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Titles

This section contains your titles - which include honorary titles, landed titles and jobs with political ability (Which are titles in itself). This also includes Land Titles beyond personal housing that come with restrictions.

Your properties can be assumed to be under good and competent stewardship, allowing your character to adventure as they wish, with some restrictions. Here are some examples of the format and examples of titles that can be granted.

Title Granting & Revocation​

A title and its properties is granted by a GM at their discretion, as an appropriate reward to PCs for services rendered to important figures or entities in roleplay. It and associated properties can be revoked or lost (Though not always together) - revocation usually occurring due to the PCs going against the ostensible interest of their patrons (Treason, rebellion, robbery, severe crimes), not performing the obligations related to the title, etc. and loss can occurs if the title is connected to in a politically precarious area and the new ruler would not like to honor the obligations. It is rare that, outside of player’s actions or inactions, a title will be revoked or lost.

Title Linked Properties​

A title linked property means the property is contingent on remaining on good status with the titles. Angering a city can lead to revocation of properties (Only in case of grave crime, as burghers are sensitive about property rights), treason can lead to revocation of landed titles and exile.

Examples of Titles​

Here are some examples of titles that could be granted. They use generic, English-name, the variety and implementations of them varies from polity to polity and culture to culture.

Titles contain the following property:

  • Name: The name of the title
  • Granted By: Who is the person or entity that granted you the title? They are also the one who is most likely to revoke it if you go against their interest or your obligations. Can be the character itself if it is unlikely to be irrevocable (Or in rare case, fighting to prevent its revocation)
  • Properties: List of properties that are tied to this title. Businesses in a city may be tied to the right of a burgher, acres of land and village to knighthood, etc.
  • Description: The type of powers and obligations this confers upon the receiver. GM can also include the granting reason here.
  • Granting Conditions: Not actually included when listed on your sheet, but a guideline to GM and player for when they can expect this title to be granted.

Ordinary Title​

Ordinary, relatively common titles that are granted frequently in the world:

  • Citizenship:
    • Patron: A city, or its council
    • Properties: Usually none, but some destitute properties might be granted as part of a reward for great services rendered
    • Description & Obligations: Being granted the citizenship of a city means that you are considered under its obligation - safe from the abuse of feudal law. To be specifically granted honorary citizenship rather than citizenship through ownership of property means you are likely recognized as a valuable person of the premise.
    • Granting Conditions: The PC is a hero or a great contributor, philanthroper to a city, or political circumstances means it would be awkward for a city to not grant citizenship.
  • Membership (Of a Guild):
    • Patron: A guild or an organization
    • Properties: Only a high rank would sometime get obligatory enjoyment of some properties
    • Description & Obligations: You are a member of a guild or an organization. Sometimes this comes with a bit of obligations, but this is for ordinary members.
    • Granting Conditions: Paid the fee, joined the guild, passed the test.

Titles that you do not want to be granted, in general, which impose restrictions on your character’s roleplay.

  • Outlaw:
    • Patron: A sovereign entity - a count, duke, or most likely a King or independent sovereign ruler.
    • Description & Obligations: Being outlawed is the worst kind of punishment - worse than dead, to be declared outside the protection of laws. It means you can be killed on sight, and most likely a crime or offense so grievous has been committed you’ve set an entire country on you. An outlawed player cannot start any non-quest roleplay in the country they were outlawed in.
    • Granting Conditions: Being outlawed requires being more than a petty criminal, the PC must’ve been positively identified as the subject of the declaration of outlawship. No matter how grievous the crimes, nobles from competing countries are seldom if ever declared an outlaw by their enemy - nobles have standards for niceties. Being outlawed is usually reserved for mass murderers, bandits and people guilty of treason. Given sufficient restitution, outlawship can be solved.
  • Hunted:
    • Patron: An entity capable of funding a manhunt and having a good reason to launch a manhunt against you
    • Description & Obligations: To be hunted means you’ve greatly angered a certain faction or powerful people. However, being Hunted means there’s a great power disparity - A King cannot confer the title of being Hunted on their war rivals - that is assumed to be the fact of life. It is when a King hunts down an ex baron or a peasant, or a merchant rich beyond measure declares a rogue adventurer a persona non-grata and to be hunted down, that the title is to be granted.
    • Granting Conditions: See above
  • Wanted (Amount of Silver):
    • Patron: Someone who is capable of putting a bounty on someone legally within the country.
    • Description & Obligations: A bounty means you are wanted by a country or political entity. A wanted player can pay off the same amount of money as listed on their bounty, to regain freedom, representing bribe and blood money etc. required to regain freedom of movement. A wanted player might gain complications during their quest, and should roleplay accordingly when in said country / a sphere of influence of the entity making them wanted.
    • Granting Conditions: See above

