[Discuss] Estates

[S. Ray]

I think that's a matter of interpretation.  I think that land is granted to
a noble just like a title is, and just like stripping a title is a big deal,
so should stripping land.  I don't think estates are leases, rather I think
they are land grants.  In fact, I think that mentality opens up lots of interesting
possibilities.  For instance, if there were a third estate setting, something
like "entertain the populous", that would slowly raise a character's repute,
and then an option to "start a local uprising", where all the knights of the
region would be able to declare support (like in a rebellion) for one side or
the other, and if they revolt succeeded (based upon some calculation taking
in to account repute, prestige, and estate size of all the nobles on both sides),
the region lord would be deposed (though he would keep a claim on the region)
and replaced by the leader of the revolt.
I think estates/land should actually be something owned by the family (after
all, you can still visit the "family home" even if you aren't a knight of the
region it is in) that can be held across multiple regions.  Maybe each region
could have a limit of acreage, and people could even have claims against certain
amounts of land in each region.  That would allow for alot more intrigue and
character motivations for wars and revolts.  Of course, region lords would also
have to have the ability to confiscate/reclaim lands from nobles as well.
Further, you could actually get rid of the region tax share idea all together.
 Base tax income on how much land a noble has in different regions (land in
cities earns more per acre or something along those lines), and set up the tax
code to tax nobles directly for coin rather than the redistributive method currently
in place.
Yeah it would be alot of work, and it is a rough idea, but I think it has too
much potential to dismiss out of hand.

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