The Harvest Moon Consortium

[Winterhawk99]

Here is an example of a mating duel where the female wins from Children of Hell book 1:

Mayumi Torviir of House Sator kneels down upon a mat in one of the temples meditation rooms. She places her lifeless sword beside her along with her fan. Sweat from morning practice drips down her face. She unrolls her dyed multicolored hair that may only be adorn by a cleric; down into long beautiful tresses and prepares to empty her emotions and thoughts. Her bruises from morning practice distract the process as usual. She casts a spell to mend her bruised green scales. She cannot completely empty herself as she starts to recite the Canon of Tiamat. The thoughts pushed into the back of her mind call out to her.

Where are you, Lady Goddess?
Why have you abandoned us to the Baatezu?
You still hear our prayers and Sing to the Samurai yet there is nothing else.
Is your silence a message?
The Baatezu say that you were banished from Avernus, but I do not believe this.
What are we……………….

The door behind her slides open. She reaches for her Katana and turns her head to see who it might be. It’s a Yuki Priestess of a much greater rank. As she enters she speaks, “Keeper Torviir your assistance is required. Ran Tarim would like to speak with you at the council central square. I would hurry; she doesn’t like to wait as you well know.” She then notices Mayumi’s hand resting on her Katana, “I am happy to see you remain alert even in meditation. You may make a fine Samurai as well as a priestess. I failed the training and bowed out before the ceremony. I find simply being a priestess is my calling. I do not regret it.”

Mayumi slowly takes her hand off of her Katana, stands up and bows, “It is always a choice Mother Priestess we all eventually find our place as all things do. If I may ask what would Most Honorable Ran want with a middling Keeper?”

The Priestess bows her head slightly to recognize the submission then replies, “I would not propose to know exactly what a Circle member thinks or needs. All that I do know is that she has requested your presence at the square. I assume it is of some Sator family importance requiring your assistance as a priestess. Now go to your meeting; your subordinates will take up your duties here for today.” She then winks at Mayumi meaning that she will have time for herself for the rest of the day which is an unusual circumstance; so unusual in fact that it disturbs the young keeper.

The Priestess makes her exit. Mayumi gathers her things, checks her spell components and repertoire just in case something is afoot. Satisfied that she could handle almost anything Mayumi walks out, slides the door shut and proceeds down the hall to the public area of the temple. As she walks through; she notices that there are less people than usual petitioning priests and priestesses for blessing. She then rolls her eyes. There have been a lot of mating challenges of late in front of the temple. That is probably what it is, which means there will be a crowd to get around. She walks out and sure enough there’s an empty mating circle created by spectators. She makes her way down the steps watching the circle with her peripheral vision. A young yuki male jumps into the ring. He then dances around, showing off his agility. His white scales glisten from a recent molt. His eyes white filled with the power of the element of air. The crowd whistles. She sees a few friends in the crowd and stops but a moment to speak with them.

As she speaks to her friends, the Yuki calls out his intentions, “I Haru Maelyl of house Yuki challenge Mayumi Torviir of House Sator! I challenge you for mating rights!”

Mayumi blinks and looks toward the center of the ring. Haru’s glowing electric sword is pointed straight at her. In disbelief, she turns back to her friends a moment and says, “This Was Not Arranged!”

Kazu is the first to speak, “Haru is a handsome specimen and a full samurai. If I could trade places with you Keeper I would in a heartbeat.” She then bats her eyes at Mayumi and smiles.

Nishi adds, “If you take to the air he will chase you down. It’s best just to play the game and submit when the opportunity comes. That is if you are willing to submit. If not……….” she shrugs her shoulders.

Aoi the serious one of the bunch looks into her eyes, “I don’t envy your choice Mayumi. You have followed your own path to power. Now this happens. You have to make a choice. Remember he is a samurai and you will have power through him if you choose to submit or he makes you submit. If you kill him all the more honor for yourself. After all, he is Samurai! It’s rare but not unprecedented.”

