The title rules have been disturbing me for a while. After doing deeper research into how they work I've realized I did a poor job of setting them up. There are essentially three title sets that were in general use in Europe, East Asia and North Africa that we would pull from. Two of these, Imperial and Regal are very similar with changes only at the top of the ladder. The last, Ethiopian, is a whole other ball of wax and we're better off ignoring it. The titles will not be familiar to anybody and the classes and ranks tend to slip around a lot.

The following post has a table that I've worked up for our use, using the Imperial and Royal titles. After that is a rough draft of rules for the title ruleset. Right now I'd just like some help in hammering out a workable and realistic ruleset. If we get this to the point of implementation we will do so without trashing the current titles that players are holding.

Comments, please! :)

Title male (female) Class Address forms Government Forms Avail.To Free To Income Tiles/ Gold Restrictions
Des Mon Rep Dem Com Housing

Emperor (Empress) Pres./Imp. Imp. Magesty/Highness X President President 75 n/a n/a
High King (Queen) Pres./Royal Royal Majesty/Highness X President President 75 n/a n/a
President Pres./Elec. Sir/Maam X President President 75 n/a n/a
Prime Minister Pres./Elec. Sir/Maam X X President President 75 n/a n/a

Prince (Princess) Imperial Imp. Magesty/Highness X Any Vice President 65 5 3900 Emperor's approval required except for VP
Arch/Grand Duke (Duchess) Imperial Imp. Magesty/Highness X Any 60 4 3600

King (Queen) Royal Royal Majesty/Highness X X Any President 55 4 3300 1 per province. New titles can only be added in despotism.
Prince (Princess) Royal Royal Majesty/Highness X X Any Vice President 50 3 3000 Must be attached to a Kingdom

High Lord (Lady) High Noble Grace X X X Any 45 3 2700 New titles cannot be added in Democracy
Lord (Lady) High Noble Grace X X X Any 40 3 2400 New titles cannot be added in Democracy
Duke (Duchess) High Noble Grace X X X X Any 35 2 2100 New titles cannot be added in Democracy

Marquis/Margrave (Marquessa) Noble Lordship/Ladyship X X X X Any 30 2 1800 New titles cannot be added in Democracy, Territory must be borderlands.
Count or Earl (Contessa) Noble Lordship/Ladyship X X X X Any 30 2 1800 New titles cannot be added in Democracy. Territory must not be borderlands.
Viscount (Viscountess) Noble Lordship/Ladyship X X X X Any 20 1 1200 New titles cannot be added in Democracy
Baron (Baroness) Noble Lordship/Ladyship X X X X Any 15 1 900 New titles cannot be added in Democracy

Minister Elected By title X X X X X All Leaders, VP All Leaders, VP 40 n/a n/a
Viceroy Elected By title X X X X X All Leaders, VP All Leaders, VP 40 n/a n/a
Governor (Governess) Elected By title X X X X X Governors Governors 40 n/a n/a
Sheriff/Reeve Elected By title X X X X X Military Military Leader 40 n/a n/a
Abassador Elected By title X X X X X Foreign Affairs FA Staff 20 n/a n/a

Baronet Gentry(civ) Excellency (imperial) X X X X X Any Deputies 10 n/a 600 New titles cannot be added in Democracy. Cannot hold any other title except elected or appointed.
Knight Gentry(mil) Sir/Maam (others) X X X X X Any 10 n/a 600 New titles cannot be added in Democracy. Cannot hold any other title except elected or appointed.
Squire Gentry(mil) Ser/Miss X X X X X Any 5 n/a 300 New titles cannot be added in Democracy. Cannot hold any other title except elected or appointed.

Mayor Appointed By title X X X X X Any Appointed 20 n/a n/a
Assistant Appointed By title X X X X X Any Appointed 20 n/a n/a

Honored Citizen Awarded Honor X X X X X Any Honored 20 n/a n/a Citizen honors are awarded by the citizenry as a whole and cannot be invested, given or granted.

KEY

General Titles have general precedence as laid out in the table (Nobles outrank Elected titles, Earls outrank Barons, etc.). Exceptions:
The Honored Citizen title is not a ranking, per se. A citizen honor increases a players highest title to rank above unhonored citizens of the same title.
Baronet and Knight are the same title level. Baronet is the civilian title, Knight is the military title.
The Presidential special class is ranked above all other titles, regardless of its source class.
Unlanded titles are considered below all landed titles in their class. An unlanded Earl would rank below all other nobles.

Class The elected President holds a title that is ranked higher than all other titles, regardless of it

Gov. Detail of what titles are permissible in each government type. Detail:
Des Despotism
Mon Monarchy
Rep Republic
Dem Democracy
Com Communism

Avail Who is allowed to use this title.

Free Who may take this title without meeting land, housing and investiture requirements.

Income The amount of salary this title generates per chat.

Tiles The number of tiles (multiplied by the number of active provinces) required to be invested in this title.

Housing The class of housing required to be invested in this title. During despotism and monarchy the military house type must be used, if the option is presented. Detail:
House5 Large Palace
House4 Small Palace or Castle
House3 Mansion or Keep
House2 Large House or Motte & Bailey
House1 Medium House or Fortress

Gold The investiture cost for this title. This may be paid with cash but is prefered to be spent through roll playing.

Rest. Restrictions must always be met in order to hold a title, regardless of the source of the title.

Gaining Titles

To be invested in a title, a prospective peer must meet the requirements (land ownership, housing class, investiture) and restrictions (government type, position held). Some titles have very specific restrictions. For example, to be a Prince a person must be acknowledged by a King and is then attached to that royal house. The princely land requirements must be met with territory in the same province(s) as the sponsoring Kingdom.

Other titles are given based on demogame positions. These are noted in the "Free To" column. For these granted positions, no requirements apply (though restrictions still do). If a single player is elligible for multiple free titles, they receive only the highest one but receive income from all that they are elligible for.

Titles may also be granted by the ruling monarch. These titles, like the ones given for positions, do not have to obey requirements but do have to obey restrictions.

Lastly, invested titles may be bequeathed from one character to another. In this case the receiving character must pass all of the restrictions and all requirements except land ownership. For land ownership, at least enough tiles to avoid title loss (see "Losing Titles" below) must pass with the title.

