To be honest, I don't mind gore but I find the burning scenes borderline unacceptable and don't like watching, so I concentrate to overanalyzise the rest of the trailer. And I find the sexual scenes the most interesting.
Sorry for derailing the thread a tad bit, I think the sex in a ritualistic sense can also theoretically call for soil fertility aka bountiful crops (the whole event looks as a fair kind of). Apart from sex we can also see some people wearing animalistic masks whipping themselves, those could call for the blessings to the hunters maybe. Sacrifice in religion is mythology often ties into those themes of pleasing the gods to then get something in return.
On the other hand the premise for this trailer was that 'the gods are silent', therefore I lean into my previous theory of this being a rock bottom for godless/purposeless and immoral society. They had a literal kid there cheering for the violent execution and exposed to the sight of sexual acts...
I think they want the gods back because the gods are silent and without them bad things are happening (Rivellon bleeds) and (even more) evil things start to happen. That the body is bad and sex is a sin and the contrary to religious practice is also mostly connected to the absolutistic monotheistic religions and in this sense a late view. The use of sexual rituals was part of some older religions (for example temple prostitution), so that sex is immoral to the Rivellon people is not a sure thing. They all surely do not really know what's happening and with what forces they are playing, but they try what they can, deluded by their religion/ideology.
The question remains wether it is a spontaneous act or incorporated into the ritual.
It seems more spontaneous than ritualistic.
Since it seems distinctly separated from the actual ritual area, where the effigies are located. The people having sex are also not interacted or even acknowledged by the order that is performing the ritual.
Eating and drinking on one hand and having publicly sex on the other hand is quite a difference.
Someone hasn't been to a music festival
Especially ones from the 60's...
I also doubt that there would be only mixed racial pairs if there wasn't a planning involved. Could admittedly be just a Larian exaggeration without more thoughts behind it.
I wouldn't put much stock in this. It's a short snippet of a trailer and the sex is a minor part of it which is only on screen for a few frames (Further highlighting its independence from the ritual which makes up the majority of the screen time)
This seems more like aiming for shock factor (Much as to why sex is included in the first place) whereby having inter-species sex has been proven to provide more engagement as the bear-sex marketing showed for BG3.
To the moral side, a lot depends on the backstory of the burning ritual. I'm not sure who is good and evil, if there is any. Is the burned man a mere victim or a danger?
That would be the major question and given Divinity's history, would depend very much on which side you're on.
As is the case with the Original Sin games. The first game you play as people hunting down Sourcerers because they're evil. The second game you play AS Sourcerers and figure out that they're not inherently evil (But do provide inherent risk to the world)
Hehe, I never attended such a big music festival, it's a funny comparison. I was on several Techno club events in the 90's however, luckily smartphones with cameras were not a thing in these nice times.
I would be happier if the sex was a spontaneous act of people wanting fun, but I'm actually quite sure that it is part of the ritual. When you look at the big overview of the "fair" area, before the burning starts, you see that the sexual actions take place at both sides of the three big statues, divided from the crowd by the fence, as such similar to the persons who are whipping themselves. So they take place in the inner ritual side, framing it in. The whipping and the sex seem to be arranged by the leaders of the ritual, at least partly. It may be also deliberate that Larian shows the (rather short) first sex scene during the excessive violent burning sequence of the poor victim (if it's not simply just as cheap shock feature).
Without further information we will not know. Anyway, I'm curious wether the trailer has some meaning for the later gameplay. I will surely try to save all the people if possible. And then make a date with the woman who is busy with the lizard.
