Marriage and the Complicated Act of Courting

who doesn't love the expression of true love? The old folk tales of happy ever afters, and eternities of happiness all resonate in cultures across the world. Though life is often more complicated and grey than these make believe tales, marriage is as complicated as dating can be, maybe even more so. Regardless this text will attempt to record the many varriations of marriage around the world and courting/dating. Keep in mind that to go incredibly in depth of all the diffrent marriage varations would take centuries, as often ever region, province, town, and village has their own unique spins on the union of love. It also needs to be mentioned that marriage can also varry wildly from social and wealth status of people in any one area. Regardless, what follows are general overviews of the most common variations. When applicable, each nation or group will be seperated into "low and high" standing. Low standing is meant to show those lower in economic or social status, while high standing is for the upper class of society. This in no way is demeaning one side over the other, and is merely for the sake of bookkeeping.

• Ashenfeld Low Standing: Quite varried as the provinces are as diverse as anywhere else. Dating is largely the same across the land, being that people typically meet and talk for a period of time. This time has no set amount, though in average it largely goes on for 2-3 years. When wanting to marry, after discussing it with their partner they largely then need the approval of their families, which in itself can be a complicated process. Though it should be noted that at least in the case of lower class citizens, the parents approval isnt "entirely" necessary, as it is more a expected social custom rather than set law. Regardless for majority of the citiznes, marriage ceramonies are celebrated as a village holiday. In bigger cities, ussually areas around the married couples living spaces are the only ones wo celebrate, or just friends and family. Marriage typically involves wearing the best clothes the bride and groom can afford (colors typically range in blue and greens) and having a procession escort them from their house to the local church. In the case a village doesn't have a church or it simply isnt big enough, the town hall or even a tavern can be substituted in its stead. As minstreals play sweet ballads, the crowd then must wait outside as the priest says the opening lines and then escorts the lovers and their friends and family into the building. In this ceramony, both will kneel before the couple as the priest begins the opening verses. Then comes the agreement of doweries (these are largely financial or physical gifts expected for both families to gift each other to signify the joining in wedding). After this, a canopy is held above the couple as with a candle lit by the sacred flame in every church is used to let a small bit of wax to fall on the bride and groom, showing the flame bestowing a small blessing upon the wedding. As the couple swear their vows, near the end the priest will his his fingers and then touch each lovers forehead, giving him the love of the Flame into their soul. With that, as both parties rise and vow to love one another, the priest closes the book and concludes the wedding, with both bride and groom kissing. Than, the couple is marched out the doors as the town celebrates with food and song.
• Ashenfeld High Standing: As stated above, the marriage ceramony is largely similar for Ashenfelds high society, but there is typically far more at stake. Unlike peasents, entire trade empires, or even the fate of nations can be at stake with marriage. It is typically widely practicied for nobles to choose the marriage partner of their children, at least for the first child. These talks can take months, or even years of agreement and negotiation of finer points of land inheritance, dowry price, and so on. It should be noted that it is entirely possible for a noble to find someone they love and marry them without their parents having chosen a partner, though typically the parents need to approve of their decision. A noble marrying someone of lower class is typically frowned upon, and for this reason there are plenty of tales (real and made up) of noble men and women running away form their families to love freely. Regardless, when agreed, the wedding ceramony takes more time in planning as noble weddings are incredibly lavish and fancy compared to the simplicity of low standing weddings. Outfits are typically made of expensive cloth and colors such as silk and rich whites fabrics. These ceramonies are lengthy and grandiose, often meant to show the wealth of the union of both houses now being joined. Regardless, the overall ceramony is largely the same, though typically is an invite only ceramony. Even with this, the peasents are still expected to cheer on the wedding if approached, though they rarely if ever get to see these noble weddings.
