Liege

==Liege==

Introduction:

This is a concept that may be new to many players regardless of their background.

"Lady Callisto" of Abington gave a good explanation of how it works in-game, so I'll just quote her:

Callisto Explains:

When you create your character, it's randomly "born" in a region of the kingdom of your choice.

If the region you're "born" in has a Local Lord or Lady, then you are auto-sworn to that person, since the region already has a Liege associated with it. You'll automatically be a Knight at this point.

If the region you're "born" in does not have a Lord (either by a lord not being appointed there, or the region losing it's lord somehow) then you are not associated or auto-sworn to someone, since there's not anybody to auto-swear to. You'll be labeled "Lord" (or if the programmers had genders correct, you'd be "Lady" as the case might be)

Knights generally can't re-swear to anybody, though Lords can, since either it'll be a first-time allegiance creation or a re-swear if the Liege you once had either is removed from the game or injured or stepped down from their position.

Etymology

[Answers.com] gives a wealth of background on the word. It goes back quite a way and has been applied in various ways historically, so it's no surprise that in-game it may be unclear what is happening at times.

Related words in English: [Allegiance], Ally, Loyal.

Not related, despite the similarities in spelling of related words: Alligator.