Playing A Noble
Introduction
In most circumstances, the rules of playing and progressing through the Nobility will largely be determined by the city and locale of the Noble in question, as written into their rules by the city moderator. Using Lorien as an example, there is a thread defining the Noble Houses, as well as the rules of playing a Noble within the first post.
As such, this thread will not go over play and progression in a specific sense, but will apply general rules that must be followed by all Nobles regardless of their city of play.
Starting Rules
• Nobles must be approved for play in the city they wish to be a Noble in, by one of the city moderators of that city, before they can be approved and begin RPing. This includes defining what House they are a member of, what role they have within the House, and their position in the inheritance.
• All Nobles start with the 'Nobility' Starter Package.
• A Noble does not need to fully develop their own House if they wish to be a part of a lesser known family, so long as they define their immediate family to some degree (parents, siblings) in the History section of their CS. However, fully developing a House if one does not wish to play in an already developed family, is recommended.
Wealth Rules
• Nobles generate income the same way as others do (i.e., jobs and wages based on modifiers) at the start of play. While every city does not have the same titles for Nobles of higher rank, we will use the basic titles (Lord, Baron, Count, Duke, King) in defining these rules. Please translate them to your city-equivalent in determining how to produce your PC's wealth. To begin with, all Noble PCs - unless approved to begin in a higher position - are Lords or Ladies.
• Once ascending to the rank of Baron, a Noble PC is expected to develop and operate a business in order to expand upon the estate of their family. This business can be anything, and does not need to be especially tied to Noble functions.
• Upon achieving the title of Count, a Noble holds a great deal of land and authority, and likely operates a number of properties and estates across their realm that garner them automatic income. At this point, the Noble has the choice of transitioning their focus to administering these estates, or allowing their courtiers or advisers to do so for them. This choice branches out into two very divergent paths.
If the Noble wishes to maintain their current business as their career focus, they can do so, and nothing in regards to their primary income will change. They will delegate the administration of their estates to their vassals or other members of their House, but will - as a result - be forced to offer considerable dividends to their managers, and will only receive 2,500 extra dranari farthing per day from their estates. Still a considerable sum, many are content to operate this way, especially if they lack in management skills.
The option of directly managing their estates offers the Count an entirely new method of gaining income. They leave behind their old business ventures, or add those ventures to their total estates; the operating skill determining their wealth generation now shifts to Business, and the Noble now makes income in a simplistic and streamlined way. As a Count, the automatic income generated is garnered on a quarterly (or seasonal) basis, dependent upon their skill in Business. An Apprentice will garner 600,000 df per Season, a Journeyman 900,000, an Expert 1,200,000, and a Master 1,500,000. A Novice will instead damage their estates due to incompetence. As a note, job threads are still necessary.
• As a Duke, the values for each tier are increased by 500,000 df per season (capping out at 2,000,000 df per quarter), and Dukes (and above) are forced to adopt estate management as the source of their revenue, leaving behind their old business.
• Finally, a King or Emperor - or whatever their equivalent might be - can be considered synonymous with the treasury of their nation. They can essentially use the royal coffers as a no-interest line of credit, and while their income does not increase from Dukedom, they are capable of pulling loans from the royal bank for up to 500,000 total df with no interest, though they must pay these funds back (at least 2.5% per quarter) or risk severely damaging the royal family's economic power. As a note, to be eligible for 'King' privileges one must rule a large dominion on par with a Kingdom. Being the 'King' of a city-state, for example, is not viable for these benefits; instead, it is possible you may only be allowed to receive the benefits of a Count.
