Ironworks Gaming Forum - it's ok to lust after imoen!

incest usually conjures up images of news programs of bad uncles and wicked stepfathers and while i certainly dont advocate it, i want to assuage all those people feeling guilty for having an imaginary romance with imoen in bg1 and are being chastised [sp] for wishing it in bg2.

the origins of the taboo against incest are primarily twofold. the first, and possibly shockingly, is political. in preliterate societies, mostly small enclaves of a few to several extended families, any type of "union" (i hesitate to use "marriage" as its current definition is overlimiting) within the village itself served far less of a value than if it strengthened an alliance or pact with another tribe. the adaptibility of the society was weakened by it as the two people necessarily had more shared values and ideas, so the natural evolution of the group would stagnate as the potential for conflict, both inter- and intrarelational, was reduced.

the second reason was biological. even without a scientific method or writing, no society had to start from scratch intellectually, constantly reinventing knowledge with each new generation. of the many tendencies, such as recognizing weather patterns, celestial cycles, and migration habits of predators and their prey, they also noted that the further removed familialy the parents were, the less likely that the offspring would have disfiguring or debilitating handicaps. without the information we have, they would attribute this to some sort of universal proscription against it, eventually ending up as the standard unreasoned religious reason of "dont do this because god said so", and contrary to what the adherents would espouse, the belief comes after the fact and not the cart leading the horse.

an additional reason for the taboo is actually more mystically spiritual than any lofty edict from on high or as base as political convenience. such is the nature of genetics that a species benefits greatly from a diverse gene pool, allowing for faster adaptation to environmental changes, resistances to disease, and possibly the augmentation of useful physical manifestations.

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so anyway, now to imoen.

your mother was a friend of gorion. gorion most likely wouldnt cavort with just any freak, especially to the point of taking on the responsibility of raising her child. sarevok's mother, from what we learn of her and his "father" in bg1, was also in the higher echelon of society. from edwin and keldorn we see two nations that strongly prohibit adultery. so how did bhaal actually get these women into bed? rape is definitely a possibility, but considering the devalued position of women just 100 years ago in our own country, it seems doubtful that the child would have much of a chance to succeed in that society (remember, being a bastard was literally a curse, and one resulting from a rape was seen to have its origins in evil). it was not uncommon to abort in cases of rape, especially when the woman risked losing station (what little she could have) or cast a shadow on her fidelity. so from this i would throw rape out as bhaal's modus operandi.

my theory is that he took a page from the king of gods himself, that randiest of deities, zeus, who took on whatever form necessary to get his girl, whether be it a bull or fountain or swan. certainly if bhaal had been that extravagant it might have doomed the woman and child just from the infamy. i suggest he merely altered form enough to match the society he was infiltrating, perhaps even shapeshifting, a la excalibur, to look like the woman's genuine spouse. all this is to say is that with the changing of the physical form, so comes the changing of the genetic structure as none, afaik, of the bhaalspawn have innate shapeshifting ability (not class related; im sure a few people play as druids).

it isnt known exactly when imoen began her stay with the main character at candlekeep, but the idea i got was, because they were close in age, she showed up sometime just before their teens. just early enough to be pals but late enough to have that naive wariness of the opposite sex. in any case, a major portion of each personality was developed independently of the other.

so without any "family" conflict and no genetic incompatibility, imoen is in reality the most likely choice for a romance, and i see no reason for it to be arbitrarily barred simply because of semantics. so lust away; she's only your "sister" in a spiritual sense, and is, in more ways than one, your soulmate.