Merlot Titles and Ranks

I've been thinking it could be an interesting idea to assign ranks and titles (like Archduke, or Baron..or even current positions) to the nobles of Merlot. In my view, it could act as a simple way of engaging people into the team more...and maybe be a bit fun too...
Also, if we are to have anything like this, we should definitely have a topic listing all current positions, titles, ranks, etc. and who they are held by.
And maybe just a few meaningless titles which make us sound more important

Here's a typical nobility hierarchy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_and_noble_ranks

If you don't like this idea, that's fine, we don't have to do it! It's ultimately up to the King...

Example:
Slaze: King of Merlot, Great Protector of Maverick, etc.

I like this idea! When we get a religion we could even name a Pope or something along those lines.

I also like the idea and would propose that we extend it further. In the beginning of this game we discussed the idea that individuals would be assigned a general responsibility over a city/cities. All this in the feudal style of medieval times and towards a greater level of fine tuning.

Obviously this would all be up to the king and each king could have a change of heart and feel, changing significantly the land holders of the kingdom.

To get more into the details of this idea, the king could assign a duke to rule over a group of cities. Most obvious title at this point is the duke of Maverick. The duke could in turn assign counts to rule over individual cities in his domain. The king also could assign counts instead of dukes to rule over individual cities.

Having a title over a city (count or duke) would not mean the individual in question would have to turn play. It would instead mean that the person is responsible for knowing the city/region's situation at all times and try to determine what the best decision is for the city's management in the current global context.

Thinking about it I believe this would not only get people in the team more involved in the game it would also provide a useful safety net in case someone more important like the turnplayer go missing. Having a group of involved players which know the general situation means it is easy to find someone to jump in to fill a potential void.

To begin with I would assign a duke for the Maverick homeland, one for the continental holdings, one for the Merlot homeland and one for the continental holdings. In turn if enough players are interested counts could be assigned by these dukes or the king himself to rule over the more important cities in the respective regions (like the capitals).

The majesty's faithful servant,
Zorag

Zorag I like your idea and I fully support your idea to be implemented.

Awesome post!

I envisioned a style like this in the original description of Team Merlot. It sounds really cool. The difficulty is making it cool and getting people involved and responsible for different things while not weakening our gameplay.

I think it's possible - and lots of fun, but I think that its a bit of work to set up (and balance correctly) initially by the King.

Either way - I'm looking forward to seeing what our King thinks!

Wow, I'm really glad you guys like it...I didn't know if you would be into any of that sort of thing or not.
In case you didn't bother to check the Wikipedia article, I really recommend you just take a quick look at the table provided there, it does a good job of outlining the ranks of titles.

If we are to use the English-model of hierarchy (let's say around the time of the War of the Roses), then we don't have to limit ourselves to those either. During the Medieval era, there were titles such as "Marshal of England" and "Constable of the Tower of London". We can of course change these titles so they reflect upon our own kingdom...again, if you want to.

By the way, I found out how to write "proper" titles:
[given name], by the Grace of [deity], [primary royal title], [other titles], [other qualifications]

So, slaze for example would be something like:
slaze, by the Grace of God, King of Merlot, Emperor of Maverick, et cetera, and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging

Snaker thanks for bringing this idea up, excellent idea. I personally would rather keep the titles short, simply by declaring someone The Duke of... or The Count of...

My idea would be similar to Zorag's. The King appoints 4 Dukes (Merlot Mainland, Merlot Colonies, Mav mainland, Mav Colonies) who in turn the Duke's appoint a count for each city (Depending on the number of players who are interested). As far as gameplay is concearned, these positions act only as advisors. So honestly the gameplay isnt changed to ensure we stay strong, while also giving more people a direct role and making the game more enjoyable however long we can last. I also think this will strengthen the team because having more people involved and aware to whats going on will only help our team going forward.

Yes, that's fine too.
Realistically, we should try to limit the number of dukes, since that's a higher position. Or, make it so the "importance" of the title is relative to the city/land it is attached to...if it is the capital, for example, then Duke (or even something like Archduke) would be suitable. If it is a very small new city, then something lesser like Count, Baron or Earl.

I'd really like to know slaze's thoughts on this matter at some point.

I agree Snaker and the Duke of Merlot mainland should be the most powerful among the Dukes and etc.

I certainly don't mind it, though it looks like i'd have to take up some more responsibility to take this on. That said, i have been thinking about it some. If it becomes some arbitrary handing out of titles then that's all it becomes. Though if that leads us to call on people more from us wanting to call people with there title then that could be something that increases communication. maybe all start at noble with those who voted for me as knights. postcount from this point forward could drag you up the tree. or promotion from my good graces. Also thought about naming some of the units after us, would put a spin on it once they finally get used

i like the idea to give the units names

The idea of unit naming sounds great!
As an alternative (but similar) idea to His Majesty's, we could set in place an "honor system". If someone makes a post or thread that another noble likes, they may show their opinion by "giving honor" to the other said player. This could make it so people don't just post more to increase their title...they'd have to earn it with actually meaningful and good content.
Of course, I'm still a bit unsure how such a system would be managed. I suppose one way could be creating a topic for the thing...for example:
Person A wants to award honour to Person B
Person A posts in "Honor Topic", explaining who and why: "I declare that Person B is honorable. His post was a great idea!"
"Manager of Honor" takes note of post and adds 1 point to Person B's honor if the reason is good.

Total honor and rank would be posted in the same topic on the first post - edited when needed to be. Or, in a separate topic.

Apologies for absence. Comp broke. New comp now. I like both ideas: titles and unit names.

Thanks for the input...
Would the King mind if I attempted to setup the aforementioned suggestion of titles?