Editing Valkor (section)

=Marriage and Family=

The Church has a fixed and limited attitude toward sex: the purpose of sex is to produce children, and people are to choose one spouse with whom to spend their lives. The church has an equally negative attitude towards sexuality, but people do not live by this principle: the common people living in barns find their comfort, pleasure, and safety in each other's bodies. The Templars also seek their comforts, but they do so with silk bed sheets.  As to the sectarians, there are many paths.  
 
For the sake of society, all Children of Light are considered to be strictly monogamous.  Where persons err (and the Templars are more likely to err than others) all children are born inside the marriage. Should it happen that a child is clearly not the child of the two parents, e.g. a half-elf child born to two humans, then the child will be considered to be an ‘outside child’ of the mother.  Each father (birth, family) has the option to claim the child as his own; and they can determine whether or not to grant an inheritance (and land).   
 
All property is inherited through the father. There are few inheritance disputes because the father ultimately determines the inheritance and the eldest son inherits everything. An eldest boy will easily find a willing spouse when he reaches a suitable age, while the younger ones will have to earn their place in the world.
 
At the marriage ceremony, the man's father brings his son to the prayer pole, where he hands his son to his future wife. Then the Church priest will give a short sermon, urging the spouses to love each other and to be faithful one another; he will advise the man to make wise decisions and the woman to obey her husband. Once the ceremony is completed, the woman moves to live in the man's house along side his parents and siblings.