Not much is known about the details or gameplay mechanics about child contracts yet, besides which surname the child will recieve, culture, language(s), etc. Which culture the child is raised in is stipulated in the document between the parents, and who will raise the child. In the scenarios you've provided, it would be possible to carry them out if the child contract was set up that way to raise the child in a Brudvir culture. Specifics by Caspian listed below:

Bloodlines and Raising (06-18-17):

Specifically under #3, discussing family contracts (11-15-17):

Child Contracts (specifically the second paragraph) (02-09-18):

Tribes, Genetic and Cultural Evolution (05-19-18):

Bloodline vs. Culture (05-19-18):

With a surrogate you would still be one of the parents so yes of course you can choose your own culture to raise that child in.

As to what exactly that culture contains, we do not know exactly. From what we have heard I speculate it is not as simple as declaring one culture. So rather them being raised 'Brudvir' you would instead declare things like the religion to raise them in, the languages to teach them, etc. and you would be able to choose between the beliefs and knowledge of the parents. As you can change and develop those beliefs and knowledge in the game I would speculate you could change them from your own birth conditions. Things like 'Brudvir like Brudvir' is a bit irrelevant as the child is not fully a Brudvir and it may be quite obvious to others that is the case. We know that Waerd NPCs will be able to tell when a Waerd is a hybrid so I imagine others can too and will react accordingly.

Unfortunately Xeyska the examples given by Caspian revolved around at least one parent being the specific tribe with the specific culture.

So far this indicates that cultures in child contracts are tribe locked and unable to be learned and passed on. Which makes me skeptical about the claims that societies and cultures change (all that might mean in the end is Brudvir get taken over by Neran hybrids and become Virtori).

I'm mostly trying to discover if we can learn cultures or if cultures are tribe locked in child contracts due to mechanical reasons.

Yes, I'm hoping a developer could clear this up eventually to have more information known about culture specifics and how it relates to the child contracts in-depth. A child might be locked in one particular culture from the beginning of early development, but it shouldn't stop them from becoming Faithless (Agnostic) if it fits within their needs, wants, and goals.

I still believe over time a culture could change within a settlement, domain, kingdom, etc as they've mentioned before, it doesn't make sense to me to have a rigid system when it comes to belief in CoE. Mainly what influencing factors are contributing to the effect, open-minded NPCs/players, tribal ratio (how many particular members of X tribe retained their original culture), the passing of knowledge, laws, religious icons/material, etc. It would just take time for the change to happen as anything forced will likely warrant hostility if NPCs/players are not open to the change.

Change over time is well and good but I'd like the option to at least decide my culture in a child contract.

If you're a Hrothi and you've grown up around Brudvir your entire life why/how would you pass on a Virtori-style (Hrothi) culture to your child? If the only options are tribe locked we're gunna encounter a lot of frustration.

Posted By Snipehunter at 01:50 AM - Thu Jun 14 2018

You can't opt to have your child raised in a culture that none of the signatories of that contract have experience with, however.

The child will pick up the elements of the culture of the household it is raised within, in essence.

Just to make sure I'm understanding you correctly, we CAN learn cultures enough that we can apply them to child contracts?

So the hypothetical Hrothi could learn the cultural aspects of the Brudvir to the point where I'm granted the option during child contracts?

Or am I looking at this too rigidly and "culture" isnt necessarily some kind of toggle in contracts... its more of an intangible experience we optionally choose to participate in?

Is Religion a part of culture or is it a seperate parameter?

For our Brudvir/Hrothi couple, could they select Brudvir culture but Virtori (Hrothi) religion?

Culture would ligically dictate much of an NPC's behavior, but is their any effect on an OPC or an Active player character?