Noble Household & You, Commoner Interactions With Nobles

[MonMarty]

Many misconceptions exist around the concept of noble servitude, especially in relation to commoners serving Noble Houses. To many players, the misconception of Commoners serving Nobles being of somehow lesser value, is prevalent. The idea is maintained, that a character that stands in service to another, cannot possibly function as a protagonist to their own story. They feel their characters would lose the spotlight, somehow have a power fantasy or dream envisioned shattered by the constraints of servitude and obedience. The reality is far from this placid assumption, and this thread aims to rectify these misconceptions, while also providing some practical and useful information on how to get involved with a scene that is often ignored: Noble Service.

As implied, the Noble Scene has many assumptions and rumors attached to it. Frequently are all the players residing there-in denounced as elitist, self centered and uncaring for the community around them, while in reality, the irony is that they are the most caring for the community around them. It is the players within the Noble systems that account for nearly 90% of the Roleplay Server Events (which, despite accusations to the contrary, are always open to commoners visitors). They run various charter organizations, offering jobs to other players and run a complex social system that is able to generate story plot lines entirely separately from the server's general progressions.

Yet, the noble scene is also unique plagued with its own mal-factors that contribute to the lacking of the true servant scene. But let's do away with the term servant scene first. Somehow this term in itself functions as a emasculating word, a term if you will, used to make the position seem insignificant and a graveyard to any potential plot relevance and fame on the server. The list below delineates the issues that this scene suffers from.

• Cause One Many players believe, falsely, that somehow working under a Noble House devalues a character. They believe that, due to service, their character is somehow worth less than if they were independent.
• Cause Two Many Nobles (myself being guilty included) have created a false persona of betterment, the image that their Noble character is "above" the need of servants, "above" the need to enslave others for their personal care to do menial tasks like tying their shoelaces or putting a jacket on.
• Cause Three Many players simply don't know the wealth of opportunity that this segment of the community offers, and very few players who did venture in it have become very functional members of Nobility later on because of it.

A few practical examples to the point of upwards mobility in roleplay:

• House Howlester once Coen, a staple name, once started out as a simple City Guard family that engaged in smithing in service of various Noble Families. Their earliest service to the nobility was seen through House Typhonus.
• House Norrvakt, since fallen, equally served as loyal guardians of House Coen before segwaying into Nobility due to familiarity.
• House Artiemus, Celyreos and Rosendahl, while stepping in through the Baronial system of Noble systems past, were more remembered for their service to the Vigilant Shield before stepping into Nobility.

At the bottom line, the Noble system as a whole provides upwards mobility for roleplayers, through a practice called "Trickle Down Roleplay" Funneled at the top of the system, roleplay happens between Noble Families even when story progressions on the server are stagnant due to the power struggles between powerful houses and day to day politics. These actions in themselves generate plot devices, plot devices that commoners can interact with and get involved in, and through which they can climb the ladder of fame. Nobility itself is a ladder. Service to a Baronial House might net fame towards a Ducal family, who might in turn recommend a servant to a Princely House, who might in turn defer a servant to the Imperial Family, or even see the servant ennobled themselves.

Thus, Cause Three is solved by the realization that, instead of accusing the server of pandering to the Nobles, or black-sighting the Nobles in an attempt to achieve some form of roleplay, players should instead embrace the constant vessel of roleplay generation that is Nobility.

There however also resides the constant issue among Nobility, Nobles pretending to be household bad-asses. These are the kind of characters that say "I don't have any servants" or "I have a small household because I take care of my own needs". This is however a very mary-sueist response to a realistic issue in Roleplay: the lack of willing and viable House Servants. You see, in the reality of Alorian Regalian, service and servants are an unmissable aspect in nobility. A noble that has no servants, sends a very clear message:

• I am poor and cannot afford to have my basic needs taken care of by servants.
• I am a socialist, feeling that service is immoral and that nobles should take care of themselves.
• I care about what revolutionaries say, so I desperately try to avoid the "Nobles are Oppressive" mold.
• I don't need anybody to function normally.

