Marriage in Artograch

Marriage - the ritually recognized union between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between them - and traditions associated with it vary significantly around Artograch, depending on region and religion alike.

Since ideas of secularism have not been advanced in any part of Artograch to a point where it would warrant a shift from church marriages to civil marriages, religiously-sanctioned church marriage remains the only form of available marriage in every part of Artograch, except in Keldorn (where marriage is viewed as little more than a political deal by the vampire clans and werewolf tribes that practice it). Nevertheless, even in religiously homogeneous areas, significant variations between the institution of marriage and the rituals that initiate it still exist.

Titanist countries
According to the Church of Titanius, marriage is the sacred union of a man and a woman in front of Titanius, and is meant to invoke forming an everlasting bond that will result in the continuation of the family and bloodline. The holy matrimony is viewed as a lifelong vow - there is a strong taboo against divorce, albeit it is permitted in certain cases (for example, an unconsummated marriage can be annulled without problems). Spouses are expected to be loyal to each other - adultery is considered a sin, but isn't criminalized by the secular authorities. Incest is forbidden - brothers and sisters are forbidden from marrying, in fact, a person who commits incest may face execution - the punishment for sodomy.

Despite the religion's teachings that marriage should be for love and be between people who love each other and believe that they can form a stable lifelong bond, much of the elite in Titanist countries marriages for political reasons or for financial gain, as opposed to the lower class, who marry for a combination of a love and social pressure.

In every Titanist country, the ceremony that brokers the deal takes place in a church, but what happens before and after that varies.

Froturn
In the Kingdom of Froturn, one's freedom to choose his or her spouse depends on the person's social status and the attitude of the patriarch of the extended family. Due to the fact that Froturn has clan-like extended families rather than small nuclear families, women don't change their family names after marrying, keeping their original names. Regardless of one's social standing, some patriarchs may love to micromanage every action of the family, arranging every marriage for the family members - others may allow members of the family to marry at their own will, with the majority standing in between, keeping a right to veto one's wish for marriage, if they view the potential spouse as unsuitable.

At the upper ends of the social ladder, the biggest consideration is "Will this marriage benefit the family?" and "Will this marriage secure an aliance with a powerful family to deter rivals?", while at the lower ends, where rivalries between families are much less frequent, the main consideration is financial support.

In the aftermath of the actual marriage ceremony, it is expected that a feast should take place, followed by the consummation of the marriage. For richer couples, honeymoons are also a standard practice, with the most frequent destination being Dragoc. It is also expected that the husband's family should provide a gift for the wife. For more affluent families, this gift is traditionally jewellery. Not necessarily a ring - in fact, before rings became standard around 300 AEKE, wedding necklaces were much more common and popular. When rings became mainstream, it became expected for both the wife and the husband to wear it - before that, only wives were obliged to wear wedding jewellry.

Etrand
In the Kingdom of Etrand, similarly to Froturn, one's freedoms in marriage are inversely proportional to one's elevation on the social ladder: the higher one is up, the less freedoms to choose a spouse and the higher likelihood of an arranged marriage. A nobleman is almost certain to get a politically motivated arranged marriage. Among sons and daughters of urban patricians (merchant families), financially motivated arranged marriages are the standard. are not unheard of either.

Among the lower class - especially in rural areas - it is common for boys to marry their female childhood friends, as love is seen as a natural advancement from friendship among people of the opposite sex, and marriage is seen as the appropriate advancement from simple love. That is not to say that arranged marriages don't exist among peasant families - it is also rather common for peasants to promise their children to be wed to children of their friends, or promise their daughters to wealthier commoners (or their sons) in exchange for economic aid.

When the wedding takes place in an urban environment, the couple and all the people who are going to attend the ceremony are expected to march from the place of residence to the church on foot before the actual wedding ceremony would take place. Poorer couples may forgo this, and when two individuals get married in secret, or don't have any friends and relatives in the city, they may also make their wedding a more "private" event. No such march happens when the wedding is in a rural environment or a castle's chapel.

Generally, after the ceremony in the church - which is expected to be either in the morning, or in the early afternoon - a feast is expected to take place, followed by the consummation of the marriage during the night. In rural areas, this feast may be extended into a short one-day festival during which the whole village/hamlet is celebrating. In urban areas - especially among the less affluent - the "marriage feast" is usually a smaller event that takes place in a tavern, among a closed circle of friends and family, often cynically mocked as "an excuse to drink twice as much as beer than as usual".