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Marriage
| This article was migrated from DF2014:Marriage and may be inaccurate for the current version of DF (v50.14). See this page for more information. |
v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF.Note that some content may still need to be updated. |
Two dwarves can get married after having a romantic relationship together. Instantly after marriage those dwarves usually make a wedding party, if there is an available room, such as a statue garden, or a dining room marked as a meeting hall. Dwarves marry for life; a dwarf whose spouse dies will not remarry. The death of a spouse will give a dwarf an unhappy thought.
Dwarves will cancel their current task when getting married.
Dwarves must be within 10 years of each other in age, and must not be children or babies, to enter into a romantic relationship. Being friends may be a prerequisite as well. The 10-year restriction only applies in fortress mode, so incoming pregenerated dwarves (i.e. migrants) may have a larger gap between their ages. No marriage between siblings has been observed, but cousins or other distant relatives can marry each other.
Unlike previous versions, dwarves do not have to be of the opposite gender to be romantically involved or get married. Gay marriages can in fact happen, both in world-gen and in gameplay, albeit more rarely than a heterosexual marriage. Sexual orientation is controlled by the [ORIENTATION] creature token, by default leaning to heterosexuality as a majority but allowing the chance of homosexual and bisexual dwarves to exist. To make dwarves completely straight as in earlier versions, one must add the tag [ORIENTATION:MALE:100:0:0] to males, and likewise [ORIENTATION:FEMALE:100:0:0] for females.
Dwarves with similar professions are more likely to get married, presumably because they spend more time together than with dwarves they meet when on break. For example, two miners are likely to become romantically involved, especially in a fort that focuses on mining, since they spend time together frequently.
To enter into a romantic relationship, dwarves must be allowed to idle together in the same room. They will socialize and build relationships. If they are compatible in terms of age and marital status, they will eventually become lovers and then marry. If not, they will simply become friends. Dwarves with too little free time will not have time for romance. Very occasionally, a couple may stay in the "Lover" stage perpetually without ever being married and without breaking off the relationship.
Married dwarves may sleep together. Because of this, the couple only requires one bed, and any bedroom claimed by or assigned to one spouse will automatically be assigned to both. This also applies to tables, if they are assigned specifically to a dwarf.
In a heterosexual couple, a wife will give birth to a baby every year, until she or her husband dies, or until the fortress's child limit is reached. There are no visible signs of pregnancy, and the only effective means of contraception (other than the child limit) is physical isolation. However, that doesn't mean a pregnancy will always result in a baby. Pregnancies may end in miscarriage if the dwarf is starving, dehydrated, sustains an injury, etc., which can lead to tantrums from your now miserable dwarf and possibly a downward spiral of fun.
In the Relationships screen (v-z-r), Husband or Wife tops the list, ranked even above their deity. Their children are at the top of the Relationships list, above the deity and below the spouse.
Many marriages seem to occur during springtime or early summer.
Some noble positions, including the monarch, give their "consorts" an honorary title without any tangible privileges.