[SBLOCK=Elves]
1) What is the basis of elf 'nobility?' In humans, noble title was granted by a higher lord in exchange for fealty. Do elf lords owe one or both Councils fealty then? Or is it based on another concept altogether?
2) The council of wizards; how does one gain appointment to it? Is it meritocratic, or do they only draw from a select source of magically apt (perhaps only from noble wizards?), or is there some kind of minimum age...?
3) Is it possible, if perhaps unusual, for a male elf to be saa'covale to more than one woman? Or a woman to declare more than one man at one time? What about unusual circumstances like non-elves or same-gender pairs?
4) Do non-noble elves emulate the 'elf marriage' system, or do they have their own thing going?
5) Is there any religious significance to the 'elf marriage' system (as there was and is in a real life human marriage, for example).
6) What role do priests generally play in elf society?
That oughtta hold you for now. I should have asked all this when I was first making a character. Ah well, better late than never.
1) Elven nobility has lasted for so many milennia that to many, the sheer force of tradition and privilege is one of the strongest factors, but it does have a very direct tie--there is an incredibly important sacred Soul Grove near the city, full of majestic elder trees of great magic. The souls of elves collect there and transmigrate to Arvandor. The noble families each have their own tree. Other elven souls just find their own way to Arvandor, but sometimes get lost or delayed. Also, as long as the tree stands, it cements the tie with Arvandor, and elven nobles become petitioners of higher status in the afterlife, sometimes even Aasimar in service of the Seldarine. The way the trees work is that anyone born of the womb of someone connected to that tree will always be inherently tied to that tree forever, except that the
to'covaran ceremony will tie a man to the tree of his
to'covaran. That's really what the ceremony does. It isn't easy to maintain this tie--it is powered by love, or at least commitment, and if the bond between the
to'covaran is not strong enough, the man's soul will sometimes revert to his original tree instead. If this happens, the two will be forever apart in the afterlife, whereas if not, they shall be forever together.
2) It is a combination of merit, noble status, age/seniority, and the opinions of you of the others on the council.
3) Do you read the Wheel of Time? Your typo for
saa'covaran rhymes with the Seanchan term for a slave,
da'covale. Anyway, it is not too unusual for a man to have multiple women declare him
saa'covaran--it is somewhat natural, especially with a desirable man. He can even have several women declare him
saa'covaran while having a
to'covaran, as mentioned above--it is considered incredibly romantic if the
saa'covaran declarations are from women of much higher standing. He can, of course, only accept one of these declarations and become
to'covaran with one of the women. Of course, he can change that if he wants (which is why it is considered so romantic if he doesn't do this for the woman with much higher standing, since he's sacrificing all that to stay with the woman he loves). Usually if a man does desert and switch
to'covaran to another woman, the first woman will revoke her declaration of
saa'covaran, but rarely she won't--it's considered to be acting a bit of a pushover though, after he abandoned her and all that.
As for women, they can have multiple
saa'covaran if they don't have a
to'covaran, but they can only have one
to'covaran, and having one cancels out all previous declarations of
saa'covaran, and none more can be made until
to'covaran is revoked. Thus, if a woman has several
saa'covaran, it just means that she's declared love for several men who all have decided not to become her
to'covaran.
There are several edge cases that handle things like the extermination of a noble family, merging, non-elves, etc--I'll make a new post to handle them because it's long and you may not care.
4) So, non-noble males can actually gain noble status by becoming
to'covaran to a noblewoman. It is considered scandalous for the woman and reflects badly on her though. Non-noble women can declare
saa'covaran, but they and their beloved can never become
to'covaran. They can do some of the edge-case things from above though, which I'll explain later. Generally, though, the law cares little about what they do, so they tend to be pretty carefree about it.
5) The significance is with the link to the tree. It's more a magical metaphysical significance. But there is no religious force or anything enforcing it like there would be in Earth marriage--all that holds it together is the woman's love or commitment. When that lapses, it ends, and that happens quite a lot. As far as connections to religion--most elves consider Corellon Latherian to be
to'covaran with Angharradh and also
saa'covaran of the three deities that compose Angharradh (Sehanine Moonbow, Hanali Celanil, and Aerdrie Faenya).
6) Priests bestow the wisdom and blessings of the gods. They have no political power but are highly respected for their services to the elven people.
[/SBLOCK]
Thanks for the info re: Elf culture though! Very interesting stuff, and I do have some questions.
