Love, Romance, and Gender

Love, romance, and gender are topics that vary widely between societies and cultures across the planet. Practices and beliefs which define a gender, romantic or sexual practice, or the rules around love vary based on the people within each of the world's cultures. Many cultures, nations and similar societal groups own diverse rituals and customs that pertain to love and sex, and not all will share the same thoughts, or even possess the same knowledge on the topic. Throughout time as well, views on love have changed, while in olden times, marriage was seen more as a political or economic arrangement more than one for love, in modern times this has largely flipped, with romance, love, and marriage often seen as a thing born of desire, with politics and economics largely considered as secondary. Whatever thoughts are on the matter of love, romance, and sex, different societies and cultures have largely shaped their beliefs on the topic around religious, environmental, cultural, and political beliefs.

Avanor
Often in Avanoran societies, love is viewed as a personal matter. According to the Divine Sanctum, love is a feeling blessed by the gods, and is only between the individual and the divine. Certain limitations are often placed on the matter of love, however, as the Divine Sanctum does condemn bestiality and incestuous relations. However, largely in Avanoran societies today, there are few to no restrictions on love. Same-sex attraction is, while not as common as heterosexual attractions and couples, accepted and viewed as widely normal, as the Divine Sanctum has recognized and blessed same-sex marriages and couples since the ancient times.

Marriage
In Avanor, marriage is most often a romantic, legal, and spiritual contract. As Avanor is a continent largely dominated by the Divine Sanctum, most couples are wed in a Sanctum, where a Octa or Octum conducts the wedding ceremony, often in front of family or friends. In the ceremony, it is often common for both spouses to wear white to the alter, and for the Octa or Octum to tie a ribbon, connecting the hands of the two. After this, the two exchange vows, and the Octa or Octum and each spouse anoints the other with holy oils, and then are draped in a cloak together, and are declared as one soul and body before the gods. As this is a largely Sanctumite tradition, however, not every marriage in Avanor takes place this way, and it falls to every couple to plan their own cultural traditions into their own ceremony.

Additionally, though this is how most people are married, a union is not legally recognized in most countries until the new couple registers their marriage at their local town hall or municipal administration. In countries across Avanor, marriages which are incestuous, polygamous, or involve children are illegal, and are also frowned upon by the church. However, it is true that in the countries of Novogaard, Cyrogaard, Bellogaard, and Yurogaard that polygamous marriages are allowed and blessed by their cultural norms. It is also true that the Reformed Sanctum, which is often practiced in nations like Mittellande, Averra, and Slovecia, recognize polygamous marriages, though only Slovecia recognizes polygamous marriages legally out of the three, with Mittellande holding no recognition of these unions, and Averra allowing for "romantic partner registration" of polygamous couples, though not marriages. It should be noted that, even within the contexts that polygamous marriages occur, it is usually limited to three to four spouses, and still are not as widely practiced as monogamous relationships, with only Novogaard holding polygamy as the norm.

Sex and Romance
Generally in Avanor, rules and regulations surrounding romantic and sexual activity are more often governed by social norms, rather than legal statute.