Mayumi makes her decision. She touches her amulet and says a small prayer. She feels the magic fill up her blade. Turning around to face him she acts timid, as if a female ready to submit to him. He advances and attacks her dancing his way across the ring. She counters and parries knocking his blade away and swinging to the opposite side of the ring. She touches her amulet again and says a few words. On his face cuts appear and start to bleed.

The crowd gasps! Then Cheers! This will be a real fight!

Haru shakes off the pain. His eyes blaze with anger as he unsheathes his wakizashi and once again dances into the fray. Again, she counters and this time his blade is too fast. He slashes her face bringing on a shocking pain that makes her hiss and show her fangs. She takes a final swing, missing, and then rolls across the ring.

The Crowd Cheers!

Overconfident now Haru whips up the spectators into a frenzy giving Mayumi time to unleash two of her more powerful spells. She touches her amulet and prays her cleric robes become enmeshed with magic; encasing them in an invisible armor and with another prayer: An erinyes is called into her service.

As the erinyes appears, Haru realizes his mistake but knows enough to attack the spell caster rather than the summoned. He concentrates and a gust of wind knocks Mayumi over along with many in the crowd behind her. The erinyes attacks; to give Mayumi time to get up and into battle. Mayumi gets up running into the fray. As Haru is about to dispatch the Erinyes he sees her coming out of the corner of his eye. He parries her with his wakizashi while dispatching the devil with his katana. Then he feels her counterstrike nipping his thigh. They both roll away from each other.

The crowd goes silent. You can hear a pin drop, as they look on to the drama unfolding before them. Haru moves first he concentrates and then disappears. Mayumi touches her amulet yet again and speaks a single word. She unclasps her fan from her belt. As she opens the fan showing the wicked steel razors on the ends: It erupts in a spell called Darkflame. She goes into a slow form of a kata making her way to the center of the ring. Step, listen…………. twist and step, listen………. Haru sheds his invisibility and attacks her from behind swinging up to her midsection. She parries down with her katana sending his blade into her own thigh while swinging up with her fan burying in into his neck cleaving the back of his jaw. They fall into a death spoon. As she lay there, she pulls his katana out of her thigh and touches her amulet. Bone begins to mend and blood stops seeping. The cure spell is not enough to fully heal her; however, it is enough to turn a mortal blow into a minor wound only seeping slightly with serum.

She struggles and stumbles getting up. Turning around she bows to the dead Haru saying, “May the ancestors accept you honorable Haru.”

Two Yuki walk into the ring: A Male and Female. Both older Samurai, the male having bright green eyes, and a female with eyes of red. They bow to Mayumi. The Male speaks, “Keeper Mayumi Torviir, you have defeated our son in the mating ritual. As is tradition we present you with this gift of his power. This ring will make you invisible once per day for up to an hour. Forgive us and let not our families’ feud over this matter.” Mayumi bows in return. She takes the box presented to her saying, “I accept your gift Sire, Madam. Your son Haru fought bravely. I am honored that a Fey’ri with such passion would want me for a mate. The Ancestors are proud of your son. May they take him into their armies for eternity.”

The ceremony concluded the crowd cheers. Many pat Mayumi on the shoulder wanting to touch her for defeating what they think is one of her betters. She walks through the crowd on her way to her meeting with the supreme head of the Sator family.

[Winterhawk99]

This gets us into marriage. How does all this work. It's really not that simple and is sometimes as dangerous as the mating duels.

It’s easiest for young couples because at this point and time in an elder fey’ri’s life the male only has one wife which was either arranged or he won by clubbing her in the head (so to speak). The male will immediately move into the female’s city if he is from a different greater house. They together will find a new home to set up a household. By the end of their civilization there are many, many open homes that are just there for the taking. Homes are not a problem and they are free. The central hub or city is 3 miles in diameter. The five cities surrounding them are formed into a pentagram outward for 10 miles. Theres a total of 250,000 people near the end of their time in Avernus. There are in fact more empty buildings than there are households.

Now what if the male has multiple wives. Theres a few ways to do this. The male could set up multiple households in two or more cities. That can happen if a male only has 2 wives, but it gets tricky when they have 3 to 5 mates. Men don’t usually have more than 5 because it becomes too hard to manage all of them same with if a male has several households.

