Estates

The Estate system is the basis for the entire realm hierarchy. It defines the allegiance of the nobility from the lowest of the knights all the way up to the highest of the rulers.

Hierarchy

The hierarchy is simple, but consistent on all levels:

• An estate is always a part of a region. The lord of the region can, but doesn't have to, have an estate. If he has, it must be in his region (can't be lord of region A and have an estate in region B).
• Regions are always part of a duchy - there are no "imperial regions". However, there can be duchies with only one region in them. It is also possible for duchies to exist, and still have a Duke, without any regions at all.
• Duchies are their own entities now, meaning the duke does not have to be the lord of the duchy capital. In fact, there is no such thing as a duchy capital. The duke does not even have to be a lord. In addition, duchies can be created and dissolved by the ruler of a realm, with some limitations.
• Duchies form realms. As before, the king does not have to be a duke.

Now for the somewhat trickier parts, assignements:

• Region lords define estates and anyone who comes by can take an available estate for themselves. The lord can also kick out a knight at any time. Knights can only leave and/or take up an estate once per turn.
• Lords are appointed by dukes (or election) and dukes are appointed by rulers. Once appointed, a duke or lord cannot be removed by the noble that appointed them.
• Lords can change their region to another duchy and dukes can change their entire duchy to another realm. Regardless of diplomatic settings, this is a violation of the oath of fealty and will changing realms result in an automatic ban.

Estates

An estate is a part of a region, currently defined abstractly as a percentage part of the region (e.g. 20% of the region of Keplerville). Everyone can have at most one estate, and the size of estates is limited. There are minimum and maximum sizes that depend on the region type and size. The minimum sizes go from 5% to 20% while the maximum sizes go from 30% to 50%. So every region will need 2-4 knights (of which the lord can be one) to cover it entirely.

Estates can be created and resized at will by the region lord, but each adjustment takes 1 hour of the lord's time.

Vacant estates (those without a knight) and "wild lands" (parts of the region not assigned to an estate) will collect taxes directly to the region lord, but only at half efficiency, so half of the tax income is lost.

Efficiency

It is easier to control a limited area than a large area, and tax evaders can become a problem if the size of an estate is too large. Many smaller estates are more efficient than few larger ones.

The efficiency of an estate depends on its size and a couple of factors that differ by region (type and population, mostly). It will be listed in the estate display. The efficiency of the estate directly affects the amount of taxes collected by that estate.

Taxes

Under this new system, taxes are collected by the knights in their estates. The details can be found on the New Taxes page. Rulers tax dukes > dukes tax lords > lords tax knights > knights tax peasants.

Example

Example 1 - Lord and a Knight

Region A is divided between the Lord of the region and a Knight. Region A's Tax Rate is at 10%. The Lord of the region taxes his knight for 50%. The region's estates are distributed equally among the Lord and the Knight meaning each has 50% of the region's estates. The Lord's estates have the efficiency of 75% while the Knight's estates have 80%. The region produces 500 gold a week and buildings upkeep costs the region 50 gold a week.

Tax Report Peasants Taxes = 500 gold

Buildings Upkeep = -50 gold

Militia Payment = 0 gold

Collectable Tax Gold = 450 gold

Knight Share The Knight will get 50% of the Collectable Tax Gold which is 225 gold because he has 50% of the estates in the region. But since the efficiency of his estates is at 80%, he will only get 80% of 225 gold which is 180 gold. However, the Lord collects 50% of his share, thus leaving the Knight with 90 gold.

(Collectable Tax Gold)*(Estate Size)*(Efficiency)*((100-Lord's share)/100) = Knight's income

450*0.5*0.8*0.5 = 90 gold

Lord Share The Lord will also get 50% of the Collectable Tax Gold like the knight. But his efficiency is lower than that of his knight. He will only get 75% of his 225 gold whic is 168 gold (Always rounded down). But he taxes his knight at 50%, thus he gains additional 90 gold. So the Lord's weekly income is 258 gold.

(Collectable Tax Gold)*(Estate Size)*(Efficiency)+(Taxed Knight Share) = Lord's income

450*0.5*0.75+90 = 258 gold

From this example, you can see that it is better for the lord to have more knights. The more knights a lord has, higher his income will be as estates will become more efficient.

Here is an example if there is no knight in a region.

Example 2 - Lord alone

Region B, like Region A, has an income of 500 gold at 10%. The region is ruled by its Lord alone. Everything is the same as Region A except half of the region is wildlands (50% efficiency).

Tax Report Peasants Taxes = 500 gold

Buildings Upkeep = -50 gold

Militia Payment = 0 gold

Collectable Tax Gold = 450 gold

Wildlands

Just like estates, wildlands get 50% of the Collectable Tax Gold which is 225 gold. But the efficiency of wildlands is 50% thus wildlands only generate 50% of 225 gold for the lord.

(Collectable Tax Gold)*(Wildlands Size)*(Efficiency) = Added to the Lord's income

450*0.5*0.5 = 112 gold

Lord Share Similar to the previous calculation for Region A. Instead of 'Taxed Knight Share', put Wildlands income.

(Collectable Tax Gold)*(Wildlands Size)*(Efficiency)+Wildlands income = Lord's income

450*0.5*0.75+112 = 280 gold

Example 3 - Lord and 3 Knights

Supporting only one knight is not beneficial for a region lord. But supporting several knights will yield a higher income for the lord. Let's assume that there is Region C which is a copy of Region A and B. But instead of supporting only one knight, the region is supporting three knights. Everyone, including the lord, is in charge of 25% of the peasant population, giving everyone 100% efficiency.

Tax Report Peasants Taxes = 500 gold

Buildings Upkeep = -50 gold

Militia Payment = 0 gold

Collectable Tax Gold = 450 gold

Knight Share Each knight gets 25% of the Collectable Tax Gold. Since their efficiency is at 100%, there is no loss of gold due to inefficiency. But the knights still pay 50% of their income to the lord.

(Collectable Tax Gold)*(Estate Size)*(Efficiency)*((100-Lord's share)/100) = Knight's income

450*0.25*1*0.5= 56 gold

Total Taxed Income from the Knights = 56*3 = 168 gold

Lord Share Same as the knights, the lord will not suffer from the loss of gold due to inefficiency.

(Collectable Tax Gold)*(Estate Size)*(Efficiency)+(Taxed Knight Share)*(Number of Knights) = Lord's income

450*0.25*1+56*3= 280 gold

From looking at this example, you might not feel much need for having knights as the income of the lord is the same as the second example. But there is a catch. From the third example, you can yield more gold as the lord as you increase the tax rate. Unlike the second example, you will get full benefit out of investing into your region. Since there is 0% loss of gold from inefficiency, you won't lose any gold from investing into your region.

Q&A Log

There was an IRC Q&A session regarding the new estate system. Here is an edited log of the session. For ease of reading, it has been reorganized so that the questions and answers are together, and extraneous comments were removed:

IRC Q&A Log

Old Estate System

This new system replaces the Old estate system. The page is preserved for future reference, if necessary.