Land and Titles

As noted above, land ownership is critical to qualify for investing in most titles. Qualifying tiles must be contiguous (touching at the sides or corners). Once land is used to acquire a title, that title is bound to that land. New land can be added to the defined territory so long as it is contiguous to the territory. Land can also be taken away from a defined territory but this is generally discouraged. It can also have disastrous effects on the title bound to that land (see "Losing Titles" below).

Losing Titles

Granted titles are lost when the player leaves the position that granted it. Players who were granted Presidential, Imperial or Royal class titles retire to a permanent Noble class title. If the player meets the land requirements for the Noble title, they may take it as an invested title with no investiture cost. If they do not have enough land they will be an Unlanded Noble. If an Elected class title is lost the player receives a permanent Gentry class title. If the player already has a title within the class they would "retire to" or a higher class they do not gain the additional title.

Imperial, Royal and Noble titles can be lost. If at least 50% of the land requirements of a title are not maintained, the title will be stripped. The most common time that this will happen is when several provinces are added. An Imperial Prince of a young nation may only have 5 tiles but when 2 new provinces are suddenly added, the Imperial Prince requirement suddenly becomes 15 so they must control at least 8 tiles (50% would be 7.5 tiles) or he will lose his title. When titles are lost due to the lack of sufficient lands, the title drops down to the next title that the lands would qualify to hold. In our example, the former Imperial Prince with 5 tiles now finds himself as a Viscount. Members of the Noble class do not lose their titles when they no longer meet land requirements. Instead, they become Unlanded Nobles.

Marquis/Margrave and Count/Earl are the same ranking and are differentiated by the location of their lands. If the lands include wild or contested borders the title is Marquis or Margrave. If the lands are in the interior of the country the title is Count or Earl. If happenstance turns a Margrave's lands from borderland to interior, the title is changed to Count or Earl. Shrinking country borders would do the reverse to a Count or Earl if their interior lands suddenly became borderland.

Multiple Titles

A single player may have as many tiles as they wish (and qualify for). They receive the benefits for each title they hold. A player with multiple titles may disolve one and add the lands to the other title (perhaps to avoid the problem that the Imperial Prince ran into above). Generally speaking, a lord only kept different titles in adjoining lands when the title came from a dowry. These lands and title were traditionally passed down separately from the main lands and title (to the second or later sons).

Unlanded Nobles

Unlanded Nobles are those who no longer have the land requirements to maintain their titles, were granted titles by the ruling monarch, or who received permanent noble titles after leaving certain public service titles. Although the title is retained, none of the other benefits (income, troop point bonuses, etc) are. An unlanded noble who reaches the land requirements for their title may become invested in that title without paying investiture expenses.

Changing Titles

If a player with a title reaches the requirements for a higher invested title, they may change to that title and will pay only the difference in the investiture costs. The player may also change the name of their title as they ascend to their new rank.

A player whos title is being reduced due to title loss or demogame position retirement may also change the name of their title.

The names of titles granted by a monarch may never be changed without the permission of the current ruling monarch.

A player who simply wishes to change the name of their title for asthetic reasons may do so but must pay one half of the normal investiture for that title.

Note also that the income by title includes the income table from the regular rules. That table would be removed.

As Herald of Fanatika, I welcome the thoughts behind these changes. Generally, I like them, but I'm going to have to re-read a time or two to be sure I understand them, and give specific comments. :)

Record keeping will be a bit heavier as we'd have to note how a title was gained (invested, given, granted). We'd also need cooperation from the Land Office as tiles that are tied to a titled territory would need to be marked as such.

True, record-keeping will be heavier, but not burdensome, IMO. Once the initial data-store (spreadsheet?) was set up, maintaining it wouldn't be much harder than it is now.

A couple of things that strike me, after my initial perusal:

1) "to be a Prince a person must be acknowledged by a King and is then attached to that royal house." In the Real World, there have been, and still are, many independent Principalities, and Duchies, for instance, Monaco, and Luxembourg. The "rank" of the ruler was generally accepted by the surrounding rulers, admittedly, usually by a treaty after a conflict. But I see a sort of "precedence" for having independent regions smaller than kingdoms.

2) Losing titles because of land changes. I disagree with the idea that as the nation grows, a landed noble's contiguous land must also grow to maintain his/her title. I have a very hard time accepting that the "Duke of Yada-Yada" suddenly becomes the "Count of Yada-Yada" just because we added a new province to the country. Yes, it would simplify the bookwork to be able to say "to be a Prince, you must hold 24 tiles", rather than "to become a Prince...." You would just have to count tiles to know what title you could hold. But I think it would be very unfair to the title holders. Besides, there are historically small regions/countries, like the Principality of Monaco, that, based on size, would have to be downgraded as far as Baron!

3) High Lord/Lord. I think I understand where you are going with this, but I have trouble with lord or lady being used as anything other than a generic title for a noble.

4) Margrave/Count. Again, I understand your reasoning here. After all Margrave/Marquis is so-called because the lands are on the "marches", i.e., the borderlands. But changing the titles because of shifting borders just seems like busy-work to me.

But overall, I love the changes! :D

#1) Good points but all of our nobles are part of the same country. All of the examples I could find of "little royals" were independent countries (like Monaco). Within a single country (examples: France, Germany, Sweden) or even unifications of countries (like Great Brittain) or states (USA) it just doesn't happen. Princes were always from royal families (either born to them or adopted by them).

#2) This is historically accurate. As the territory and power of the country grows, the number and rank of the high nobility shrinks. You need a proportional piece of the pie to keep the high status. It will also encourage people to grow their territory instead of taking many multiple titles like we have now. Although nobles could and did carry multiple titles it was generally when they controlled different and separate titled lands.

#3) I had the same feeling when I was researching it but those were the actual titles used until fairly recently, especially in the British Isles and Spain. They were remnants of the Roman titles that were very slowly replaced with the germanic titles we are more familiar with (duc=Duke, jarl=Earl). Still, since we are used to these as forms of address and not as titles it could cause confusion. I can try to find the original literal Roman titles.

#4) Yeah, that is sort of silly, isn't it? We'll strike that bit.

I know what we've forgotten all along. FEUDALISM. With the discovery of Feudalism, lords/gentry from a lesser class can pledge fealty and their territory becomes part of the greater lord's territory for purposes of tile counts!

Example: Two knights with a tile each pledge to a baron who has 6 tiles. That baron now effectively has 8 tiles. He pledges to a margrave with 12 tiles. The margrave now effectively has 20 tiles and pledges to an archduke with 22 tiles. That archduke now effectively has 42 tiles and declares himself king.

Voila! Feudalism.

