Marriage Diplomacy

[Gildre]

Title: Low level marriage diplomacy.

Summary: Allow individual characters to get married. Married characters would automatically be neutral observers for any battles with their spouses realm. Marriages have been an RP thing in the past, but if we include a mechanics aspect of it with consequences that can't be avoided, it could be used much more effectively. This would be for as long as the characters live, no divorce. Marriage would not be an IR for characters. Rulers could forbid marriages, and if the character follows through with it, they will have the wrath of the ruler on them.

Details: An option would be added where if two characters were in the same region, they would have an option to propose marriage to another character. I see this mechanically happening similar to trading a unique item. One party proposes, the other receives a message where they can accept. If one character leaves the region before complete, it will be canceled. A warning message would have to be included stating that it is permanent and that they will not be able to take up arms against their spouses realm. Characters would have a line added to their Character Page below the line stating their position, like "Married to Sir XXX of Realm X on DATE".

Benefits:
1) Increase RP availability. There is RP of the wedding, but also if a spouse is killed or wounded, it would involve drastic vengeance plots. Also allows for "Romeo and Juliet" scenarios.
2) Diplomacy. All through history royals were married to other royals as peace deals or alliance builders. The same would be done here. It would require commitment from rulers, and could get delightfully awkward if relations between realms fell.
3) Lower level politics could be utilized. Marriages could support not going to war, or an assault on a loved one could push a realm to join in on a war, giving more cause than "hey we are at peace let's get in on this".

Possible Downsides or Exploits: I can see this being done arbitrarily and regretted, especially when it is first introduced and the novelty is high. However, I think that will pass quickly, especially if there is a warning message that it is irreversible.

[Zakky]

Don't remember this doing much for M&F.

[Gildre]

I don't know much about M&F. I tried it and couldn't get into it. Is this a feature in that game?

I think there are definitely people in BM who would take full advantage of this feature, both for political and RP reasons.

[Zakky]

You can still do this marriage thing through RP.

[Gildre]

Yes but the moment one person drops the RP, they essentially aren't married anymore. Not to mention the battle mechanics I proposed.

[JeVondair]

I've been wanting something like this forever. Idc if it is exactly as gildre described, but marriage was such a huge part of the medieval world, and had so many far-reaching applications, that NOT having it in a medieval sim is just a glaring omission.


IMO, there doesn't even need to be an IG mechanic other than an entry into family history and character pages that says Married or Spouse of <Link>. While it would be cool to have at least SOME IG effects, I'd be happy with just the above for starters.

[De-Legro]

M&F has mechanics for marriage and relationships in general. As M&F has family trees and successor ship it is necessary to have mechanics that allows players to formally enter relationships. The mechanics are mostly related to displaying the relationship on relevant character pages and for allowing both players to create characters that are children of those in the relationship. It is possible to form a relationship/marriage that does not allow for children as well.

It has no affect on battle mechanics, but then entering battle is very different in M&F. I am all for formal and recorded marriages in the game. Forcing me to not participate in a battle though I would not endorse. It may well be I am more loyal to my realm then to my relationship, do not attempt to enforce some standard of behavior. If I do not wish to fight against my spouse and/or their realm I have mechanics to do so, it is called not showing up to the battleground.

[Cameron (Pavus)]

I think it's best done through RP. It fringes on people being good and fair roleplayers, but it allows more flexibility for any arranged situation

[Logar]

I'm all for this, but maybe only with light effects on mechanics.
The automatic refusl to battle is possibly too hard a mechanic, but raising a regions morale when both the Lord and spouse are present in the region at the same time I believe is a more acceptable mechanic.

*Other acceptable mechanics may be available*

[Tourmaline]

I actually like the idea of married nobles fighting on opposite sides of the battlefield. Being able to sit out would be unrealistic.

The real question is, is marriage between a man and a woman only? 

[Medron Pryde]

The interesting thing about computer games is that it actually takes MORE code and makes the game MORE complicated to insist on male/female only marriages.

I remember back in the day that Sims got in some hot water over that because they just had an "attraction" setup based on character attributes but sex was not one of them.  They ended up having to add a brute force no same sex code to the game after launch because of the outrage over that.

From a computer programmer point of view, I found that to be highly amusing.

My dear old mother was not nearly so amused about the fact that I found that amusing.