Who said marriage is required for an heir. The premise of the Rogue Trader character from the campaign I plan to run is that his mother was the Rogue Trader and his father a pirate captain who she had done buisiness with and had a romance with.

I agree with Varnias, I dont think that arranged marriage is necissarily the norm. I think that it is possible for Rogue Trader houses to go down that road but I can imagine that it is very much up to the individual family.

Kaihlik

Add chances of corruption if she is from high echelon power(noble). Would make a nice adventure opener and then the retaliation agaisnt the family and the taker over.

You do realize that you guys are aplying 21st century Anglo-American morals to to Warhammer 40k, and that's never going to end well...

Remember, there are very diverse cultures in 40k and what is moral in one might be a deliberate insult in another. A Rogue Trader could have one wife, 2 wives, 3 wives, or a harem of beautiful women. In Dune, Duke Leto BOUGHT his wife (Jessica) from the Bene Gesserit and never married her (she remained his concubine). One of the quallifications he required (his mentat Thufir Hawat handled negotiations) was that she be beautiful. Indeed, he was glad Paul favored her in looks because as he said "she brought a regal beauty back to the Atreides bloodline".

And yes, looks do matter at the top. For an excellent example of a women who leveraged her looks, look up Empress Theodora of Byzantium. She went from being a child-prostitue to Empress by being mistress to a succession of powerful men, till she ultimately married Emperor Justinian.

And to everybody who felt slighted by the original post: grow a sense a humor. He obviously meant it as a joke.

On 9/30/2010 at 12:52 PM, Justinian said:

You do realize that you guys are aplying 21st century Anglo-American morals to to Warhammer 40k, and that's never going to end well...

Remember, there are very diverse cultures in 40k and what is moral in one might be a deliberate insult in another. A Rogue Trader could have one wife, 2 wives, 3 wives, or a harem of beautiful women.

Considering that 40k is a dark satire of British Culture in the 80s, using Anglo American nobility for marriage rules fits more than one might think.

And... nearly 10 year necro. Ha!