Marriage Customs

There were a load of different types of marriages in Indratera. Generally speaking, instead of wedding rings in real life, most human cultures on Indratera's default marriage signifier was a bracelet or ribbon worn on one wrist. Marriage was generally gender-blind in all civilised societies. (The sole exception was the Cacklers and any other primitive underground animalistic societies - being in the early stages of evolving as a sentient culture, they mostly married for children not for love).
== Euluska Diaspora ==
=== Euluskan - Gifting swords, fiery clothes, red bracelets, and revelry ===
Many Euluskans traditionally believed that an invisible red string connected lovers who would be united one day regardless of distance or circumstance. Traditionally, a couple would then take a simple loop of red woven thread around the wrist of their sword-hand and keep it there as long as they were married. Euluskans who followed Makëian evasanktaran religion would also include a white feather (or in modern times, a charm or likeness of one so it didn't degrade) in their ritual, often tucked behind the opposite ear to the sword-arm's red band, whilst Malinite evasanktarans alternatively employed weaving precious seaglass into the band or curing it in saltwater.. 
In addition, amongst the Maiönan Evasanktarans, who were the majority of Euluskans, marriage became associated with Maiöna, the sun/fire goddess. Maiönan marriages (so the vast majority of Euluskan weddings) involved fire - lanterns, lights, torches, bonfires, and the like. Passion was fiery and red, so it fit. The newlywed couple would wear shades of brightest red embroidered with flame motifs (yellows, golds, oranges, whites, and blacks), whilst guests wore any colour of fire that was not more ornate in design than the newlyweds - simple reds, yellows, and oranges were most common, with white, gold, grey, or brown-black accents. 
Furthermore, evasanktaranism was a war religion, which spilled over into marital customs. A volxa scimitar was the finest weapon to an Euluskan - it used so much metal and such expert craftsmanship that it was only for the wealthy and powerful. (A smaller version, the Eskilegi, was a hooked kukri). Therefore, at the wedding of those who could afford it, the newlyweds would also present one another with a volxa or eskilegi as a gift, the exact look and make of which would be a secret until given to the partner. 
Each one of the couple chose three guests of honour - a swordbearer, scabbardier, and marlinspike, each to bring the sword/scabbard/red thread. 
==== Outline ====
An Euluskan Maiönan-Evasanktaran wedding generally followed this outline: 
# The guests, all clad in reds oranges and yellows, enter the darkened church/cathedral and are [asked to light/given each] a torch, brazier, lantern, handheld candle, tealight, etc, to bring light to the dark.
# The guests all remain standing if possible (sitting is for penance, standing is for joy). 
# Once all lights have been lit, the cardinal attending says Imvate varro ("bring light") and the guests repeat it once.
# Then, through two opposing doors by the altar, the couple enter after hearing this call-and-response. They are clad in ornate clothing in red and the colours of fire, and this will be the first time they have seen each other on the day of the wedding. 
# Each of the couple enters carrying a bundle of wood, traditionally from their family's own land. They lay it in a stone pit, and ask the guests to come up and give the fire they carry to the bonfire. (In modern times, this has become just a motioning of one's handheld light toward the bonfire).
# Then, all return to their stands, and the cardinal says a prayer.
## O Lady Maiöna, goddess of the sun and its heavens, let the flame of their hearts burn hotter than any fire. O Lady Malini, goddess of the stars and the sea, let the love they share be unshaken by any storm. O Lady Makë, goddess of the earth and the night, let their memory never fade even when you lead them from us to the afterlife. Let it be written in the songs of our people that this day, the [22nd Luäna], that [name 1] and [name 2] be joined in an unbreakable bond as foretold by fate itself. Long may they live. Imvate varro. 
# Then, the cardinal calls forth the swords - there is one per newlywed. The swordbearers present the volxa swords one by one to the newlywed who then gifts it to their partner in turn. 
# Then, the cardinal calls forth the scabbards - there is one per newlywed. The scabbardiers tie a belt around each of the newlywed's waists with a scabbard for the volxa.
