Incestous Affairs

[Gentleboy]

Hi all, I'm on mobile so sorry for any odd spelling or phrasing.

First off, the content in this post may be uncomfortable and has to do with incest. I am not posting this to be promiscuous or stir the pot. I am asking to further understand the world and familial roles within tribes and between independents.

What is the view on incest in Zalanthas. Do nobles practice it? Tribes? Is it normalized? Is it seen as illegal? I really saw no help files on the topic.

[Riev]

Noble bloodlines are, from what I understand, actual bloodlines. I do not believe there is a lot of "marry your sister" sort of stuff, but the families are often co-mingling with cousins.

It isn't STRICTLY incestuous though, as there are political marriages between houses rather often, as well. Think of it as "Noble blood first, then family blood".

I don't believe commoners would think anything of it, but IMO wouldn't think of doing it specifically, either.
Nobles do it to keep their pure bloodlines. Commoners don't have pure blood, and your sister isn't nearly as pretty as that tressy Byn Trooper.

[Marauder Moe]

Nobles, tribals, and GMH family most definitely have cousin-level pairings (they're basically all cousins at this point), maybe even first cousins on occasion.

Brother-sister pairings I'd imagine are far less common, though I could see some of the more vain people in the "core" lineage (descendants of current/recent House Heads or Senators) making such an arrangement.

I don't think commoners care much one way or another, though Earthly research has suggested that people have a biologically-driven aversion to sexual attraction for siblings/people they were raised with.

[valeria]

Immediate family incest is a taboo in almost every culture. In the early middle ages, incest was defined by the Roman Catholic Church as marriage within 7 degrees of cosanguinity. That was dropped down to 4 later on (which precludes first cousins).

In other cultures, incest doesn't extend to first-cousins, or in some cultures extend to avunculate (like, uncle/niece) relationships. If you're seriously wondering, I'd ask the staff.

[Lizzie]

I think commoners don't have thoughts about it one way or another, because it just doesn't come up often enough for them to decide that they need to have an opinion on the subject.

In the time I've been playing, the only full sibling situations I've seen was one tribal brother/sister couple. That's over 15 years of playing. I'm sure there's probably more of these kinds of relationships, but I haven't personally been "in the know" about them. That tribal couple was very publicly a couple, and very publicly siblings.

I haven't ever heard of a consensual coupling between parent and child, and rape is no longer acceptable to roleplay so you won't see any kind of "daddy makes me do this" stuff going on.

Also, there are mutants in the game. Sibling and parent/child relationships are known to produce offspring with genetic abnormalities (mutants). Not saying that the mutants in Zalanthas are the result of that, but it's still something to consider if you choose to roleplay heterosexual relations with your character's fertile sister or dad.

From an OOC perspective I find roleplay of sibling or parental sexual relations to be very distasteful and unneccessary. There are plenty of other odd relationships you can have in the game (an elf mating with a human, inked Tuluki with Nakki soldier, mage with mundane, concubines to nobility, the existence of muls, etc), no reason to bring in something that is an easy trigger for players.

[Dar]

In reality. Tribals are actually VERY careful against children that come from siblings. Not because it's immoral, but because it produces sickly, or damaged children. Every tribe out there have things that revolve around bringing new blood into the tribe. Whether by stealing children, or trading mates, or enticing a good strong seed from outside. I'm talking both IRL and to a great deal within the game as well. Tribals know full well of dangers of incest and guard against it religiously.

Commoners do not have marriages at all. So they tend to do whatever it is the fuck they want to do. And if that union produces a witch, then that's how it is.

Nobles rarely marry within house. It makes no sense for them to do it, because every marriage is a political alliance of some sort. Why marry within the house? What possible good can come of it to the House? So they all periodically exchange their kin with each other as well.

Having said that, Zalanthas has a form of birth control that is basically assumed to be harmless and 100% effective. So if two people want to boink each other without any notion of childbearing, then let them do it and think nothing of it. It'll save you, them, and everyone else headache.

[Gentleboy]

All the answers given to this so far are respectful and really nicely put. Thank you all for understanding that my question on the topic is strictly for environmental purposes.

[Mr. Fancypants]

Nobles rarely marry within house. It makes no sense for them to do it, because every marriage is a political alliance of some sort. Why marry within the house?

This isn't completely accurate. Sometimes there are solid reasons to do so, though those are likely best found out through play. It's still true that many marriages are external agreements. What never happens is marriages that aren't politically convenient somehiw to one or both parties involved. Whether they're direct second cousins or sixth thrice removed is far less relevant than the contract itself and the terms it sets.

[Dar]

Well. Sure. They also tend to smother children who show visible deformities. So everything works out just fine. 

[Mr. Fancypants]

Fun fact, mental and physical deformities from inbreeding are fairly rare until you start getting into immediate relations. Squick factor aside, it isn't all that dangerous to bone your cousins, and in Zalanthas it's more likely that deformities would be blamed on magick exposure, being cursed, displeasing your Highlord/Sun King, etc. Not that severe mutations ever happen to nobles, they just have a conveniently high rate of stillbirths and infant mortalities, as you say.

[MeTekillot]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westermarck_effect

[Inks]

Immediate family incest is a taboo in almost every culture. In the early middle ages, incest was defined by the Roman Catholic Church as marriage within 7 degrees of cosanguinity. That was dropped down to 4 later on (which precludes first cousins).

In other cultures, incest doesn't extend to first-cousins, or in some cultures extend to avunculate (like, uncle/niece) relationships. If you're seriously wondering, I'd ask the staff.

In Zoroastrian culture immediate blood relatives as partners was seen as divine lineage though. I have a Zoroastrian friend even in modern times, would you believe (they have a lot of health problems due to centuries of largely inbreeding).