Theres the idea of bastard children, born out of wedlock. The game knows innately who the father is but more realistically a woman with multiple partners immediately before a pregnancy doesnt really . . . So basically, custody laws.
Your choice of words in "custody
laws" suggested another possible option: An authority figure (most likely the ranking noble or current mayor, but possibly also a priest or the head of the mother's family) flat-out
declares who the father is, at least in the eyes of the law/society. Ideally, this would take into account both actual evidence (the baby has similar coloration as the "father") and rumors (a few people saw the mother and "father" flirting about nine months ago). Depending on social mores, the "father" might be
forced to marry the mother, or at the very least acknowledge the bastard as his own, as well as pay some form of child support and/or formally authorize the child to inherit. Refusal would almost certainly be considered a crime, as well as cause a Grudge between all members of both families.
. . . One that makee marriages/matchmaking the role of government entities, where the entity can force unions on couples that otherwise have no interest in each other, or deny marriages sometimes which were formed by mutual interest.
People really don't seem to be interested in matchmakers.
I suggested one about a year ago, and got a whopping ONE reply.
And the ability to restrict marriage by caste, say a tag that says caste x cannot legally marry...
And/or one that says caste x isnt allowed to marry caste y
Okay, do you mean "caste" as in
social caste, defined by what a person does for a living, which (in particular with Overseer-managed dwarves) can change at the drop of a hat? Or are you speaking of traits defined at birth, such as gender, which are more or less immutable?
Also, beware of adding further complexity. There are already 2 x 3 x 4 x 4 - 16 =
80 possible types of relationship, even
without considering nobility or social caste:
2 [Heterosexual][Homosexual]
3 [Romantic][Sexual][Reproductive]
4 [Marital][Nonmarital][Premarital][Extramarital]
4 [Monogamous][Polygamous][Polyandrous][Polygynous]
Factor in just 5 different levels of how society might feel about each of these (Forbidden, Discouraged, Neutral, Encouraged, Mandated) and that's
400 different relationships (at least, before you subtract some conflicts). Now, I agree, the landscape
could still benefit from being made richer; Different social ranks, and genders, being constrained by different rules would not only be flavorful, but absolutely flush with historical precedent. But considering that this is all being coded by
one guy, I would advocate for baby steps.
And another thing weve all been hoping for, for a long, long time, was just to define and describe unique deities that should always appear for a civ.
Don't speak for the group. I for one have
never wanted a deity that would
always appear in the pantheon of every civ--I consider even some of the more ubiquitous
spheres (most notably Fortresses) to be a rather glaring lack of variety. Sure, some ability to define/edit a civ's gods would be nice, but don't assume that everyone wants what you want.