:D

Feudalism!

An excellent idea!

:D

Bleah. I just can't wait until Fanatika "Grows Up" and we can ignore all this title and nobility nonsense. Best it seems to me, it's another case of the rich get richer and the poor... errr... stay the same ;-)

As much as I love being Prince Vanir (and Prince Aegir, and a number of other titles), I can't help feel that feudalism is dead. No use introducing it now, when Knights are obsolete and we're in the Industrial Ages. If you look at RL Europe, yes, they had a nobility into the Industrial Ages, but they ceased to have the power that they had in the Middle Ages. I see no need to change things now, when Nobility should be on the decline anyways. It would seem to me that we should start worrying ourselves with Robber Barons rather than actual Barons. Just my two cents.

And don't any of you be calling me a traitor to my class.... I AM carrying a .50. :p

Oh, and Veera, the whole point of being rich is to get richer.... ;)

Ok, I am lost now. Can someone please Enlighten me with these changes

I think i like them.. Im just too confused to be sure

ok, I have read through this probosal and I have a question. What about the Titles we have now, Are we keeping the same titles?

I hope I can get the High Lord before Democracy comes :).

Looks good, Shaitan. My only question would be: Can I reclaim the title of King that I lost due to the current ruleset's discovery on Monarchy clause?

@GM - Part of this is the very reduction of nobility that you speak of. Our current rules have nothing to stop new noble titles from being created right up to the spaceship being launched. For the rest, it's to correct the ruleset for the next game.

@CivGeneral - Existing titles would need to be figured to see if they are landed or unlanded but no current titles would be lost.

@SAAM - Any particular part that is giving you trouble?

@Octavian X - Not automatically, but if you meet the requirements for investiture to King you could certainly upgrade your Princely title.

I just wanna know what rank I can be. Ill shut up after that

one addition: if a noble claims a title which has a tile requirement, he HAS to name the strip of land used for the title.

so if he uses a continuous patch of 10 tiles, he has to give this area a name (i use vanir here as an example). the area-name must then be used for the aquired title (for example here prince of vanir).

2 areas in fanatika can NOT use same or almost equal names.


what about that?

Yes, the land used to invest in a title is bound to the title. Either the title takes the name of the land or the land takes the name of the title. Either way, they're part of a matched set from that point on.

I'd prefer not to add the prohibition against similar names. That would stop things like Vanir & Klein Vanir. Real world example of Essex, Wessex and Sussex would be impossible with a rule like that. The Titles manager has discretion to prevent name theft or obvious misuse.

@Padma - Been thinking about the Prince title a bit more. We should really have 2 of these. Princedoms and Familial. The heirs of a king are all princes and this title would be applicable for ranking but nothing else (no income, etc) and would not be landed. A princedom would be invested and tied to the land like other titles.

Regarding losing titles: Instead of losing titles due to missing land requirements we could simply change the status of the title to unlanded.

Thoughts?

Originally posted by Shaitan
Yes, the land used to invest in a title is bound to the title. Either the title takes the name of the land or the land takes the name of the title. Either way, they're part of a matched set from that point on.

I'd prefer not to add the prohibition against similar names. That would stop things like Vanir & Klein Vanir. Real world example of Essex, Wessex and Sussex would be impossible with a rule like that. The Titles manager has discretion to prevent name theft or obvious misuse. I can agree with both of these. Land and title are a matched set, and *similar* titles are allowable. Like you said, the Titles manager would have to use some discretion here.

Originally posted by Shaitan
@Padma - Been thinking about the Prince title a bit more. We should really have 2 of these. Princedoms and Familial. The heirs of a king are all princes and this title would be applicable for ranking but nothing else (no income, etc) and would not be landed. A princedom would be invested and tied to the land like other titles.

Regarding losing titles: Instead of losing titles due to missing land requirements we could simply change the status of the title to unlanded.

Thoughts? The familial Prince title makes some sense. Of course, the question could arise as to who are the heirs. But even that could be dependent on the rest of the ruleset used: e.g. players can "die" and come back as their own children. Also, some familial titles could still be tied to land, i.e. the Prince of Wales.

Regarding losing titles: at first glance, this suggestion makes sense. But when I try to put it into hypothetical practice, I see problems.

For instance, let's say I become the Prince of Yada-Yada, with 12 land tiles. A few weeks later, our country expands, and I now need 18 tiles. I still own Yada-Yada, so I am not really "unlanded". But my lands are totally encircled by other nobles, and I cannot grow. So I am an "unlanded" Prince with lands? I don't feel it is fair to be knocked back down to Duke, or whatever, though, either. Maybe an informal (and therefore "grayer" and harder to manage) internal heierarchy within each noble rank? I would be a "petty" Prince as compared to the "Prince of Grand-Mal", who has 24 tiles?

The unlanded are essentially petty versions of the full noble title. In your example you are still a prince but since you lack what is considered an appropriate power base for your title you are ranked and rated as if you were unlanded.

We could allow players the option to voluntarily reduce their rank to the appropriate title for their holdings. They would remain invested but at the lower rank.

My question is: will we have to claim all new titles or can we conver them?

@naervod - Existing titles would be brought over to the new system. Generally speaking there wouldn't be any changes forced in the titles themselves. Some would simply qualify as invested and many would be unlanded.

To be honest, this entire concept seems ridiculous to me. How about we do something interesting and beneficial to this RP rather than thinking up pretty names and titles to call ourselves and unnecessarily complicating things more than they already are. Increasing the number of titles at a time when the Monarchy type society should be declining is not logical. We can’t stay in the Dark Ages forever my friends, and we’ll have to get rid of these flowery titles and self-given promotions soon.

@Veera - This was prompted by the need to decrease titles at the appropriate point. The current rules have no contingency for doing so. Also, for some people, the titles were a large part of the roles they played. You missed the beginning but my first character was very different before he became high nobility and then had another major change when he became royalty. In any case we are still in a Monarchy and could be in it for quite some time, if not for the rest of the game.

/me thinks Veera is just in a bad mood because she doesn't have a pretty flowery title.... :p

But seriously, like I said before, this IS the time period when the Nobility would be declining (figure Riflemen are the American civil war period, so in the Americas the nobility wouldn't even exist, they would be declining in Europe, and unless I'm mistaken would've been outlawed in Japan.) I see no need for a change, but hey, I'm not RPG Manager for a reason.....

Common misconception there, GM. Nobility existed in the USA well past the revolutionary war.