# Then, the cardinal calls forth the red threads - there is one per newlywed. The marlinspikes tie a simple red thread around the wrist of each newlywed on their sword-arm.
# The couple then sheathe their swords, and the cardinal pronounces them married!
# Then usually follows a great outdoor evening celebration - a feast in the open air (or indoors in colder areas) with lots of traditional Euluska cuisine - cured meats, seared cheeses, rustic bread, olive oil, and wine mainly. No cutlery is used. Be merry!
=== Fallonese ===
=== Halcyian ===
=== Brackian & Datrian ===
=== Caliveran ===
=== Sedian ===
== Rakkimarran ==
=== Rakki - Burning a sigil onto the hand ===
The Rakki were traditionally a strong and powerful culture, but have always been fighting their main enemy of the cold. The cold is oppressive, and it is why the Rakki care for one another and eschew a collectivist outlook instead of a capitalist one. Fire was sacred, and metal was rare because of how hard it was to mine - usually, it came from meteors. Therefore, anything to do with warmth was sacred. When a Rakki couple married, they would celebrate with fire and metal - the clan crafter of their town would make a unique metal shape or sigil for them. It would then be heated in a very hot fire - not just any old fire (and fire was already sacred), but one with coal or fuel to raise it to incredible temperatures. Then, the couple would have the metal sigil branded onto the back of their non-dominant hand at the same time, by pressing it between the back of their hands together until it cooled. It was painful, but the shape of the sigil was forever branded into their skin (they would receive traditional medicine to ensure the burn healed but the darkened shape remained, rather than risk infection etc). 
=== Essu - Planting a tree, amber-fossilised leaves ===
The Blackthorn tree is the most sacred tree to the Essu, who inhabit the area where trees barely survive the snow- Gildegra. The Essu are reindeer herders and whalers. It is said that the dense web of branches traps dreams and memories from being forgotten When a couple wishes to marry, they would traditionally take seeds from the fruit of their ancestors' trees each as well as whalebone, and reindeer dung, then find a spot alone in the snowy grasses away from their village. There, the couple... ahem, consummates their bond, and on that site, then plants the seeds to grow a new blackthorn tree. The whalebone is for a splint for the sapling, and the reindeer dung is fertiliser. They return years later and take a leaf from it each, crystallise it in amber, and wear it as a necklace each evermore. 
=== Fenet - Lava torcs, volcano sex ===
The Fenet people are few, but live on a huge volcanic snowy island. Newlyweds would make a pilgrimage to the volcano crater together , construct a small camp, and wait for the volcano to erupt. (Čanäk Jasankää erupted a tiny amount every few days or weeks). Whilst they waited, they would pray, receive visions from their ancestors, omens about their marriage, and would bond. When the volcano erupted, the couple would consummate their marriage amid the searing warmth, then wait for it to cool. They would go down and select pieces of cooled lava. They would bring these back, and clan crafters would turn these pieces of the once-fresh hot blood of the earth into torcs, a neck circlet, worn by each of the couple.
=== Xantic ===
== Islander ==
=== Vortai ===
=== Evortal - Beaches, wood masks, and nudity ===
The Evortal people of the North Vortic Island often had marriage ceremonies stood on the shore as the tide came in. Also, most the time, at weddings, traditional warrior clothing was worn, which was very light on the coverage side, and mostly made of wood, banana leaves, and palm leaves. The newlyweds and guests wore ornate wooden masks carved like animal or spiritual faces.
== North Indrateran ==
=== Vreigardt - Mountain solitude, and bone bracelets ===
The bronze age Vreigardts (like the Eja) were polygynous (many wives to one husband), but all Vreigardts since were monogamous. Traditionally marriage was a private affair; the couple would go up a mountain alone, and return a week later. Couples wore matching wrist bracelets decorated with animal bones or teeth. 
