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How many nobles to screw in a kingdom?
- Thread starter Azrael Nightstar
- Start date
Dan Bell
First Post
Back when I was world building I found it quick and easy to be able to 'drop in' published kingdoms from Harn. The Kingdom of Kaldor was one that was good, since the nobles are at each others throats anyway awaiting the death of the old king. I also liked using the Kingdom of Chybisa since it is tiny. Both Kaldor and Chybisa are surrounded by barbarians so I did not have to worry about nearby kingdom neighbors.
One thing that might help (or not, depending 
) is if you started out by defining your land areas. Start with the main Kingdom, then subdivide it in to a few Duchies, then those into Baronies and so on.
As a rule, unless the kingdom is being built from the ground up, the land demarcations will predate the people in charge. This means that the titles a person holds depends entirely on the lands he rules...not vice versa. Lands are granted by heredity, marriage or by royal fiat for services to the crown (generally speaking this is done fairly rarely, as the King can only give away lands that he is the direct lord of...he can't make you the Baron of Exeter if there's already a Baron of Exeter (unless something HAPPENS to the current one, but that's a whole other issue)). Once you have a map of what titles are -possible- in your kingdom, that helps narrow down who has what. Remember it's not at all uncommon for nobles to have many titles, because they're lords of many lands. The Duke of Sulzbery might also be Baron of Pludon Mound and Earl of Breton...or more! Generally speaking, the longer and better his war record, the more wives he's had (not at once, obviously ), and the older his family...the more lands he'll have titles to.
Land boundaries were often based on titles that were decades to centuries old, using vague directions and physical landmarks (rivers, forests, mountains) that might or might not be exactly as described in the document. This is one reason there was so much squabbling between nobles in that period of history. I say this only to bring up the potential as adventure hook, and to illustrate that when drawing land boundaries, it's not a bad idea to base them on geographical features of the land on the map.
) is if you started out by defining your land areas. Start with the main Kingdom, then subdivide it in to a few Duchies, then those into Baronies and so on.As a rule, unless the kingdom is being built from the ground up, the land demarcations will predate the people in charge. This means that the titles a person holds depends entirely on the lands he rules...not vice versa. Lands are granted by heredity, marriage or by royal fiat for services to the crown (generally speaking this is done fairly rarely, as the King can only give away lands that he is the direct lord of...he can't make you the Baron of Exeter if there's already a Baron of Exeter (unless something HAPPENS to the current one, but that's a whole other issue
)). Once you have a map of what titles are -possible- in your kingdom, that helps narrow down who has what. Remember it's not at all uncommon for nobles to have many titles, because they're lords of many lands. The Duke of Sulzbery might also be Baron of Pludon Mound and Earl of Breton...or more! Generally speaking, the longer and better his war record, the more wives he's had (not at once, obviously ), and the older his family...the more lands he'll have titles to.Land boundaries were often based on titles that were decades to centuries old, using vague directions and physical landmarks (rivers, forests, mountains) that might or might not be exactly as described in the document. This is one reason there was so much squabbling between nobles in that period of history. I say this only to bring up the potential as adventure hook, and to illustrate that when drawing land boundaries, it's not a bad idea to base them on geographical features of the land on the map.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
In most kingdoms, at least 3-4 families of nobles can screw happily and keep the gene pool from becoming TOO inbred....
.....what?
.....what?
3catcircus
Adventurer
MMS:WE. That is all the reference you will need to figure it out down to the very last noble.
Azrael Nightstar
First Post
thanks everyone, between the lot of you this is exactly what I was looking for. I did already know that it was all very convoluted, but I wanted a little more info to feel comfortable that I was doing a decent job when "winging it". It won't hurt that the kingdom I'll be working on first and focusing most on is rather unusual and in a bit of an upheaval
I'll be sure to check out the MMS:WE book, sounds like something right up my alley, but in the meantime I feel quite comfortable starting the process. Many thanks!
See what I did there? I was being "clever" By the way, the answer was "Three: two to hold the king down and one to beat him to death with a ladder" 
I'll be sure to check out the MMS:WE book, sounds like something right up my alley, but in the meantime I feel quite comfortable starting the process. Many thanks!
See what I did there? I was being "clever"
By the way, the answer was "Three: two to hold the king down and one to beat him to death with a ladder" Bishop Odo
Explorer
Well it’s not just how many nobles are needed, but how many factions are there, After all there are always those who have power and those who want more. Generally factions are based on noble families with deep roots in all sides. Watch the Showtime series The Tudors, or the movie Elizabeth and you get a idea of life in court and factions at work.
