DhBodhi

Does the clan ring or Orlanthi priest have a say in whether a divorce can go ahead? It seems that the clan is involved arranging marriages, and it is sanctified by Orlanthi, so I was wondering if they might be involved in any separation. I imagine that these could often be acrimonious, and usually one partner will want it more than the other. i get the sense that although divorce might be common, it is not casual, and will involve property at least, but also possibly other issues such as status and sentiment.

So when women marry do they 'officially' join the new clan and leave their old one behind? Thereby coming under the authority of their new clan hierarchy. I can imagine some being divided in terms of clan loyalty when there are inter clan disputes such as over land or raiding. Lots of interesting story possibilities here. The children born of the marriage are presumably of the husband's clan, at least in Sartar. If the wife decides to divorce is she free to return to her old clan and how easy is that to do? In fact as a general question I'm wondering how easy it is to change clans, or join a new clan if for some reason you're exiled or leave your old clan?

Hi guys - thanks for the replies, very useful and interesting. The reference about Orlanthi sexuality comes from S:KoH page 29: 'Compared to many Gloranthan cultures, the Orlanthi have relatively few sexual taboos. They prohibit sex with people who have not been initiated as adults; with married people; with members of their own clan; and with not-people such as foreigners, Elder Races, animals, rocks, and the dead. Even those few taboos may not apply to members of certain cults or during certain religious rituals.' So the picture I'm getting here is that basically all of the clan women that get married will basically leave the clan and join their husbands clan. Which means that basically all of the mothers in a clan will come from a different clan. I'm trying to imagine what that will be like - the network of social connections where this happens will weave clans together much more closely than a model where members predominantly married within the clan. Basically a woman will grow up in one clan culture, forming relationships there and living/worshiping myths/ancestors within that environment, but adulthood, motherhood and beyond will be in a different one, with a different (albeit related) tradition. Related to this I was wondering whether most marriages tend to be arranged by the clan or formed through personal connection/feeling. I'm imaging that the former is the case, although with women having strong gender equality how this would work out in practice? In response to AJS I was wondering what source you had for women of Ernalda being able to control their fertility - that's a major social advantage for women and frees them in many ways from being locked into certain roles in society. Is that the case throughout Glorantha or is that a peculiarity of Ernalda followers? I have quite a few follow-up questions as often I find one answer leads to several questions, but I'll lay them out gradually and hope that your enthusiasm and patience endures. Best wishes

I've been reading around the background material and wonder if any of you have more knowledge of this. S:KoH indicates that while Orlanthi are fairly free sexually they have taboos that include no sex within a clan. Is this right? I can understand why there would be a taboo within bloodlines (of which there are often many within a clan), but within a clan of 900 or so that seems pretty restrictive. Is there a reason for this? My sense of a clan is that it's a cohesive social grouping and although there was intermingling with other clans, that clans would live in focused areas. If this is the case then how does this work - presumably sexual partners and wives/husbands would be found in other clans only, and so basically all of the females that married into a clan would be from another clan and would move to live with them. I'm just trying to understand this - I couldn't find much about this in GtG. On a related note I was wondering if there was any natural (i.e. herbal) or magical contraception in Orlanthi culture, or do the free sexual relations generally result in children? I can imagine children and young adults being brought up in more of an extended family situation. I was also wondering whether the survival rate for mothers/children is higher in Glorantha as a result of folk healing and Ernalda/Chalana Arroy healing. If so then that would lead to a higher replacement rate than in Earth Bronze Age culture That's all for now, thanks.