[Discuss] Re: Proposed Marshal changes

[Christopher Subich]

Matt Runyon wrote:
> taking a big one myself.  Yes, I understand that the politics of getting 
> the realm to pony up should be interesting, and I don't mind doing it, 
> but if someone just wants to play as a knight, it's much harder now that 
> they're going to have to find either a lord with more gold than estates 
> required, or one with political clout, or just hope the realm is equitable.

And at the same time, you can't play a lord without getting involved in 
the political clout.

The biggest problem with the "wanted: one knight, slightly used, cheap" 
situation is that equality /can/ be preserved with proper care and 
redistribution, but doing so requires essentially circumventing the 
experimental tax system entirely.  The most obvious route would be 
direct payments from higher-ups.  It's neither automatic nor in the 
style of the rest of the game, but I predict that some realms will 
resort to it if the experimental system goes in as currently planned.

As to the notion that "things weren't equal in history," that's an 
exaggeration.  English fiefs had duties measured in "knight's fees", and 
fiefs ran from a small fraction of 1 up through 20 or more.  If the 
Battlemaster continents were created from the ground-up in a feudal 
system, the borders would be redrawn such that a region (county?) could 
support its own share of knights.