D&D General How daft was The Senior Baron when he refused to let A Future King marry his daughter just because the guys A Thief and he hates Thieves?

[JMISBEST]

Last night I had A Dungeons and Dungeons dream and not 1 bit of it makes sense. Here's what happened. Can you make sense of it?

How daft is A Senior Baron when his hatred of Thieves resulted in him refusing to let his daughter marry A Prince who will 1 day be A King simply because The Future King's A Thief?, especially when The Dowry that's being offered is The Senior Baron being made A Senior Earl, which means that his oldest child would 1 day be A Senior Earl, arranging for his 2nd oldest child to get The Senior Earls former title of Senior Baron and making his 2nd youngest child, the daughter that's in love with A Future King is the youngest, also become A Senior Baron

The guy should be declared legally insane and spend the rest of his life in a lunatic asylum, I mean seriously?, if he had simply put aside his hatred of Thieves then The Dowry would see him being A Senior Earl, his oldest child would 1 day inherit the title of Senior Earl, The Future King arranging for his 2nd oldest child to get The Senior Earls former title of Senior Baron and The Future King making his 2nd youngest child, the daughter that's in love with A Future King is the youngest, also become A Senior Baron

The worse, for his family and not just for him, bit is that his daughter would have been A Queen, admittingly she would only(?) be A Queen by marriage but she would still be A Queen, he would be the brother in law of A King, he'd 1 day be the father in law of A King, any grandchildren she gives him will be royalty and if he lives long enough then he will be get to witness 1 of his grandchildren become either A King or Queen

 

[Staffan]

It makes even less sense when you consider that nobles are inherently thieves. In the words of Ming Tzu: "I have the greatest respect for thieves. Every man born to wealth has a good thief amongst his ancestors, somewhere."

 

[Ixal]

Politically it (probably? We have no idea what your titles mean. How could the future but not yet king even offer titles? Does he have other noble titles himself? Were they offered by the current king?) was a bad move but people are driven by more than cold calculation.

Morality, personal and religious, personal animosity and also the will of the daughter ect. also play a huge factor.

 

[Eltab]

Hmmm ...
How do the PCs interact with the King and the Earl (or their underlings) in the adventure?

 

[Krachek]

For such a dream I would consult an oracle.

 

[WayneLigon]

Just because it would result in substantial material and social benefits for the Baron and his family does not mean he's insane to turn it down. He has his reasons. I mean all you have to do is change 'thief' to almost any other sort of descriptor, such as 'Italian', to see how that sort of thing works in the real world. Happens all the time.

 

[nevin]

moral and ethics matter. At the level of ruler's they matter even more. Marrying your daughter to a thief would have severe social consequences and undermine any attempt to establish the moral high ground for at least a generation. It may seem silly to some but if you pay attention to politics high ranking officials have their entire narrative completely destroyed and derailed just by being seen with the wrong people at the wrong time. that and at that level everyone is looking for a way to take you down a step or all the way. Bringing a thief into the family could easily be the end of that family if he got caught breaking the wrong law and stealing or hurting the wrong family.

 

[Seramus]

Plenty of people have married family members off to unpleasant people for increased wealth and political power. Similarly, plenty of people have turned down such glamorous political marriages for even more petty reasons. And besides, I don't even know what the quality of life for the Princess would be. Sure, she loves him. That's great for a while.

I guess the important question is what other behaviors the Prince Who Will Be King But Is Also A Thief gets up to? And is he secretly Aladdin?

 

[Krachek]

The oracle would answer that in this dream The king is the authority, being a rogue, he is also twisted, and play on another level.
The daughter is the intuition, the idea or principles that someone refuse to trade,
the prince, the futur king, is the temptation, a possible future of glory.
The baron is submitted to the king, but in search to achieve true freedom by refusing the marriage. But the baron is opposed to the natural principle of love and marriage.
To conclude there is a conflict between authority and independence vs and some needs of natural impulse.
You let 10 golds to the oracle and lick his hand.

 

[pukunui]

@JMISBEST Have you ever played any of the Crusader Kings games? I think they’d be right up your alley.