: Doesn't that conflict with the idea that a male shouldn't know who his
: children are?

: OK she would be the only one laying his eggs if he can watch her round the
: clock. But then her eggs would be dropped into a communal nursery and
: mixed up with all the others. So if she was able to sleep around then he'd
: never know that she did it. It doesn't take long to have a quickie and
: Sangheili males can't spend all day with their wife. They have duties and
: distractions.

: And if child rearing is communal then everybody puts the same amount of
: effort into it so there is no extra cost for a male to spread his seed as
: wide as possible. If 1 female can lay X eggs at a time then N females can
: lay X x N eggs. Monogamy doesn't seem to be the winning strategy given
: what we have been told of their child rearing practices.

: -PS because love is so hooman.

I know less than I'd like about sangheili reproduction (that is such a weird sentence), but if they lay eggs, then the eggs get taken to a communal nursery with no possibility of really knowing which eggs are yours and what the kid inside is going to look like, you could really only guess who's yours and who isn't.

And you're right, husbands can't be around their wives forever, so there is no way to make sure someone is being faithful.

Given all that, I'd say marriage is really just a symbolic institution. Actual reproductive duties are pretty wide, but symbolically, it's saying this is someone you really care about.

This could make for some great stories if it gets untangled enough.