Most of Europe still use hereditary titles and Great Britain and Italy still make knights.

Nobility worked a bit differently in Japan but they went from a despotism to a feudal society and then back to despotism. They didn't really transcend that until after WWII.

In any case, these rules would restrict and reduce the number of titles, especially the number of new titles.

Shaitan, name the nobility in the States..... I know of no American who called himself a Duke or Prince without being locked in a 4x4 cell with padded walls. I assume you mean the rich upper class, not actual nobility per say? Methinks the pre-civil war Antebellum South was as close as we got to feudalism and nobility, and that all disappeared after the Civil War. As to Japan, I believe the Samurai caste and other noble titles were outlawed in the early twentieth century (don't quote me on this, I'm not entirely sure, being more a fan of the Western history myself.)

to the royalty:
we should generate a royal "bloodline" for this title.

1) each elected president should become king and with that define his own bloodline. he defines the name of the line.
2) the "acting king" must approove anyone who wants to get a royal title. if he approves the title, the aspirant then becomes part of the "bloodline" of the acting king.
3) if a new king is elected, a new bloodline is started if he is not already member of a existing royal bloodline.
4) members of an "non-ruling bloodline" can only give titles to children or by marriage. maybe later in the game they could sell their titles by adopting children ;-)
5) the members of the ruling royal bloodline receive double payment from their titles.

always remember there should be only FEW royal titles. we should have much less royal and much more noble titles.

also royal titles should be exclusive (not more than 1 title per person) whereas noble titles should be additive.

I don't care what ya'll say, anyone who calls me Princess Veera is going to get a whallop on the face¬_¬

/me would taunt Veera, but she owns two of my pistols, and those things are SCARY. ;)

I bought my pistols from Eyrei you silly goose. Now my RIFLE. I *did* buy that from you.

Really? I thought you had one of my Peacekeeper 50's.... whatever. Want one? They're the gun that tamed the Wild South..... ;)

ok ok duchess veera :-P

@GM - Off the top of my head there was Lord Baltimore in Maryland, Lord Berkeley in New Jersey, The Duke of York in New York (where else?) and Lord Ashley in South Carolina.

Lord Baltimore came well before the Revolution (he was the dude who established Maryland as a refuge for Catholics, I think...), the Duke of York was the guy who organized the British takeover of NYC from the Dutch (again, well before the Revolution), Lord Berkeley was (I think) a relative of the Duke of York wo was awarded New Jersey, which was originally part of NY (still while we were colonies) and I have no knowledge of Lord Ashley. What I'm saying is this: its well, fine, and good that back in what could be considered the closest time in American history to the Middle Ages (in Civ3 terms it would be Late Middle Ages because of muskets) there were nobles. But a) that all ended when the US gained independence and b) it was most definitely over with by this time period (equivalent of the Civil War.)

Cable in the Classroom is a public service of Grandmaster and Shaitan ;)

@GM - Ashley was one of the 8 nobles given charter over South Carolina.

Yes, by the time of the civil war nobility in the USA was well and truly dead. It was, however alive and well through the Revolutionary war. There was even a constitutional amendment proposed to curtail Americans having noble and gentle titles.

Declaration of Independence, 1776

Approval of the "13th Amendment" by the Legislature of the United States of America, 1810.

In January 1810, Republican (the ancestors of the modern Democrats) Senator Philip Reed introduced an amendment that, after twice being considered by a committee, was approved by the Senate by a vote of 19 to 5 on April 26, 1810. The House then on May 1, 1810 approved the amendment by a vote of 87 to 3. The amendment was never ratified by enough states to become part of the Constitution. It had no termination date though, so could concievably be ratified today. The amendment:

If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain any title of nobility or honour, or shall, without the consent of Congress accept and retain any present, pension, office or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them.

Originally posted by Shaitan
Yes, by the time of the civil war nobility in the USA was well and truly dead. [/i]

Which is all I'm saying. In the US by the Civil War the nobility was dead, and in Europe at the same time it was declining. I think the nobility in Germany lasted until World War I, and its still around in Britain, but without any power. Likewise, by this time in France, the aristocracy would be dead. I'm just saying that if we're going to play this historically by real-life time periods, then the nobility should be falling from grace, and as such I see no need for a change. Change titles and such if you want, but don't waste your time introducing feudalism when feudalism would have been dead for hundreds of years already.

In the current modern world we have loads of countries that continue with their traditions of nobility and royalty. Great Britain is a kingdom, so is the Netherlands. Monaco is a princedom. Spain and Italy, despite having both been fascist nations, have loads of titled nobles and royals. Saudi Arabia is a (very strict) Monarchy. Examples abound.

World history aside, Fanatika is a Monarchy. This proposed ruleset is meant to cover all aspects of nobility from the start of the game to the end. The current ruleset falls short on the tail end (where we are now).

Any comments on the proposed ruleset?

The Feudalism "tile sharing" would end at Nationalism. That's being included for future game use. It won't apply to us.

Well, personal feelings on Industrial Age nobility aside, the ruleset looks good. If we had to change, this is definitely what we should change to. And I was unaware you were making the feudalism thing for future games... in that case, it doesn't bother me. :)

Excellent. :D

Any other feedback from anybody on the proposed ruleset? Anything look funny or need to be changed? I'll rework it to include the things we've discussed so far (probably tomorrow morning).

@Padma - Can you give a time frame estimate on how long the conversion would take you?

Originally posted by disorganizer
to the royalty:
we should generate a royal "bloodline" for this title.

1) each elected president should become king and with that define his own bloodline. he defines the name of the line.
2) the "acting king" must approove anyone who wants to get a royal title. if he approves the title, the aspirant then becomes part of the "bloodline" of the acting king.
3) if a new king is elected, a new bloodline is started if he is not already member of a existing royal bloodline.
4) members of an "non-ruling bloodline" can only give titles to children or by marriage. maybe later in the game they could sell their titles by adopting children ;-)
5) the members of the ruling royal bloodline receive double payment from their titles.

always remember there should be only FEW royal titles. we should have much less royal and much more noble titles.

also royal titles should be exclusive (not more than 1 title per person) whereas noble titles should be additive.
I like this idea. It will sort of galvanize the players to form the great houses. One small change though - members of the ruling royal bloodline would receive double payment from all of their titles. There were huge advantages to being attached to the house on the top of the hill.

