\[ **BT: [[storytelling]] | [[literature]]** ] --- # worldbuilding - see also: - [[sexual preference (worldbuilding)]] - [[reproduction and sex (worldbuilding)]]) --- ## Asimov’s ‘Three Laws of Robotics’ > 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. > > 2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. > > 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.[^1] The third law is how Alice (of *[[Jiang Weiji, How to Feed an Abyss!, 2023|How to Feed an Abyss!]]*) justifies concealing her existence from humans.[^2] --- ## Le Guin’s ‘Sedoretu’ Fictional form of [[marriage laws and customs]] created by [[Le Guin, Ursula K.]].[^3] > ‘Marriage on O is a foursome, the sedoretu—a man and a woman from the Morning moiety and a man and a woman from the Evening moiety. You’re expected to have sex with both your spouses of the other moiety, and not to have sex with your spouse of your own moiety. So each sedoretu has two expected heterosexual relationships, two expected homosexual relationships, and two forbidden heterosexual relationships.’[^4] > ‘The expected relationships within each sedoretu are: > > The Morning woman and the Evening man (the ‘Morning marriage’) > The Evening woman and the Morning man (the ‘Evening marriage’) > The Morning woman and the Evening woman (the ‘Day marriage’) > The Morning man and the Evening man (the ‘Night marriage’) > > The forbidden relationships are between the Morning woman and the Morning man, and between the Evening woman and the Evening man, and they aren’t called anything, except sacrilege.’[^5] + see also: [[society#moiety]] - ↬ [‘Sedoretus: It’s just as complicated as it sounds, but aren’t most marriages?’ (2015)](https://tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com/134882.html) - ↬ [‘WTF is a sedoretu?’ (2016)](https://bemusedlybespectacled.tumblr.com/post/141332914501/wtf-is-a-sedoretu) - ↬ [‘sedoretu’ (2020)](https://www.everything2.com/title/sedoretu) - ↬ [Sedoretu (Fanlore page)](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Sedoretu) ## endnotes [^1]: ‘[[Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics”]]’, *The List of Lists*, Eclectic Esoterica \[Auburn University], 2001, accessed 24 March 2025, https://webhome.auburn.edu/~vestmon/lists.html. [^2]: 江为竭 \[Jiang Weiji], *[[Jiang Weiji, How to Feed an Abyss!, 2023|How to Feed an Abyss!]]*, trans. Moonlight Novels (Moonlight Novels, 2023), chapter 55.2, https://www.novelupdates.com/extnu/6838665/. [^3]: Ursula K. Le Guin, ‘[[Le Guin, ‘Mountain Ways’, 2014|Mountain Ways]], *Clarkesworld*, no. 90 (March 2014), n.p., [https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/le_guin_03_14_reprint/](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/le_guin_03_14_reprint/).; Amy Richlin, ‘[[Richlin, ‘Sexuality and History’, 2012|Sexuality and History]]’ in *The SAGE Handbook of Historical Theory*, eds. Nancy Partner and Sarah Foot (SAGE Publications, 2013), p. 303, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446247563. [^4]: Le Guin, ‘[[Le Guin, ‘Mountain Ways’, 2014|Mountain Ways]], n.p. [^5]: Le Guin, ‘[[Le Guin, ‘Mountain Ways’, 2014|Mountain Ways]]’, n.p.