• Dwarven Marriage: Dwarven marriage (at least when discussing those in the mortal realm) is largely universal amongst the holds. Children are cosnidered the greatest legacy a Dwarf can leave behind, and as such marriage is incredibly serious for everyone involved. When a couple wishes to get married, they inform their families as soon as they are able. There is a party had as some of the initial planning begins. Strangely, the first half of the party is seen as a time of mourning, as mariage means two children of the house will be moving out to form their own hearth. Parents will lament and mourn, but the second half is more jovial, talking about the beauty of this linking, and the joy that will come after it. As the ceramony is planned, both bride and groom (of course with all of these if the couple is same sex naming can change. 2 brides, 2 grooms, etc. etc.) are expected to forge their own rings, something they often consider their masterpiece. On the day of the actual wedding, A priest or priestess of Sudgi (The Dwarven Ancestor Spirit of Gold, Home, and Hearth) will officeate the wedding as well as a trusted blacksmith. For those with facial hair, the best barber the individual can afford gives them "the gentle cut" being a lengthy process of preparing every last individual hair of a beard or mustache to be as perfect as possible. Once finally ready, the families of the newlyweds and the couple themselves approach the priest/priestess, and the blacksmith with a beautifully engraved anvil. The ceramony begins with telling of the first marriage, the first love, and the first union of their ancestors, and that in life they shall forge beauty only seen by those united in love. As this goes on, the balcksmith forges away at a beautiful golden chain, representing the link between both famailies. Near the end, the heads of each family are expected to come fourth and take both ends of this chain and hold it up above the heads of the couple. With this, the final vows are said, and the couple embrace and kiss one another, thereby becoming married. After this, a grand feast is had as the finest ale and best cooked food are wheeled out, and song and dance echo through the halls.
• Halfling Marriage: Marrige ceramonies amongst halflings are perhaps some of the most rowdy there is. While the general ceramony is largely the same as say an ashenfeld wedding, typically these are town affairs and these stout folk are known for their love of food. The ceramony is short but sweet as the main attraction is the feast at the end, where the couple after kissing and swearing their vows get first pick of the finest cuts and parts of the food and drinks. Then the entire shire begins to feast on the food (the food is likely to be cooked and prepared for the whole day, and its not uncommon for cooks to report extreme exhaustion at the end of the day) as after that games are played. Pig grabbing, Tail Pinning, flower catching, and the favorite being the couple to kick their shoes into a crowd and see who catches it. The person who does catch it is said to be bestowed with luck, but if they catch a second shoe they must then throw it blindly into the crowd so as not to horde the luck. There have been a few minor scuffles over some trying to keep both for extra fortune.
• Tajiran Weddings: Aside from wealth an resources, there is not much seperating high and low Tajiran marriage ceramonies. There are however many misconceptions of this event. It is said that the greatest weakness of many of the Djinns is the heart, or the tale of a good wedding. As such marriage is highly serious as after dating, both parties must begin preperation for the contract agreement. Marrige is more akin to settling on a buisness deal than a intamate relationship, as both families need to approve and then negotiate fair price paid to both parties. Forced marrige/parents choosing the marriage partner of their children is not only highly frowned upon, but can result in sevre punishment from local law. This is due to the stated, written law that a wedding is invalid without both parties total, unpressured, and unconditional consent for the wedding to be religiously and legally valid, and divorce can occur at any time for whatever reason, with the other expected to financially compensate the leaving partner. After such a price is agreed upon, both parties must publicly announce the wedding, where priests will come and make sure the wedded couple consent to this union. If everything checks out, a small ceramony is had where vows are read from the holy book, and in the name of the Nameless Prophet they are blessed as newlyweds. After that, typically the bride and groom are sat down in "thrones" and get to partake in a feast, where they can even recieve gifts. While it is true that polygamy is common in Tajiran culture, its more complicated than the preverse whispers in foriegn culture. Polygamy is accepted if, and only if, the first wife/husband consents to such an action, where in she/he is expected to inspect and interview the prospective love intrest. On top of this, the person pushing for the new marriage partner must prove and swear to treat all his married partners equally, and to love them as much as their first and so on. Amongst the higher society (espically the Djinn courts) concubines are somewhat of an exception as they are seen as mearly servants attending to a ruler rather than married partners. Concubines are, however, signed in under contract to give their consent to being consort to these individuals, and must accept that while given preistege, their children will not inhernetly be eligable to inherit titles and the like. It should also be noted that not all concubines serve in purely a sexual role, as many instead entertain the noble as painters, musicians, story tellers, and other high class fields of society. Djinn gods are of course given alot more freedom to pick and choose who they love, but largely any cases of abuse or misconduct are the exception and not the rule, and all typically frowned upon. So while polygamy is a thing in Tairan society, it is often overexaggerated as to its extent. By and large most tajiran families are of two partners, as unsurprisngly it can be hard to financially provide for multiple partners who of course need bigger houses and more expenses in food and basic goods to accomedate.