Originally posted by Shaitan
@Padma - Can you give a time frame estimate on how long the conversion would take you? Probably not more than a couple hours actual work. Which means, with work, and family, and other personal time questions, ... let's just say less than a week after the rules are finalized. ;)

Yep... even if those changes will come to effect in the next game only, there will be a real monarchy...

Btw:
there should be no royal titles outside of monarchy-government... and also the income of non-noble people should maybe be less... compared to all other titles :-)

example:
regular income (not the income out of selling things) is halved for all non-nobles. in monarchy, the ruling royal bloodline will receive double payment.
after monarchy the incomes are on the normal values.
of course all people can gain additional money from shops which is not cut down.

Disorganizer, that’s a terrible idea. The nobles are paid too much as it is. This game still needs to be fun for people who AREN’T land mongers. Already, adding more titles I believe is a step in the wrong direction, but making non-nobles into non-entities would just ruin this game.

but neverthelss it would be realistic... we could force the nobles to spend the money they get from nobility in buying things withing each week. this would also be realistic, as they normally used to money to build palaces and buy other useless things.

that was the middle-ages way of money circulation:
the nobles get the money off the normal people and spend it to businessmen who employ normal people who pay the nobles taxes who...

our problem is that many people here sit on their money instead of spending it...

Shai, I was looking over the proposed rules. I hope that I can obtain the High Lord Title. When the Conversions have been done. How Can I upgrade my title equivelent from the old system to the High Lord status.

Disorganizer. *You* are the *last* person who should be talking about realism in this game, Mr. I'm-a-Vampire. ;)

:lol:

And Veera, off-topic, whats up with the new avatar? It doesn't exactly go along with being a two-shooter, IMHO....

Actually, I had a Two Shooter avatar, but I couldn't make it fit under the File Size limit.
http://lommtwt.whitetowergames.org/images/smallvee2.jpg
And I won't talk anymore about it, to keep from threadjacking.

And... Err... Vote no! Yeah... That makes it on topic! ^_^;

Getting back on topic....

@veera:
in terms of medieval thinking it would be right to allow such things as magicians, monsters and other things. but how come you are so anti-realism? every time the influence of landowners and moneyowners is in danger of being raised, then you dont like it... but it is fact that money and land are and were as well as titles and fame the factors which define influence. also it is fact that if you own much land/money, you almost can not manage to get more of it... or at least it is very hard not to... so why shouldnt we also reflect this in here?

I think the main objection to setting up a truly realistic class system is that it is a drain on roll playing flexibility.

Sorry Dis, but even in Medieval times, Vampires never really existed, nor magicians. Bone up on your history ;)
And Shaitan pretty much hit the nail on the head. If you're not a noble, what would you get to do in this game under your suggestion? Be a peasant and roleplay yourself toiling in the fields all day? :rolleyes:
Character stats: Toiling 3
Labor: 5
Strife: 3
Oppression: 4

It could be a unique system no doubt...

@veera: for the people then, they existed. you tend to see the things from your nowaday point of view. just go back into those days in your imagination and think like they thought. but that is another discussion.

@the topic:
royals do not own businesses. normal people do. and that way the people can earn money off the royals, as they spend money in normal shops. noble titles can be baught or earned, but royal titles should be rare and only inherited. and also come with some big benefits in the appropriate age and also some disadvantages.

together with the increase of income for royal titles and bloodline implementation, we should also drastically increase the upkeep cost for palaces. those are REALLY expensive. and royals should be required to own a palace.

we are always trying to level out all players... but this is extremely unrealistic...

how many princes do we have? isnt that ridiculous?
if we wouldnt be in monarchy we propably had 10 kings or so ;-)
the royal line of titles should be very rare. and not as frequent as our royal title system allows us.

the roleplaying flexibility is given as it is now... just the people can not just proclaim a title and play it but have to earn it... there is also enough roleplaying capability for "normal" nobles and mere citizens...

Title male (female) Class Address forms Government Forms Avail.To Free To Income Tiles/ Gold Restrictions
Des Mon Rep Dem Com Housing

Emperor (Empress) Pres./Imp. Imp. Magesty/Highness X President President 75 n/a n/a
High King (Queen) Pres./Royal Royal Majesty/Highness X President President 75 n/a n/a
President Pres./Elec. Sir/Maam X President President 75 n/a n/a
Prime Minister Pres./Elec. Sir/Maam X X President President 75 n/a n/a

Prince (Princess) Imperial Imp. Magesty/Highness X Any Vice President 65* n/a 3900 Emperor's approval required except for VP
Arch/Grand Duke (Duchess) Imperial Imp. Magesty/Highness X Any 60 5 3600

King (Queen) Royal Royal Majesty/Highness X X Any President 55 4 3300 1 per province. New titles can only be added in despotism.
Prince (Princess) Royal Royal Majesty/Highness X X Any Vice President 50* n/a 3000 Approval from a King of appropriate bloodline required.
High Lord (Lady) High Noble Grace X X X Any 45 3 2700 New titles cannot be added in Democracy
Lord (Lady) High Noble Grace X X X Any 40 3 2400 New titles cannot be added in Democracy
Duke (Duchess) High Noble Grace X X X X Any 35 2 2100 New titles cannot be added in Democracy

Marquis/Margrave (Marquessa) Noble Lordship/Ladyship X X X X Any 30 2 1800 New titles cannot be added in Democracy, Territory must be borderlands.
Count or Earl (Contessa) Noble Lordship/Ladyship X X X X Any 30 2 1800 New titles cannot be added in Democracy. Territory must not be borderlands.
Viscount (Viscountess) Noble Lordship/Ladyship X X X X Any 20 1 1200 New titles cannot be added in Democracy
Baron (Baroness) Noble Lordship/Ladyship X X X X Any 15 1 900 New titles cannot be added in Democracy

Minister Elected By title X X X X X All Leaders, VP All Leaders, VP 40 n/a n/a
Viceroy Elected By title X X X X X All Leaders, VP All Leaders, VP 40 n/a n/a
Governor (Governess) Elected By title X X X X X Governors Governors 40 n/a n/a
Sheriff/Reeve Elected By title X X X X X Military Military Leader 40 n/a n/a
Abassador Elected By title X X X X X Foreign Affairs FA Staff 20 n/a n/a

Baronet Gentry(civ) Excellency (imperial) X X X X X Any Deputies 10 n/a 600 New titles cannot be added in Democracy. Cannot hold any other title except elected or appointed.
Knight Gentry(mil) Sir/Maam (others) X X X X X Any 10 n/a 600 New titles cannot be added in Democracy. Cannot hold any other title except elected or appointed.
Squire Gentry(mil) Ser/Miss X X X X X Any 5 n/a 300 New titles cannot be added in Democracy. Cannot hold any other title except elected or appointed.

