Marriage in Vaestism

In common with many other religions, Vaestism prescribes a specific type of marital practice. The orthodox Vaestic conception of marriage is polygamous, expecting polygyny and permitting limited polyandry. Marriage may be to principal spouses or ordinary concubines, though the latter are typically only to be found among high-placed Scholars, nobles and the wealthy. A married Vaestic household is known as a unity, and one unity may encompass several men and women. While certain homosexual relationships are permitted and encouraged under Vaestism, they do not fall under the conception of marriage and are treated separately. Typically, marriages are arranged by senior relatives in a unity; marriage is considered distinct from romantic love in the Vaestic conception, which is the domain of concubinage and premarital relationships.

Typology

Vaestism differentiates between a number of types of marriage, which are rendered under their conventional translations.

Conjunction

Conjunction is the initial marriage of a man and a woman. This creates a unity (in law, the unity comprises the "legislating members" of a household). By default, the man will remain head of the household barring certain circumstances in commonality, and the conjoined woman will remain the principal spouse by virtue of having the most experience within the household. A man may be married to a concubine without committing conjunction.

Unification

Unification describes the extension of a unity to another woman. The new marriage is treated on an equal footing with the initial conjunction, and a semantic difference is maintained largely for the purposes of inheritance, where children of the conjunction are treated preferentially, and to differentiate the principal spouse as the female head of the household. All members of the unity must consent to a further unification.

Commonality

Commonality (also retrogression) describes the extension of a unity to another man. Strict limits are set upon this practice in Vaestism. The second husband must be a relative of the first, usually a brother but occasionally a close cousin or half-brother). All parties must consent to the retrogression. The head of the unity will be the eldest of two brothers, or will remain the first husband in other cases. Commonality is usually restricted to two men, and Vaestic law prescribes a strict maximum of three. In commonality, the estates of the men are combined into the single estate of the unity and treated as a single unit to be divided in inheritance. As in unification, all members of the unity must legally consent to commonality. Commonality has become relatively rare due to the social complexity of the relationship between two husbands in commonality.

Concubinage

Concubinage is distinguished sharply from conjunction and unification. Concubines are always female. Marriage to a concubine does not count as conjunction, and children born to a concubine are treated separately from those born to a principal spouse. Concubines are treated as inferior partners compared to principal spouses, and act essentially as servants in the household. Concubines are taken from lower classes of society, where conjunction or unification would be seen as unfit. The concubine is not strictly part of the unity, and in the case of commonality the concubine may be kept for one man. Children born to a concubine within one unity are semi-legitimate. Only the man need consent to concubinage; since the concubine is outside the formal unity, spouses do not need to assent.

Common concubinage

Common concubinage describes a broader practice of commonality applied to concubines. In contrast to principal commonality, common concubinage is less strictly regulated and concubines may be shared between any arbitrary number of men and unities. A concubine who is married to men of more than one unity is socially and legally inferior to a concubine married within a single unity, and children born to a common concubine must be either adopted by a unity, in which case they are rendered semi-legitimate, or they will be considered both illegitimate and orphaned, and treated as such.

Legitimacy

As might be expected, children born from a unity are legitimate, and those born outside of a unity are illegitimate. A special case holds, however, in the case of a child born from a non-common concubine: such a child is semi-legitimate. Semi-legitimate children will not necessarily inherit from their father unless there are no legitimate heirs. Semi-legitimate children are often referred to simply as illegitimate, confusing the content of many historical texts. Children born of a common concubine may be rendered semi-legitimate or will remain formally illegitimate.

Ceremony and ritual

All Vaestic weddings are conducted in a School by an officiating Scholar or in some cases an Acolyte; Banners differ on this detail. Conjunction and unification ceremonies are similar; the Scholar asks a series of questions on the responsibilities of a Unity, receives the correct answers, and then requires a formulaic assent to marriage to declare the Unity either created or expanded; the ceremony also involves the recitation of certain formulae. These ceremonies are usually accompanied by significant celebrations and often occur around the time of the Scholar's Meal; the families of the various participants, as well as friends and often local acquaintances, typically attend both the ceremony itself and the subsequent meal. Often, since the Scholar's Meal is a relatively rare event, many different Unities will be created or expanded on the same day. The ceremony itself is preceded by a series of appointments with a Scholar or an Acolyte in which the characters and Knowledge of the individuals involved are tested and they are educated on the role of the Unity in Vaestic society.

Commonality is considerably more arduous than the above practices; whilst the ceremony is similar, the process of analysis by Scholars and consideration by the bureaucracy of the Schools is often a much longer one because Commonality is so much more restricted and to some extent viewed with suspicion.

Concubinage and common concubinage, as might be expected, are much less elaborate; usually the process of becoming a legal concubine is relatively short and involves no celebration, only a comparatively brief meeting with a Scholar. Some Banners devolve this responsibility to Acolytes.