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Ever since we moved to a seeking system, we've had one majot theme/game structure gap: nobility.

Basically, theme-wise, these are characters who inherit their titles. That doesn't fit an interview process. Also, we have no standards around nobility being used in a player's background and no process for heirs to reasonably come to fruition. That's pretty bad for characters that are relatively at the top of the foodchain.

On our sister games, nobility is reserved as a handout by staff, but we changed that. It made us noble heavy to the point that the game felt like a skeleton without the meat. We've recovered from that by closing nobility, but still never marked out a system.

The Monarch Quest has recently highlighted the issue.

What should it look like, folks?

We had an idea that came up among us staffers after discussion:

1) Noble remains a social class that anyone can buy. However, if you just buy noble, you're a Lord or Lady - an untitled courtier who is not expected to inherit anything in any normal line of succession.

2) There will be a secondary advantage that nobles can buy that indicates they are the heir of something - what, specifically, will have to be agreed on with the staff.

3) If the ratio of titled nobles to active players drops to a certain level, the heir PC with the greatest amount of RP activity (chosen from all heirs who meet certain basic requirements) will be offered a chance to ascend to their title with whatever IC justification makes the most sense.

The requirements we've discussed include some amount of RP hours and 50 qp. It could be the qp cost is just to buy heir, and RP hours would be the major requirement - we don't have this sorted out yet. Input and thoughts are very welcome!

I'd suggest something similar to mages where once the % of the active pbase playing a noble falls below a certain threshold then applications will open up.

For achieving titled nobility through RP I think there's a pretty good system in place as it is - namely through the Seneschal and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Let those two positions be appointed by the monarch, with new holders of those position being granted baronies or counties when they receive the position. That would keep the noble-through-RP channel feasible but suitably rare, as new nobles would only be created through RP at the rate that those two positions turn over. It would also mean that your own ascension to nobility would be at the expense of someone else's chance to become a noble - perhaps generating some intrigue.