Sunbound Marriage

  Within the Golden Empire, the bonding of two souls is a sacred event of promise, duty and loyalty. It is something supposed to be permanent that serves as a legal security of the individuals - establishing a contract that ties all the resources but also obligations to a family unit.   This tradition roots back to ancient times. Serving as a feudal contract between families to fuse noble households or combine land to strengthen their influence and power. Though nowadays it is less about resources and more about a combination of faith and bureaucracy that improves the lives of the married.   For those that bond beneath the sun, it is either paid for by relatives or the state funded temples - depending on grandeur. As everyone in the Empire is seen as having a right to get married and to be capable of raising children without succumbing to poverty. Hence, for the rich and aristocratic a marriage is a display of wealth and power - while for the middle and especially lower class, it is a safety net for future generations and an investment into an empire to grow in both population, stability and literacy.     The Sunbound Marriage always needs to be officially held on agricultural soil, as tradition believes there is nothing quite like hard labour underneath the sun, good locally sourced food, and an appreciation for the hard calloused hands that feed the empire - to bolster fertility and wring the loyalty of lovers in steel chains of love and appreciation.   These farmland ceremonies are most often carried out within a nearby villa rustica. A type of high class estate which serves as a kind of hospitium for the workers to eat, rest and enjoy themselves during their off times.   These villas can be found all over the empire and the type of agricultural land used has direct ties to status. Oases serve as jewels of agricultural power, consisting of both orchards, farms and pastures. This is usually only afforded by elite classes and for an incredible contrast in social structure, nomadic tribes that collectively have rights to the majority of territory beyond settlement outskirts - or in some cases, outright own the ground.   The riverlands that are mostly industrialized farmlands for wheat, barley and other basic breadmaking crops play the role of serving the low and growing middle classes. As estates can be seen lining up next to each other here, sometimes in smaller communes of trade company owned properties - it is both easy and affordable for the state to pay them the expenses to host a marriage. As such it’s the most common place for the sunbinding rites and the only option in which case families are granted coins, gifts such as tools and ceramics, and a free certificate to send their eldest child off to any university of their choosing.   The central ground between the middle and the high classes are mountainside marriages, which once were the most common ritual locations for the old feudal bondings. These vineyards are once more growing in popularity as vast trade networks and a rapidly advancing industrialization is churning out a population in which the poor are a minority and those with a small fortune are advancing in numbers. Allowing no shortage of couples to forgo the wise option for the flashy one.    

Bureaucratic

To perform the rite of the Sunbound Marriage, one requires three key players - apart from the couple.   The witnesses which consist of family and extended relatives for closed marriages, to acquaintances and close friends and the nearest people of said friends, for open marriages.   The ceremonial master, who confirms the official documents of bondage and swears the pair as man and wife. This can either be a priest, the majordomo of the estate - or in rare cases, the patriarch or matriarch of a dynasty.   Lastly, but arguably the second most important beyond the married pair - the workers. Those who bake the bread, cook the cake, display the feast of meat and fruits onto lavish plates and decorate the lamps with garlands.  

Sacramental

For the holy part of the ritual, the entire morning unto high noon is taken up by aiding the workers with hard labour. Together, as a couple naturally. To till the soil, knead bread with their hands alone - or in some cases operate simple machinery to ground flour.   The pair will thereafter dine with the workers and the Majordomo, before the guests arrive at the second bell. Then - the party truly begins.   An array of games like axe-throwing, horse-racing, sharpshooting and even friendly dueling take part along with light drinking and the partaking of snacks - consisting of smaller fruitcakes, dried dates and olives - along with crackers and bread, topped by oil, cheese and marmalade.   When the sun starts to set in the horizon - it is time for the marriage ceremony. The guests and staff line up like a military parade before the couple that will pass through them like generals. Stepping up to a podium where the Priest, Majordomo or Head of Dynasty proclaims the sacred bond forged.   Here, the couple will swear two oaths before they are properly married. A promise of love, care and devotion beneath the ever watchful gaze of Razhka - the Khitarian Goddess of Love. The other sworn to Ysand as their holy witness - to remain pure, loyal and steadfast in their relationship. Even when the going will get hard and disagreements will unfold. An oath of balance.   When words are sworn to divinity - believing to bring both fertility and stability to the couple, the true party kicks off. Now, booze flows freely, dice rolls before the gamblers and a massive lavish feast and creamy wedding cake is shared among song and dance, until the next morning dawns. Or everyone is knocked out for the local guards to carry inside medical pavilions or the hospitium to treat the drunk, sunstroke - which ironically the name sunbound came from, or plain old exhaustion.