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 to 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 will take place this coming Spring.

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

Before you read on - in all three nations the traditional culture will stand strong. While we will still have our national uniqueness, there are some fields where we can come up with common solutions. This should be possible for both the Dynasty system and Nobility (career). The idea is that if the three nations share bits of their aristocratic structure, it will be easier for all to relate, accross borders.

One reason for the adjustments is the implementation of Dynasties. This old community form with origin in the Empire of Snorthia, never established in the kingdoms of Mazaloom and Sea. However, while the main structure from Snorthia will now be used by all, there might be minor influences going the other way - such as Mazaloom's Houses having a focus skill, which will now be adapted by Snorthian dynasties, too.

So, what is new?

Last week five representants met in Mt. Komorebi 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) overtook the kingdom three generations ago, as two former royal dynasties 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 of 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 very well established in Snorthia, each family will now get new crest emblems, just like us. And they never before had focus skills/ideals, but each family was instead associated with certain animals and elements that they protect or is protected by.

Sea kingdom is also a patriarchal community, but less rigid than Snorthia. Sea hardly have any nobility, but was founded on a structure of the regional Chieftains, a group of leaders going way back, but being less usual these days. 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 kingdom lacks structure of Houses, although they have a handful families organized with significant Mazaloomian influence. When implementing Dynasties they will mostly need to adapt rules from abroad. The few families affected will get new crest/emblem as well as focus skills and values.

In Mazaloom kingdom we have a broad network of 55 (!) aristocratic Houses still active. On top of this a few central community positions benefits from aristocracy rank without leading a House. About 28 Houses hold 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 that are dukedoms or counties. 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) was used. While we will keep the focus skill, the upcoming adjustments forces us to implement a new set of Crest/emblems and ideals. Because each House have a focus career, it might be possible to find a matching Ideal. In Mazaloom new crest and new rules for adding members to the dynasty might be the bigger changes. Picking an heir might differ a bit, but it was always up to the members of the House, anyway, and it will still be possible to pick the member who holds a peerage, if anyone does.

At this meeting, according to the programme, each of the 5 kingdoms would give their key to the other 4, a symbolic key for friendship. However, Emperor Orchor of Snorthia refused to hand the key to the female representative from Darong kingdom, so this symbolic gesture was taken off the event without notice. Hopefully there will be another ceremony later, involving all five kingdoms.

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, but here is no rule saying all Dynasties must be wealthy and ambitious.

In Mazaloom we will still use the term House for most Houses, but the nine more powerful ones (royal and high nobility) will probably see themselves as Dynasties. All our Houses - having noble status or not - will be encouraged to sign up with the new Dynasty registry asit will function as a registry for Houses. Building rank based on dynasty's Prestige and more, will be essential, this is something we did not have before, but it is expected to be of interest to the top level Houses, mainly.

In Mazaloom we will have a few rules in order to make it easier for Houses to see how they can focus:

- Minimum 2 members, same as before. Previously the founder needed an heir, but this will currently not be as strict.
- Minimum networth of §250,000 for all members, same as for a House.
- Minimum one Skill, which must be the same focus skill as for the House. However, it will be possible to apply for another focus Skill (times change, a few old skills might feel outdated). The dynasty can register up to 2 additional skills later.
- Minimum one Ideal, when possible within the same community field as House, or reflecting the old focus career. The dynasty can register up to 2 additional ideals later.
- There will be a national one time fee of §5,000 when signing up.

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.

Technically 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. Even so, in Mazaloom the two are connected, as only Houses can sign up for the dynasty registry. More about the Nobility career in a later article.

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. The old crest was based on each House's primary and secondary colors, with forms referring to hieraldic rules actually telling 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 new common structure, 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 just 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 the origin (nation) of the Dynasty/House, the shape represents Head of Dynasty's rank (1-10) in the Nobility Career (if no such career, they will use the lowest level). This way all kingdoms can use the same emblem system, 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 kingdom, and orange for Simerinia kingdom. Mazaloom kingdom has way more Houses, so we will use two background colors - burgundy for Houses/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 nobility rank. These refer to the 10 levels of the Nobility career, and will be described in a next article. There will be a common understanding of bottom levels 1 and 2, and top levels 9 (crown prince/ss) and 10 (emperor/monarch). The levels 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 will be unique for most kingdoms, reflecting their culture.

For Mazaloom kingdom, the Royal Chamber has already suggested the new emblem for each House, based on the House's history. About 25 Houses got the round no 1 shape as they hold no peerage. Only the royal House can heve the 10th shape. Each House will shortly 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, and in the case of holding peerages the old crest will still be actual on your office wall. There will be less focus on those old peerage based crests in the future, as the House's new dynasty crest will be used more often.

Out of 28 possible emblems, three motifs are reserved: Octopussy is reserved the Sloth dynasty (Empire of Snorthia), White "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. In Mazaloom most possible designs (28+25) are used twice, meaning no new Houses will be accepted at the moment - this will vary over time.

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 soon to come Nobility article.

Mazaloom's online Aristocracy register, as well as personal profile pages and family trees are currently being updateed with the new crests. On porraits you will see the new crest in the bottom left corner when the person is a dynasty member, with a golden or green star above, indicating whether s/he is Head or Heir. Any peerage will be visualized in the bottom right corner, like before. Because the website is huge, it might be some time before all graphics are updated.

Ideals

Dynasties will pick up to three Ideals, which we did not have in the past. However, the Royal Chamber recommend that the 1st Ideal reflects the House's old focus (community field, career and/or skill). This will not be controled. In general we prefer seeing a House's history and identity being brought over to the Aristocracy registry. Picking Ideals is a new benefit that regular Houses did not have. 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 often reflects a long gone reality, like Military career, and is no longer very important for Houses either. It still builds identity, though, 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. The Royal Chamber might check that all ideals get some attention, and suggest changeas as seen needed. 

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 House's 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 a Dynasty will be seen as prestige and unity. When members build related skills or take ideal related actions, prestige will build. Focusing on conflicting skills and activities will reduce a Dynasty's prestige. Some Houses will see this as very important, while other Houses might pay less attention and not see it as critical if prestige goes low periodically.

The dynasty registry might be a good move for other purposes than to become powerful. It might be a smart organization for a family business, or a club for relatives based on skills and behavior. Members can benefit from networking effects and the dynasty's many perks.

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, especially between members of different households. Head of Dynasty will be most affected by changes in prestige, and Head's actions will also have the greater impact on the status of the Dynasty. Outcasts will have less impact on prestige, so perhaps it will be needed to outcast a member in order to reduce that member's impact on prestige and unity?

Be aware that adjusting skills or ideals for a working Dynasty might trigger conflicts within the family, so we recommend picking just your old focus Skill and the first Ideal for now, and add more later as you learn what will benefit the members of your dynasty.

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. Skills and Ideals will be added later.

Read more about the new Nobility career.