Nobility Reform: Dynasties

(Year 234, Winter) This morning the Royal Palace Office (RPO), on behalf of the Royal Chamber, announced upcoming adjustments to the set of rules for Houses of Aristocracy. Mazaloom kingdom had a well developed system for generations. This will continue, but as the global world adjusts with various expansions, the nations of Snorthia, Sea and Mazaloom have debated to find a common base for their aristocratic structures. This means, in all three nations some fine tuning is coming next year.

His Royal Majesty King Tarriot of Mazaloom is head of the Royal Chamber.

Before you read on - in all three nations the traditional organization will still stand strong. While we will still have our unique culture, there are some fields where we can come up with common solutions. The idea is that if the three nations' aristocratic structures have more in common, it will be recognized and easier related to for all, accross borders.

One reason for the adjustments is the implementation of Dynasties. This is an old community form with origin in the Empire of Snorthia, but never before used in the kingdoms of Mazaloom and Sea. However, while the main structure from Snorthia will now be used by all, there will be influences from at least Mazaloom, that also Snorthian Dynasties must adapt - such as focus skills.

So, what is new?

Five representants met in Mt. Komorebi last week to debate the common structure of Dynasties. HRM King Tarriot represented Mazaloom kingdom, HRM King Salomar from Sea kingdom, and Emperor Orchor represented his Empire of Snorthia. The empire was originally ruled by three kingdoms, and the Emperor also represented the old Komorebia kingdom, where he has his seat, while the other two old kingdoms were represented by Ailia Arbong (King Adekoya of Simerinia was not able to attend this meeting), and High Priest Akyshi Gilmore (76) attended as Head of the 1st protected family (former royal family) of Yacothia.

Representants from one empire and four kingdoms. Left to right: Ailia Arbong (Simerinia kingdom), King Tarriot (Mazaloom kingdom), Emperor Orchor (Empire of Snorthia), King Salomar (Sea kingdom), and High Priest Akyshi Gilmore (Yacothia). 

First a quick look at each nation's traditional organization of their aristocracy.

Empire of Snorthia is based on three old kingdoms: Yacothia kingdom, Simerinia kingdom, and Komorebia kingdom. Generations ago each kingdom had 7 protected families, and the 1st protected family got the throne. All protected families built dynasties in the past, and while half of them went extinct, the rest are still benefitting from their rank, although living in the shadows of their Emperor. Today Simerinia is the only still having a king; the Darong dynasty (seated in Dambele, Simerinia) took ove the kingdom three generations ago, as the 1st family had gone extinct. 1st protected familiy of Komorebia gave up their royal status when a former Emperor moved his seat to Mt Komorebi about 135 years ago. And, in Yacothia, the 1st proteced family became the leader og the Yacobian faith generations ago, and chose the High Priest position over their old royal status, which had less power anyway. Emperor Orchor is superior, but allowed Simerinia and Yacothia to join him for this meeting - but granted observer status, only. It was a nice surprise that a female was granted access, as females were never accepted as leaders and would normally not attend any high level  meeting. Snorthia is still a male community, but this time Ailia Arbong was not allowed to speak, anyway. Although the Dynasty term is strong in Snorthia, they will get new crest emblems, and they never before had focus skills/ideals, but each family was associated with certain animals and elements.

Sea kingdom is also a patriarch community, but slightly less rigid than Snorthia. Sea hardly have any nobility, but was founded on a structure of the regional Chieftains. Today, King Salmon is the only person with real power, and only a handful houses lead a dynasty, mostly around old Thebia including Verdemar, but they are restricted to local influence. Sea lacks structure of Houses, so when implementing Dynasties they will adapt most from Snorthia and Mazaloom. The few families affected will get new crest/emblem as well as focus skills and values.

In Mazaloom kingdom we had a broad network of 55 (!) aristocratic Houses. On top of this a few central community positions benefits from aristocracy without leading a House. About 28 Houses have noble status from holding one or more peerages. There are no dynasties, although the royal House of Luxe-Hamper would certainly qualify, as would the eight high nobility Houses. Our Houses are pretty much the same as Dynasties. They already have assigned focus skills and careers, and many of them even have signature crystals/metals. In the past our Crest design was based on the peerage logo, or - if not holding a peerage, symbol of one of four community fields (actually sort of ideals). While we will keep the focus skill, the upcoming adjustments forces us to implement a new set of Crest/emblems and ideals.

Dynasties vs Houses

Dynasties are basically the same as our Houses, an organization uniting a family in order to secure wealth and power as well as focusing on certain qualities. However, the Dynasty might also focus on values like knowledge or certain behaviors, more than political power. Members of a Dynasty will benefit from certain perks that are not available to our current Houses.

In Mazaloom we will still use the term House for most Houses, but the more powerful ones will probably see themselves as Dynasties. All our Houses - having noble status or not - will be registered as dynasties. Only Head of House can register, meaning there will be no Dynasty that is not already a House. Royal Chamber will still adminisrate these details.

You can have a Dynasty without working in he Nobility career, and You won't need a Dynasty in order to work in that career. They are two different systems. While it might add to the progress joining both, it is not needed.