Especially the latter two points are really enshrining. A noble who is of adult age and does not have at least 2 servants is really not a noble at all, and appealing to some modern ideology to denounce the concept of servitude so that the player can maintain some sort of OOC sanctimonious high ground, is in fact just detrimental to offering good rp opportunities to other players for little to no gain. It is exactly that attitude that breaks the suspense of disbelief, and reduces a noble character to nothing more than an OOC power fantasy to be seen as rich, young, independent, powerful and beautiful, which ironically enough make the character just another one in five hundred unoriginal standard nobles. Once again, a noble professing no need for servants, is a Mary-Sue (unless there are some extraordinary circumstances, like a Vampire Noble). This problem is in fact so profound that one could simply go to the Character Applications and play Noble Bingo, taking common personality traits such as "charming", "debonair", "loyal", "witty", and combining them with any generic noble aesthetic, with a combat school on top to complete the image.

A functional and well-designed Noble Character is one that needs others. A Noble that cannot always defend themselves and relies on guards to protect them. A Noble that fears attacks, and uses a taster or tester to ensure their safety. A noble with a health ailment who has a house doctor that takes care of their issues, or a simple steward to take care of menial tasks like setting up meetings. A lot of players don't realize this, but a central core feature to having good rewarding roleplay with others, is making them feel appreciated and wanted, both on an IC and an OOC level. Nobody wants to roleplay with a character that doesn't need anyone for anything. In fact, there are a lot of roleplay scenarios that are simply being deprived by not having servants, for example:

• Multiple servants of two houses plotting to take down one of their owners.
• A servant leaking information to another household.
• A servant becoming so distinguished in service to a noble house that they receive full citizenship rights.
• A servant becoming so distinguished in service to a noble house that they become noble themselves.
• A servant being adopted into the family for life long service and reward.

Thus, Cause Two is solved by the Nobility realizing that they are never going to be above hiring servants, and in fact that driving a narrative of a servant free household, is mary-sueist, and counter productive to having meaningful roleplay with others. Furthermore, Nobles need to not fear sabotage of their own story devices. Ruining or otherwise obstructing roleplay opportunity for the sake of peace of mind, is win-rp, especially when the opposite brings so many advantages and different plotlines to the table.

Now one might ask, "What positions are there really, in each household, that are not cleaning ladies?". Most of the above writing goes off the assumption that there are, of course, positions in a household that hold meaning beyond just doing household chores, and indeed there are. Below follows a structural hierarchy of the common Regalian Household, both for Nobles and Commoners.

Noble Households:

• At the very top of a Noble Household resides the Master of the House or the Lady of the House. This position is often also combined or separately maintained with the position of Steward, as they can mean one and the same. Master or Lady of the House hire all the other servants and command them around, while seeing to the needs of the Nobles. This is a very high prestigious position that allows the person to control the communication to and from their masters, as well as the general make-up of their service forces.
  • Below the Master or Lady, are the First Attendants, or Chamberlains for men, and First Lady for women. Generally speaking, a Noble Woman and a Noble Man each have one First Lady or Chamberlain, a sort of valet or personal butler who takes care of all personal needs like dressing, personal agenda appointments and personal hygiene. The First Attendants are separate from the other household servants as they do not really fall under any hierarchy beyond being at the supervision of the Master or Lady of the House. This is an excellent position to have
  • Master of Arms (or Lady of Arms) is the leader of the House Guard of a Noble House. They are often the strongest or wisest of the House Guards, leading them as their officer and being responsible for their training and their commands. This is an excellent position to own for an aging military character. It gives them control over the House Guards, which are all equally integral to the House's Security.
    • House Guards serve under the Master or Lady of Arms. They are still a very valuable position due to the fact that number of House Guards often also translated to Noble Power Projection, thus the size of their titles.
  • Master or Lady of the Manor, are the actual Household Masters. While the Master or Lady of the House supervise all servants, the Master or Lady of the Manor are specifically assigned to a Countryside estate to manage the gardens, the pantry, the cleaning, the cooking and the household. This is a not frequently recommended position since most of the roleplay engaged with this role is menial, though a position well played by a silvery fox wishing to spy on a family.
    • The Master or Lady of the Manor is served by House Keepers. These positions are not recommended for roleplay since they are your standard run of the mill cleaning personnel.
  • Char-Martel, being mostly a male position, is an imported Ithanian style job that mostly confers to a household's spymaster of sorts. A Char-Martel's job is to gather dirt on other Noble Families, to keep a little booklet of embarrassing public displays and potential blackmail material, but also to prevent this from happening to the household itself. This is an excellent position for rogues.
  • Gendarme, being separate from the House Guards and the Master of Arms, is more of a standard bearer than an actual guard, though many people who take up this position are often also seen as the personal bodyguards of specific Noble House Members who need more protection. Additionally, the Gendarme are favored by their master with an intimate friendship that most servants would nevy. Gendarmes are good for combat characters, though a fair deal of theatrics is also involved, since Gendarmes often announce and prepare other Nobles for the arrival of their masters.

