4.8 MARRIAGE

Proposing - Engagement
----------------------
The first step in getting married is proposing to your love. PROPOSE TO
<whoever> WITH <whatever> will do it. The WITH <whatever> is so that you may
propose with an engagement ring, or any valuable bauble that has meaning to
both of you. Simply have the item in your inventory.

Should you be proposed to, you need only AGREE to accept it. Any other
action will disregard the offer.

Adventurers must be within the 30th level of experience or higher, and have
at least 75 OOC hours of play (i.e., 3 days, 3 hours in SCORE ABOUT) to become
engaged.


Engagement
----------
Once you have successfully proposed or agreed to a proposal, you will be
engaged. You may break off the engagement at any time by doing BREAK
ENGAGEMENT. Once you have been engaged for at least 24 Achaean months as
shown in your HONOURS, you will be eligible to actually get married. This
mandatory period of engagement is to force you to think about what you are
doing. Marriage is not a thing to be taken lightly.


The Wedding - Marriage
----------------------
There's a wide array of possibilities when it comes to the actual wedding
itself. Two of the most important decisions that need to be made are whether
you want a ceremony or not, and if so, whom you wish to perform it.

If you and your to-be decide not to have a ceremony, you may simply wait out
the engagement time. At any point after the 24 months, you may follow one of
three courses:

1) seek the proper member in your house who is able to marry, or
2) if you have some reason to wish a particular Divine to make the
   marriage official, you should both message Him or Her with your request.*
3) Seek out Ocedda, Priest of Eros, in the City of Nur, and speak with him
   about marriage. (This will cost 10,000 gold.)

*DO NOT SIMPLY CONTACT ANY RANDOM GOD! 
Gods are not on-call mortal wedding performers! If you have a PERSONAL
relationship with a God (for example, you are the order head of that God's
Order), you may make a request. If your only reason for wanting a particular
God to make your marriage official is "I wanted to get married right now and I
saw their name on QW" or "I really like their realm", you have no business
asking and your request will probably seem quite rude.

In practice, it makes no real difference what Divine makes it official - this
would be for sentimental reasons only. Some Divines will fulfill such a request,
others may not. Neither you nor your to-be needs to be in the realms when a
marriage is officialised in such a manner.

If you both decide to have a ceremony, you need to decide who you would like
to have perform it and contact that person. You may have a ceremony
performed by a willing Divine, or by an agreeable mortal, or have a simple
exchange of vows between yourselves without an officiant -- however you wish
to handle it. You will still require a Divine to make the marriage official
should you not have one performing the ceremony. You can use the message 
methods described above. Be sure that you, your to-be, and your officiant are
in agreement about the ceremony itself and what is expected.

Rings are, of course, widely available. You can buy one already made from a
person or a shop, or contact a licensed jeweller to get one custom-made.
CRAFTERWHO J will tell you which jewellers are currently in the realms. You
can also customise rings at any point, to have custom descriptions, to reset
to the owner, or to not decay (HELP CUSTOMISATION).


Divorce
-------
Marriage is not a thing to be entered into lightly. Too many adventurers
wish to be married at the first signs of love with another, but it is wise
to wait, for divorce is not granted without consequence.

If, as happens all too often, you find that married life does not agree with
you, you may DIVORCE <spouse>. This costs 10,000 gold, however, and your
HONOURS description will permanently reveal that you have been divorced.


Commands related to marriage:
-----------------------------
PROPOSE TO <whomever> WITH <whatever>
BREAK ENGAGEMENT
DIVORCE <spouse>
ASK OCEDDA MARRIAGE