Checkup: Sex and Politics

"Is this a consideration given for our lengthened lives?" Don wanted to know. He wasn't exactly familiar with the female body, but he recalled that most women ran out of eggs at around forty to fifty years of age.

"More than that. All of the eggs she had before this operation would have yielded children incapable of using split, fated to a short life of suffering. Similarly, measures were implemented to eliminate the risks involved with incest. The genes in her ovum will be randomized to an extent, maintaining what you would call 'Terran' characteristics, including the ones added here. Your testes were also manipulated in this way to a certain extent.

Admittedly, part of the reason for this was to make you sexually compatible with the rest of humanity."

"Sexually compatible? Why did you need to do that?" Diana was a little uncomfortable with the subject of intercourse, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"Aside from the fact that everyone else is compatible with each other, it opens up a great many political options for you. Chief among them is the potential for a political marriage." The Maiden held up a hand to stop them before they could interject. "I understand the two of you would prefer a monogamous relationship, but I don't think that will be possible if you are to progress down the path I think you will. I won't go so far as to say you, Diana, will be forced into such an arrangement. However Donovan is likely to become a powerful chip in diplomatic dealings.

There are a great many situations I can think of that would precipitate the proposal of a political marriage, so I cannot give them all, but I can provide a few examples. This should first be prefaced with the fact that I believe Donovan will achieve a great many accolades in the realm of war, and your technological prowess will further the difference in military might between you and the rest.

With that said, I feel you should know that you will come into armed conflict with an external independent nation should you yourself decide to maintain a status of an independent nation, the current culture of war practically guarantees that an upstart will be attacked in order to expand influence and borders. In this scenario, there are two scenarios that immediately come to mind.

The first is in the case that you conquer a planet. Most systems are inhabited almost exclusively by the species that first lived on it. In the case the nation you seized it from was independent, then it is likely that the inhabitants will have a royal family or other such lineage that they view as the true rulers. In order to legitimize your rule over them and accrue any level of support, it may be needed for Donovan to marry a princess or even the queen.

The second case is that an independent nation wishes to either enter an alliance with you, or at the very least do not wish to be attacked. It is extraordinarily common for the rulers of such nations to marry off their children in order to seal such a deal. Seeing as Donovan will likely be considered a prime candidate for marriage anyways given his ability, martial might unfortunately being valued higher than other traits, you might even be given a great many things in order to secure one of his children."

"So he might end up becoming a breeding stud?" Diana was incredulous at the proposition. She understood that Donovan might end up having to accept other wives besides herself in order to build a base of support, as much as she didn't like it. She didn't like the idea of political concubinage, but she was perfectly willing forfeit her ideals if it gave them a better chance of survival. But that wasn't what was proposed, at least not all of what was proposed. The latter half of what the Arboreal Maiden described was more akin to relegating Donovan to becoming a man-whore.

Diana absolutely would not condone such a thing, and she had a feeling that Donovan was feeling revulsion at such a thing as well.

"Only if you let it. Once again I am only saying this is a possibility, and that you are more than welcome to refuse such actions, but I warn that avoiding political marriages entirely may prove to make your lives more difficult than is strictly necessary. Another use of the political marriage I have seen in the past was to secure talent. Admittedly, this is rather rare, but if you find a woman with a great deal of talent or an ability that you feel you absolutely need to have, having her enter into a marriage with Donovan is not a bad idea. Such an arrangement could even be a marriage in name only.

For your own sakes, I would try to avoid thinking of marriages in the way you have been up to this point. The denizens of this realm don't really hold the ideal of a 'holy matrimony' as they have yet to be exposed to the idea. Sure, it might be common for a household to only have one man and one woman, but among the upper echelons of society having many 'wives' is far more likely."

Donovan, still stunned by the prospect of being a tool, didn't even register this word of advice.

Diana on the other hand. "So he might be ridiculed for not having more than one wife. That's . . . rough." Diana lacked the energy to rip her hair out in frustration. "I suppose that's something I'll have to be in charge of won't it? We can't have some skank coming in a ruining all of our plans now can we? Donovan?"

She looked over to her partner, who was currently staring off into the distance.

"Donovan?" While the rest of him looked similar to the way it had before, if she didn't know it was him Diana would have mistaken him for someone different.