The purpose of this proposal is to streamline the system of staff management for Estates, to remove ambiguities, and to provide more variety in staffing, rather than seeing management as overhead to be added on top of estate expenses. This proposal would replace the 'What staff do you need?' section of the [[Rule Proposal: s/Servants]]. It would also create the new Rank :4: job of Head Gardener and make a regular Gardener rank :3: This proposal would also work best if the [[Rule Proposal: s/Estates]] is amended so that the Receiving Component requires 1 footman AND 1 maid as staff. The amount of overhead needed to hire a Housekeeper (see below) is TBD. Another effect is to have more Chiefs and fewer Indians, which fits the hierarchical Victorian setting and makes for more characters that the PCs would potentially interact with. ==== Staff Promotions and additional Hires ==== Among your staff, there are some who have a leadership role in addition to their duties, and others who perform very specific tasks. Carry out the following steps //in order// to determine the staff you need for your Estates. - **Component Requirements**: Assign staff to your Estate(s) based on the staff requirements of the Estate Components. - **Head Housemaid**: If an Estate has >1 Maid, //promote// one Maid in that Estate to Head Housemaid. - **Underbutler**: If an Estate has 1 or >1 Footman, //promote// one Footman in that Estate to Underbutler. - **Butler**: If you have 1 or >1 Underbutler in //all// your Estates, //promote// one Underbutler to full Butler. - **First Footman**: If you still have >1 Footman in an Estate, //promote// one of them to First Footman. - **Head Gardener**: If an Estate has >1 Gardener, //promote// one Gardener in that estate to Head Gardener. - **Ladies Maid**: //Hire// a Ladies Maid for every female member of the gentry or of higher class living in the Estate. - **Valet**: //Hire// a Valet for every male member of the gentry or of higher class household living in the Estate. - **Cook:** If you have >5 staff in an Estate but no Dining Component, //hire// a cook. - **Underhousekeeper**: if expenses on staff and maintenance in an Estate at this point exceed (50/75/100) pounds / month, //hire// an Underhousekeeper. - **Housekeeper**: If you have 1 or >1 Underhousekeeper in //all// your Estates, promote one Underhousekeeper to full Housekeeper.