Mayor Appointed By title X X X X X Any Appointed 20 n/a n/a
Assistant Appointed By title X X X X X Any Appointed 20 n/a n/a

Honored Citizen Awarded Honor X X X X X Any Honored 20 n/a n/a Citizen honors are awarded by the citizenry as a whole and cannot be invested, given or granted.

KEY

General Titles have general precedence as laid out in the table (Nobles outrank Elected titles, Earls outrank Barons, etc.). Exceptions:
The Honored Citizen title is not a ranking, per se. A citizen honor increases a players highest title to rank above unhonored citizens of the same title.
Baronet and Knight are the same title level. Baronet is the civilian title, Knight is the military title.
The Presidential special class is ranked above all other titles, regardless of its source class.
Unlanded titles are considered below all landed titles in their class. An unlanded Earl would rank below all other nobles.

Class The elected President holds a title that is ranked higher than all other titles, regardless of it

Gov. Detail of what titles are permissible in each government type. Detail:
Des Despotism
Mon Monarchy
Rep Republic
Dem Democracy
Com Communism

Avail Who is allowed to use this title.

Free Who may take this title without meeting land, housing and investiture requirements.

Income The amount of salary this title generates per chat.
*Princely income only applies for elected positions (Vice President). Otherwise it simply designates a member of a royal bloodline.

Tiles The number of tiles (multiplied by the number of active provinces) required to be invested in this title.

Housing The class of housing required to be invested in this title. During despotism and monarchy the military house type must be used, if the option is presented. Detail:
House5 Large Palace
House4 Small Palace or Castle
House3 Mansion or Keep
House2 Large House or Motte & Bailey
House1 Medium House or Fortress

Gold The investiture cost for this title. This may be paid with cash but is prefered to be spent through roll playing.

Rest. Restrictions must always be met in order to hold a title, regardless of the source of the title.

Gaining Titles

To be invested in a title, a prospective peer must meet the requirements (land ownership, housing class, investiture) and restrictions (government type, position held). Some titles have very specific restrictions. For example, to be a Prince a person must be acknowledged by a King and is then attached to that royal house. The princely land requirements must be met with territory in the same province(s) as the sponsoring Kingdom.

Other titles are given based on demogame positions. These are noted in the "Free To" column. For these granted positions, no requirements apply (though restrictions still do). If a single player is elligible for multiple free titles, they receive only the highest one but receive income from all that they are elligible for.

Titles may also be granted by the ruling monarch. These titles, like the ones given for positions, do not have to obey requirements but do have to obey restrictions.

Lastly, invested titles may be bequeathed from one character to another. In this case the receiving character must pass all of the restrictions and all requirements except land ownership. For land ownership, at least enough tiles to avoid title loss (see "Losing Titles" below) must pass with the title or it becomes unlanded.

Land and Titles

As noted above, land ownership is critical to qualify for investing in most titles. Qualifying tiles must be contiguous (touching at the sides or corners). Once land is used to acquire a title, that title is bound to that land. New land can be added to the defined territory so long as it is contiguous to the territory. Land can also be taken away from a defined territory but this is generally discouraged. It can also have disastrous effects on the title bound to that land (see "Losing Titles" below).

Losing Titles

Granted titles are lost when the player leaves the position that granted it. Players who were granted Presidential, Imperial or Royal class titles retire to a permanent Noble class title. If the player meets the land requirements for the Noble title, they may take it as an invested title with no investiture cost. If they do not have enough land or choose not to be invested they will be an Unlanded Noble. If an Elected class title is lost the player receives a permanent Gentry class title. If the player already has a title within the class they would "retire to" or a higher class they do not gain an additional title.

Imperial, Royal and Noble titles can be lost. If at least 50% of the land requirements of a title are not maintained, the title will be stripped or disenfranchised. The most common time that this will happen is when several provinces are added. An Imperial Prince of a young nation may only need and have 5 tiles but when 2 new provinces are suddenly added, the Imperial Prince requirement suddenly becomes 15 so they must control at least 8 tiles (50% of the 15 tile requirement would be 7.5 tiles rounded up to 8) or he will lose his title. When titles are lost due to the lack of sufficient lands, the title drops down to the next title that the lands would qualify to hold. In our example, the former Imperial Prince with 5 tiles now finds himself as a Viscount. If a player prefers, they may disenfranchise instead of losing their title. This changes the status of their title from invested to unlanded.

Any player may abdicate any non-elected title at any time. For unlanded titles this simply disolves the title. For invested titles this frees the title and its associated lands for the player's heir. If there is no specified heir there is generally a large hullablaloo as different factions try to seize the title and lands.

Multiple Titles

A single player may have as many tiles as they wish (and qualify for). They receive the benefits for each title they hold. A player with multiple titles may disolve one and add the lands to the other title (perhaps to avoid the problem that the Imperial Prince ran into above). Generally speaking, a lord only kept different titles in adjoining lands when the title came from a dowry. These lands and title were traditionally passed down separately from the main lands and title (to the second or later sons).

Unlanded Nobles

Unlanded Nobles are those who no longer have the land requirements to maintain their titles, were granted titles by the ruling monarch, or who received permanent noble titles after leaving certain public service titles. Although the title is retained, none of the other benefits (income, troop point bonuses, etc) are. An unlanded noble who reaches the land requirements for their title may become invested in that title without paying investiture expenses. Note that any lands used for investiture/qualification for a title remain bound to that title and may not be used to qualify for another title so long as the original title remains in use.

Changing Titles

If a player with a title reaches the requirements for a higher invested title, they may change to that title and will pay only the difference in the investiture costs. The player may also change the name of their title as they ascend to their new rank.

A player whos title is being reduced due to title loss or demogame position retirement may also change the name of their title.

The names of titles granted by a monarch may never be changed without the permission of the current ruling monarch.

A player who simply wishes to change the name of their title for asthetic reasons may do so but must pay one half of the normal investiture for that title.

Marquis/Margrave and Count/Earl are the same ranking and are differentiated by the location of their lands. If the lands include wild or contested borders the title is Marquis or Margrave. If the lands are in the interior of the country the title is Count or Earl. If happenstance turns a Margrave's lands from borderland to interior, the title may be changed to Count or Earl without cost or penalty. Shrinking country borders would allow the same free title change for a Count or Earl if their interior lands suddenly became borderland.

