Had a great discussion on reddit’s r/rpg board (thread), which has caused a slight diversion from my planned bottom-up design approach, mainly as i thought it was very good and wanted to get it outlined before I forgot about it.
Note: The house names are, for the moment a combination of place holders and indicators of what they are known for.
So far the outline of the Houses system is as follows :
Grand Houses
- Have a lot of prestige & clout, tend to be very old, formed before the barrier went up, or just after as with the case of House Protector
- Major duties, normally concerned with one major area of life or region, Eg Religion, Arcane,
- Tend to be Rulers of the various countries and regions
- Access to rare/plentiful resources – but does not mean that the players if they belong to this house have the same access
- Have access to many regions resources
- Limited number of Grand Houses can exist at any one time
- All addressed as “Grand House (x)”
- Do not need backers to submit new laws for voting on
- Can veto new laws within their remit. EG House Divine can overrule laws regarding deity and clerics, within reason
Major Houses
- Can only become a Grand House by disposing one of the existing ones
- No limit to number of Major Houses, but can only become one if nominated by an existing Major/Grand House. Some kind of task is normally given to the prospective house Major
- Are allowed access to more land & resources.
- Can attend Parliament to help decide on the rules and laws of the land
- May submit new laws for voting on, if backers are found.
- Most have control/majority control/monopoly of a region or aspect of life, under a Grand House. Eg a particular independent city or one aspect of a deity, although some of the weaker Major Houses may share power with another
Minor Houses
- New Houses, only formed very recently
- Normally only small families
- Normally an off-shoot of a Major house
- Can become a Major house
- Allowed a sigil
- Not allowed to submit new laws, but can vote in Parliament
- Can own property and business
Non-House Bound
- Very few resources
- Not allowed to own property
- Banned from having a sigil
Things to be decided on:
- The maximum number of Grand Houses
- What are the Grand Houses and their details
- The process of setting up a House Minor and promotion up the various tiers
- Can houses be demoted? If so how? Will it depend on the tier of existing house? Does another house take their place and what happens to their holdings?
More will be added later, both in example houses and the duties and benefits
World Brief can be found here
Latest copy of Setting/rules can be found here
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