Belariath

I think, that if we must have bondings, which it seems we must, the proposal you have written works well. I myself think that adding bonding to the game was a mistake, that it waters down the game and its purpose, but i seem to be the lone hold out in that case, and besides, that is not the discussion we are having here.

Being married/bonded use to have meaning for one purpose in the Empires eyes. You could defend you husband/wife. Meaning is George wasn't Married to Sally and Sally got raped silly and beaten, all he could do was pet her, love her, take her home. If they were married? He could go kick the pants off of Mordrake that had done the damage. In the eyes of the Empire, it would have been considered your right to defend the one you were bonded/married to. So you were 'recognized' in the eyes of the empire as defending what is yours. Nothing more, nothing less. Thats all 'being recognized' was meant for.

What meaning does it have now for an 'official' bonding? Nothing really. The Emperor can go.. Oh, their married and were married in Ishtars temple? Ok.. I recognize you used a Goddess that our empire acknowledges. End scene. Thats it.

It only holds meaning now for those that want to be bonded and for religious purposes.

Bonding is like rape, slavery, combat, dwarf tossing and religion itself. It's there because it reflects a human drive which crosses all races and all eras. But as with the rest of those things, you get to choose whether to take part or not.

Unless you're the dwarf of course....