Imperial Planetary Noble Perqs and Income

[david.wendelken]

What kind of income should the estates that come with an imperial planetary noble title provide, i.e., marquis of planet xyz?

(Obviously, it depends upon the planet.)

Has anyone seen any guidelines on this?

Also, what kind of legal perogatives would a planetary noble have? I'm guessing that would also vary by planet and its legal and cultural system.

Any guidelines published on this topic?

 

[rancke]

What kind of income should the estates that come with an imperial planetary noble title provide, i.e., marquis of planet xyz?

Imperial planetary noble is a confusing term. The kind of Imperial nobles that are associated with worlds and clusters of worlds are High nobles (as opposed to Honor and Rank nobles). Planetary nobles are completely different and separate systems (Except that really powerful planetary nobles (emperor-level planetary nobility) quite often have Imperial titles in addition to their planetary titles).

(Obviously, it depends upon the planet.)

A way to guesstimate is to imagine what sort of private estates and income a (theoretical or actual) planetary ruler of the high noble's world would have; the High noble would more or less be the equal of someone like that.

Has anyone seen any guidelines on this?

GT:Nobles mentions that a high noble gets a legal document that authorizes him to raise household troops (huscarles), the details varying at the Emperor's whim. "A baron might be permitted only a single company, while a duke could keep an entire brigade on hand."

Presumably the estates associated with an Imperial title are large enough to covering the associated expenses, including the huscarles. (Though if the Emperor ennobles someone who is already a multi-billionaire, I think he may omit the estates completely).

Also, what kind of legal perogatives would a planetary noble have? I'm guessing that would also vary by planet and its legal and cultural system.

High nobles exercise the Imperial Mandate over their demesnes. That means they can step in and overrule the Imperial Bureacracy if it proves corrupt or unable to handle an unexpected crisis. They serve as a kind of ombudsmen for their worlds.

Any guidelines published on this topic?

There are some general remarks in Nobles, but they're not very specific.


Hans

 

[MCEvans]

Another I found way before GURPS was an article from White Dwarf 22 entitled "Robe and Blaster" by Rick Stuart.
It is a short article but for CT was very useful to me and could give a character an anchor to a given world/system. :devil:

 

[DonM]

I'm a big fan of Paul Crabaugh's Traveller articles, and he wrote "Relief for Traveller Nobility" in Dragon Magazine #73. I've used that several times.

 

[MCEvans]

I'm a big fan of Paul Crabaugh's Traveller articles, and he wrote "Relief for Traveller Nobility" in Dragon Magazine #73. I've used that several times.

Is there a legal way to get a copy of that article?

 

[aramis]

Is there a legal way to get a copy of that article?

Buy a used copy of the magazine or of the Dragon CD's.
Or, get the current copyright owner's permission to copy it.

 

[david.wendelken]

Thanks, all!

I had forgotten about the Gurps Nobles booklet, I had picked it up a few years back. (Wasn't playing then (or now ), but thought it might be useful.)

I've ordered the Dragon magazine issue from Amazon.com.

The White Dwarf issue wasn't available there, but while searching for it, I found this link to an article that is derived from it:

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~iandl57/Page19.html