Author Topic: Incest and morality  (Read 4239 times)

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Endless Twilight

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Incest and morality
« on: November 08, 2009, 11:41:12 AM »
To render a long story short, here is a situation in the campaign I'm in that involves incestuous relationships, and I'm wondering if incest, strictly speaking, should have an impact on in-game morality.

Two of the major figures in the campaign are the long-deposed king and queen of a destroyed nation. However, they are also brother and sister, and they have a daughter. The queen became a priestess of Ilmater (LG Forgotten Realms deity of suffering and endurance), and specifically has become Exalted. Both the king and queen think the other is dead.

The problem is that the king is hellbent on re-establishing his kingdom, and neverminding the means by which he intends to carry that out, he is an extreme racist and human supremacist, and he would die before admitting a non-human into the royal bloodline. However, his attitude means that the quasi-human kingdoms (Aventi, Kalashtar, Elans, Azurins, etc) would likewise die before submitting to the king and offering a daughter in marriage. The king knows this, and knows that his daughter has no idea who or what she is, courtesy of a memory erasure and reprogramming by a psion affiliated with the forces that overthrew the kingdom in the first place.

The king therefore intends to marry his own daughter, and he's a powerful enough wizard to muck with genetics a little to remove the negative effects of inbreeding.

My questions are thus: should the queen have lost her Exalted status for having been in an incestuous relationship with her own brother, and in this regard, is the king outright evil for intending to marry his own daughter, who has no idea what she is?

Agita

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Re: Incest and morality
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2009, 12:44:49 PM »
I'd say 'no' and 'yes, but for different reasons'; respectively.
An evil action is defined in D&D as harming others for your (and only your) personal profit, or just for the lulz. Incest, in and of itself, does none of that, especially if you muck around a little to remove the negative effects. Incestuous marriage was, in fact, quite common among royal bloodlines in the middle ages to avoid 'muddying' their blue blood.
The king is, however, likely evil, because he manipulates others for his own profit and he's a racist ass.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2009, 12:48:29 PM by Agita »
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veekie

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Re: Incest and morality
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2009, 01:08:23 PM »
Pretty much, D&D alignment wise, Sex is well, sex, no matter who, what or how you do it(just look at the freakin halfbreeds), the only evilness involved is coercion(which falls under evil once it crosses a vague line) and intention.
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Endless Twilight

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Re: Incest and morality
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2009, 03:12:58 PM »
Alright, good to know. The king is evil anyhow, as this is an Elder Evils campaign and the king is the one responsible for awakening the Elder Evil, but good to know the rest, should the subject ever come up again.

Alea_Iacta_Est

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Re: Incest and morality
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2009, 02:27:46 PM »
In mediaeval times most royal families were incestuous. That is how during WW1 the King of England, Tzar of Russia, and Emperor of Germany were all related. Incest just happened in nobility to keep noble blood pure.
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Viletta Vadim

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Re: Incest and morality
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2009, 09:26:37 PM »
It's fairly normal regarding medieval settings to the point where the incest isn't even worth mention.  And the ramifications of single-generation incest are grossly exaggerated.  Having the king be a geneticist who fixes the kid just seems silly and arbitrary.

awaken DM golem

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Re: Incest and morality
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2009, 08:34:23 PM »
2 in a row, is really bad genetically.

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Kuroimaken

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Re: Incest and morality
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2010, 05:23:06 PM »
The Queen most definitely shouldn't lose her Exalted status for one simple reason - the child she bore was an act of love, which insofar as D&D is concerned, is non-evil. (Unless, of course, you're a devil ripping out a poor commoner's throat to nurse your offspring with his blood, or something.)
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