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| Life goes on even if you decide to step back as an elder. Finally time to spend more time with your chosen one? |
Not too serious, but not without a touch of importance either...
Elders
This is when you can step down and simply enjoy whatever respect you did build during your more active life stages! Only high nobility Peers can choose to step down as they wish, though. In fact they can retire at any time they like provided someone is ready to become the next sovereign. They will still be head of the House until they die, but that is a less tedious job, anyway. Most high nobility peers do stay life long though, probably because it's more effective to switch both Peer and Head of house in one go. The low nobility Baron/Lord/Lady always stays the Sovereign until death. In some extremely rare cases the Royal Chamber might approve on a low nobility peer stepping down earlier due to health conditions, and there are no close family to assist you keeping the peerage going.
Stepping down mostly affects the Sovereign privileges like being head of a Trust with your double vote, and knighting new members for the District Order. From the day you step down you will no longer be the "voice" of the peerage, and others will handle the courtesy titles and big announcements.
Even if you don't step down, as an elder you are expected to slow down a bit. You can give up on your patronage, and tend to fewer community engagements. In most cases there will be a younger generation to take on those duties.
Slowing down will not remove your privilege of mingling with society as before. Many distinguished person will want to talk with you, especially if your network is still intact. Your District Order memberships are life long, so you will still attend annual gala dinners and other high society events. It is expected that you attend at least every other year - every third if you are with poor health. You can pass on your jewelries to younger generations, but your sash can not be carried by anyone but you. So - no need to pass on all your jewels quite yet!
If the house/Trust owns a secondary home, elders might move there, otherwise they stay in the main household, perhaps in their own private section of the building, assisting with raising grandchildren and more. You will have more time for family concerns.
While still alive, you should consider contacting a Lawyer to write your testament. Just like commoners - except they might have less use for it, you can reserve up to 50% of your values to specific heirs or other inheritance subjects. It is the remaining values *after* the testament, that is to be shared equally. A testament is very useful if the value of one heirloom makes it hard for any heir top keep it. Say your son inherits a grand vacation home, he must pay his siblings their fair share meaning he might need to sell the vacation home in order to raise those funds. With a testament he might still need to pay his siblings some, but way less. You also might own a dear piece that you want a certain child or grandchild to inherit.
Finally, there is time for that hobby you could not find time for earlier! Traveling, gourmet food, nectar or jewelry collection?
So - the life of a noble might look a little different. Add a bigger and nicer decorated home, better manners, higher levels of skills and a social life within your own circles. Finally, death is unavoidable, but at least you might rest on private ground!
Afterlife
Yes, being of high nobility means you are allowed to get buried on private ground. Some dukedoms have their private graveyard in the garden or a crypt under the estate. The right to stay there for eternity is restricted to the main address, you can't get buried at i.e. the vacation home.
Most noble houses use the regular graveyard though, where they have a fenced in section for themselves. To get buried there, you must be of the founder's bloodline and you must have at least a courtesy title. As a spouse you get access only if you held a formal title from the peerage at the time when you died, or if you gave birth to a peer. The latter rule means most secondary family members will have an ordinary grave outside the fence of the private section. The private graveyard - being a crypt or a section of a regular graveyard, is administrated by the peerage Trust, and each house can have additional rules. Private sections on community grounds are charged by number of ground tiles - occupied or not. When a Trust has to restrict the access, it's not to save on that bill, but due to the number of graves such a small area can hold.
No matter what house you belonged to, the regional funeral traditions will be followed. Your heirs are allowed to keep your urn (or grave) at home for two years for mourning. Your urn will probably be displayed in a room or hallway meant for this. A burning candle (often with the house's primary color as in Coat of Arms) will be there next to your ashes. Within two years your grave must be moved to its permanent place, and during the funeral ceremony your spirit will be freed.
If buried on private property (garden or crypt) the new/current Sovereign can decide that your spirit shall not be set free. This decision might be based on your wish, but can also be totally up to the Sovereign's wish. The decision is made before your death is announced, and not two years later when the spirit is normally freed. If you were a Duke with many descendants, there is a higher chance to stay a ghost.
Shortly after your death, your possessions will become a major subject. Your closest family might already have expectations, but until it is all formalized by a Lawyer, also the distant family might be hopeful. A peerage Trust is always owned by the Peer, and is not even part of heritage, probably in order to secure a quick transfer of ownership without rivalling family branches. When line of successors is clear, there's no debate around the Trust, which owns the main estate, values like jewels and old heirlooms etc. But there might be additional possessions that you owned privately, like stocks, vacation home(s) and jewelry.
Your heirs will relate to the same Law of Heritance as commoners. The only difference is that the Trust is not affected by the law as it always belongs to the peerage and not really to the Peer. The personally owned values, after directions by your testament, are to be shared equally between all legit heirs. Note that although children born outside marriage are not legit heirs to the peerage, but they will normally be legit heirs to the privately owned possessions.
If you were the Peer, you might get your very own memorial day! This was more common in earlier ages, though, nowadays former Peers might be celebrated every 10th year for the first 100 years, then every 25th year. Such celebrations will get listed with the public Nobility Calendar. Whether the this event involves the community or not, will depend on what life you lived as well as the house's position both in the past and present. In most cases such anniversaries are family matters, but occasionally with a public speech or fireworks etc. If you were popular, there might exist demand for a more festive event where the public can join. This might get even more fun for you if your ghost is still around ;)
Feel free to add more life stage related rules, chores and benefits in a comment below :)
This series consists of 4 posts*:
Your Noble Life - Baby to Child
Your Noble Life - Teenagers
Your Noble Life - Young Adult to Adult
Your Noble Life - Elders to Afterlife
* All tagged Nobility and How I Play
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