I suppose it wasn't a very good idea. I just understand the worry about a single player death destablizing a House. The reswearing thing would be more of an issue if someone from the middle died rather than someone at the top. Would the guys below the now dead avatar still be beholden to the higher ups? Or would the higher ranks have to do some quick bargaining to keep them in the House with a new oath? I'd like the House to stay together, with an actual oath breaking needed to break it apart. If this has been addressed I've missed it.

If the recently ascended heir was a vital part of the feudal chain then the top rank of the House would still drop, but he'd be propelled from wherever he is to the top, over the former second in comand (assuming the second wasn't the heir). For the life of me I can't decide whether this would be a cool opportunity for RPing (if the second was popular he could take the other vassals with him and threaten civil war if the heir claims his title) or an incredibly stupid idea and rotten thing to do to the second in command.

Quote Originally Posted by Privateerkev
Ah, I see it took a sleepy mind to talk sense to a sleepy mind. This makes much more sense now. (no offense to Ituralde, but his clear writing obviously could not make it through my sleepiness. )

But still, what do we do about the vassal requirement? If Duke A, names Marquess B his heir, and then dies, the Marquess will have no Marquess to swear to him. He would need a new person to swear to his Baronet (or in the middle of the chain) to push him up to Duke under the current rule.

Moving away from that moves us away from having vassals as an essential building block. If I can just keep my title, all because people die, that seems like it might make the game too static. And if I can make sure my son keeps my title, all because I die, that also seems too static.

So, if we do this, what are we basing titles on? Is it still vassals, and we just waive the requirement under certain circumstances? It sounds like something we would have to nail down pretty tight.

*edit*

Also I am confused on which oaths need to be "re-sworn". When the Duke dies, the Marquess still has his Count (who still has his Viscount) and so on. The feudal chain is exactly the same except the guy on top died so there is no Duke. The House is still there if the members wish it to be. Basically what is being proposed for that situation is that we just "call" the Marquess a Duke without requiring him to find an extra vassal. So, Dukes will start varying in how many vassals they have.