Most Adantri have only one wife, but they are legally permitted to have up to four--if they can support them and their other wife or wives agree. Divorce is permissible and may be initiated by either party; a local official similar to a justice of the peace apportions the property settlement (for women have equal property rights with men, under law). It is possible to appeal the decision of the justice to a higher authority, but not advisable; higher-ranking officials have great powers of enforcement, and if they hold that the original mediation was a fair one, they may take action against the protester. It is considered unwise to needlessly involve the higher officials in one's personal affairs.

There is also the ambiguous status of "concubine"--a man may have as many such as he wishes, but he may not name any child by such a woman as an heir; the concubine has a position of lesser dignity and privilege than a wife, but often more personal favor from the head of the household. She ranks somewhere between the wives and the employees.

One may occasionally meet households in which one woman may have two or three husbands. Though regarded as distinctly odd, these are quite legal. Legality will not, of course, spare them the censure of their neighbors, but if they don't flaunt their unusual arrangement and are otherwise good citizens, they will be accepted in time. This is much more common in cities than towns, and very rare indeed in rural areas. In some provinces, such a relationship, though legal, will not be tolerated. Except for Jade Mountain (DM 75), all arenas are sited in the more cosmopolitan and tolerant areas.

Single-sex households are less readily tolerated, primarily because they are necessarily childless and it is felt that children are the future strength of the Empire. Some such pairs have adopted orphans and thus achieved "respectability" even in the eyes of their more conservative neighbors.

Large families, for the last century or so considered to be unfashionable among the wealthy, have become more common in recent years, and households with four, six, even eight children may be found in all castes and economic levels these days. The extended family--where not just parents and children, but grandparents, aunts and uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins may all live in one sprawling compound--is the commonest form. Even when a couple sets up a completely separate household, unless the job of one member requires it or they are completely estranged from the rest of their families, they will generally settle in the neighborhood of one side of the family or the other. Usually an extended household will include (besides whatever servants they can afford) several non-related or distantly related people as family employees (such as secretaries, seamstresses, teachers for children), apprentices, or in such ill-defined positions as "companion" or merely "friend."

Thus, dwellings tend to be large, usually built around one (or more often several) courtyards so as to provide "family" and "public" areas and private suites. In the country, in small towns, or in the suburbs of cities, dwellings of more than two stories are rare; in a crowded city, they may go as high as five stories. Taller dwellings may also be found in the Sendori provinces, especially those in the Han Torra Khang.

The Adantri value education highly, and (considering that there is no free education except for the rudiments as taught at the Temples) a surprising number of citizens are not only literate but what we might call "cultured" or "well-read." While it is not common for the tiller of a small farm or the maker of workingmen's sandals to be able to quote from the classics, it is not so unusual as to cause comment. Higher education is provided by the Temples, the Academies, and private tutors, and it is not cheap, but students are accepted from all castes and economic levels if they can pass the preliminary screening and they are allowed to take as long as needed to work their way through.

An Adantri legally comes of age at seventeen, regardless of gender. While it is not unusual for them to marry at an earlier age (fourteen or fifteen is common), they cannot do so without their parents' consent until reaching seventeen. Many of the subcultures within the Empire place a different age as the mark of majority--for example, the Siniar of Mirning and Tirian provinces consider their youths to be adult once they reach fourteen, and for practical purposes in those two provinces a person of fourteen may exercise all the responsibilities and rights of an adult. However, it isn't officially legal until they reach seventeen. And in conservative Miroi Province, women are not considered to have reached adulthood until they marry.