Also, the more rank a male has the more wives they usually have. They have to support the wives to some extent, especially when they are pregnant. Thus, Black eyes usually only have one wife unless they are extremely successful and manage large herds of Rothe or have large fields of a mushrooms. As a male goes up in rank to samurai, daimyo, shogun, and circle member they can start to afford more wives and many look for unattached females of rank to help them in their own duties.

What usually happens more often than not when a male has multiple wives is that the household is established in the highest-ranking wife's city. This brings us to the concept of the lead wife.

If one wife possesses rank, she becomes the lead wife regardless of how long the marriage has existed. For example, if a male has one wife who is a daimyo and two wives who are black eyes, the household will be centered within the daimyo's city. If all the wives are of equal rank, then seniority determines precedence. In such a case, the woman who has been married to the male the longest is considered the lead wife.

The lead wife is expected to keep all family accounts, schedules and deal with household discipline between other wives and children. elder fey'ri women are not just homemakers. They are expected to have jobs either in government or in food herding or farming. If a woman is married to a herder, she’s expected to work the rothe just as much as the man to help him in his work. If the woman works in some government institution like accounting, the archives, as administration assistants or other job the lead wife has to keep schedule of comings and goings so that the household so that the children and home is well maintained.

Women of rank also usually appreciate co-wives because their jobs carry a vast amount of responsibility and having a co-wife to take care of the home while they are doing their job makes their lives easier. A woman that commands a family several families or even an entire nation usually doesn’t have time for domestic chores.

Surprisingly, there is very little dissension among co-wives. In fact, there is often less conflict between co-wives than there is between husbands and wives. An Elder Fey'ri family is viewed much like a small company. Every member of the household has duties, and failure by one member is badly reflected upon the entire family.

When disputes do arise, the lead wife is expected to settle them. Her decision is considered final in most matters. If another wife refuses to accept her ruling, the lead wife is within her rights to administer discipline. This can range from simple reprimands or restrictions on privileges to corporal punishment. Ten lashes with a bullwhip is not unheard of for serious offenses, though such punishments are comparatively rare. Elder Fey'ri wives refer to their co-wives as "Sister," and part of the lead wife's responsibility is ensuring that harmony is maintained within the household.

Co-wives (sisters) are absolutely expected to sleep with each other on a regular basis. In fact, when a woman comes into the family, she spends part of the night with her husband then sleeps with every other wife he has while the others wait their turn if more than 2 other wives are in the household. It is Elder fey'ri custom that this ritual cements the new wife's place within the family and creates an emotional bond, however small, not only with the husband but also with her sisters.

This happens in children of Hell book 1 after Kioshi subdues both Miwa and Mayumi in a mating duel with both women at the same time:

Kioshi walks out of the bedroom and sits on his favorite stool. Miwa sitting like a rabbit about to take flight; notices the heavy bite and claw marks on his chest from both Mayumi and herself. He bends over rubbing his head with his hands. He looks up at her and draws an uneasy smile, which turns to a genuine smile as she lets her breast show, quite inadvertently of course.
He studies her fine features a moment, and then looks over the bedroom, “Your sister waits for you, Miwa.”
“Do I have too, Sire? She’s so snobby and uptight.”
He considers her request; giving her enough time to think about what she said, “The Circle must be complete Miwa. If we cannot complete each other, then we cannot work together as a perfect unit. You know inside that you will feel differently when it is over.”
She looks a bit sad, “I know Sire, and I have already lost myself to us. I feel your heartbeat even now as we speak. What will I feel once………...”? She looks over to the bedroom, “Just a few moments please?”
He waits in silence for a short time while Miwa collects her courage up. After about fifteen minutes she heads to the door, opens it and looks his way, “Will you not watch, Sire, and then join us?”
He shakes his head, “No, I cannot help but feel you tonight, Miwa. Tomorrow, the three of us shall share our joy.”
She nods, goes in and closes the door. Kioshi sighs and caresses the favors on his sword until the sounds die down. After the ceremony is complete; he enters the bedroom and slips in between the two of them for a restless sleep.