In My Traveller Universe (IMTU) the families of the Nobility are divided into two classes – Houses Major and Houses Minor.Houses Major make up the Imperial Nobility. It is from their ranks that the system, Subsector and Sector rulers are drawn. Houses Minor make up the planetary nobility, the industrial nobility and the upper echelons of the bureaucracy.
In Traveller, it is the Social Status characteristic that determines whether a character is “of the nobility”, or has been ennobled as a reward for meritorious service. A Social Status of 11 indicates that the character has been knighted. The Emperor or one of the Archdukes of the Imperium may bestow an Imperial Knighthood upon a character – such an honour usually includes membership of one of the several orders of Imperial Knights with the attendant rewards and responsibilities that such an award entails.
Given the distance that separates the RimWorlds Sector (my Traveller Universe) from the body of the Imperium, an honour granted to Kolin I, first Sector Duke of the Rimworlds, was permission to create an Order of Knights of the Rimward Stars, and to induct into it “such sophonts of good character and upstanding morals as might form both a sword and a shield for the protection of the Imperial citizens of said Sector, the RimWorlds”. The RimWorld Sector Dukes retain and exercise this unique honour to this day.
Houses Minor also number Barons, Marquis and Counts amongst their ranks who hold local and provincial administrative posts. To rule a single planet, a noble and his or her House must be elevated to House Major Status. The ancient title “siridar” is appended to the noble’s title indicating this elevation and a Baron becomes a Siridar-Baron, a Marquis becomes a Siridar-Marquis, and a Count becomes a Siridar-Count. As the title of Duke does not exist for Houses Minor, Subsector and Sector Dukes dispense with the "siridar" title.
The gulf between House Minor and House Major is as wide as that between Noble and Commoner, yet members of the Houses Minor perform a vital function within the vast and sprawling Imperial Government.
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I think the 2D6 character generation system was always a big issue with regards to the Social Status characteristic - 1 in 12 chance of any character being a Knight or Baron was just too high to be realistic. Even with a 3D6 system, it would still be somewhat too high at 1 in 64.
ReplyDeleteLike your photo of the "Emperor" ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks - a bit of fun with the Internet and Paint ;)
DeleteI think Travller characters were supposed to be exceptional though. Not exceptional in the sense that they had higher stats or skills, but exceptional in that they had an adventurous spirit. I suppose it could be argued that folks with that sort of attitude were more likely to have been born, or even elevated into, knighthood than your stay at home colonist.
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree, I only worked up my House Major/House Minor system to give myself a bit of flexibility. As Tamsin points out, you can roll a noble relatively easily, and a couple of terms as a Naval Officer can give you the equivalent Soc Status of the Emperor - under the Official System. I wanted to be able to give high rollers, or Naval Officers some room to have an estate and some medals without trying to rationalize why the ruler of a planet was mates with a bunch of vagabonds, mercenaries and pirates - one must have standards, after all :)
DeleteAnd if players wanted to use the Supplement 4 Noble career path and play planet rulers, that's not an issue, it's the "surprise" nobles that pop up during character generation that always gave me a headache.
I also thought it was a good mechanism for elevatating military career characters or public officials to lower levels of peerage in recognition of exceptional services (of course this 'exceptional service' might also be having the right photos of an influential someone in the wrong place...). Honour Harrington would be a good example of this. Not always useful but as a concept it can use useful.
ReplyDeletePS I agree with Lead Legion - in my opinion RPGs in general portray indiviuals above the average cut. It wouldnt be much of a gaming session if the characters all decided to order pizza and watch the football (*or equivalent) on the TV (*or equivalent)!
If the characters decide to hunker down and watch football, that's when the Ninjas attack ;)
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