text🌻seeking legal advice

[multidisciplinary]

Type: Text (backdated to before Farplane event)
Sender ID: Anonymous
To: Public
Subject: Seeking legal advice
Warnings: None

--

Hello.

I am in need of legal advice regarding a private matter:

Is a marriage contract legally binding if one or more parties involved were under the influence of spiritual possession while it was officiated?

Thank you for your assistance.

Comments

text | un: netherese

[netherese]

Well, these things can certainly get a bit dodgy when there are spirits involved, but I suppose I can guess roughly when this might have happened.

There is, of course, the matter of consent; regardless of whether or not your bodies were taken forcefully, there is a difference between the hosts exchanging vows and the spirits. The line is a touch blurry, I'll admit, but if there was no token of affection exchanged or registration with a magister of some sort, I hardly think it counts.

text; Anonymous

[multidisciplinary]

[ Zelda thinks back to the iron-and-rose rings that Darin fashioned for the two spirits to exchange with each other during the ceremony. ]









Suppose there were tokens exchanged...

[netherese]

The most important factor in any case would be who was actually making the exchange, though that may be difficult to differentiate. These spirits may have been making use of your bodies, but they remained independent in their own right, yes? A separate consciousness from your own!

[multidisciplinary]

That is largely correct, yes. For the most part, they were a distinct and separate consciousness from my own.

However, I did experience a bit of, for lack of a better term, "bleed over" while they were present in my mind. When our emotions aligned, we somehow amplified each other-- like an echo chamber. Some fragments of their memories also lingered in my mind even after the spirit departed.

[ Zelda and the spirit of the noble lady possessing her body had a surprising number of things in common and they found themselves "harmonizing" when their emotions aligned. The result was a messy empathetic connection which only made the entire experience-- the possessions, the wedding, and everything that happened between her and Darin afterward-- an intensely emotional experience. ]

[netherese]

That must have been a singular experience! I've never been possessed by any spirit, willingly or otherwise, but I've read plenty on the subject, and I imagine it must have been quite thrilling to

[This is not what he's supposed to be here for. Ahem.]

Regardless, I feel it is safe to say that the spirits were the ones to make this commitment to one another, not you and your fellow host. I cannot imagine it is legally binding.

[multidisciplinary]

[ A lot of people have responded to Zelda today, but Gale is the first one to geek out over spiritual possession.

(...Honestly, he's not wrong. It was a pretty fascinating experience. Kind of a shame Zelda didn't take any notes or recordings...) ]

I hope that will be the case. A marriage is meant to bind body and soul, which I hope is more metaphorical than literal in this instance.

[ A few moments later, another message pops up. ]

You said you've read a lot about spiritual possession?