Sexuality and Marriage in Crux 2
Following up the previous post, here is sexuality in Ainesia and Ith.
Ainesia: Given its diversity, the traditional practices of the Revolutionary Empire vary. Each nation for thousands of years held tight to their traditions, although the revolutionary government early acted against them, Hana Krasnysang would later reverse such radical reforms, at least enough to maintain order.
Prior to the Revolution, the many different states, kingdoms and realms of Ainesia held to conservative traditions- most outlawed sodomy, various kinds of sexuality and often left no rights to women at all. Women were regarded in most of Ainesia to be subservient, although in isolated places women achieved some measure of influence or power. Perhaps the greatest part of the Ainesian Revolution was how it uplifted the position of women, who often helped spread the Revolution's fervor past attempts to contain it.
Krasnysang has helped to make the reforms for women permanent, but other reforms on sexuality never stayed. Most of Ainesia's common folk detest the radical propositions, voting them down in the Supreme Soviet. Each region varies greatly in its opinions on such matters. However, Clerics of the Revolution take up arms on both sides of the issue: some standing tall for a revolution to go back to traditional ways, while others see each denied reform as a betrayal.
Marriage long had been something conducted by those of authority in Ainesia in the centuries prior to the Revolution. Most were forced marriages, often with landed gentry or family elders deciding the terms of the marriage. The practice still remains in parts of Ainesia, often conducted illegally. Most common Ainesians have mixed feelings on the practice- the political advantages tend to be weighed against the potential backlash if caught by authorities.
Because of Ith's very laize-faire attitude on sexuality, some Ainesians will flee into Ith to elope. Others arrive because their form of love is frowned upon. Ith doesn't care, although marriages conducted there have no weight in Ainesia.
Ith: In Ith, sexuality and marriage vary from region to region. It sits as a mixing pool of many traditions and views, taking pieces of its neighbors as well as its own history. Ith has long maintained a very open view on love and sexuality. Disconcerting to some of its neighbors, it also has long not disfavored women- believing that merit and arcane power should decide, not sexual preference.
For the ancient Tomasi empire, which once surrounded the environs around Crux and northern Ith, sexuality was tied to magic. Ideas of monoarny, to them, seemed wrong. Marriage did exist, but the Tomasi were open with their relationships. Relations between men and men or women and women, were not unexpected but embraced. The Tomasi would pass this kind of sexuality onto Ith, especially magicks that required sex to function.
Unlike the Othebean aversion to Lust, Ith very much embraces physical love in a lot of ways. But the Othebean practice of monogamy became entrenched in Ith, especially in the south and the northern cities. The long dominance of Othebea over Ith embedded the ideals of Othebean love- non-physical love.
Ith never lost its flare for sex, never becoming polygamous like Maliph nor banning homosexuality like Ainesia. In Ith, there are no qualms about sexual attraction- even between monstrous lines. Unfortunately, Ith also has no laws forbidding a variety of other sexual lines as well. For instance, no laws forbid the mistreatment of anyone who is unsorcerous- children, women or whoever. Many press for reforms to protect the unsorcerous, especially against such predation.
The arcane magic of the Storm Coast bears some mention here too. Along Ith's Storm Coast, rituals requiring sexual acts are not unheard of. These rituals often attracted the ire of Othebean crusaders. The entities summoned or crafted through such acts were called abominations by the Church of the Twins.
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