Titles of Nobility in the Courts of Chaos (Amber Diceless optional rules)

Titles of Nobility in the Courts of Chaos

Titles of nobility are pretty much taken for granted in Amber, where there is only one King, one Queen, and a dozen or two Princes and Princesses.  After all, Amber is a young kingdom...

Life in the Courts is entirely different. Dukes, Duchesses, Barons, Baronesses... the great Houses of Chaos are each headed by a sovereign noble, whose position and status are defined by his or her title.  Almost everything in the Courts revolves around one's position and title.

Here are some simple rules for "buying" a noble title at character creation.

Two Types of Nobility

There are two types of nobility in any feudal society: landed and unlanded.  Landed nobles have estates which they tend on behalf of their lord or family; they have wealth and power. Unlanded nobles have lost their lands, either through debt or defeat in battle, but unlanded nobles also tend to have more influence at court (after all, with no estates to tend, one can spend all of one's time at the court).  In Amber Diceless Role-Playing, whether the character is landed or unlanded depends upon whether the character has purchased "House Support" or not (see Shadow Knight, p. 27).  Characters with "House Support" are landed, with an estate of their own, although this might or might not be the estate normally associated with the House to which the player character belongs.

If a character wishes to have a noble title, he must either purchase "House Support" or spend one point to be an unlanded noble.  The character must then purchase the title itself (reflected as a multiplier of this base price):

Duke/Duchess (*4 Points).  The character is an extremely eminent noble, with long lineage and an honorable ancestry.  The character is certainly-- though perhaps distantly-- related to the King, and is possibly even in line for the throne itself.  In private, a Duke or Duchess might feel free to address the King as an equal.

Count/Countess (*3 Points).  The character is from an old family, possibly tracing its origin back to a shared lineage with the throne.  This connection might even theoretically place the character in line for the throne itself, though far enough back in that line to not be considered a serious contender.  A Count or Countess is considered a peer of the King, but would still be expected to show courtly respect to the monarch at all times.

Baron/Baroness (*2 Points).  The character is perched upon the highest ranks of the lesser nobility, entitled to a voice in the affairs of the Courts but little else.  Barons outrank commoners and even military commanders who aren't themselves nobles, and can expect a measure of respect simply because it is their due.

If the character's father or mother lives and has a title, then the character's title must not be higher than theirs-- unless they were adopted by a noble of even higher rank (as happened to Merlin).  In other words, a character is limited in choice of noble titles by whatever noble title (if any) their parent holds.  There can also be only one noble of a given title in each House (i.e., only one Duke and one Duchess, or one Baron and one Baroness).