[Discuss] Oaths of fealty and their confliction with other orders

[Timothy Collett]

Boštjan Pajntar wrote:
> One of my characters would for shure write a nasty letter to his liege, 
> informing him to go stuck his head into his... and he would search for 
> another liege. I mean come on his liege put him into this position, he 
> could sign him to another army you know. My other character would follow 
> his liege's order and take any punishment with good grace as long as he 
> can further his liege's plan.

Um, that's so far wrong it's silly.

OK, say I'm your liege.  I put you in the elite army the Light Brigade, 
which has a good, competent Marshal.  Then the Marshal gets replaced, 
and you get an order that's a suicide mission.  I order you not to 
follow it, and, along with several other lords, take it up with the 
Light Brigade's marshal and sponsor.

Is it my fault you got conflicting orders?

> This cases are what is most interesting in Battlemaster. Don't go and 
> make a rule what is the right course of action. Or we can just ask Tom 
> to make a checkbox beside each character saying "Do what I'm supposed to 
> do." and there won't even be need to log in any more.

How on Earth is clarifying the correct chain of feudal authority in any 
way equivalent to making rules that bind you so tight you might as well 
be a robot?  No one is saying which orders the Knights have to follow. 
No one is saying which orders the Judge has to uphold.  All we're saying 
is which orders should, correctly, take precedence.  What *actually 
happens* depends entirely on the politics of the realm.

It's really very simple under the feudal system we now have set up:
All authority over a Knight derives from the oath of fealty he has to 
his liege lord.  His liege lord *can* assign him to an army, 
*delegating* that authority to the Marshal of the army.  But delegating 
is not the same thing as surrendering, and the lord still has complete 
control over the knight, should he choose to exercise it.  He can even 
enforce that by giving his knight enough good marks that the Judge can't 
touch him.

If the Lord gives his knights orders that conflict with the orders of 
the army they are assigned to, the one to take the heat from above is 
the Lord, and not the Knights.

Timothy Collett
Anaris Family

-- 

The only thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart.

~ Miles Naismith Vorkosigan