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 Public Key: http://matthew.infodancer.org/public_key.txt