User:Flightwing/Realm-Duchy Concept

This page is entirely OOC. It is for players, and should be considered entirely invisible to characters.

The proposal here is radical, I'm aware of this. I realize that it would be nearly impossible to implement on a functioning island, as current realms would have to be roughly rendered into it. It would perhaps work on a new island, but if anything, it's almost a new game, as it would require people to leave the realm-centric mindset behind.

That said, on to business.

Overview

The main points of the Realm-Duchy concept are these:

• Duchies are fixed to a city and a predetermined number of non-city regions
• Realms are formed of confederations of Duchies rallying under a single Duke, who becomes King
• Takeovers of duchies can be fought to obliteration of the defense, as it is now, or to surrender of the Duke
• Rural regions cannot be taken, nor can they change duchy.
• Entire duchies can leave the realm at will, and with very limited mechanical consequences

Fixed Duchies

One of the major points of this concept is fixed-size Duchies. Each city will have a duchy of reasonable size and production to support it. As an average, there will be enough food produced to feed the city. This will obviously have some variability, as some cities will be larger and require incoming trade in exchange for their gold production, and other smaller cities will produce a surplus of food to make up for a loss of gold. As an average, some duchies will naturally be more powerful or militarily suitable, but there should not be any dreadfully disadvantaged duchies.

Realms

This is the most intense change from the current system. Realms will be nothing more than a confederation of duchies, with the most powerful or charismatic Duke taking the lead as Ruler. Messaging options to the entire realm will be limited. Individual messaging will still be simple, however group messaging the entire realm will either be impossible, or have a financial cost. The main communications will be within your own duchy, and then up the chain. As you rise through the chain, your interconnectivity with your realm becomes more apparent. Guilds and religions should replace realms as the most talkative and varied channel. I believe this would simultaneously encourage more nobles to move away from their pagan, ignoble religions, because they would be something of outcasts if they didn't.

Takeovers

Another big change, takeovers will move away from the crude things they are now, except where necessary. It will be possible for a Duke to surrender his duchy at any point, whether during a formal takeover or not. This gives Dukes the option to save their city, or to fight to the last man, or to challenge the invaders in battle, and then surrender, etc. The character of the Duke will have far more flexibility.

Only duchal cities will be able to be formally conquered. Further details are in the next section.

Rural Regions

We use "rural" here to describe any non-city region that is not the capital of a duchy.

This is another drastic change from the current system. Because of the fixed duchies, it will be impossible to take a rural region for your own duchy. The necessity of rural regions will not be diminished, however. The Local Lord will be given full control over his own food stores. Therefore the lord can have sway over their Dukes by withholding the vital supplies they produce. They can therefore compell the Duke to surrender, or not surrender, or whatever else it is that they need. There will have to be at least some balancing of this, to ensure Dukes still have some power. Further, an invading army that does not care to attack the city outright has the option to loot, or threaten to loot, rural regions in order to compell a duke to surrender without incident.

Secession

Secession will become much easier than it is now. Because a duchy's natural state would be to be independent, and because of the reduced so-called realm loyalty, realms will be powerful and held together as long as the King (which the dukes have rallied under) can offer good reasons for dukes to not leave, whether by charisma or force. The result of this is that some, especially outlying or conquered duchies, may secede on a regular basis, requiring them to either be reconquered by force, destroyed so as to force them to stay with the realm to continue to thrive, or given up as a bad job.

Additional Points and Summary

The point behind these changes is to create an environment where duchies are the main units. The benefit of this is to finally wipe away the rampant nationalism which plagues BattleMaster in its current state.

Under this sytem, a King would only be as power as the unity of his duchies, not simply the size of his realm. Many more realms would be destroyed from the inside out, and massive conquests would only take place under an extremely charismatic or brutally efficient leader, and even then, they would be likely short lived, and give way to smaller realms.

I think this would end the stagnation that also plagues BattleMaster. At this point, it is ridiculously simple to find out, within a day or so, the vast majority of diplomatic going-ons on any particular island. The reason for this is that most diplomatic decisions are slow and often unchanging. Treaties last for months or even years, because the same people control the same huge realms. Yes, there is change, but it is slow, and slow is boring.

Under this new system, diplomacy could change as fast as a secession, as power would regularly shift from one duchy to another, and a King could be deposed in little to no time if he fails to keep his duchies united.

Another important point that this system would require is character death. This is extremely important. How many historic empires crumbled entirely because the person who inherited the empire lacked the charisma of his predecessor? Without the death of characters, it would be far too easy for the system to revert to something similar to the current one, because the same people sporting the same schools of thoughts would eventually wind up in the positions of power, and the fluidity that makes this system unique would be broken. The expiration of characters would force new thoughts and opinions into positions of influence.

All in all, I believe this changes would add a dynamic feel to BattleMaster that is thus far unprecedented. The changes are radical and drastic, but I think a test of a system like this, for people who would be willing to try it, would be fun and informative.

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