All these positions provide their own unique interactions both with the noble household they are attached to, without reducing the character to a simple servant doing menial chores. They all provide a constant weekly story development, especially when moving up to the more active Noble Families.

 

[Reaganism]

I would like to highlight another factor or "argument" against servant roleplay, one @AlphaInsomnia most likely encountered within the d'Ortonnaise household and one which I'm trying to remedy now.

Dependence-roleplay, or lack of independent roleplay. Having a servant's position sort-of means a character wouldn't logically be able to take other positions in the city, EG, run a shop, be part of certain charters and so on. At the same time, it also means the character in question will hinge a lot on the activity of the noble household in question. Walking around in "free time" or "break" can provide roleplay, but is meagre.

The way I seek to remedy this is to "create" a household that can roleplay amongst themselves, though it's very hard. It sort-of works like gravity: a household attracts more characters if it has many characters to interact with. But to have many characters to interact with, a household has to attract more characters.

Also, some suggestions for positions that Marty has not listed:

Family chaplain: A member of the Sancella that is made part of the household and accepts confessions in-house, holds in-house sermons and fosters religious roleplay within the house. I suggest this, because this role is highly compatible with Sancella roleplay as well and does not limit the servant character.

Huntsmaster: We used to have a huntsmaster with house Devereux for events hosted. Similarly to the chaplain, this role allows a character to have largely independent RP related to their profession, while also hosting events and making a fame in service to a house.

 

[ElderShrub]

Heya Marty. Great thread, but I do want to go ahead and throw my own two cents in here.

My concern is with the use of (player) servants for menial tasks. I know this isn't always true, but as a general rule people roleplay for the power fantasy. To feel significant and important in a fictional world. I don't say this to demean them, only that people want characters to feel important. As such, it doesn't matter what group you're running be it a crime gang, a religious organization or a noble house, you want every member involved in that to feel significant in some way. No-one wants their character to feel like they're just there to clean up after another, they want to feel like an indispensable part of the group.

To this end, certain types of characters will not be played I'm afraid. Chamberlains simply do not feel like they have any great significance unless they also double as something else such as a Spymaster. This should always be kept in mind when looking for people to add to your noble circle. (Actually as an aside I would prefer to drop the entire term servant for this post as it implies the above). House Guards are a great example of a good noble role, and there's a reason these roles are very popular. They feel significant in the greater functioning of the noble family. If they suddenly vanished then the noble family would be at a disadvantage.

Some other jobs that could work:
Court Alchemist: A specifically MassiveCraft job of course, very little historical context, but if I recall correctly the Wiki did once mention court alchemists being funded by the nobility. These people carry a useful skill, both to aid in medicine, and to procure anything else that the noble family might need under the table.

Court Doctor: For those families not content with the clinic, or who just want a trusted name for their medical advice, a court doctor makes plenty of sense. Similar to the one above, really.

Advisors: Nobles have lots of duties besides studying whatever it is they do. They simply do not have the ability to know everything about all their ventures. And many times a noble may just be too young to have reached the top of their field. This is where advisors come in. They could be on anything from financial to military advisors, but even the best written plans could use a second pair of eyes.

Spy Network: Not just a spymaster, and not just those tied directly to the noble family either. Some of my favorite roleplay has been caused by spy networks of various nobles. Of course, your noble will probably need a disposition towards scheming to set one of these up, but they can be great fun.

Steward: If your noble is out leading an army, or busy running a business, or just really concerned with politics in Regalia, there is no way they're going to have enough time to manage trade, laws and other problems in the lands they actually own. A Steward is given permission to act on behalf of a Lord in their lands so the Lord can focus on other things.