• Wood Elven (Hasrani) Marriage: Paradoxicaly, there is no real expectation or concept of marriage amongs tthe Wood Elves inhabiting the lands of the Dale Woods. This is often attributed to their "wild" and "free" nature, often finding it perplexing that outsiders jealously guard love intrests like a dragon might horde gold for themselves, instead of simply allowing love to bloom freely. There is of course a concept of "preffered mating" theorized by outside scholars to have been picked up by select types of birds that mate for life. The preffered mate is oftne seen as a couple finding they are most compatiable with someone specific, and typically live together to make it easier to live. There is no legal binding for these unions, but it is expected that the couple conduct a private ceramony where they dance in a slow, hypnotic, and beautiful dance amongst a small pond, almost akin to a stork or swan, where both are naked except for beautiful cloaks of greenery and flowers as they dance. This is largely to symbolize both the vunerlbility and the beauty of two souls being so open and in synch with one another, as the dance becomes more synched as it reaches the end.
• Orc Wedding Customs: A huge disclaimer is that this is describing largely the orcish mating and relationship customs of those reffered to as Barbarian Orcs. Most of the orcs that have intergrated into wider society follow the marriage customs of the lands. Orc Barbarian Tribes (or "feral orcs" among some of the more vain scholars) have their own customs, with some varration. Typically the only offical "wedding" is one of the Chieften of a tribe. This is largely due to the patriarchal nature of such tribes, though it should be noted women also hold a degree of power in terms of divorce and matters pretaining to home. A chieften can marry as many partners as they see fit, and it is considered a status symbol to have many partners. When one is a mate of the chieften, no other romantic partners are allowed except for between the chieften and his wife, though unoffically its widely accepted for people to "share joy" for a night, even the chieften himself. All children are considered elligable to become chieften if they prove themselves strong enouch to kill their father, where they will then become chieften and begin marrying new partners. Outside of the chieften and his wives and concubines, other orcs do not "offically" marry but do have preffered partners. It is said that to beat a prospective rival in front of a desired individual is an act of romance, and many such unions (the chieftans included) start with a mock brawl between the partners to symbolize the fiery passion of the heart.
• Vebastone Marriage: Aside from a diffrence in material ability, marriages amongst the ever romantic Vestoni are typically universal. Said to be inspired by their fey neighbohrs of the Great Dale Woods, when one wishes to elevate their relationship to marriage, they must find a specific flower that only blooms once every year. This flower is known as Eosnale, and only grows in rivers and lakes flowing with fey energy. It is said that such flowers draw faries and pixies to them, which the magic they leave behind blessess the marriage. The transportation and storage of such flowers is delicate and time consuming, and no self respecting vestoni will accept someone just buying the flower. Like much of their culture, when one wants to marry, they must earn and prove themselves. When someone presents the flower to their lover, should they return their feelings, they announce publicly of their marriage, where local officals or monks will keep the flower stored until the day of the ceramony. Upon the day of the ceramony, fireflies are said to be allowed to sparkle in the monostary, as faries bequeethed by the monks help wind blow into the couple as they walk the isles. Such dress for both bride and groom include alot of long, flowing cloth to catch on the wind and form beautiful trails behind them. As both swear upon the Twins Goddesses of Vebastone, prayer is had for their grace and blessing in the marriage as the flower is taken out of storage and placed in a small cup of blessed water. Both lovers drink a half of the cup, but not swallowing the flower, and once that is done a final prayer is had before they embrace and celebration is had. The flower is then prepared in a small glass container, where the couple promises to watch over it. Losing or failing to take care of this flower is seen as a bad omen, and has sometimes been used as grounds for divorce. Regardless, noble marriages are largely the same, though far more grandiouse and magical. Due to the very nature of how one inherits, there is far more freedom amongst Vestoni nobility to love who they wish, as inheritance is only guarenteed by deed and not ones familial lineage.
• Neundorf Low Standing:
• Neundorf High Standing: