Culture of Gendara

The Holy Empire of Gendara has developed its cultural elements over thousands of years.

Duels

Dueling is completely legal in Gendara, and is often used in the case of minor personal disagreements. There are, however, a number of rules which must be adhered to, or the duel in question is not "sanctioned" (and thus, the participants become legally liable for any damages incurred).

The first step involves the Challenge. When someone considers themselves to have been wronged by another, they may challenge them to a duel to restore their honor. Duels may also be declared as a means of settling dispute over property. The only restrictions are that the Challenger MUST be of greater rank than the Challenged (a commoner cannot challenge a noble, but a noble may challenge a commoner), and that there must be at least two witnesses present to acknowledge the acceptance of the Challenged. Someone challenged to a duel may indeed decline - though in matters of disputed property, they must either give up their claim, or take it to the Magistrates to arbitrate. And in matters of honor, declining the duel is tantamount to an admission of wrongdoing and apology - the loss of honor applies to the Challenged, not the Challenger.

Next, a prospective duelist must speak with the Chosen of Ravan, and request formal acknowledgement of the duel. This is almost always granted, and one of the Redcloaks will meet with both duelists to establish the parameters. These include - but are not limited to - time of the duel, location for the duel, whether or not proxies will be used, who will be acting as Secundus for each party, and so on. The Chosen will also ask the Challenged for their choice of weapon, and provide the weapons for the duel (because the Redcloak brings the weapons, there can be no charges of "fixed" weapons).

The day.

Types of duels.

Retribution.

Marriage

Members of the Imperial House are forbidden from marrying outside of the Empire, and must marry a spouse from one of the Noble Houses. The laws of cognatic primogeniture apply to the children - first out gets the throne.

Members of Noble Houses are generally expected to marry other nobles. When this occurs, a choice must be made - one of the nobles must give up their House affiliation and be subsumed into their spouse's House. As this would generally encourage people to marry others within their House (and thus SERIOUSLY accelerate inbreeding), marrying a noble of your own house is very much discouraged.

Members of a Noble House can also marry commoners or foreigners, though certain restrictions apply. The determining factor is whether or not the foreign spouse intends to become a Gendaran citizen, or if the Gendaran intends to leave the Empire. If the Gendaran plans to leave the Empire, they MUST give up their House name, either taking the family name of their spouse, or taking an entirely new name.

If a foreign national seeks to become a Gendaran citizen and marry a noble, the marriage is morganatic in nature - the spouse doesn't have any noble rights, and is considered a commoner in all legal senses. They take the House name of their spouse, but add a mid-fix (between Name and House) which indicates their status (fahis for males, fahise for females). In addition, the children, while considered to be a part of the House into which they are born, cannot become Margrave, nor can THEIR children. Both intricate record-keeping and the gossip of nobles insures this -

Due to the social stigma of marrying "out of class", it is a rarely seen event in Gendara. Still, love can be a powerful force...

Commoners are free to marry whoever they like, be it fellow Gendaran or foreign national. It is entirely up to them which of the two family names involved the couple takes.

Most citizens, commoner OR noble, are fairly xenophobic, however, and such "out of empire" marriages are rare indeed.