Wedding Ceremonies

Weddings mean different things and are celebrated in different ways depending on which system of laws they're under based on their country or religious practices and finally based on their race all these different factors come together to make up the different traditions that a couple or group use when binding themselves together in the eyes of the law or deity of choice.

### Religion

#### Ioun

The night before the wedding the man and the woman are separated and taken away by their future in-laws where they are tested on their knowledge, first of general things like history, magic and Ioun then they're tested on knowledge to do with a craft that they plan to support the family with, these questions are designed to be long and drawn out often repeating the questions with slight variations to try and trip up the potential spouse. Finally after hours of questions the parents begin asking questions about their own child testing the couple on how well they know one another questions also arise like why do you think you will make a good husband, who will be doing the chores and how many kids do you plan to have. The couple now tired and drained begin preparations for their wedding ceremony traditionally without any sleep while the in-laws go to have a nap, it is considered very important for the couple to then not show signs of being tired on their wedding day showing that a night of strenuous examination is not challenging for them. Just before the vows are read the two fathers will stand up and present the results of the nights examination they give a flat number of how many questions they got right out of how many questions but then will also give their opinion on which answers or questions they got wrong/ were not up to the standard expected, they're encouraged to be as mean and picky as they can during this evaluation.

#### Asmodeus

Marriages are treated very much like a business arrangement and consist of much negotiations, litigation and meetings until a final contract is drawn up that both parties agree to, this may or may not involve the couple rather than simply their parents depending on other cultural factors.

The culmination of the wedding ceremony is signing of contract, depending on how secretive that the couple is needing to be based on the areas acceptance of Asmodeus they might read out the full contact to those who are listening or they might have to leave parts out so as to not offend those listening or if the couple is having to pretend they follow a different religion the contact is still signed at the ceremony but might be done very quietly while people are distracted.

Divorce is not permissible as it is seen as a breach of contract and thus is far worse than murder which is considered to be the correct way to get out of a marriage you no longer wish to be in and some marriage contracts include stipulations on how these murders must be carried out

#### Lamastu

When a man wishes to marry a woman he goes to the father of his intended bride and will present him with a trophy from a magical beast preferably one that they have raised or tamed themselves but often they are simple trophy's that have been found or harvested from peoples kills, women who wish to propose to a man will offer this trophy directly to the man.

### Country

#### Mer-Rein

Marriage is considered a very serious matter to the elves due to their long lives, people do not enter into it lightly and often the engagement period can last for decades if not over a century. Marriages are often arranged by the parents of a couple and linage is an important factor in who marries who the new family will take the name of the more important family, which can at times can cause elongated marriage discussions as they fight over this honour.

During the service the brides wear ornate silver or gold crowns with thin intricate wires passing in and out of their hair around their ears and over their foreheads, these can often take many hours to put on or remove, the crowns have small delicate charms dangling from it typically made from gemstones. The charms are positioned close enough together so that when the bride moves, the tinkling sound is supposed to bring good luck and blessings from the forest spirits on their marriage.

#### The Drazia Dynasty

While it is illegal for a woman to marry more than one man the males are allowed to marry multiple women depending on their rank, comonners can only have the one partner while the Kings can have as many as they would like. One wife is considered the primary wife who has all of the rights and privilege of being a nobles wife while the others are only concubines with limited rights.