Table of Contents

Nobles

Nobles are the wealthy folk born into privilege and money, but who are not necessarily knowledgeable or skilled. Often these people are easily separated from their coin through subterfuge, but not through force since they are often surrounded by a cadre of servants and guards whose job it is to protect them. They function as the middle-men between rulers and the peasants.

In Nessex, the lowest level of noble are called Lords or Thanes. (Lord Ethelred, Thane of Grimsby). A lord is the governor of a Hundred, an area of about 25 square miles, containing 100 freehold families. The inhabitants swear him an oath of loyalty and he has the power to settle disputes, judge crimes, and lead the militia in the Hundred. He also collects the royal taxes, keeping a defined portion and sending the rest on to the Earl and King. In the Hundreds near the border, the Lord is almost always in residence to coordinate the defense of the land and usually has a fortified manor house. However, nearer to Kingston, noble families often control several Hundreds, and rule as absentee landlords through their appointed Reeves, while they live in the city itself.

Every 25-30 Hundreds is called a Shire, ruled by an Earl, who is far more wealthy and powerful than a Lord. He enforces the king's laws, collects the taxes and defends the shire against attack. Each shire has a Shire Reeve (Sheriff), directly appointed by the King as either an inspector or a support to the Earl depending on his relationship to the king. The Sheriff's job is to make sure the king's will is being done. The Sheriff is usually a lord from the shire in question. Kingston itself, and the occasional “Royal Burg” in the realm are ruled by a lord given the title High Reeve, appointed directly by the king.

Noblemen balance an interesting combination of activities and responsibilities in their daily lives. They perform necessary managerial tasks on their lands and with the peasants in their employ, collect and raise funding for military expeditions and social events, practice horseback riding, hunting, and hawking, and meet any additional obligations set upon them by their own masters.

Noblewomen live lives dedicated largely to the management and cultivation of social opportunities and status. They are found in large homes with luxurious comforts, but had help, most notably ladies-in-waiting, who perform the more menial tasks of household management.

Nobles, like everyone else, have limited access to education, books, or cultural opportunities, meaning women with little housework or manual labor to perform had few options for pursuing engaging leisure hobbies. Instead, they spend a great deal of time planning events, keeping up-to-date on the happenings of other local families, and ensuring the family was held in high regard throughout the community.

Oftentimes, these families get odd priorities which make them capricious and vengeful. Those that want to hire adventurers for profit are among the good ones. However, those who just want to use their wealth and power to make the lives of adventurers miserable are really terrible. They are nothing but the worst of the worst.

Thane of a Hundred

A basic-level lord of a hundred can support himself as a knight, his squire, his wife and children on the income from his position and his 5-hide estate. He has hired farm hands and maids to do the manual labor, and can support 10 HD of armed professional retainers (for example 5 Class-C Housecarls or 2 Class C knights with their 3 HD warhorses). For most of their military needs, they depend upon calling up the householder militia (up to 100 for home defense, 20 when summoned by Earl or King).

THANE OF A HUNDRED –FRONTIER WARRIOR( 4 HD Soldier)

When encountered in their manor, Lords will have their professional retainers with them, and at least 10 militia men within a close summons, all 100 within a few hours. On a trip to the city, they will have their squire and perhaps a few militia along for the ride.

THANE OF A HUNDRED: CUNNING ADMINISTRATOR (4 HD Expert):

THANE OF A HUNDRED–VINDICTIVE WASTREL (2 HD Expert)

Great Lord

A great lord rules over 3 hundreds. If he wished to he could support over 50 HD of soldiers/horses from his land income alone. The king and the earls try to keep most nobles to having 3 hundreds or fewer, for the specious reasoning that they couldn't possible carry out their duties to more, but really to keep any from rivalling the power of an Earl. So, once a family has reached 3 hundreds, they tend to diversify into commerce, speculation and mining to further their profits.

A great lord will always be accompanied by at least 2 knights. They are less likely to want to be accompanied by militia, instead will have some mercenary guards.

Stats for a Great Lord aren't different from Thanes of a Hundred, they only have more money and flunkies.

Lordlings

A host of idiot nephews, entitled heirs, hot-headed lords-to-be can be found whooping it up in the city. Most are equivalent to squires, but some are really dangerous bastards.

LORDLING PUNK (1 HD Soldier)

DANGEROUS LORDLING BASTARD ( 6 HD Soldier)