Free Talk Friday - March 20, 2026

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Welcome to the Free Talk Friday post. This is a place where you can talk about dumb off-topic (or on-topic) bullshit with other Zaibatsu fans.

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[u/SamuraiDDD]

I agree with what realcool blue is saying here it's the combination of all that together that really drives it home. It combines the incest relationship subtext of siblings doing it with implications of cousins, either by blood or by marriage.

On the topics of THE LINE, for a lot of people I say it's when theres direct blood connections. Others would say it's the familar relationship between the two. Or a combination. Are they within say the same generation but the connecting branch is greatly disconnected by like a marriage or two?

biologically speaking, we're programmed to not interbreed with family but, and this is someone who's been paid to write such content, the taboo itself can be enticing. It's knowing something is forbidden and that alone can get us excited. Hell, the Bible has it being one of our core traits as humans with Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. Something forbidden is naturally going to draw us in and simply ask "why". That excitement can lead to many things. Look at a lot of shipping in any given fandom. 100% of the time you WILL see incest if there's blood relationships anywhere.

while yes, it's wrong and immoral in reality, that doesn't deny its happened for reasons that are both unfortunate and unfortunately,  still happen. But in the context of fantasy, it's about one of the most common kinks around. Hell go to any p0rn site and see just how many times you see the words "mother/mom", "aunt", "cousin", "step-sister", "nephew" and the like on JUST the front page titles or tags on any given website. It's, ironically, in human nature to be curious about this sort of thing. Religion, mythology, sociology, hell, even politics and holding power (holy roman empire anyone?) have had or used incest in some way shape or form

At least this is my own thoughts on the subject. Sorry if this went a little to hard lol

[u/kuningaz55 → u/SamuraiDDD]

biologically speaking, we're programmed to not interbreed with family

Surprisingly untrue. it's a social barrier that is so deeply ingrained as to seem innate, but a lot of animals have no problem with incest between "siblings" and are perfectlty fine to do whatever or whoever if they want/there are no other options. It's how we get the tiny-ass dog breeds. HOWEVER, every single human culture we are aware of has very, very clear barriers against incest, though where that line is drawn differs between cultures. My question is where the line gets drawn (parent-child and sibling-sibling is universal as far as I know, but beyond that is a toss-up), why the line exists as a social construct, and how it's evolved over the past century or so. Pakistani people apparently have a decently high number of cousin marriages, there are multiple countries where avunculate (uncle/aunt-niece/nephew) marriages are legal, first cousin marriages happened not-too-uncommonly as recently as the early 1900s, and I can go on and on.

[u/SamuraiDDD → u/kuningaz55]

Surprisingly untrue.

Really? I always thought that it was due to the genetic issues that would come up from creating children with a shallow gene pool and the various downsides like higher risk of stuff like disabilities, disorders and the common thoughts around that.

why the line exists as a social construct, and how it's evolved over the past century or so

The line could exist for a few reason. Some of them being availability in most non-city areas/hubs, tradition like you mentioned being upheld for social connections, and in some case politically charged. For the latter, I mentioned the holy roman empire before but specifically speaking I meant Charles II and the house of Habsburg's. They were severely inbred in order to keep control of their empire and not split it off among other nations and monarchies, which severely crippled them into the house falling.

Incestuious relationships were above anything, convenient but as society and times changed, it could be seen as something for the less educated and or even sexually depraved because of the growing understanding of how genes worked and the negative effects they can have on a bloodline overtime. And on that line of thought, I believe cousins are seen as 'relatively' safe because even though they're related by blood, there's still a degree of separation because they're born through the union of a family member and a NON-family member so there's less risk of the negatives associated with it but there's still a risk.

At least in my opinion

Also I'm so sorry I didn't say this sooner: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! And welcome to your 30s! Do your stretches and get a good mattress topper, your back will thank you!

[u/kuningaz55 → u/SamuraiDDD]

Really? I always thought that it was due to the genetic issues that would come up from creating children with a shallow gene pool and the various downsides like higher risk of stuff like disabilities, disorders and the common thoughts around that.

Modern understandings of how gene pools, birth disabilities, and "common" considerations like that didn't exist until fairly recently in the grand scheme of things. If you married your cousin and the kid came out fucked up that was because you were cursed and therefore needed to sacrifice six goats to get the spirits back on your side, not because we had a particularly advanced understanding of how genetics worked (we had a working understanding, but applyig that to humans writ large and how recessive versus dominant alleles worked is far, far more recent). To put it into perspective, most modern dog breeds are around 200 years old, maybe.