RE: Women in the clan

From: Andrew Solovay <asolovay_at_...>
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 01:42:25 -0700


> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Hughes [mailto:john.hughes_at_...]
>
> 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.

It occurs to me that a husband killing a wife would be one of the most disastrous occurrences to happen to a clan. The wife is now in the clan, so that's kinstrife--with all the cursing and horror that implies--but the wife's birthclan is still interested, so the murder can easily provoke a feud. And, of course, Ernalda Allmother is going to take a special interest.

How would a clan handle this situation? I suppose they could outlaw the husband, and make sure the wife's birthclan knew just when the murderer would be leaving the tula, so they could be lying in wait for him. Would that be an acceptable Orlanthi solution?

If a wife kills a husband, it's pretty bad, but probably not *quite* as bad. There's less danger of a feud, and they can probably avert the curse of kinstrife by outlawing the wife--and if the birth-clan is willing to take her back, on their heads be it.

(Of course, if it's an Esrolian marriage, reverse all of the above.)

This might also explain why the Orlanthi--easy-going about a lot of sexual matters, like homosexuality and casual (pre-marital) fornication--are so vehement against adultery. Adultery is probably the thing most likely to lead to marital murder, and it's worth going to extremes to prevent that.

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