I'm working on a mod that overhauls the nobility system, centered on the HRE/the German cultural area at first. Of course I will try to add culture-specific nobility systems later on.
Among some things, it adds dynasties for commoners. By default all Patricians (already having a dynasty) get the trait Commoner and all Lowborn rulers (e.g. republican leaders) have a Dynasty created upon start of the game or election, also with the trait Commoner. I am in the process of adding surname lists for commoner surnames, I think having German mayors that are for example called "Paul Krüger" or "Walter Schneider" is more immersive than just first names. I have German, Czech and English name lists so far and will add others, it is quite easy (random lists with lots of rename dynasty options that get called as script blocks/functions, one for each culture).
Of course, commoner and patrician dynasties can be ennobled (and a lowborn can be granted commoner status and a name and arms). This is to make nobility more immersive and meritocratic. Rather than just inviting noble courtiers, you should invest your energy into promising burghers, squires and patricians.
Right now the decision to ennoble an individual is still buggy and rudimentary. I did manage to implement a feature by which a "von" or "de" prefix is appended to the commoner surname rather than giving a new noble surname. Thus, if Paul Krüger, the mayor of Aschaffenburg, is targeted by the Grant Nobility decision, he becomes Paul von Krüger.
The plan right now is for nobility to have a cost of money (and perhaps prestige and piety) that just needs to be paid, but is reduced with the Skills and Prestige of the candidate. Thus, it would be cheaper to grant nobility to a commoner who has fought multiple battles or already comes from an established dynasty (e.g. a Patrician) than to a new courtier. And either the top-level liege pays if he really wants a person ennobled, or the candidate himself petitions for nobility and offers money that might or might not cover the full costs of ennoblement.
Granting nobility should of course give opinion penalties to other nobles, and it should have justifications just like going to war, some less controversial (A general who has distinguished himself in battle), some slightly more controversial (A wealthy merchant or converted Jew who makes a "donation" or serves on your council for a set period of time), some outright scandalous and possibly reasons for revolt (The father of your or your uncle's lowborn mistress).
I request your thoughts, both in technical terms (helping implement the features) and in terms of content, on what I have thought up so far.
Specifically the following problems.
Alright, these are my thoughts and concerns so far. What are yours?
Among some things, it adds dynasties for commoners. By default all Patricians (already having a dynasty) get the trait Commoner and all Lowborn rulers (e.g. republican leaders) have a Dynasty created upon start of the game or election, also with the trait Commoner. I am in the process of adding surname lists for commoner surnames, I think having German mayors that are for example called "Paul Krüger" or "Walter Schneider" is more immersive than just first names. I have German, Czech and English name lists so far and will add others, it is quite easy (random lists with lots of rename dynasty options that get called as script blocks/functions, one for each culture).
Of course, commoner and patrician dynasties can be ennobled (and a lowborn can be granted commoner status and a name and arms). This is to make nobility more immersive and meritocratic. Rather than just inviting noble courtiers, you should invest your energy into promising burghers, squires and patricians.
Right now the decision to ennoble an individual is still buggy and rudimentary. I did manage to implement a feature by which a "von" or "de" prefix is appended to the commoner surname rather than giving a new noble surname. Thus, if Paul Krüger, the mayor of Aschaffenburg, is targeted by the Grant Nobility decision, he becomes Paul von Krüger.
The plan right now is for nobility to have a cost of money (and perhaps prestige and piety) that just needs to be paid, but is reduced with the Skills and Prestige of the candidate. Thus, it would be cheaper to grant nobility to a commoner who has fought multiple battles or already comes from an established dynasty (e.g. a Patrician) than to a new courtier. And either the top-level liege pays if he really wants a person ennobled, or the candidate himself petitions for nobility and offers money that might or might not cover the full costs of ennoblement.
Granting nobility should of course give opinion penalties to other nobles, and it should have justifications just like going to war, some less controversial (A general who has distinguished himself in battle), some slightly more controversial (A wealthy merchant or converted Jew who makes a "donation" or serves on your council for a set period of time), some outright scandalous and possibly reasons for revolt (The father of your or your uncle's lowborn mistress).
I request your thoughts, both in technical terms (helping implement the features) and in terms of content, on what I have thought up so far.
Specifically the following problems.
- Formal ranks of nobles and titles associated with it. In much of continental Europe, all sons of a Baron are also Barons, this goes up to most Counts. Also, the heir apparent (primary heir) should be called Crown Prince, Hereditary Prince, etc... if the others are just Princes, in higher nobility. Right now I have a rank check command which gives a trait like "Imperial House", "Ducal House" etc... depending on the highest rank held by the family, it is still quite buggy and I can't seem to make it work when possession of a title is changed or a title is created (two pivotal points where it should be automatically called).
- If a King or Emperor also holds a Duchy in his family, and does so for a long time, he could use it for courtesy titles replacing the title of Prince or Crown Prince. For example, all members of the Habsburg family are Archdukes of Austria, and the Romanovs don't know the title of Prince in the typical European sense, instead calling themselves "Grand Princes of Russia". This was the title the rulers had in the last phase leading up to the creation of the Tsardom. Of course I would add the real ones (Prince of Wales for the son of a King of England who also holds Wales) at first but eventually, empires who did not have it or are fictional should be able to create courtesy titles for flavor as well. A courtesy title can only be worn when the duchy is held by the same family as the kingdom or empire, or perhaps it could even be kept as long as you have a Strong Claim (but would get you in trouble with the person who actually holds the territory).
- Choosing between different Nobiliary Laws depending on region. Right now I am focusing on Salic only and this is not a priority, as Salic could be representative for most nobiliary laws.
