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Since a man's Patriarch and a woman's Matriarch usually arrange the mateship, sometimes years in advance, the chances are fair that one of the betrothed pair will find the arrangement unsatisfactory. Either mate could end the union in the nuptial bed with a knife between the ribs. On rare occasions as well, a Matriarch or Patriarch will arrange the mateship for assassination, and have her daughter or his son implanted to kill at the moment of consummation. Thus, for both these reasons, the mating ceremony proscribes weapons for the betrothed. Of course, lack of access to weapons rarely stops a determined assassin.—Assassin Implants, by Deadly Thought.
Before the ceremony, the guests compete in swordsmanship, archery, javelin, running, most the psychic disciplines, poetry, painting, sc
