JohnB's Games

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====== Noble Houses ======

===== Overview =====

A noble house is just a group of nobles who are related by birth, marriage or adoption - who work together for their common good.  Any individual, no matter how influential or powerful are, will eventually die.  If they are really lucky, they might finish up in the history books.  However,  you they establish a Noble House,  it will (probably) endure - and then your name will live on as the Founder of that house.    You will leave a legacy.

While some (often smaller) noble houses have a single established leader, the most powerful noble houses have many leaders and powerful people, often in different places – all working towards the same family goals.  That doesn’t stop them having individual goals, or striving to increase their personal wealth/power/influence – it just means they bend their personal goals so that the ‘family’ benefit as well.  There are benefits for the individual as well -  if you take on one part of a Noble House, the rest of it is will probably come to their defence.  Suddenly, you might find three, four or more ‘nobles’ arrayed against you.  Some examples of powerful houses include:

  * House Jeggare, which is powerful in Cheliax and Korvosa as well as having an Avistan wide presence.  
  * House Leroung  of Cheliax  ‘owns’ universities in Egorian,  Korvosa and Andoran and has a recognised merchant fleet.  
  * House Morilla has an influential presence in Taldor and Absolom and is heavily involved in the Pathfinder, and other, Societies.   
  * House Surtova in Brevoy has a power base in New Stetven, another in Port Ice and a merchant fleet.
 
===== Creating and Maintaining a Noble House =====

Noble houses need to add people to their numbers just to survive.  As the older generation pass away, the new generation, and their spouses, take over.  Their children will form the next generation of the house.  But sometimes that just isn't enough , and for those times there is adoption. There are three mains ways to add significant members to the House.

  * **Birth** -  New members are born into the House – although this is a fairly slow process.  It works well enough when a House is well established and has enough members that they will keep producing heirs for generation after generation.  For a newly established Noble House, or a smaller branch of a large house,  it is a slow and insecure process.  All you need in one mishap ….
  * **Marriage** -  An everyday process for most Noble Houses, as senior members get married their spouses are inducted into the family.   Normally this involves a long complex marriage contract lodged with the temple of Abadar that lays out the new spouse’s obligations to their new family – and their obligations to their old family.  It normally contains a clause to protect the spouse (and their original family) should the marriage breakdown, fail or end by sudden death.   The contract often includes caveats about  the future and status of any children of the union and  requirements for friendship between the families.
  * **Adoption** – More important to new  Houses, adoption allows a noble to reward loyal friends and supporters.  A legal contract (Abadar again) binds the lord to reward and honour the new member of their family, while the adoptee promises to be a loyal member of the House and serve the lord loyally.  Adoption must always be agreed by the 'head of the house' -  although a House / Family may have more than one branch and more than one head.


++++ Case Study 1: The marriage of Cyrus Ondari to Valoria der lin Lebeda |  
Background:  Cyrus is the oldest son of a minor noble family from the Restov area, but is estranged from his father and has renounced his claim to the family lands and titles in favour of his younger brother.  Valoria is a minor member of the Lebeda family and has ties to another noble family (Cartan) through her mother.  She too is estranged from her father, but not from the rest of the family.  The contract is liable to contain a number of clauses.

  * The name that Cyrus will take
  * The name the Valoria will take
  * Formalisation of relationship between Cyrus and Valoria 
  * Relationship between Cyrus and his father 
  * Relationship between Cyrus and his brother
  * Relationship between Valoria and House Lebeda.
  * Relationship between Valoria and House Cartan
  * Formalisation of friendly relationships between Houses Lebeda, Cartan, Ondari  and the new couple.
  * Dowry from House Lebeda 
  * Widow’s rights (in case of Cyrus’s death)
  * Status of Children.
  
  It will be signed by

  * Cyrus
  * Valoria
  * Cyrus’s Father
  * Cyrus’s brother
  * Valoria’s mother (Victoria De' Lebeda)
  * Valoria’s Grandmother (Lady Luna of House of House Cartan)
  * At least two Priests of Abadar  (This is important!)
  * Witnesses (The more senior the better)
++++

++++ Case Study 2: Adoption into House LeMaistre | 
When Henry de leMaistre set off to colonise the Stolen Land he recruited many new people to help him.  However, he also took two loyal Employees that had been working for him when he was leading merchant mule trains.   Both Rikka and Tib had shown themselves to be especially gifted and Henry had promised that he would “look after them properly” if he were successful in his venture.

Once he is given a title and has some authority, he can start to fulfil his promise.  He drops the ‘de’ from his name (he is now head of his own Family / House) and offers to adopt the two loyal followers into his house.  The contract will include the following clauses

  * Promise from Adoptee to be loyal to House LeMaistre.
  * Adoptee changes name to ‘de LeMaistre’.
  * Henry promises to treat them like members of his family.
  * Henry’s heirs to do the same.
  * Adoptee's children to get automatic House membership.

The Adoptees might reasonably expect to pick up responsible jobs in Henry’s Strongholds, and might even get titles of their own one day.
++++

===== Naming Conventions =====

Naming Conventions
This is written, primarily, from the perspective of a Patriarchal Society – partly because that is what I am used to and partly because my game settings are somewhat patriarchal.   That doesn’t mean this is the only interpretation acceptable in my worlds, or that women can’t be head of a Major House.  But most importantly -  this isn’t a rule and it isn’t compulsory :}  If you want something different for your character’s House – then go for it.  This is just the default version I use when I am building a noble house, and even then it doesn't apply every time.
 
**The House Name** is normally only used by Heads of Family  and their immediate descendants.  For example Henry LeMaistre and Cyrus Ondari – along with all of their offspring take the House name as it is.  Cyrus’s brother also has the name Ondari, and is heir to another branch of the house so his children would also take the house name as their own.  This is normally restricted to people who are (or have been) children of the Head of Family.  So this is to be restricted to Uncles, Aunts, Brother, Sisters and Children of the current head of family.  That said, a Head of Family can adopt anyone as his/her Child, Brother, Sister or (more likely) cousin and confer on them the right to use the main family name. 

**The Nobiliary Particle** is generally reserved for cousins of the Head of Family.  It might be an adopted cousin or a cousin ten times removed -  but all cousins may take the family name with a nobiliary particle.  People adopted into the family or marrying in at ‘Cousin’ level normally take this as a family name.  Some examples are: de LeMaistre, der lin Lebeda; de Lebeda (different branch of the family?), D’Lodkova, DoZimmer, d’Cordain. These are just examples -  you could choose from Af, Der, Du,  Von, Zu, or any of the examples on [[w>Nobiliary_particle | This wikipedia page]] - or anything else you think is suitable.

**Double Barrelled Names** imply a relationship with two families at once.   Kao-LeMaistre and Lebeda-Ondari might represent married women (or husbands) of Heads of Family who still retain some loyalty to their previous family.  It is often the sign of some sort of relationship between the two families.  On the other hand ‘Mariam doZimmer Wolfeater’  is a single woman who is aligned both with the Zimmer and Wolfeater clans. 

===== Entourage Cousins =====

While most cousins, in game, will be PCs or independent NPCs - Entourage Cousins are a device to help expand the family using your entourage members - or by bringing in new members of your entourage.  You can find the rules for them on the Entourage Page.