiscuity.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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