Gaining Power in South Vorus

See also: South Voran Mages

A South Voran noble who is not a member of a Noble House can start his own Minor House, that is, a small noble family with minor holdings which serves a higher noble house. Such a house might eventually, over multiple generations, become a proper Noble House. A Voran noble who -is- a member of a Noble House can also start a Minor House, but in this case it is called a Cadet House.

A player can found his own Minor House, but they must meet an extensive list of criteria. In order to start a Minor House, a noble character must be married to another noble character, and the couple must have at least one legitimate child. Both husband and wife must be PC's and must be nobles by their own merit. They cannot be noble purely by virtue of the marriage itself, that is, they must each have the Noble feat. It is not sufficient to have the Married Noble feat. As such, a nobleman who marries a commoner woman cannot found his own Minor House, unless the woman earns a Knighthood or is otherwise elevated on her own merit.

Additionally, both husband and wife must have a position job and the player founding the house must have earned an advancement for their position. They must have held that advancement for at least 6 months.

A Minor House requires a mansion or castle worth no less than 10.000 gp. Additionally, donations of 1000 gp are required. At least one of the husband and wife must be 12th level, and the other must be at least 10th level. A vote by the DM team is required.

A Minor House must be subordinate to a Voran Major House, to whom its two leaders swear fealty. In case of a Cadet House, the house is the noble house from which it branched, in case of a new house, the players who founds the house can choose (with the agreement of the Lord of course) which house he serves. If both husband and wife are members of a Major house then the style of marriage determines which house the Cadet House belongs to: in a regular marriage to the house of the husband, and in a matrilineal marriage to the house of the wife.

The head of a Minor House gains the title of Lord and can collect taxes from his domain (which is granted to him in fief by the noble house he serves). He may be called upon to adjudicate as a judge, and he may – within the limits set forth by the house he serves – write the local laws and regulations. His wife gains the title of Lady. Neither husband nor wife can have a different job. It is mandatory they keep this position as their job. Both Lord and Lady are considered positions with an advancement.

The Minor House is considered to be a Player Business controlled by the founding player and based on Diplomacy or Intimidate, depending on the way the house is ran.

Those were the base rules. But there were other things that my character Arin had to do on top of those. For instance he needed to get support from other house Lords and Ladies for his house as it was becoming a noble house in it's own right and so would have to basically have the council approve it. Means rp, scenes and such as well as doing this quest or that to get the support. The standing nobles know that even a minor noble house forming means there is another power structure becoming and so they will want to know the people who are in charge, how they will interact with them and theirs. As well as making those deals that are made in the halls of power.