=== Vistu - Beyond death into dreams ===
The Vistu, indigenous inhabitants of the West Danderillon, believed that souls were reincarnated into dreams (they believed people in dreams were sentient). In Vist culture, marriage did not end upon death - it was a bonding of the two souls forever, beyond any mortal changes. So, once a Vistu person married once, even if their partner died, they were still considered forever bonded (and might see their partner in dreams where they now lived). A couple 
== Lakayan ==
=== Kaneeyi - Tattoos, new names, and woven blankets ===
The Kaneeyi people, the most numerous indigenous inhabitants ot Lakay, had a complex view of gender, coming-of-age, and marriage. In Kaneeyi society, one's gender was considered to be fragments of the soul of the creator, and those who had multiple pieces of this energy experienced life through the enlightened lens of more than one gender. These people also had traditional woven cloth patterns that were distinctive to each clan and handed down - these were usually a religious garment called the ma:né, a two metre square cloth used as a blanket, shawl, sling, bedroll, hammock, robe, kilt, etc. The Kaneeyi took multiple names during their life after significant achievements or events, and they often had their stories tattooed upon them with traditional marine inks. All of these facts were also true in their marriage customs. When a couple was married, they had a tattooed motif that harkened to their partner's story immortalised forever on their own body. They also sewed together their ma:né shawls into a large united one. Sometimes, but not always, they might change their names to reflect this new phase in their life. A marriage might also change their view on the creator's gendered soul within their body.
=== Uiyet - Wrestling, horse milk, and a bonfire ===
Amongst the Uiyet nomads of the Lakayan steppe, the more horses you had, the more desirable you were to marry. Courtship often involved shirtless wrestling or duels with blunt clubs - the aim was not to win, but to show both people were equals, and so they would build an emotional bond through battering one another. When the marriage came, they would make ayera (a mare's milk cheese drink) from the strongest mares of each of their personal herds, and drink it together. Uiyet weddings involved lots more fighting with clubs, wrestling, feats of horsemanship, all around a massive bonfire which people threw "wishes" scrawled on tree bark into for the couple - wishing them prosperity, wealth, children, etc. Newlyweds wore special woven robes of earthy coloured silk and embroidered gold.
=== Bayut - Gold wrist ribbons and providing a feast ===
The Bayut mountain-dwelling falconers had simple wedding customs. When a couple decided to marry, it was customary they tied a gold ribbon around one leg of each of their favourite tamed birds (not tied together!). They would also do the same by tying a gold ribbon around one of their wrists. Then, they would go hunting and bring back a nice kill for the clan, and they would celebrate the marriage over a big feast.
In order to unite the Uiyet and Bayut tribes to convince them to join the anti-colonial revolution, some of the Lakayan Liberators spent time helping to organise, and attent, the wedding in 1513 of Chabi of the Bayut and Prince Ghi of the Uiyet, where they witnessed these customs united. 
== Mantle (Underground) ==
=== Cacklers - Promiscuous and polyandrous ===
Cacklers, the underground hyenafolk, were quite promiscuous and ruled by a dominance hierarchy. They lived in small clans of 50 or so. Women, especially those at the top of the aggressive hierarchy, took multiple husbands; and the older, less-able-to-hunt women in the clan would raise the children. When it came to courtship, it reflected their hunting nature. A cackler would often present mortally injured prey to the individual they were courting, and if they approved, the partner would kill the prey, then they would both feed and finally proceed with the deed. They generally did not have marriage ceremonies.
=== Woora - Making things for each other ===
The Woora were small, hairy, stocky, near-blind, albinistic underground folk. They were keen crafters and manufacturers. When a pair of Woora people married, they would spend weeks or months making a gift for one another - they varied in type, but generally the more complex and manufactured, the better.
=== Sylphs - Mushroom symbiosis ===
Sylphs were graceful, lithe, fungi-worshipping underground dwellers with keen vision. They worshipped decay and fungi. When a pair married, they would grant one another a gift from the cultured fungus strain of their family (used for brewing beer, bread, etc), and they would each infest themselves with their partner's cultivation. It was carefully conditioned not to grow far, usually on the wrist of the non-dominant hand, or the collarbone. So, instead of a wedding band, they would have a few small mushrooms or mould confined to a palm-sized area on their wrist or collarbone.
Category:Lore