Ryuutenshi Courtship and Marriage

Courting starts becoming a serious thought in their seventeenth year. It’s the males that do the courting, but the women generally have the final say. Arranged marriages aren’t common. In the rare case of an arranged marriage, if the couple can’t get along, it isn’t followed through.

Courting rituals
Common things for young men to do to impress the young women are feats of strength, poetry, fancy flying, gifts, dress in fancy clothes, and dueling. It’s not only one sided, either. Some girls do engage in courting of their own. There aren’t many differences in what they do to impress, but they don’t engage in duels or feats of strength. They’ll sing or play instruments in lieu of those activities. As in any society, it’s very common for the courted to lead the courter on, playing hard to get.

Once a partner has accepted the court, the courter must have permission from her parents if it hadn’t been previously obtained in order to continue with the courting. Once obtained, that partner is courted exclusively. This stage is similar to the engagement stage in human society. This period lasts a minimum of four months and can go as long as ten months. If they feel they are ready for marriage after four months, than they are able to do so; however, if they still don’t feel ready after ten months, then it gets called off.

A courting goes according to very strict guidelines. One tends to target a group of the opposite sex which includes at least three or four that the courter has an interest in. Others outside of that group are free to express interest. After the courter has gathered as many prospects as can be handled, the group closes off. The courter has to keep them interested, especially considering that others will also be engaged in similar activities at the same time. As time passes, the courter’s attention will focus on fewer and fewer of his prospects, singling out the one most desirable to him. Permission to court that individual exclusively is sought from the family once the court has been accepted.

Marriage
Marriages are usually very simple affairs. The service is performed either in private with a  few witnesses or in public with lots of people in attendance. The head of the family will offer the couple advice and well-wishes. The palms of their left hands are then slashed open by a knife and their hands are bound, palms together, by a cloth in the colors of both their families. There is then an exchange of tokens, often rings or necklaces, and the marriage is complete.

The Knife
The knife used to slash the palms of the couple is an important item and is kept in a glass case in their home. The blade is either silver or gold, depending on the region of the valley they come from and the hilt is twined with the colors of the region of the Valley their families come from. Behind the knife in the case if the cloth that bound their hands together. Neither item is cleaned of the blood as this is seen as a sign of bad luck.

Bonding
See article on Ryuutenshi Bonding

Bonding is one of the rarest, most bizarre parts of Ryuutenshi society. A bond is an unbreakable relationship between two people. In this bond, you can feel what your partner feels depending on the strength of the bond. In a strong bond, you would feel everything, physically and emotionally, that your partner feels.