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Thread: A King of Jarls

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    Member stv2brown1988's Avatar
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    A King of Jarls

    Halskapa has seven Jarls who each want to become King. What do you think will happen when the King dies? Suppose one of the Jarls is a PC and the heir.

    I assume the PC would get control over the Law and Guild holdings that King Bevering (sp?) owned. Would the PC get control of the Provicnes as well, for tax and regency purposes not just in name?

    After a few turns of each Jarl trying to Rule their Law holdings to the max. What happens then? I don't see any Jarl able to resist the contest action by the PC, they don't have enough RPs for the bidding war. What do you think?

    Now if each Jarl got to keep their own province for tax and regency gains then it is a whole new game. For this to happen would King Bevering (sp?) have to die without a heir?

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    Site Moderator kgauck's Avatar
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    This kind of scenario could go any of a dozen ways. Are you mostly just focusing on how it would play out if only the realm level stuff is considered? That we know pretty well. If we start to consider who is popular with the army, the druids, the aalofors, the nobles, and the people, then we have a quite different question.

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    Senior Member cccpxepoj's Avatar
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    when i ran a game in rjurickland, i used situation where the jarls took much of the power in the state, so they were more like vassals to the king who was apsolute ruler of few provinces only( the so called "kings domain" ). With the influence of the druids and the power of jarls the only way for a king to take more power was guilds.

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    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    To me the question is what makes one of the jarls king rather than any of the others - presumably some ties to the realm as a whole rather than simply their own province and likely the support of a number of the jarls.

    Another potential scenario is each jarl 'ruling' their province as a vassal of the king - say half the RP going up the chain.

    I'd note btw that the jarls' low GB and RP income would make ruling holdings very difficult unless they were very skilled administratively - indeed you could start with no overall king, with the jarl who takes control of the law in their province and possibly others then becoming the king a year later. (i.e. the jarls, unsure who should rule, agree to a years 'mourning and praying to Erik for guidance', with a council ruling in the meanwhile, before the new king is officially named and crowned).

    The Highlands have sufficiently low large-scale wars (per the books) to make such a thing feasible and it would be in keeping with the traditions of strong clan ties and jarls.

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    It is also possible that each Jarl declares war on the kingdom and invests in his own province. You could have a few break-away "kingdoms" that way. Force some diplomatic actions and maybe a few wars to have the PC's bring them back in the fold.

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    This position is ripe for ideas. One that comes to mind is that while the Jarls are tenuously loyal to their King that have no such loyalty to the heir. When the King dies the people clamor for their Jarl to be King. The Jarls can get provinces despite there being an heir. It is for the land, the people, to decide.

    If the people split for several Jarls to be King, it doesn’t have to be seven, guilders and wardens of the Realm would also have split loyalties. So not all the land, or the holdings therein, would necessarily go to the heir.

    It depends on how you view the Rjurik people, but I don’t see provinces like Skapa Hjarring and Dvasviik having full law. I happen to see the people in Halskapa needing liberties that full law would hamper.

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    Member stv2brown1988's Avatar
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    The druidic temples seem quite powerful and with one of the druids acting like a jarl (and per the book, wanting to set up a benevolent theocracy) it seems like the longer it took to get a king the more likely the Oaken Grove will consolidate their power. Speaking of which... How do you handle a temple this large? It is recommended for PCs to play but it is huge with holdings across several realms. Gunther Brandt is in charge of the Oaken Grove but one of the Jarls is the high priest in Halskapa. Do you let the high priest be a vassel to Gunther Brandt? I ask because this Jarl would have a considerable advantage over the other Jarls in GBs and RPs.

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    If I remember right, druids were not allowed to rule any land. Only to care for the land and the people in/on that land. So I dont see a druid setting up a "claim" on a realm.

    As for the Oaken Grove, I've always played it without vassals. This makes it harder for the player to raise their power lever in any one area. (due to many random events, compition with the Emeral Spire, humanoids ect...)

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    Senior Member cccpxepoj's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Retillin View Post
    If I remember right, druids were not allowed to rule any land. Only to care for the land and the people in/on that land. So I dont see a druid setting up a "claim" on a realm.

    As for the Oaken Grove, I've always played it without vassals. This makes it harder for the player to raise their power lever in any one area. (due to many random events, compition with the Emeral Spire, humanoids ect...)
    no druid can rule the land, but a very good friend of the druids can do it with no problem .

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    Member stv2brown1988's Avatar
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    Svinik

    What if the PC King of Halskapa, newly elected from the Jarls, wanted to invade Svinik? They view it as a relatively weak power whose acquistion would provide two benefits. Number one it would go a long way towards keeping Rjuvik inline with the allies Stjordvik and Halskapa on both borders. Number two, the Siren would think about an alliance with a much bigger Halskapa.

    I don't really see any good reason for the PC to invade. The books say the Rjurik people are not really into big wars. Raiding ok, but not conquests. Even if the PC concocted a reason to invade them (like blaming raids on them) I would expect Rjurik people to respond in kind.

    What do you think?

    Steve

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