The Tower Lands Sex Post

Gin said he'd ban me if I didn't do this.

Family and Social Organization

The basic unit of Halish society is the house, which is both the dwelling and the extended family who live there (the word for both in Halish is the same). For all but the rich, homes are a single room with a large hearth at one end; everyone eats, sleeps, and does chores together in the same space.

At minimum, a house must be comprised of a married couple. An unmarried person with no living family is an outcast, a legal non-person. The most common way to escape being an outcast is to bind oneself to a house as a slave. Slaves are property of the house rather than members, but they have some customary protections outcasts lack--mainly that only their masters can kill or maim them without legal penalty, and they can make enforceable contracts with their masters' permission.

Property is owned by houses, not individuals. In practice, this mostly matters for slaves, livestock, and land, but technically, even the clothes on a person's back are the property of their house (and if you're an outcast, anyone can legally take anything you have at any time, since you can't own it).

Every house has a head who's responsible for its welfare and conduct and, in turn, has authority over all other family members. Heads of houses are expected to answer for the actions of their relatives outside the house, and if a member of the house has done some wrong, the head can administer justice as they see fit. When the head of a house dies, their position passes to their heir. Traditionally, this is their oldest living child; customs vary on who inherits if there are no children, and disputes often arise over the issue.

Gender and Marriage

The Halish have no word for gender as distinct from sex, which they regard as binary. Halish society is mostly quite gender-egalitarian. Women and men can both be heads of houses, and sex is a non-factor in inheritance, except for some remnants of old matriarchal customs in Astos. There is very little division of labor based on sex, with all common social roles open to men and women equally. The Halish are proud of their gender equality, mainly in how both men and women are warriors. They regard other cultures who restrict people from fighting based on gender as foolish and backward, and the non-warrior genders of those cultures as weak and pathetic. A Halish warrior, if attacked in front of their spouse, expects to see that spouse pull their dagger and leap to fight alongside them.

The main place where sex is an issue is in marriage and childbearing. Halish marriages are always heterosexual and monogamous, and everyone is expected to marry. The head of a house has the power to arrange or refuse marriages for all members; most marriages are arranged this way for the house's economic and practical benefit, though of course some house heads will listen to their children's preferences. Traditionally, when a couple gets married, the spouse from the poorer house moves in with the richer one. Thereafter, they're legally considered part of their new resident house, a member of that family. This is a matter of custom, not law; in practice, which spouse goes to live in the other's house is often a subject of much negotiation. The question is especially important because whichever spouse moves in with the other's family is expected to bring a dowry with them to compensate their new family for the extra burden of supporting them. Typically, a savvy house head will try to have their oldest child marry someone from a house that's just a little poorer than their own so they can collect the biggest dowry and keep their heir, then marry their younger children off to the heirs of the richest houses that'll take them to secure them better lives.

Fashion and Hygiene

The Halish are a big bathing culture. Bathing is a major social activity. In poor communities, everyone gets together frequently to bathe and do laundry in whatever natural body of water is handy. In wealthier towns, public bathhouses serve as community centers. The very rich will maintain private baths, usually large enough for themselves and guests. Private bathing is a sign of status, not modesty.

The Halish are not a prudish people. In bathing and in the home, nudity around others is normal regardless of gender, and many won't bother to dress at home even for guests. Nudity outside of the home is seen as a sign of poverty more than anything; others might take a naked stranger for a slave, but they won't demand they cover up. Conversely, bathing with clothes on is seen as extremely low-class, a sign that one is so busy they can't take the time to wash their clothes properly. Wearing wet clothing is believed to slow the blood and cause illness of the lungs.

Most Halish prefer to dress in a style of tunic or gown made from a single piece of linen or wool sewn together at one end to form a tube, which can be belted, pinned, and folded about the body at various lengths to create varied silhouettes. As a rule, younger men and women, and those doing physical work, favor shorter tunics, while the elderly and those with more sedentary jobs favor longer gowns. Knights will traditionally swap out the tunic for a thick quilted vest or coat--called an arming coat--and tight woolen leggings, made to be worn under armor or as light armor in its own right. Capes and cloaks are added as accessories and for cold weather. The standard footwear is leather sandals that wrap around up the calves, but leather shoes and boots are also used for those traveling and wanting more foot protection, mainly knights. Most people go without underwear, though when preparing for battle or other vigorous activity, women will sometimes use sashes to bind their breasts and men will wear loincloths to secure their bits.

Long hair is seen as a sign of health and wealth, styled protectively using braiding and macca oil and proudly displayed. Although only monks and nuns commonly shave their heads, shaving everywhere else is popular. All but the poorest will usually remove most of their body hair with razors, waxing, and chemical agents. Tweezing the eyebrows to create a more defined shape is popular. Wearing pubic hair, and facial hair for men, is traditionally reserved for those who have either had children or killed someone in battle; those men who do grow beards keep them short and well-trimmed. Wealthy men and women both wear makeup to darken the eyelids, rouge the cheeks and lips, and further define the eyebrows. Perfume is highly valued by all. Permanent body modifications like tattoos, piercings, and scarification are rare outside of certain specific cults, seen to disfigure the beauty of a healthy and well-made body. The ideal body is supposed to represent a warrior's strength and vitality, so height, muscle, and fat are all considered attractive for both sexes.

