Marriage Ceremonies

Within the city of Craven, marriage is a largely private affair, unregulated by the Crown or any other governing body, save perhaps for the Ministry of Faith. Generally, a couple who wishes to be married can do so by simply asking a holy person to bless their union, and to witness them exchange their vows as they imbibe sacramental wine. Once this has been completed, the marriage is officially deemed legitimate in the eyes of both the gods and the law, and if either spouse wishes to change their surname, the witnessing holy person needs only to submit the necessary documents to the Crown. The selection of a surname is decided between the newlyweds, but typically, a spouse of lower social or economic status takes the surname of higher status, or if one spouse doesn’t have a surname, they adopt the surname of their beloved. And in a situation where neither spouse has a surname, the couple has a chance to pick one together, though, it is not required for the union to be formalized.

Due to the nature of marriage consummation, full-fledged ceremonies are mostly just symbolic. However, many couples still hold them out of respect for the traditions of their ancestors, which vary from culture to culture. The most common ceremony is the aforementioned exchanging of vows and wine, popularized by humans but used widely all across the Isles; if the couple is wealthy, they might also give each other rings to wear on their left hands. The second most popular is the elven tradition of “tying the knot” with embroidered veils or ribbons, the oldest ceremony to date. The third most practiced is the orcish tradition of shedding blood, during which the nearlyweds cut one another along the hand or lower arm, then tattoo around the scar to represent their unfading loyalty. The only culturally exclusive ceremony can be found among the dwarves, where the couple’s individual clan daggers are melted down and re-forged into one, symbolizing the creation of something entirely new.

Besides this, other Old World marriage customs are still observed every so often, though, they’re much less common. Halflings host grand banquets for four consecutive days and nights, where it is believed that if even one person leaves without a hangover, the marriage is doomed to fail; gnomes spend three days with their families, two days alone, then one day together in the week leading up to their wedding (which is always held on a Kallendas), representing the stages of their lives before being united forever; and goblins mark themselves with branding irons as a gesture that they would endure even the greatest agonies for each other. Rarely used ceremonies include the tengu tradition, where couples each take an object, usually one of great personal significance, and toss it into the sea to prove that their betrothed is even more precious, and the garudan tradition, where the couple soars high into the sky together, then falls while grasping the hands of the other, only to pull up mere moments before hitting the ground.