Dynasty crest

While all our Houses already have their old Coat of Arms / Crest emblem - some going 235 years back, we are now forced to step forward with a new international system replacing the old. The old crest was based on each House's primary and secondary colors, and forms referring to hieraldic rules actually forming a story over time. The emblem showed Head of House's highest ranked peerage. In other words, the design focused on Head of House + highest peerage. With the common sructure, a Crest will be way less complex as it will identify the family as one unit.

The new crest/emblem system will display a design representing all members of the Dynasty, rather than the peeerage(s). Because Mazaloom, Snorthia and Sea will all use the same 28 alternative emblems, the meeting agreed on a routine where six solid background colors will link to he base kingdom o the Dynasty/House, the shape represents Head of Dynasty's rank (1-10) in the Nobility Career (if no such career, they will use he first level). This way all kingdoms can use the same emblem, because shape and solid color will keep our path steady to avoid confusion.

Empire of Snorthia gets 3 colors, bright red for Yacothia kingdom, green for Komorebi kingdm, and orange for Simerinia kingdom. Mazaloom has way more Houses, so we will use two background colors - burgund for dynasties holding one or more peerages, and brass/brown for those Houses not holding any peerage. Sea kingdom will use blue.

There will be 10 possible shapes, set by rank. These refer to the 10 levels of the Nobility career, and will be described in a next article. After all, the ranked titles will be unique for most kingdoms.

For Mazaloom kingdom, the Royal Chamber will suggest the new emblem for each House, based on the House's history. We already had emblems, signature colors, focus skills, focus careers - and more. Each dynasty will then receive a framed version of their new crest/emblem. Any old decoratives, including framed display of House's old crest, can be kept to exposure history of the House. Those old designs will sill refer to peerages, although we will focus less on those old peerage based crests in the future.

Out of 28 possible emblems, three are reserved: Octopussy is reserved the Sloth dynasty (Empire of Snorthia), White "lily" is reserved the Luxe-Hamper dynasty (Mazaloom kingdom), and blue flower is reserved the Oceanus dynasty (Sea kingdom). The other 25 variations can  be used once with each of the solid background color, meaning your House/Dynasty will not hold any exclusive rights to the chosen emblem.

While the background color and emblem should never change, the crest's shape might adjust if Head of dynasty obtains a higher ranked peerage in the future. This will be described in the Nobility article. 

Ideals

Dynasties will pick up to three Ideals, which we did not in the past. However, the Royal Chamber recommend that the 1st Ideal reflects the House's old focus (career and skill), but this will not be controled. In general we prefer seeing a House's history and identity being brought over to the Dynasty. Picking Ideals is a new benefit for the family, that regular Houses did not have. Each Dynasty can pick multiple values, only the 1st should be tied to the House's history - if possible.

Ideals are: Artistic, Bold, Caring, Connoisseur, Devious, Diplomatic, Hardworking, Jolly, Mysterious, Nature-Loving, Passionate, Scholarly, Vicious.

The old focus career is not needed for the Dynasty registry. It reflect a long gone reality, and is no longer very important for Houses either, but it still builds identity and it served us well in the past by making sure that aristocracy covered most possible careers/community fields. We will not remove the focus career, as it is still part of the old Houses' DNA, but Dynasties should rather focus on skills and ideals.

Skills

Dynasties pick up to three skills that will be associated with all their members, and that will make a difference when  building Prestige. Each Dynasty must pick their existing focus skill as their first option, but additional skills can be chosen freely by Head of Dynasty.

When selecting ideals and skills it is important to find some that will appeal to your members. Selecting a skill that no member will ever encounter would be a missed opportunity. Clever skills and ideals helps building Prestige.

It's advised to pick ideals first, in order to set the direction before picking the skills.

Prestige and Unity

The success of your Dynasty will be seen as prestige and unity. When members build related skills or take ideal related actions, prestige builds. TThere are also conflicting skills and activities tat will reduce a Dynasty's prestige. Some Houses will see this as very important, while other Houses might pay less attention and notsee it as critical if prestige goes low periodically.

We want all Houses to register with the Dynasty registry, even those not really into the status focus. At the same time we will ask Houses with less than 3 members to wait. What is the point of having a Dynasty if there are no members? Your House will still have some effect on general status. In Mazaloom the old rules for Houses will still apply, and the Dynasty focus should be most interesting for Houses counting many members, perhaps several estates, and with good wealth. It might finally be your chance to build a family business, sort of!

Unity is another measure, affecting how well members of the Dynasty go together. With strong relations this should be quite easy, but you never know when a new conflict arises. Head of Dynasty will react most to changes in prestige, and Head's actions will also have the greater impact on the status of the Dynasty.

Be aware that adjusting skills or Ideal for a working Dynasty might trigger conflicts within the family, so we recommend picking just your old focus skill and the Value for now, and add more later.

For Mazaloom, Snorthia and Sea these adjustments will take effect from Spring of Year 235. All our Houses are listed here, some of them with their new Crest, already..