On 10/28/2021 3:58 PM, Jim Vassilakos - jim.vassilakos at gmail.com (via
tml list) wrote:
> I wrote an article on Social Standing that Jeff put into Freelance
> Traveller #107
> (https://www.freelancetraveller.com/magazine/2021-0910/), and on pages
> 43-45, I made some modifications to the nobility. My feeling here,
> which, judging from the prior literature, is shared by many, is that
> nobles need to have a little more oomph. So as one of my
> modifications, for example, I decided that a first heir of a landed
> noble (the person in line to inherit) may use the title prince or
> princess. Stemming from this modification, I decided in a campaign I'm
> running that rather than addressing the daughter of a countess as
> m'lady, the protocol, at least in that star system, would be to
> address her as "your highness". I realize this bends the setting a
> bit, and it was my initial intention to play this campaign straight
> down the middle, but I have a really hard time when it comes to this
> issue. After all, the princess will one day be responsible for
> multiple worlds, overseeing a plethora of lesser nobles, many of them
> landed. She stands to inherit more territory and oversee more people
> than any modern prince or princess. So I feel she needs to be
> addressed at a higher level than, say, an honor noble --
> paradoxically, I realize, as honor nobles attain their patents through
> their own efforts rather than by inheritance, but you get my point.
> Does anyone have any thoughts or comments on this line of reasoning?
For landed nobility, I've always assumed that they held multiple patents
of nobility; the duke would also be a count, marquis, earl, possibly
several times over. As the children matured, the eldest would be
granted custody of the highest title below that which their parent uses,
and the next eldest would get the next senior title, etc. Upon the age
of majority or whenever tradition would dictate, that title would be
formally bestowed.
For example, in a very detailed and long running BSG fan fiction that
I'm writing, one of the main characters is a Countess from Virgon. Her
younger sister is a Baroness, and their father is a Duke. Both the
title of count and baron were held by the duke until the birth of his
children which he then bestowed upon them with the advice and consent of
the Empress.
--
Kurt Feltenberger
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“Before today, I was scared to live, after today, I'm scared I'm not living enough." - Me
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