In search of more Forgotten Realms lore

[berelinde]

Anomen romances female PCs of the appropriate species. No news there.

 

I've been thinking about how to handle that, and I'm thinking I don't want to automatically kill Anomen's romance even if the pc starts the game engaged or married to Gavin. (Yes, the latter is possible, but not mandatory.) Anomen's interest in the pc is not obvious at first, and for all Gavin knows, he's that open with everybody. In all likelihood, the PC will become aware of Anomen's interest before Gavin will.

 

What happens if she prefers Anomen? If that's what she wants, I'd like to give her the opportunity to find out.

 

Breaking an engagement is easy enough, but what about divorce? Somehow, I don't think it's going to be a simple matter of saying "That's it, we're done." Nor is estrangement a satisfactory option. It would villainize the PC in accepting Anomen's proposal, should she choose to do so.

 

So, anybody know how FR divorces are handled?

[NiGHTMARE]

I'm not sure there's any canon informaton on this particular issue, but I'd say for certain that it would depend entirely on what gods and churches are involved.

 

Lawful Good and Lawful Neutral deities, especially Torm, god of duty and loyalty, would probably hold similar views to the real world Roman Catholic Church, in that divorce is either strictly forbidden or at least heavily frowned upon.

 

Lawful Evil deities, particularly Bane, god of tyranny, would probably see a marriage more as a contract, with the more powerful/wealthy party essentially owning their partner. Divorce would therefore only be possible if the dominant partner in the relationship granted his or her permission. Even then, the "lesser" partner would undoubtedly be forced to provide something in exchange, such as a monetary payment, or even a replacement for themselves.

 

Chaotic Good deities, like Sune, goddess of beauty, love, and passion, might see marriage purely as a symbol of love and joy, with duty and loyalty being less important. Marriages performed by churches of such gods may only be short term, without vows only lasting a year or so; if the couple are still together after that time, their vows are renewed, if not, there are no repurcussions. Some CG churches, particularly those of Sharess, goddess of hedonism, excess, and lust, may even consider monogamy to be completely irrelevant to the concept of marriage.

 

Of course, it's not just what church the wedding was performed by that's important, but also the faith of those involved. If a devotee of Helm were to fall in love with an already married follower of Sune, she might be fine with the idea of getting divorced from her current partner, but he could find the very idea abhorrent.

[berelinde]

Your answer helps a lot. And makes me realize that I'm forgetting the existing example for the cleric stronghold duties, when the man with the unfaithful wife (Glidden?) asks what he should do about it.

 

For Lathander, the best choice was to forgive and allow both parties to move on. For Helm, it was to remind the straying partner of her duty. For Talos, I think it was murder.

 

As a cleric of Lathander, Gavin would be unhappy about it, but would have to let her go. For Anomen, he'd have yet another crisis. Poor Anomen. I really feel bad for him, sometimes. For the pc, it would depend.

 

Actually, I'm fine with that.

 

Thanks. I'm starting to realize how much you really know about the FR, NiGHTMARE.