Names

The territory used to qualify for an invested title is bound to that title and the two share a common name. Identical titles are not allowed but similar ones are. The Titles Manager has discretion to prevent name/title theft or misuse.

Feudalism

Feudalism is in effect as soon as that technology is learned and lasts until Nationalism is discovered. During this period, landed gentry and nobles may pledge fealty to a higher classed lord. The bond of fealty indicates that the lesser lands will be protected by the greater lord as if they were his own. In return, the greater lord may count that land as his own for the purpose of qualifying for titles. Thus, a particular parcel of land could be used to qualify many steps of nobles and royalty for their titles.

Example: Two knights with a tile each pledge to a baron who has 6 tiles. That baron now effectively has 8 tiles. He pledges to a margrave with 12 tiles. The margrave now effectively has 20 tiles and pledges to an archduke with 22 tiles. That archduke now effectively has 42 tiles and declares himself king.

Royal Bloodlines

Emperors and Kings may define royal bloodlines. When a new demogame President is elected during despotism or monarchy they name their bloodline (if they are not part of an existing one). A new king does the same thing when gaining investiture to his title. Bloodlines are expanded by the royal members of the line granting princehood to other players (the equivalent of adopting that player as a family member and heir). All members of a ruling bloodline receive double the normal income from all of their titles.

The Titles Manager has discretion to keep the number of royals proportional to the number of nobles so may forbid the creation of a new bloodline or the addition of new players to an existing bloodline.

Rules revised with what's been discussed here. Please take a look and make any comments you have. I'll put it up for approval with the other managers in a couple days.

1 correction:
in the table, behind prince, there must be stated the restriction "approval of the appropriate king in the province required"

1 addition (maybe):
special "rights" for the highes ranked person of a bloodline (the clan-leader)... if there are 2 they are elected by the members of the bloodline:
he can call out a "clan policy", like calling out war to someone else or something, to which all members of the bloodline have to commit. if they do not want to, they have to leave the bloodline.
also the clan-leader should be able to expell someone out of the bloodline on a majority vote among the members of the bloodline.
also, the lands of the members of a bloodline should be treated as being in a protection pact, which means that if a member of a bloodline is attacked, the other members of the bloodline declare war on the attacker.

@disorganizer:

Fixed the Prince note. Thanks, don't know how I lost that.

The other suggestions are things that can be set by the members of a bloodline if they desire.

I agree with Shaitan. If a bloodline is strong, I would hope they rally behind one another. If it is being torn by internal dissension, though, I can see where a faction may choose to "sit out" some action ordered/asked by the leader. It should be up to each bloodline on how they will proceed with this kind of issue.

Originally posted by Veera Anlai
Actually, I had a Two Shooter avatar, but I couldn't make it fit under the File Size limit.
http://lommtwt.whitetowergames.org/images/smallvee2.jpg
And I won't talk anymore about it, to keep from threadjacking.

And... Err... Vote no! Yeah... That makes it on topic! ^_^;
Try this one. It's well under the limit:

well, i just thought there should be a option to throw someone out of the bloodline... otherwise there would be no chance to put pressure upon the members of the line to comply to the family tradition :-)

btw:
an unlanded king should not be able to accept others to his bloodline except he is member of the ruling bloodline.

and: the president should be imperator if someone claims the title of king.

so he will automatically get a king title in monarchy if no other kings are there. as soon as he grands someone the title "king", he will be promoted to "imperator". also the president's king title should not be counted as for a province in the restrictions... he should be a higher rank than the other kings and as such be able to announce anyone as being king for a province :-)

Nay, nay, disorganizer. An emperor can raise a prince but has no say over what kings rise up from the masses of savages in his empire. So long as they pay heed to his decrees he couldn't really care less anyway. During a despotism whoever gains the strength and power to become a king may do so. As that is the only government style where kingships may be added it solve any problems.

Emperor (president in despotism) is only an elected position so has no land requirements. Same with High King (the president in Monarchy). These do not take a "king spot" in a province. Of course if the Emperor or High King is already a King of a province he is still the king in that province.

maybe then emperor is the wrong title for a despot. in fact the european emperors were kings which showed powerfull enough to rule a nation of lesser kingdoms...

for example germany consisted of several small kingdoms (in fact a princedom is not existing anywhere in the world), which was ruled by the german imperator (kaiser).

Emperor = Imperator. The word used could be Kaiser or whatever is desired. That can be changed as needed. These are the base rules and can be changed for whatever civilization is being played.

so maybe that could be the best idea... the problem here is that in english, there is no word for kaiser :-)
kaiser=emperor=despot, which is wrong... just to much generalization in the english language...
maybe also "high king" could be used for the ruler of the nation.

i have no problem with the ruleset as you proposed it, if we finetune it a bit later on...


one idea for the "transition phase" from the old to the new system in this game:

we could force all existing royal titles to choose a bloodline...
1) all people which formerly baught a title of "king" get their old title back which was declined to prince during monarchy
2) each of those new "kings" forms his own bloodline
3) all existing royals have to apply for one of those bloodlines. the "founder" of that bloodline has to accept them into the bloodline
4) if a existing royal does not get approval of any of the bloodlines during the process defined in 1-3), then he is allowed to form his own bloodline and is immediately promoted to king.

could that work? this way we could have the bloodline system going and could experiment with it during this game... and it could add to the roleplay drastically :-)

High King is the designated title for the President when we are in Monarchy. Like "Emperor", this can be changed as needed. The literal titles in the chart are designations and we can modify these on a per case basis when a different word is desired.

Regarding the bloodlines, we'll need some common sense. For example, I started the Vanirian royal line. Donovan Zoi was made a prince of that line by me. Grandmaster was later designated as being part of the bloodline as well. Chieftess would be the start of a bloodline but she has not been active in the RPG so her bloodline is pretty nonexistant. Same with Eklektikos and FortyJ. The only self made King was Octavian. Although active in the RPG his bloodline would be very small as his kingdom seldom if ever dealt with other noble lands.

