"Most men do not leave the tula their whole lives. Most women do leave
>when they marry, but then rarely leave the tula of their new clan."
>(Thunder Rebels, p. 22)
This is a *very* general statement, contradicted in part by other sources, and definitely a case of being broad enough to drive several mobs of stolen cattle through. :)
Orlanth was a wanderer in his younger days, and a significant minority of young men (and women!) will follow in this tradition to gain a name and a herd and a spouse and to learn from their mistakes. Marriage links mean that you will often have close kin in other clans. Religious pilgrimage is accepted by all those who share kayling (cultic) bonds and know the Greeting. Cities and towns serve as a beacon to the young in every civilisation and barbarity.
Of course the Earth tends not to move, so there may be religious ideas that serve to anchor young women in their home tulas - at least by comparison to the wind-driven young males. But even then there are joint cultic ceremonies and fairs and markets and funerals and marriages and matchmaking feasts and harvest festivals and kingmakings and tribal moots, and *everyone* follows the sheep upland to the sheilings in spring.
I realise here we're mainly talking about 'default' patrilocal, virilocal (live with hubbie's kin) type clans. These are a majority, but substantial variations to this pattern do exist - matrilineal clans, uxorilocal (live with wife's kin) clans, cognitive (mixed descent - pick your significant ancestor) clans, year marriages, informal arrangements - almost anything under the Storm can and does occur. . We shouldn't lose track of them.
How does that
>brother ask his sister's advice? What's the mechanism by which families
>stay connected? Are you assuming that marriages generally take place
>between clans that share boundaries?
I'd guess there's going to be tremendous variation here. Some spouses may not see their birth kin for years at a time. Others may be married into nearby clans - especially stickpickers and cottars - and so be able to visit fairly regularly. In marriage as in luxury goods and trade, distance comes with wealth. I don't think visits would be a major hassle, especially if clans have slightly different harvest times. Folk will always have continuing religious obligations in their birth tula. And if sisters often marry into the same clan - there's lots of advantages to this and I think its rather common - then they can act and travel as a bloc.
>I'm beginning to think that the narrow view of being tied to the tula
>doesn't work in a number of ways.
I agree.
Still, if a sister is married to a clan
>a fair distance away, I'm not sure how her bloodline would hear much
>from her beyond the news of the births of her children, carried by
>travellers coming from that general direction.
Brideprice agreements in the real world often commit to periodic ceremonies that continue for years, sometimes even beyond the deaths of the couple concerned. I'm sure its true for Heortlings as well. And a ceremony is often just an excuse for a family get together. :) If a bride was to live some distance away, I'm sure visiting arrangements would be negotiated in some fashion as part of the marriage contract.
In cultures with a strong connection to particular stretches of country, it is commonly recognised that sickness can result from being too long away from it. I'd include Heortlings as sharing this identification. A common reaction to sickness would be to send the afflicted to their home tula. (We do the same thing, but we call it a holiday. :)).
Younger brothers especially are always eager to travel, and no one will miss them for a few days. Clans that swap spouses regularly will have well established trade. And given the setting, people will listen for a wind, experience the visionary touch of Kev, dream of their loved ones, seek for omens in bird flight and storm lore and geomancy, and won't hesitate to act on their intuitions. Even in non-supernatural settings, if we start worrying or thinking constantly of someone, its not difficult to find an omen to convince us to visit or at least send greetings. 'No one knows what Roitina will do, but she always does it.'
>The reason for suggesting an "Esrolian" marriage is that that's the only
>one of the listed options in which the child becomes part of the
>mother's clan.
I'm sure there are more. Its the accepted way in any matrilineal clan of course, and a substantial minority of Heortlings clans are matrilineal. Don't let the patrilineal bias of the courses obscure this. I don't know if anyone has even suggested a number, but world-wide around 30% of Earthly societies have some form of matrilineal or cognitive (mixed) descent systems. Its stronger in agricultural and gardening societies, and of course Esrolia to the South of Sartar is strongly matrilineal. Matriliny among the Heortlings hasn't been explored very much as yet. its more than a mirror image of patriliny, for the nature of marriage is different in matrilineal societies. (A man's strongest connections are to his sister's children rather than his own, so fathers are rather distant figures, and divorce is relatively common in most matrilineal societies).
>Now imagine you're a woman, probably Ernaldan...At any stage your husband
>could decide
>to divorce you, and you'd be expected to return to your birth clan and
>leave your children behind.
A woman has certain protections because of the corporate nature of marriage. As Donald noted, divorce is a breaking of a contract between communities, not just an individual affair. If she's borne a child to her husband's bloodline, her status goes up exponentially among her marriage kin.
And in your default patrilineal, virilocal clan, every married woman comes from *somewhere else*. (In fact there are probably factional tensions between the married women and the tula-born daughters and unmarrieds). The power and informal influence of the the Womens circle is considerable - its often called the 'first moot' or the 'womens moot'. So there are considerable forces who will act on the woman's behalf.
I think the issue of who gets the children would be subject to wide variation based on individual circumstances. And I suspect a not-uncommon solution might be fostering to the wife's birth clan. The child is of husband's clan, but is fostered among the wifes', at least for a time.
There's quite a lot of myth supportig the notion of happy
>marriages, but the reality doesn't alway match the archetypes of Mom
>and apple pie.
Hence campaigning. Hence our stories. :) Hence the wild and untamed goddesses of Earth. Hence Vinga in her vengeance manifestations.
>Oh, there seems to have been some debate out there about which clan a
>married woman belongs to. Has a consensus been reached? Who gets her
>wergeld?
Again, I suspect that outcomes here are, as with most Heortling activities, a mixture of tradition, negotiation, threat of violence, face saving and compromise. In my campaigns, a woman's husband's bloodline takes prime responsibility for her upon marriage - and she takes responsibility for them. This doesn't mean her birth kin stop being interested in her of course. In the event of violent death or injury, they will pressure the husband to seek restitution through weregild. If he's weak, or unwilling, they may well demand return of the woman's dowry, though this claim will be diluted the longer the marriage has been in force. The nature of honour and shame, as well as deep love, will compel a woman's brothers to enact vengeance or seek weregild, ideally as supporters of her husband, but independently if necessary. The ignomy and shame of brothers acting where a husband will not will threaten the honour of the husband's bloodline terribly. So by a mixture of shame, love, compromise and vengeance, in most cases the parties will act together, either formally or informally.
Except of course, when they don't. :)
I hope this hasn't become too abstract of Digesty. There are some great campaign stories in these ideas.
Cheers
John
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