Igelfeld Family/Von Igelfeld family Memoirs/The Wisdom of Moritz/Finding a Liege

"It is imperative that we talk about finding a liege!"

“I don’t know about that Moritz, perhaps we can talk about this later as our family will be sending me a small fortune to live off of, and truth be told I do not cherish the idea of swearing loyalty to anyone, particularly as I do not know them well.”

“You will be surprised how quickly that ‘fortune’ the Igelfelds gave you will disappear.” Moritz replied, “And although your concerns are somewhat valid it is essential that you at least begin looking for a liege and get acquainted with the different lords of the realm. Gold is so unbelievably important in the world, as with it you can buy so very many different things, but we shall talk more on the uses of gold latter as I can go on and on about that and loose track of what I was talking about. The only way for you to earn gold when starting out is to establish an estate within the region of a Lord or Duke in exchange for a share of their taxes. Now, as I stated earlier, the easiest way to accomplish this is to address a letter to the realm stating your willingness to help and see what kind of offers you receive. However, if you really want to empress I would advise that you do a little research, find the regions in which you would like to serve, and send personal messages to the lords or dukes of those regions.”

“What should I write to the Lords and Dukes when asking for a position?”

“It is good form when making a request to do so in a round about manner. Never just send a message asking for something, always be sure to include the reason why they should accept your request. To that end, talk about yourself, your goals, your aspirations, and of course your desire to serve the realm. Be sure to give some reason as to why you decided to this particular region, such as your love for city life or your appreciation for rolling landscapes, and after all that then ask if he or she could use your services.”

“How would I know what regions would be good to serve in? or would even want an additional knight?” I asked.

“Quite simple,” replied Moritz with the utmost confidence. “upon arrival in any realm you are given a detailed map (Information - Dynamic Map) that holds all the information about a region you will ever need. If you look closely at any region on the map, (click on it) you will be inundated with useful information. Of primary concern to you is the regions gold, it’s current production level, and if you look under politics the number of knights the region has serving it. In rural and mountain regions, typically producing between 100 and 300 gold, you can expect to see two knights serving the region, In towns, producing between 300 and 600 gold, the average is about 3 to 5, and in cities with gold between 700 and 2500 there can be as many as the duke decides to support, at least 5. If you see a region with less knights than what I have listed above, that indicates a need, one you could possibly fill. It is my personal recommendation that you avoid serving in rural areas as their compensation is considerably low. It is quite common actually for a city knight to make more than a lord of a rural region. If the region’s production is thriving or booming, you can expect your percentage of the realms tax income to equate directly to the regions gold production. Therefore, if you become a knight of a thriving region that produces 200 gold a week and your tax share is 20%, you should be able to count on approximately 40 gold a week.”

“That is a considerable amount of gold cousin, would anyone dare ask for that much?”

“I would not dare ask for less! Given the amount of gold required to fund a productive and effective military unit, 40 gold would be my minimum. Now lords and dukes can be greedy buggers, and you may hear talk of 20 or 30 gold being suitable compensation for your services, but let me make it abundantly clear, that range is what they give nobles from which the expect very little and it is quite nearly an offensive insult. Now if you swear to a liege of a newly acquired region your taxes may be low for a considerable amount of time, but be sure that your compensation well eventually be at least 40 gold. Personally, I do not accept oath offers that fall below 60 gold, as I like to have a strong unit and train on a regular basis.”

“If you were a region lord, how much would you give your knights?”

“Well,” he paused to think. “I would give you about 70 gold, but to the rest of my knights I would try to keep it below 25 gold. Because I know that I would make far better use of that gold than most, and I could use a new stable.” Moritz said with a smile.