>> As far as I can tell it imposes an obligation on the husband to
>> respond if she calls on him for aid. In Sartar she calls on
>> Orlanth, in Sun County Yelmalio while in Esrolia she calls on any
>> and all.
>
>And again: how do the parties concerned know that this is the sort of
>relationship they're in? Is there some rite or action that marks the
>formation of such a relationship?
As far as the gods are concerned it may well be a rationalisation after the event. If Ernalda calls on a god and they respond then they are obviously a husband-protector. Now what happens if a god doesn't respond I don't know, perhaps Ernalda knows not to bear children to gods that won't protect her.
In the mortal world the relationship exists from the cults involved. So any Ernaldan can call on any Orlanthi for protection and they are obliged to do so. In game terms the Orlanthi character gets an augment for acting to protect and a penalty for doing anything else. Could provide some interesting conflicts when raiding other clans.
>Do the numbers of Grey Dogs dwindle because their Humakti men have no children
>to claim for the clan? (They might have children, but without a marriage the
>children belong to the mother's clan.) Or is their reputation enhanced by
>tales of inbreeding? <grin>
Too many Humatki will cause the clan to dwindle but even the most aggressive war clans will need a majority of farmers and craftspeople so perhaps those farmers tend to have more children to compensate.
>In general, I agree with your conclusion that informal relationships are more
>likely than marriages. In particular, however, I seem to keep running across
>Humakti who are very definitely political players in the clan world, which
>sometime involves dynastic stuff.
Which doesn't mean children of the Humatki. Heortling chiefs don't inherit the position and even if there is a tradition of doing so in a particular clan it isn't necessarily the eldest legitmate child. So dynastic succesion can include nephews, nieces and adopted children.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
Powered by hypermail