 

[Reaganism]

My concern is with the use of (player) servants for menial tasks. I know this isn't always true, but as a general rule people roleplay for the power fantasy. To feel significant and important in a fictional world. I don't say this to demean them, only that people want characters to feel important. As such, it doesn't matter what group you're running be it a crime gang, a religious organization or a noble house, you want every member involved in that to feel significant in some way. No-one wants their character to feel like they're just there to clean up after another, they want to feel like an indispensable part of the group.

Click to shrink...

This is a faulty approach to roleplay, only. One I professed for a good two years before I found myself climbing from the bottom of a military structure on another platform and suddenly enjoying the "underdog" part.

The key is creating roleplay environments where all can feel /somewhat/ significant while at the same time involving everybody in a storyline or drama. The main issue I see is the approach of the servant-roleplayers. They seem to be afraid of involvement. When their lieges arrive home angry, or have a meeting with another noble, it's customary for servants to just stand by, emote music or bring wine instead of asking into things, presenting opinions and proposing solutions with themselves as part of them.

 

[ElderShrub]

Another tired thought of mine, and I'm going to present this in a separate post as it is probably a little more controversial. Currently the MassiveCraft wiki is set up in a way that doesn't indicate the importance of noble RP, and conflict generated by nobles. It was made clear in this post that the intention of MassiveCraft is to have the core conflicts and plotlines generated by the friction between noble families. Thus we can say that noble conflict is the core or 'central' conflict for MassiveCraft.

However upon visiting the wiki the first section most people see are Races. There is vastly more information on the various Races of Aloria, their cultures and ideals, then there is on the various Ailor cultures. There's also a lot more information on the various distant continents and lands than there is on the Regalian Archipelago and the lands the nobility actually own. Other information such as the Regalian Government Positions page, or accurate lists of what Noble Family holds what specific titles, is very hard to come by.

As such, one can see why new players, and even many older players, assume the core conflict in MassiveCraft is supposed to be between the interactions of various races. This in turn contributes to the disconnect between commoners and nobility, who are basically interpreting two very different stories. There is really no easy quick-fix for this however, as it would take a massive 'scope shift' in the wiki, or some very clever design to change. Still I would think this is a big problem if my concerns are accurate.

 

[CainsTedTalk]

Question Marty, is it considered unbecoming of a cousin or another irrelevant family member of a title nobility, say someone who isn't titled themselves or isn't high up in the line to inherit to become a servant of another family? Whatever the position.

 

[AtticCat]

I don't have any tips to this, I just wanted to say that being a servant character is pretty fun sometimes! One of my 'main' characters is Merina Taliesin- an obnoxious but sweet Claith mage, who is also the apprentice of Hamelin D'Vaud and his maid. While being a maid doesn't sound amazing and getting you attention, it's actually great! I can say that Merina would likely be dead or some horrible twister person by now if she wasn't hired by Hamelin. This actually allowed her to progressive as a character and learn to read and write because he taught her despite the fact that she was his servant. Merina is actually (sorta) a bit of an "out there" character now that she's not as shy as she was before she was hired as she has socialized with basically anyone from anywhere- that doesn't necessarily mean it was a good encounter though.

 

[Reaganism]

However upon visiting the wiki the first section most people see are Races. There is vastly more information on the various Races of Aloria, their cultures and ideals, then there is on the various Ailor cultures. There's also a lot more information on the various distant continents and lands than there is on the Regalian Archipelago and the lands the nobility actually own. Other information such as the Regalian Government Positions page, or accurate lists of what Noble Family holds what specific titles, is very hard to come by.

Click to shrink...

A lot of details around nobility change by the week or fortnight so maintaining a concise wiki detailing everything related would require immense manpower if not editing capability to every single noble house head. The cultures can be defined, but people already deviate from the cultures and play different ones that you better meet IC.

House Black presents a completely different New-Regalian culture compared to house Typhonus, and so does house d'Ortonnaise compared to house du Polignac (both Ithanian), or house Ravenstad compared to house Perigarten (both Leutz).

 

[MonMarty]

Question Marty, is it considered unbecoming of a cousin or another irrelevant family member of a title nobility, say someone who isn't titled themselves or isn't high up in the line to inherit to become a servant of another family? Whatever the position.

Click to shrink...

This is up to IC proceedings. If people want to make a problem out of it IC, then that's their prerogative. The system doesn't actually punish nobles for serving other nobles.

 

[Proudbucket]

My brief experience serving a noble house was pretty bad.

