Dragaera

Question for Steve

Thu Aug 29 19:27:56 PDT 2002

On Thu, Aug 29, 2002 at 08:37:12PM -0400, Gaertk at aol.com wrote:
> Also, House Jhereg is all about *buying* titles, not 
> inheriting them.  So how exactly did Vlad get his father's
> title?  1) Vlad's father made a will specifically giving
> the title to Vlad.  2) Vlad's father gave him the title
> from his deathbed.  3) When a Jhereg dies, all his titles
> are converted to cash and added to the estate (allowing the
> House and Empire to tax them), then after the estate is 
> divided among the heirs, they're given an opportunity to
> buy back those titles (if they can afford it).  That last
> one is my favorite.  

Your initial premise (that House Jhereg ONLY provides titles by
purchase) seems a mighty big assumption to me.  Much more likely
is a system which mirrors a standard feudal system in most
particulars, including inheritance of title, but allows purchase
of titles upon initial entry or to rise within the House.  I
believe this situation has occured in reality as well -- "bought"
nobility never quite being the same as old blood, of course, but
in the eyes of the king...

-- 
Matthew Hunter (matthew at infodancer.org)
Homepage: http://matthew.infodancer.org/index.jsp
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