Wow this is going at a brisk pace.

Ok so having seen Ramses wade in, TC's expert and steady hand, plus Ituralde, Zim and PK...I'm dropping the "stability, feudalism" position entirely.

And I have to say what Ramses is proposing is extremely positive to me.

By their very nature "Landed Gentry" are more stable than those nobles without it and have just a title. The idea that "Landed Gentry" have "less" to worry about regarding oaths and that their land gives them their position is excellent. Combine this will a "mid" to "lower upper" cap on how high a rank you can attain with this "Landed Gentry" solution is great .

If you want to get further than say a "Count" then you have to pursue a more fluid, less stable, "Rank" based structure.

Now I know I was just advocating against this but the way Ramses has outlined it so far I think it is doable. Given TC's Cray Computer brain is in the background I'd say the resident guru "could" come up with something that portrays these two system concepts without blowing someone's fuses out.

Ituralde's work on the inheritance system could be tweaked to cover any of the issues we can't work out in the hybrid concept, sort of like a "check" against an in balance we can't easily work out in the main ranking system.

As for the general change of heart...well hey, you're a convincing lot.

Let's embrace a free market, democratic feudal system that would make us all proud