- Salic law - Only a legitimate child of a nobleman gets his title(s), if the father is a commoner the child is also a commoner no matter how high the mother is.
- Spanish law - Untitled nobility is passed like Salic, titles are in primogeniture, now regardless of gender but historically girls only got the title if they had no brothers. If a TITLED woman marries a commoner he becomes "Title consort" and the kids get the title, at least the one who gets the title should also get nobility as far as I have understood.
- French law - In northern parts France some enatic titles existed, called "Noblesse Uterine". Could be nicely tied into a Joan of Arc storyline, where you as the king of France have a decision to grant a noble title to a woman, breaking conventions and creating a title that can be inherited from mother to child.
- Perhaps there could be separate traits like "Noble of the Holy Roman Empire", "Noble of France", "Noble of Spain", "Noble of Russia", especially considering the fact that on immigration, a person did not automatically have their noble status confirmed?
- Crown laws for granting nobility.
- The nobility can demand to be sealed off, completely stripping the ruler of his right to ennoble individuals.
- Council consent, or consent of a majority of nobles or higher-ranking nobles for any ennoblement.
- Costs/prerequisites for creating a new noble.
- Newly created noble families have the same or less rights than those present at the beginning of the game.
- Inheritance of noble status, who can inherit titles. Are low nobles and barons allowed to marry commoner and lowborn women, or will it even for them mean loss of rank for the children?
- Checking purity of nobility, whether a person has 2 noble parents, 4 noble grandparents, 8 noble great-grand parents. In some parts of Europes being a "full noble in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation" was a prerequisite to hold certain titles or to marry into higher houses.
- Only Nobles can have Feudal holdings. How do I implement this feature? Just an event automatically fired when you grant a commoner a feudal barony or county that forces you to either pay the cost for ennobling him (angering other nobles, especially his neighbors) or confiscate the title (without punishment for you as "only nobles may hold feudal fiefs" is of course a legitimate reason to remove it). The event would also fire when a commoner inherits something feudal, as large Patrician dynasties might have branches that are nobles and branches that are not nobles. Is there a way to disable the option to bestow a title except for a city or a low bishopric for commoners?
- Of course the pesky option to spawn a random new noble courtier in the intrigue menu must be disabled, otherwise the whole purpose of the mod is undermined. How do I do this and make sure that only lowborns can be spawned by the player if at all?
- Promotion between ranks of nobility.
- There should be a way for a count who has multiple counties, or a county and also baronies, to petition to be created a Marquis or a Titular Prince/Fürst/Knyaz (head of a Principiality), which would be even more expensive than an ennoblement. This is to allow super-counts to not get in trouble when gavelkind sets in and keep the family lands together while at the same time maintaining the ceremonial/aesthetic rank distinction from dukes.
- Similarly, a multi-baron should be able to become a Viscount, getting a titular county. But I've heard that titular counties are very buggy and that I should stay away from them.
- For multi-Dukes: Grand Duke or Archduke, a kingtom-tier titular title.
- The distinction between a titular pseudo-Duke and a "real" Duke for example would be kept by the mod using traits. It would be relevant for example if any crown law or modded rule gives Dukes and above certain privileges that non-Dukes won't have.
- Disallow non-independents to create new titles (by crown law), instead only allowing them to petition to their top level liege.
- MORGANATIC MARRIAGE
- Man is (high) noble, woman is lowborn, commoner or (if man is high noble) low noble.
- When marrying any woman you need approval from the head of the dynasty, he grants it if she is of equal rank to you or if she is lower but really rich/inherits a patrician type fief. If he does not grant it and you proceed with the marriage the marriage is automatically MORGANATIC.
- Children are considered commoners or low-ranking nobles, perhaps the marriage is automatically matrilineal and the woman creates a new house
- CHILDREN CANNOT INHERIT FROM THE FATHER. Yes there is a trait for that. However they would of course get a Strong Claim.
- BUT: Historically, high-ranking nobles granted morganatic members of the family an Apanage, which would consist of money and perhaps a small title. The money part would for example be one tenth of the family's or the father's or the dynasty head's net worth. I would have the AI randomly pick a barony if the family is Count+ and also owns baronies, or a County if the family is very high. These things would form the Apanage, I think the most sensible way would be to grant them to the woman. But to make sure that the morganatic kids don't inherit anything else especially if they would normally be first in line I have to disinherit them. As far as I know there is currently no way to disinherit somebody only on the father's or the mother's side, allowing him to inherit from the other parent. The current plan is an on death event fired when the mother passes that temporarily lifts the disinheritance, recalculates inheritance, and after the children get their barony they are immediately disinherited again. But I imagine that it would be quite buggy, and the correct order of succession won't show up.
- Don't feel so well about disinheriting the father. What if he also has a son from a non-morganatic marriage who would be entitled?
- Can I modify the current succession types to allow for one-sided disinheritance, with traits "disinherited_patrilineally" and "disinherited_matrilineally"? Or perhaps create a whole new framework for succession since a nobility overhaul will, in the long term, allow the dynasty head to set "House Laws" that mandate whom his sons should marry, what happens when there are no male heirs and so on.
- Woman is noble, man is commoner (far less more common)
- If matrilineal marriage, the woman also creates a new house and takes the name of the husband, as giving her noble surname to her non-noble children would be unrealistic.
- Children are considered commoners and have none of the rights associated with nobility. I already set the noble trait and the rank traits to agnatic.
- Especially if the woman has a noble fief to inherit to her children that she risks losing, or especially if she has no brothers and no sisters married to noblemen, her husband will petition for you to grant nobility.
- Man is (high) noble, woman is lowborn, commoner or (if man is high noble) low noble.
Alright, these are my thoughts and concerns so far. What are yours?
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