Quote Originally Posted by Zim View Post
As it currently stands if a Count successfully became independent they would go down to Baron status until they managed to convince the Council to vote into creation their new House. They'd be free to create a defacto House, but would be blocked off from the higher ranks until their House gained legitamacy.

I had done that to make the Houses more stable in that one would need to join one to gain access to the higher ranks. Maybe that's going too far?

In your scenario is the Duke dropping his own House to rule the new one? Or dropping his rank to bestow it on the Count? The former is easy enough but I hadn't even considered the latter. I can see a Duke losing their title as part of a peace agreement in a Civil War.
The idea is that a Count fights for his right to have a House, but he isn't as strong, but he isn't subjected to the whims of the First Four.

The second part is the idea that a Duke could disown his own House in favor of another, such as said Count above, for his own reasons - thus stripping one of the First Four of it's legitimacy, and granting it to the Counts House, who is now a Duke. This would allow for a dynamic change in the Houses and for some interesting storyline. This would of course be a part of the Dukes will, so death or retirement must come first.

Also, yes, that was also implied - what if a Count defeated a Duke and demanded the title for peace?