Politics!

Question: What's the deal with marriage in your Scion games? Is cross-pantheon marriage frowned upon by the gods or is it cultivated as the cement which holds together alliances? Since Pantheons seem to function as royal families or dynasties unto themselves, what's your take on godly marriage in a many-pantheon world?

This question is well-timed, since Sverrir just spent an especially harrowing couple of hours trying to deal with a few different pantheons' demands and offers of marriage alliances with him thanks to Vanaheim's resurgence. It's tough to be the king.

Whether or not cross-pantheon marriage is frowned upon generally depends on the pantheon in question, the gods in question and how everything went down. More insular and less foreigner-tolerant pantheons like the Aztlanti or Amatsukami are probably more likely to frown on it as a rule (though of course that doesn't mean they won't do it if it seems like it will benefit them, just that they won't like it), while those more concerned with political savvy or with a history of combining bloodlines through marriage like the Pesedjet or Aesir may have much less of a problem with it. Then, too, there are specific cases where pantheons are not getting along and are probably going to go all Montague and Capulet if their members try to cross-marry; few Nemetondevos/Dodekatheon or Deva/Yazata marriages are going to have smooth roads ahead of them. And finally, specific gods may have their own opinions on what is and isn't a good match - Ares may be fine with a Dodekatheon Scion marrying a Tuatha berserker, but those not interested in their territory being regularly blown up may be less than pleased.

It's certain, though, that marriage in Scion never comes without political ramifications; at best, you can marry a mortal or lesser immortal who has no strong affiliation, which will mean that you've basically removed yourself from that specific political arena (which will be helpful sometimes and crippling at others). This is what Folkwardr did by marrying Ahouva; she has no political ramifications so he there are no real consequences, and he doesn't have to be part of the marriage alliance conversation anymore unless somebody kills her, which he's very vigilant about making sure doesn't happen. Yoloxochitl went for this option in an even purer form by just making herself permanently underage, but it's anyone's guess whether or not the Aztlanti are going to let her stay that way or inform her later that she'd better age a decade because there's an important alliance that needs sealing right now.

Everybody else's lives are more complicated. Sverrir spent his last game dealing with emissaries from the Pesedjet, Tuatha and Dodekatheon asking for his line to be married into one of theirs, as well as possibly something similar with the Amatsukami (but since they wouldn't tell him what they wanted unless he went to a private conference with them before he talked to everyone else, and he didn't do that, it's probably just as likely that they wanted to bribe him not to make a marriage alliance with anybody). The marriage between Sowiljr and Eztli is of course now legendary in itself, having spawned a war and several extremely ugly political incidents (but it was also unavoidable, thanks to him knocking her up at Legend 4, so everybody is kind of stuck with it). Jioni's marriage to Erebus has given her a great deal of power among the Dodekatheon but has also made her a figure of some resentment, while at home nobody cares because most of the Loa don't view Erebus as particularly special or something they should be concerned about, and of course she also got him to start a war that ended up dragging the Aesir into the fray as well. And, of course, Odin's been spending the last couple of years hunting up what he considers the best marriage prospects for Vala, something she is not at all pleased about but which will eventually have to be handled in some way.

Alas, even marrying within your own pantheon isn't politically a "safe zone" - just ask Terminus, who ended up having to get hitched to Circe to stop a pretty epic intra-pantheon feud from continuing.

Marriages between pantheons almost always mean some kind of alliance, especially if they're intentional, for the same reason they usually do among human families that intermarry; Family A's son/daughter/sister/brother/whatever is now living with Family B, so they have a vested interest in helping defend Family B if they get attacked or in making sure that they're prosperous so they can in turn send some of that wealth back home. Occasionally, as is the case with Terminus, they also happen to smooth over an incident or an insult to restore the status quo - that is, sorry we did whatever you're super pissed off about, here's one of us to live with you as a peace offering and guarantee that we'll behave in the future.

And then there are the kids like Sowiljr and Eztli that just spring a surprise marriage on everyone... and when that happens, everybody gets to scramble to see what advantage they can make out of it.