The requests that I made after bad rp were:
- Help us have an active part in stories.
- Help your servants achieve their goals, give them visibility and use your position for them.

I did my part in suggesting ways to improve the situation (e.g. see this) but the situation did not improve so I left.
I think this is mostly an OOC problem and perhaps an isolated occurrence (I hope so).
The problem is basically that the needs and interests of one side of the equation were not being served (pardon the pun).

One thing that can be done too improve the situation is to grant some ways for nobles to help servants. This is something that noble characters could have requested in character and I really wonder why they have not done so before. They could request the ability to hold protegees and pseudo-enoble or knight servants. To name their servants as advisors, bannermen or trainees. To allow them to speak in the war council or attend noble related activities as long as their patron is there. To allow their servants some rights such as wearing armour, hold some possessions, hold a possition or lead a charter as long as they have their patron's support.

Why is it that nobles have not requested these things for their servants escapes me.

 

[Reaganism]

One thing that can be done too improve the situation is to grant some ways for nobles to help servants. This is something that noble characters could have requested in character and I really wonder why they have not done so before. They could request the ability to hold protegees and pseudo-enoble or knight servants. To name their servants as advisors, bannermen or trainees. To allow them to speak in the war council or attend noble related activities as long as their patron is there. To allow their servants some rights such as wearing armour, hold some possessions, hold a possition or lead a charter as long as they have their patron's support.

Why is it that nobles have not requested these things for their servants escapes me.

Click to shrink...

Most of us do that, actually. You may have been unfortunate with your choice of noble house. But as far as I know, the bigger ones have military ranks to climb, chance to attend noble meetings & military summits as well as automated participation in world progression and events.

 

[Film_Noir]

My brief experience serving a noble house was pretty bad.

The requests that I made after bad rp were:
- Help us have an active part in stories.
- Help your servants achieve their goals, give them visibility and use your position for them.

I did my part in suggesting ways to improve the situation (e.g. see this) but the situation did not improve so I left.
I think this is mostly an OOC problem and perhaps an isolated occurrence (I hope so).
The problem is basically that the needs and interests of one side of the equation were not being served (pardon the pun).

One thing that can be done too improve the situation is to grant some ways for nobles to help servants. This is something that noble characters could have requested in character and I really wonder why they have not done so before. They could request the ability to hold protegees and pseudo-enoble or knight servants. To name their servants as advisors, bannermen or trainees. To allow them to speak in the war council or attend noble related activities as long as their patron is there. To allow their servants some rights such as wearing armour, hold some possessions, hold a possition or lead a charter as long as they have their patron's support.

Why is it that nobles have not requested these things for their servants escapes me.

Click to shrink...

I'd put this down to a bad experience. Many noble houses go out of their way to do as much as they can for their fellow players using IC mechanisms, offering much of what you suggested.

 

[Wumpatron]

My brief experience serving a noble house was pretty bad.

The requests that I made after bad rp were:
- Help us have an active part in stories.
- Help your servants achieve their goals, give them visibility and use your position for them.

I did my part in suggesting ways to improve the situation (e.g. see this) but the situation did not improve so I left.
I think this is mostly an OOC problem and perhaps an isolated occurrence (I hope so).
The problem is basically that the needs and interests of one side of the equation were not being served (pardon the pun).

One thing that can be done too improve the situation is to grant some ways for nobles to help servants. This is something that noble characters could have requested in character and I really wonder why they have not done so before. They could request the ability to hold protegees and pseudo-enoble or knight servants. To name their servants as advisors, bannermen or trainees. To allow them to speak in the war council or attend noble related activities as long as their patron is there. To allow their servants some rights such as wearing armour, hold some possessions, hold a possition or lead a charter as long as they have their patron's support.

Why is it that nobles have not requested these things for their servants escapes me.

Click to shrink...

There is also a level of drive that needs to be presented on the side of the servant. Positions will not just be handed out, nor will opportunities. Whether it is IC or OOC asking for something of your House leader, you have to show more beyond that. I served under House Norrvakt by requesting stewardship after displaying service as a guard captain under the patriarch. Later down the road I requested adoption into the family and was granted such all based on IC means and by showing I was dedicated enough to justify such. The point of this example is to show that there needs to be some strong backing by the servant to justify their involvement. Whether or not you considered this, I just felt this was a point to address.