Sex

The Halish have two main words for sex, the act. The first translates as "non-reproductive sex" or "recreational sex," and describes everything that won't (normally) produce children. This is considered a social activity; any two non-related adults can engage in it without taboo, regardless of whether they're married and to whom, and there's little to no sense of privacy around it. The Halish don't really have a concept of romance as we might understand it; marriage is a legal and economic arrangement mainly concerned with producing children, where one hopes they might end up with someone they can be friends with as a side benefit. Recreational sex between friends isn't seen as a sign of anything deeper than friendship. This means people we'd call queer aren't persecuted for acting on their attraction to those of the same sex, or for their lack of attraction to the opposite. However, there isn't really any idea of two people of the same sex having an intimate relationship beyond being friends, and such people face the same pressure as anyone to marry someone of the opposite sex and produce children.

The other Halish word for sex translates as "reproductive sex," and is exactly what it sounds like. A married person having reproductive sex with someone other than their spouse is considered a crime against that spouse and their whole house. If it can be proven (meaning, in practice, if you can convince your family and neighbors that it happened), it's one of the few grounds for divorce. In the past, it was considered a valid basis for a house feud; these are less common since they were restricted under Old Kingdom law, but they still happen sometimes. However, the Halish don't really have a concept of virginity--a person who's had reproductive sex with someone else before marrying their current spouse, including one with previous children, isn't seen as any less marriageable. Indeed, it's seen as a good sign, assuming they're still young enough for more kids.

Sex work is ubiquitous. Most sex workers are slaves; free commoners who do it aren't judged any differently from those who do any other work, and nobles avoid it like any other labor that isn't religion or warfare. Just about every town has at least one brothel, and the wealthy will keep personal pleasure slaves. Like most things, sex work is not restricted by gender, with men and women both acting as purveyors and purchasers subject to the same judgment, i.e., none at all. Because humans and raun can't have children, raun pleasure slaves are especially valued.

Sex is considered part of hospitality similarly to food, bathing, and other entertainment. Wealthy hosts in particular will usually offer guests the services of their house's pleasure slaves. In poorer households without slaves, family members of lowest status--usually the youngest adults--will be pressured to fulfil the task instead, especially for high-status guests.

The Halish don't possess reliable contraceptives. They do make use of various chemical abortifacients. Abortion isn't considered a crime, but it's seen as shameful, since everyone is supposed to have as many kids as they can.

Maternity

When a couple tries to conceive, roll 1d6 exploding in secret to see how many weeks of regular effort it takes. Each time the die explodes, roll 1d6 for each partner in secret. On a roll of 1, that character is infertile. Characters who have already had children can still become infertile later in life.

A pregnant character is burdened in their second trimester and cannot adventure in their third. Pregnant women are socially obligated to refrain from hard physical labor and fighting. Breaking this taboo outside of an emergency is considered gravely dishonorable, as is attacking a pregnant woman, even in war.

A common Halish saying translates as, "Every child is born on a battlefield." Maternal and infant mortality are high. Midwives are essential pillars of every community. When a character attempts to give birth, roll 1d6 baseline, another 1d6 if the mother is well-fed and well-rested in a safe place, and another 1d6 if a skilled midwife or doctor assists. If all dice roll a 1, the mother dies. If she survives, she takes -2 to all physical checks until she rests for a full 3 weeks, -1 afterward until she rests for another 3 weeks.

Next, roll 3d6 baseline, 1d6 less if the mother is healthy and well-fed, 1d6 less if a doctor or midwife assists. If any dice roll a 1, the child is stillborn.

The Halish consider anyone born visibly disabled, deformed, or sickly to be cursed. Babies born so are often abandoned or murdered. Unless a player wants to deal with something like this, assume any children born to them are generally healthy and will develop typically.

The peril doesn't end at birth. For each season of a newborn's first year, roll 1d6 baseline, another 1d6 if the child has been well-fed and well-cared-for that season. If all dice for a season roll 1, the child dies. If the child survives their first year, they're out of the worst danger, and can be assumed safe unless something dire happens. Only then are they given a name.

Children

Only poor women nurse their own babies; any lady of status will have a slave wetnurse. Children are raised communally by the elders of the house. Every child is expected to try all sorts of chores and labor and learn as much as they can, with the head of the house ultimately putting them on whatever they're most capable at; a slightly-built man with quick hands faces no shame for spending his days spinning yarn, and a strong woman is welcome in the fields. There's no clear social or legal division between childhood and adulthood; children work as hard as they're able to at their age, and are given responsibility to match. People grow up young by our standards.

The Halish are not gentle parents. Children are seen as assets of the house first and people second. A parent refusing to beat their child for disobedience will be seen as highly unusual.

Bastards, whether born to unmarried mothers or by infidelity, are born outcasts. The head of the mother's house has the authority to enslave the child, and usually does so--rich house heads so they can keep the child as a worker, poor ones, so they can sell it. Although being a bastard is a source of shame, being the parent of a bastard isn't inherently so, unless one cheated on one's spouse to do it. Some unmarried women make a practice of intentionally having one or more slave children before marrying so their houses can profit. Others regard this as incredibly fucked up--the Halish aren't all monsters.