That effectively leaves us with only one developed royal bloodline.

which could be ok. i think maybe padma would and propably could also found a bloodline by buying himself kingdom... the main reason that we have so few kings is that the title was nonexistant due to monarchy ;-)

but another thing:
padma at the moment is a prince. this is a royal title. as he will maintain the title, he could plead to join your, ct's or octavian's bloodline. if none of them accept, then he would be promoted to king for free(!) and get his own bloodline... so we would have a 4th bloodline (2 small and 2 big ones).
this i think would also reflect the ownserhip and tile scenery we set up till now best, as vanir and lancre seem to be the 2 big names in fanatika.

Gee, I like the sound of that, dis. :D

Although, at this stage of this game, I don't think it's really that important.

it could define fame and fortune for a whole family of noble titles... i can imagine a marriage of a prince of lancre with a princess of vanir for example :-) to join the bloodlines ;-)

but anyways, we are also building the base ruleset for next game now, and when done from the beginning it would improove the title system imho...

RPG Managers:

Please review the following posts and either approve or decline this ruleset correction. As a subrule set it will need 2 managers to approve it in order for it to be officially adopted.

Title Chart (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?postid=769559#post769559)
Rules (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?postid=769563#post769563)

Special

The adoption of these rules requires a changeover. No current titles will be lost but may become unlanded if insufficient territories are owned to support a landed title. Octavian X will have his permanent King title returned to him. Existing bloodlines will be:

Great Houses
House Vanir: Shaitan (deceased, founder), Grandmaster, Donovan Zoi
House Doughnutia: Octavian X (founder)
House Seetee: Chieftess (founder)
House Kartenwerk: FortyJ (founder)
House Pointiple: Eklektikos (founder)

Lesser Houses
House Manitou: Cyc
House Cincinnatia: jdd2007
House Lancre: disorganizer (abdicated), Padma
House Cupertania: Stuck_As_a_Mac
House Gewehr: gunning1

House names can be corrected by their founders for the first 2 weeks that the ruleset is in effect. The Lesser houses may attach to any of the Greater houses with the permission of the Great house founder. This option will be available in the first 2 weeks of this ruleset's adoption.

I vote YES on adoption of the reworked nobility rules.

I vote YES on this adoption.

2 of the 3 RPG Managers have approved the subrule set and it is approved.

Padma, please begin processing the transition of titles. Let me know if you need any help.

Items Manager

Vote = Yes

Orignaly posted by Shaitan
2 of the 3 RPG Managers have approved the subrule set and it is approved.

Better make that 3 of the 3 RPG Managers have approved the subrule. Sorry If I am late.

Um.. just stating, The Lesser House of Cupertania is part of the Vaniran Federation.
So Ive officialy (again) grabbed onto a bigger house

@shaitan: the house of lancre was founded by me, btw :-) only the current head of the house is padma because i decided to step back from that position

The official rules thread had been updated with the new ruleset.

I believe there are 13 active provinces now and that number will be used to figure elligibility for landed titles during the changeover.

Note to Padma: With the 2 tile transfers recently posted in the Land Sales & Management thread I now have 59 contiguous tiles. My Sud-Bezits title will be well landed.

I'm still just a tad confused on the new rules. Since I am President, I'd be free to claim the titles of High King and King, correct?

I'm a baron of lands in the South Doughnut Coast, which are borderlands. Would my title change to marquis?

Lastly, do I get a title, if any, as a retired President?

@Octavian - As President in a Monarchy you now have the title of High King. When you retire from the presidency you would normally receive a High Noble title. You won't get that though as you are already a King in your own right (the King title you acquired on your own has been restored to you). Baron is not equivalent to Marquis so you would not be able to change to that title for free. The free switch to Marquis is only for Counts/Earls. If you meet the requirements for the Marquis title you can increase your Baron title to a Marquis title.

First off, 'Ambassador' was misspelled in the table. :p

Second, the title a retired leader recieves slightly confuses me. A better example would be nice. (ex. President -> Prince, Leader -> Count, etc.). Would this retired title then become a permanent unlanded one?

Third, the loss of titles confuses me. For example, as stated above, I get to reclaim the title of king I had invested for myself long ago. But, obviously, I don't have the land to maintain that title. Do I become an unlanded King, or is that title reduced?

Fourth, how do I determine whether current princes and dukes are imperial or Royal?

Fifth, what if a person is a Marquis and Count, but none of their territory is on the border? Do they lose the Marquis altogether, or is it replaced?

Sixth, for clarification, just how many active provinces DO we have? (Off topic: should we count active provinces whose land has yet to be sold? Seems a bit unfair...)

These are the problems I think may stand in my way, but otherwise, I should be able to get to work.
This last question really doesn't apply to my upcoming efforts to revamp the registry, but from personal interest. While I am still in office, we are in a monarchy, I can create a royal bloodline and double my income from titles, right? This seems rather excessive...

First off, 'Ambassador' was misspelled in the table.
Corrected it in the rule thread. ;)

Second, the title a retired leader recieves slightly confuses me. A better example would be nice. (ex. President -> Prince, Leader -> Count, etc.). Would this retired title then become a permanent unlanded one?
Only the Pres and Vice Pres get permanent titles when they leave office (they are the only ones granted Presidential, Imperial or Royal titles) and both get a permanent noble title (such as Count or Margrave). If they actually have enough land to qualify for the title the title is landed and the land is then bound to that title. If not it is a landless title.

Third, the loss of titles confuses me. For example, as stated above, I get to reclaim the title of king I had invested for myself long ago. But, obviously, I don't have the land to maintain that title. Do I become an unlanded King, or is that title reduced?
Titles can either be reduced to a qualifying landed title or may become unlanded.

Fourth, how do I determine whether current princes and dukes are imperial or Royal?
There are only Imperials in despotism so all will be royal.

Fifth, what if a person is a Marquis and Count, but none of their territory is on the border? Do they lose the Marquis altogether, or is it replaced?
They keep the title and may change it to Count or Earl without paying the normal penalty to change a title.

Sixth, for clarification, just how many active provinces DO we have? (Off topic: should we count active provinces whose land has yet to be sold? Seems a bit unfair...)
I count 13 active provinces. Yes, it's going to be hard on some folks to keep landed titles with so much territory sitting fallow but thems the breaks.

These are the problems I think may stand in my way, but otherwise, I should be able to get to work.
This last question really doesn't apply to my upcoming efforts to revamp the registry, but from personal interest. While I am still in office, we are in a monarchy, I can create a royal bloodline and double my income from titles, right? This seems rather excessive...
Yup. It's good to be the king. You actually already have a royal bloodline even if you weren't the President (from the King title that is being restored.)

Note
To keep a title landed a person needs 50% of the land requirements to gain that title.