Yes, that and esoteric debates on the nature of myth and event sequence are straying over there. The attitudes to divorce and child care arrangements are however part of the culture people are gaming in.
>> I doubt if the clan worthies get involved unless the children
>> are in some way important. More commonly it'll be who's willing
>> and able to take responsibilty for them.
>
>I expect that the "worthies" oversee matters to make sure that no one
>screws up a simple divorce and turns it into a blood feud and/or kin-
>slaughter. Someone sits in during the negotiations, and otherwise
>ignores the process unless it starts to go Jerry Springer. In fact,
>I would expect that they would be sitting at another table, and
>quietly discuss something else with other "worthies" while the
>involved bloodlines handle the real work, and only pay attention to
>the current problem if the volume gets much higher or much quieter.
How are the clan leaders supposed to manage that? Heortling society isn't the top down model we are used to where a leader can tell anyone what to do. An amiable divorce will be one where only a little blood is spilt and no bones broken. Among poorer families there will be reluctance to get a lawspeaker involved - for exactly the same reason people today are reluctant to get a lawyer - it costs.
>> This in fact may well
>> be why few mothers take their children back to their birth
>> clan - that clan won't feel any obligation towards the children
>> and may well look to get the woman married off again quickly.
>
>Not to mention that the mother may not feel very maternally towards
>the brats the the disgusting soon-to-be-ex-husband forced upon her
>(to put it into emotional terms appropriate to this case). Remember,
>Medea is not just a RW myth, but a type of a (thankfully small)
>portion of mothers.
As you say a minority of mothers both RW and Heortling.
>This would be especially true if some or all of the children bonded
>more with the father than the mother (most sons, I expect, and some
>future Vingans).
Actually mother/son and father/daughter bonding tends to be closer in the RW.
>> Then there are market days and other festivals where clans get
>> together. I think extended visits by the children are unusual,
>> something only done for a reason.
>
>Extended visits could also occur in cases where the two bloodlines,
>clans, or tribes wished to keep the social bonds of the marriage,
>even after the two people involved proved to be unable to do so, for
>what ever reason (eg: wife joins Humakt, husband dedicates to Nandan,
>or becomes a Storm Lord, etc.).
I think it's unlikely than any clans or tribes would rely on a single marriage for an important social bond. Even if there's an individual marriage between two important representatives they'll be other marriages between the two clans or tribes.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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