On Nobility and Legitimacy, and other related topics

[Fire Wraith]

Nobility and considerations of Legitimacy

One of the key important considerations to any noble family is that of inheritance. Marriage and inheritance are how noble families seal alliances and seek to gain status. Because of this, marriage and children take on a special importance far exceeding that which it does for common folk. Noble children are expected to marry for duty and family, not for love, although that can be a consideration provided that they chose a suitable match. Noble families keep meticulous records of births, marriages, and so forth, as who is related to who matters quite a bit.

That said, nobles (or at least human nobles) are often prone to dalliances and affairs outside of marriage, in part due to the fact that many noble marriages are made for considerations other than love. This is considered socially acceptable IF it is kept quiet enough (most everyone does it, so as long as it doesn't become public spectacle and scandal, it's not a big deal). In most cases, the ready supply of herbs that can be used to dampen fertility tends to limit the number of children born to such trysts; however, such does occur, particularly if such precautions are not taken. In the case of children born in such a manner, there are several possibilities:

1) Unacknowledged. The child is born without any public recognition by the noble parent (generally the father, as it's harder to deny motherhood, but this can happen if the child is quietly sent to an orphanage or such). They do not use their parents' name (and would get in a great deal of trouble if they did), and may not even know the truth of their ancestry.
2) Acknowledged Bastard. The child is acknowledged as an out-of-wedlock descendent by the noble parent. They are not considered noble, do not have use of the noble parent's name, and are not considered eligible to inherit; but will often enjoy some degree of involvement with the family, and are often treated as better than an average commoner by other nobles for that reason. Such children may even be considered eligible marriage pairings with other noble families in certain circumstances. (Think Jon Snow of Game of Thrones, for instance.)
3) Legitimized Bastard. The noble parent (or the Head of the House) may at their discretion declare one of their children to be "Legitimate", in which case that child is immediately granted all the normal status and privileges associated with their birth order. Such actions are not often and easily done and can come with significant social repercussions (other children in the family may not like having the inheritance order changed, and families who have married into that house may similarly take a dim view, in addition to the general frowning on such by noble society.)

Additionally, in cases of illicit trysts among nobles, such children if unacknowledged may well grow up as part of a different house, unaware of their true father (such was the case for several of Azoun IV's bastards). In this case they tend to be treated as the child of their public parents in all respects (though rumors may swirl in private). In the case that such children are acknowledged, this can become rather complicated, although depending on the circumstances they may still be treated as part of the birth house.

Nobility and Adoption

Because of the importance of considerations of inheritance, bloodlines, and the matters of alliances thereof, noble families almost never adopt. If they do, it is usually in the sense of a childless head of the house adopting a blood-related child from another branch of the family as a way of designating them as heir. In the case of non-blood relatives, noble families will almost always take in such children as "Wards" of the house, who are treated in a manner similar to Acknowledged Bastards, but without the possibility of later being declared legitimate. Additionally, legitimized offspring may sometimes be declared "adopted" by the non-blood related parent as a formality.

Nobility and Race

Generally speaking, most nobles are extremely particular about matters of bloodline and pedigree and would be aghast at the thought of a noble marrying a commoner. The thought of marrying outside their race/species is even more scandalous in the extreme, and the more extreme the difference the greater the negative reaction. While the degree of reaction may vary quite a bit among particular nobles, as well as with which race/country. For instance, many Cormyrian nobles would turn their nose up at a noble who married an elf, or at the half-elven child of such a union, and might gossip about such, but by comparison, most Drow houses wouldn't consider a Half-Drow to even BE nobility at all, beyond the degree they might be forced to by the power of the House in question. This tends to fade as the separation increases, so the child of a human and half-elf would face far less prejudice and negativity, limited largely to a few traditionalists (at as long as they then married another human noble rather than someone elf-blooded). Conversely, more extreme examples will be reacted to much more negatively, with an example of the opposite extreme being the Fey'ri, who were actively working to mix demonic blood into various elven house bloodlines and were met with violent opposition from other elves.

As such, racially exogamous marriages among nobility are all but unheard of, and noble children not of the appropriate race are almost exclusively illegitimate in some way, at least to begin with.

Nobility and Same-Sex Marriage

As Faerûn tends to be relatively open-minded on such things, marriages that are not expected to produce offspring (such as same-sex unions) are generally accepted even if not considered necessarily preferrable from the standpoint of nobility. Such unions can provide alliances and such even if not providing children, but especially in houses with many alternate heirs, this is not necessarily seen as a bad thing. Such cases tend to be somewhat of an exception to the above considerations on racially exogamous unions (since no one is worried about what it means for the bloodlines). In the case of nobles expected to inherit, it is common to adopt a relative's child as their heir, or for an illegitimate child of the noble heir to be legitimized. It is widely frowned upon among the nobility to employ magic to conceive offspring (this is the case regardless of the parents), though that isn't to say it doesn't happen - just that those who do tend to publicly treat the child as being a 'normal' out of wedlock child that then gets legitimized, and formally adopted by the other parent.