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Old 07-23-2018, 03:22 PM   #401
Agemegos
 
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Default Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems

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Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2 View Post
The king is encouraged to have many, many children, by multiple women. These kids make up the nobility for the next generation, and one (chosen by whatever means out of the group) is the next king.

The other royal offspring are forbidden to reproduce, on rather nasty penalties for violation. This means that they cannot sire/give birth to their own heirs, their replacements will be the offspring of their sibling the current monarch. The only legal aristocrats in the system are thus 1rst generation royal offspring, there are no 'rival lines'.

This in practical terms probably means that the actual monarch has to be a male, but the other noble positions could be either sex, as long as the 'no kids' rule was applied to them.

So the Duke/Duchess of Wherever is the child of the previous king, but can have no kids of his/her own, the title will pass to a niece or nephew born from the current king.
So the king dies. All his childless brothers and sisters surrender their offices and privileges to the late king’s children and do what? Marry? Go into private enterprise? Become clergy? Suicide?

The new generation are presumably unmarried. Are they virgins, or used to using contraceptives? How old are they? What’s their administrative experience? One is chosen to be king and starts rutting like a champion as well as running the government. Within a yearish you start getting young princes and princesses being born. They will be kind of old enough to succeed when the king dies if he lasts twenty years. But you really need the king to last thirty years to have potential heirs suitable to succeed. But anyway, the kings dies and all his siblings stand down. How old are their successors? Some aren’t born yet, probably.The oldest are ablout a year younger than the length of the reign.

What happens when a king succeeds at thirty and dies at thirty-seven, with fourteen pre-school-aged princes and princesses in the nursery and the womb? When happens when a king succeeds at twenty-seven and lives to ninety-eight, leaving the succession to be contested among one hundredchildless offspring ranging from infancy to the age of seventy? What happens when a king succeeds at sixty-nine, enters upon the accustomed duties, and eleven years later still has no children?
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Last edited by Agemegos; 07-23-2018 at 03:34 PM.
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Old 07-23-2018, 03:31 PM   #402
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Default Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems

How about a modification of Johney's system. There is a multi layer nobility. The first is constructed by adoptees or fosterlings of the Emperor. These change their primary surname (in the event of a political adoption a secondary surname remains for the sake of the blood familie's dignity). They are the ones picked for the highest of positions. This might include the Imperial Harem, the Chief Bodyguards, the taster, the great mandarins, whatever.

Below that is a nobility based on those who have relations who were tagged at one time or another. These are usually subalterns and sometimes general officers in the naval and military forces. As well as lower level mandarins and judiciary.

Below that is the gentry which provide Samurai/chivalry/whatever name you give the warrior caste. As well as the local constabulary and emergency services. These would be clients of the various nobility and sometimes recreate in miniature the system designed for the whole empire.

Being married into or having a child adoped or fostered in the Imperial clan is considered a promotion, both by the dynasty and the individual. Having multiple adoptions is a minor promotion beyond that.

To marry or be adopted by directly by the Emperor is the highest honor. To be given a sibling or cousin less so. There is a subtle series of distinctions based on how close one gets to the Imperial line.
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Old 07-23-2018, 04:25 PM   #403
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Originally Posted by Agemegos View Post
So the king dies. All his childless brothers and sisters surrender their offices and privileges to the late king’s children and do what? Marry? Go into private enterprise? Become clergy? Suicide?

The new generation are presumably unmarried. Are they virgins, or used to using contraceptives? ?
I'd go with, "The previous generations remain nobles until they die. In order to become a "noble" one must agree to accept <insert sterilization technique here>. Probably they'd be less feudal noble than bureaucratic administrator with a title.
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Old 07-23-2018, 07:34 PM   #404
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I'd go with, "The previous generations remain nobles until they die. In order to become a "noble" one must agree to accept <insert sterilization technique here>. Probably they'd be less feudal noble than bureaucratic administrator with a title.
Eunuch mandarins
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Old 07-23-2018, 10:49 PM   #405
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The king is encouraged to have many, many children, by multiple women. These kids make up the nobility for the next generation, and one (chosen by whatever means out of the group) is the next king.
I could see this working if that means was "battle royale".
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Old 07-24-2018, 10:03 AM   #406
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I could see this working if that means was "battle royale".
The Law of Fratricide only made sure that every Sultan was someone capable of killing his half-brother. When it became obsolete every Sultan became a placeholder.
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Old 07-24-2018, 12:13 PM   #407
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It could mean the monarch absolutely has to be female. You can after all prove that the queen had given birth to a child.
While rare, there are recorded instances of the hymen regrowing; its also not uncommon for it not to rupture during sex, and in exceptionally rare cases, stretching during childbirth..... It's only usually a valid identifier, and even then, one that's easily misread.
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Old 07-24-2018, 12:53 PM   #408
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While rare, there are recorded instances of the hymen regrowing; its also not uncommon for it not to rupture during sex, and in exceptionally rare cases, stretching during childbirth..... It's only usually a valid identifier, and even then, one that's easily misread.
Surely that's relevant for virginity, not maternity.
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Old 07-24-2018, 04:53 PM   #409
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Surely that's relevant for virginity, not maternity.
Which in turn is relevant if princesses are wanted for a matchmaking market but not if a woman's primary job is reproduction.
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Old 07-24-2018, 05:41 PM   #410
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The other royal offspring are forbidden to reproduce, on rather nasty penalties for violation.
This is usually simplified by just making them unable to reproduce; important positions being filled by eunuchs has historical precedent.
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