Political Accessories Titles​

  • Captain:
    • Patron: Someone who has troops for you to command
    • Description & Obligations: Having been granted the obligation to command a bunch of troops, your character’s stuck in place forever. Congratulations.
    • Granting Conditions: We recommend declining such offers.

Quasi Nobility or Nobility Titles​

It is not uncommon for people to be granted honorary title or title without land - especially if land is short. While in theory granting as much prestige as that of the landed nobles - the de facto power of landless noble are much less

  • Retainer:
    • Patron: A noble or a great house
    • Description & Obligations: A retainer of a house, usually with a stipend and now obliged to do the family’s bidding, whatever it is.
    • Granting Conditions: The family has reason to hire you and retain your loyalty in exchange for rewards.
  • Knighthood:
    • Patron: A King, in theory. In practice, lower nobilities can grant knighthood.
    • Properties: Often granted with enough properties to sustain a knight and his family and a decent income - however, it varies.
    • Description & Obligations: Not dissimilar to a retainer - however, being a knighthood now technically tie your loyalty to that of the country and the king above, and your liege completely - it is a feudal contract, and usually come with properties to sustain yourself, in the realm of 50 - 100 families income. The first step toward true nobility. A knight is in general, expected to either fight for their liege or pay up - in the case of a PC, it is very much expected they will fight for their liege rather than just paying up - as it is most likely how they’ve earned the position in the first place.
    • Granting Conditions: A PC of exceptional service to a noble might be granted knighthood - especially if a previous knight had fallen in battle with no inheritor and thus the noble has spare properties to distribute around.
  • Lord:
    • Patron: A King or equivalence
    • Properties: Depends
    • Description & Obligations: Being called a “Lord” is nice and makes you a de facto noble, it is not dissimilar to knighthood, but might be granted in more civil context without as much feudatory obligations.
    • Granting Conditions: Discretionary - Of exceptional service to a country that a King ennobles them directly or a lower noble petition for their enobblement.
  • Baron & Above:
    • Patron: A King of equivalence
    • Properties: Usually associated feudal land
    • Description & Obligations: A higher nobility - above the knight. Those nobility are the true political players in a country and subject to the Political Player & Accessories rules.
    • Granting Conditions: Granting a Barony or above is a rare case for a PC - though a Barony is within the reach of those with the intelligence and ability to do so. However, any rank above Barony can be considered to be out of reach for most people and granting of such titles must go through thorough discussion, especially as Drase is not intended to be a geopolitical roleplay nor dominated by older roleplayers that have first dibs on high nobility positions.
    • Variants: Marquis, Viscount, Count, Duke, Earl, Duchess, Archduke, Grand Duke, etc. etc.
  • King, Emperor, or Leader of Sovereign State:
    • PCs will not reach this kind of position.

Titles Granting Guideline for GMs​

Please consult with other staff / GMs before granting any titles that are above a Knight in power, or has geopolitical significance, even on a local level.

Political Player & Accessories​

If your character has obtained a politically semi-independent status as a baron or above your character will be required to pass any kind of state actions through a GM for approval. You will not lose your character, and will still be able to use them to participate in quests and slice of life roleplay.

If your character becomes a political accessory; AKA someone who has achieved a position of power not independent from a government (such as a captain of the guard, etc) they will be required to stick around that position if they wish to maintain it - or have a reason for neglecting it if they venture away from it (that is good enough to avoid being fired), but will have much less restriction in what actions they are allowed to perform in their role (AKA they won't have to pass things through a GM, but will still have consequences and subject to common sense restriction - for example, using your power as Captain of the Guard to bring troops will require good justification).