Omake: Avernite Cultural Notes: Matchmaking and Auntie Ng
In mainstream Avernite society there are few ideas as pervasive as the thought that to be alone means death. To be alone means that there is no one to notice the spider appearing on your back, to catch you right before you accidentally touch a patch of poison lichen, or to lend their blade when a tiger leaps out of the wall. To be alone is death.
So strong is this idea that one of the most common fears a parent experiences is that their death, and knowledge of one's own mortality can never truly be escaped on Avernus, will leave those that depend on you exposed.
When these fears and stresses came in contact with the matchmaking traditions of the colonists from the oceanic deathworld Kepulauan Biru, Auntie Ng* was born.
The pressures of Kepulauan Biru produced a society that in many ways resembled what would eventually emerge on Avernus. Cooperation was a necessity, and large interconnected multipartner families were the norm. This system, culturally envisioned as a fabric or tapestry, dangerously vulnerable to feuds and internal strife resulting from bad relationships. The solution to this problem was class of professional matchmakers, who ensured that the complex web of familial alliances was harmonious and complete. It was their sworn duty to ensure that tangles were prevented where possible, fixed when they inevitably arose and that loose threads would be woven back into the cloth, so that death's ever tugging fingers could not unravel the great work. These matchmakers not only aided in marriage and romantic relations but also friendships, business ventures, and other civic functions. When the colonists of Kepulauan Biru were being gathered it was decided to form a Tithe Clan** of matchmakers to oversee the needs of those leaving the homeworld. This clan would be named the Ng.
In the early years of colonization the Ng, settled in Fair Isle, found great demand for their services. The losses of that period often left people dangerously exposed, and for all the administrative and strategic mastery of the Governor, it was all to easy for people to fall through the cracks. The Ng took it upon themselves to identify those at risk and subtly weave them back into society. In the years leading up to the beginning of the Age of Dusk, the Ng expanded throughout every level of the city's social strata. Ironically for a group whose original purpose had been to tie together a society spread across disparate archipelagos, by the time of the death of the Emperor the Ng had begun to become highly insular in their mindset, focused entirely on their home city.
It was a sermon by Saint Lin in the aftermath of the Fall that changed that. His words about the importance of protecting the most vulnerable galvanized the clan. Almost as one they came to the conclusion that they had been lax in their holy duty to ensure the safety of their people. So began the Ng diaspora. Over the the centuries, by means of marriage and adoption, the Ng clan has spread over almost all of Avernus. By the time of the four hundredth centennial, it is estimated that a little less than 30% of Avernites do not have an Auntie Ng sitting somewhere nearby in their familial web.
All of that said, the methods of the Ng are gentle. They will not arrange for you to marry, but the chances that you were introduced to any particular spouse by an Ng are high.
To the Avernite, someone with smiling white lips*** purposefully bearing down on you is a portent that you're about to make a new friend.
* 'Auntie' is the polite means of address for an Ng matchmaker of either gender.
** Temporary family arrangement created between all people tithed to the Imperial Guard.
*** Ng matchmakers have largely abandoned the elaborate white facepaint and veils of their homeworld for reasons of practicality.
@Durin
