Family

There are many differences between the institution of family in the real world of Regency Britain and the fictional world of The Social Season. These differences stem in a large part from CAT policy considerations, and this page is intended to show how the restrictions of the CAT policy can be applied to the Regency setting. This page also explains the social expectations which bind members of the Ton throughout their romantic relationships.

When a child is born into a family of the Ton, a trust fund is established in their name. Upon turning 18, the young person gains access to this pot of money, although in practice it is usually still managed by the head of the family until the young person has married. Before they are married, the interest from these investments provides an income suitable to finance any reasonable spending for someone who is still living at their family home. This pot of money is often referred to as a 'dowry', and ambitious families may try to marry their children to spouses with large dowries. A married couple may spend their dowries on purchasing a property to be their family home (but most wealthy families already own properties around London which they give to their married children) or they retain these investments and use the returns as their income for the rest of their lives.

Marriage is an extremely important institution in this setting. Although many young people dream of a romantic love match, marriages often occur for practical reasons to increase one's family reputation or achieve the freedom and independence of married life. It is embarrassing for families to have children who have spent many seasons looking for a spouse, so families often apply pressure to their young people to marry quickly and marry well. Generally, people marry between the ages of 18 and 22.

Once the marriage has been secured, the decision about having children is left to the couple themselves to navigate (and, as specified in the game's CAT policy, it is not permitted to attempt to pressure a character into having children). Characters who do not wish to, or cannot, have biological children sometimes adopt a ward instead and become the legal guardian of that child.

Physical expressions of romance outside of marriage are scandalous, but this does not always stop young people from pursuing these actions in secret. If discovered, they would be expected to marry, and if for some reason they did not, both participants would struggle to find anyone else to court them in future. For this reason, chaperones are used to ensure that unmarried young people are never alone together, so a conversation during a dance at a ball provides one of the few socially acceptable ways for a courting couple to talk privately. It is not too difficult to find time alone without a chaperone, but the severe consequences from being discovered by the wrong person mean many are hesitant to take the risk.

The rules of courtship are long-established and socially enforced. The shared belief in the importance of behaving properly, passed down through the generations, means that breaking these norms can cause a scandal that tarnishes a person's reputation for the rest of their life – there is always one family glad to see another fall from grace. For this reason, parents are careful to teach their children correct etiquette. The main points which are emphasised are that a young couple should not be found alone in a private space without a chaperone and they should not be seen making physical romantic gestures outside of marriage.

There are no gender-based restrictions on who can inherit a title or estate when the previous occupant dies. A person's oldest child (whether biological or adopted) is the first in line to inherit, then younger children, then siblings, then cousins, and finally more distant relatives. Marriage does not add someone to the line of succession, so most people will include a provision in their will to ensure that their spouse has enough money, regardless of the actions of whoever inherits the title.