Morgrave High: Cultural Details

A place for recording some of the more unusual details of the cultures of various cast members of Morgrave High: Passing Marks

Eladrin

Most of the information here applies primarily to Pylas Pyrial, the Gate of Joy, to which Renaya Tilvaraen and her family are native. Nonetheless, much of it is potentially more broadly applicable.

Titles

Fey nobility is more than just a simple title; it is a literal investiture with the powers of a given concept, and a transformation into a slightly different type of fey. Normally, this is achieved by reaching sufficient personal potency to be able to swear to one of the overarching Fairy Courts, such as the seasonal courts, the Court of the Stars, or the Green Court. Upon achieving nobility, the new noble takes one of a number of titles, based upon his or her focus and function within the court. These titles may include:

• Coure are messengers, tricksters, and pages, generally serving greater fey of some sort.
• Bralani are wild fey, embodying untamed aspects of the natural world.
• Firre, are artisans, masters of art or industry and patrons of the same, and often embody methodical or creative forces.
• Tulanni are rulers, persons of particular inclination towards command and administration.

Courtship

Eladrin have a somewhat hybrid approach to romantic affairs. A "marriage" between two fey is referred to as a "lifebond," and shares most features with its human counterpart; the two partners cooperate to provide companionship to each other, aid in the advancement of each other's life goals, and to raise any children. However, the Lifebond relationship is not strictly monogamous; many eladrin take mates even after forming a lifebond, generally for the specific purpose of producing offspring when that is otherwise impossible or undesirable, but occasionally just for the purpose of building outside bonds or relationships. A mate is very much not a lifebond partner, however; the sharing of life that the latter implies is strictly absent from the former, which is more concerned with immediate desires or needs; while taking a mate is no mark upon one's lifebond relationship, behaving towards that person the same way one would to her lifebond partner would be the equivalent of adultery.

Courtship for the formation of a lifebond is a polyamorous affair; most eladrin take multiple suitors, accepting or seeking more or discarding them as their respective whims dictate. It is rare for courtships between eladrin to last less than a decade, and anything below two is still modestly scandalous. An eladrin's parents have no "approval" right in choice of partner, but can, and generally do, direct potential suitors at their children.

The formal courtship process of the eladrin is "codified" in a formal dance called Elphair Kal Dashirra, The Lovers' Dance. Rather than a set progression of steps, it is instead a set of responses to the other person's behavior, which essentially represents a myriad of possible courtship states. Persons engaged in courtship use the various steps and states of the dance to describe how they stand relative to each other in terms of their emotional closeness.