Matthew Hunter <matthew at infodancer.org> writes: > 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... One of the reasons Baronet never quite made it as a "real" title of nobility in England. Also maybe it was kinda late in the game. The association with the Irish adventure probably didn't help either. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net / New TMDA anti-spam in test John Dyer-Bennet 1915-2002 Memorial Site http://john.dyer-bennet.net Book log: http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/Ouroboros/booknotes/ New Dragaera mailing lists, see http://dragaera.info