Familial Glory (Part 2)

[continued from here]

Of course, in Westeros (and elsewhere) it takes that Big Ego to rule. The Big Ego is celebrated...and the bigger the ego, the bigger the landholdings in the feudal society. Ego and ambition often go hand in hand...and when they don't, ego often gets supplanted by ambition (though of course ambition can falter for over-reaching). The point is: Glory is a good measure of one's ego, and thus their place/status in the feudal society of the Seven Kingdoms. But for the purpose of Crowns of Blood, we want to measure familial (family) Glory...because the family (or, rather, house - to use Martin's parlance) with the largest amount of Glory is the one the others are forced to acknowledge as their liege...or, at least, their betters.

The various Great Houses of Westeros are powerful because of the land they control and the fighting men they can raise when needed. But those fighting men remain loyal because the top dog has the Top Glory. That power can be lost with the loss of Glory. In Pendragon (and, thus, for Crowns of Blood), there is only one way to lose Glory: death.

When a character (PC or NPC) dies, his Glory dies with him. Glory is passed onto adult children (that 10% with which character's begin) when they reach adulthood. In Westeros, a person is considered a legal adult at age 16. In Pendragon, the father from whom Glory is inherited is considered to retain their full Glory (100%) until death. For my purpose, that's going to change; here's how:

Glory is a currency. When the head of the family has a child no Glory is lost; a child doesn't matter (for the purpose of currency/legacy) until he/she reaches adulthood, and can begin "earning their keep" (Glory-wise). If the child does reach the age of maturity, he (or she) receives 10% of his (or her) parents' current Glory score, leaving the parents with 90% of the total. Thereafter, both the parents AND the child continue to earn their own Glory, all of which goes to a family total.

"Parents' Glory?" That's right...another change. When man and woman are joined in matrimony, they become one person in the eyes of their gods. The Glory of both individuals are added together to form one total; however, if both parents have Glory greater than 1000 (an unusual situation), then the sum is limited to the Glory of the greater partner's total plus 1000. This becomes the Glory score for the couple...what either partner does to earn Glory adds to this amount. It helps alleviate issues like which of the two gain Glory for which holdings they have (castles and lands, etc.) and gives a reason for both partners to have strong personalities (they both earn Glory for their famous traits). A player who wishes to play a stay-at-home "Lady of the Manor" can still be a full participant in the gathering of glory by using her husband as her tool for acquiring battle and tournament Glory...the same ways many historical "great ladies" did. All other types of Glory acquisition (skill use, conspicuous consumption, holdings, famous passions, etc.) apply normally.

A heaping pile of Glory lost with his death.

If a character should lose their spouse (to death, exile, or other) they lose one-half of their Glory. But the character can always remarry.

By allowing part of their Glory to pass to their (adult) children, parents are doing something akin to "doubling down" in Blackjack: they're splitting up their current Glory to have a chance at growing both separately under two different "trees." Young men can be squired out in hopes of being knighted (earning that 1000 point bonus we love) while young women with large amounts of Glory become attractive spouses to other (high Glory) lords. Houses that lack sons can, of course, squire out their daughters (see House Mormont and House Tarth), though some Westeros cultures have no qualms about female warriors regardless (see the Ironborn and Dornish folk). Regardless, it all counts towards the family total.

All Glory in Crowns of Blood is kept as a running "family total," updated every "End Year Phase" (Crowns of Blood doesn't use a "Winter Phase" for obvious reasons). Unmarried, adult NPCs in a character's family accumulate D6 Glory in an otherwise uneventful year; married couples accumulate 2D6 Glory between themselves, assuming both are adults (since the impatient lords of Westeros are wont to marry off their daughters before legal adulthood).

[why D6? Go back to starting Glory for that 21 year old starting Pendragon character: who's to say that 6D6 roll doesn't represent the first six years of Glory earned in the character's adult life? Plus, it makes it easy to simply roll 1D6 for each adult individual in the character's family, once per year]

Other events that occur during the year: battles and tourneys, marriages and knightings, etc. will add to this Glory accumulation (individually, which feeds into the total). An extended "Family Events" table (from the Winter Phase chapter of Pendragon) can provide random additions of Glory accumulation for players who don't want to spend their adventuring time arranging marriages for their cousins and whatnot. Of course, those that DO focus on this area will find their family acquiring Glory at a faster rate.

Let's look at a couple examples from Martin's books:

House Baratheon in the year 298 consists of three brothers: Robert (the King), Stannis, and Renly. Only Robert and Stannis are married: Robert to Cersei Lannister and Stannis to Selyse Florent (of House Florent in the Reach). Robert and Cersei have three legitimate children and Stannis has one (Shireen); however, none of them have reached adulthood. For purposes of Familial Glory, we count only Robert-Cersei's total, plus Stanis-Selyse's total, plus Renly's total. All three totals receive good annual Glory from their holdings; Robert and Stannis earned considerable Glory during the war ("Robert's Rebellion"). Cersei and Selyse added their totals to their husbands' with their marriage (both had plenty, though neither had more than 1000 to add). Robert-Cersei continue to add the most to their family totals for high traits (lustful, deceitful, indulgent, reckless, valorous, and a couple high passions for each), but Stannis and Selyse have a couple notable traits themselves (temperate and pious). Unfortunately their family takes a lot of "hits" over the next couple years. Robert dies, taking half his Glory with him. Renly dies just as he was about to marry a Glorious spouse in Margaery Tyrell. Joffrey dies before he can even reach adulthood, and while Tommen is crowned as his father's successor he doesn't receive any Glory as he is still underage. The Queen-Regent continues to earn Glory for the family from the Baratheon holdings...but with open rebellion on the part of Stannis, it seems clear that his Glory will be going to his own (new) House for the foreseeable future.

House Lannister looks quite a bit different. As of 298 (the start of the books), Tywin has his Glory, plus that of his eldest son (a famous knight and member of the illustrious Kingsguard), Cersei and Robert's combined Glory ('cause they're married, natch), and the little bit from his son Tyrion (who's not earning much except by being famous for his vices). In addition, Tywin has a couple living siblings from whom he receives Glory for House Lannister: Kevan (whose eldest son is on the verge of knighthood and whose second son is 15), his sister Genna (married to Emmon Frey) and her children; plus his nephew, Tyrek, and niece, Joy Hill, whose fathers are deceased (actually, I suppose their widowed mother's would still contribute the usual one-half share of Glory to the mix). Tywin is all about nurturing, growing, and positioning his family and it has resulted in House Lannister being one of the most powerful and influential families in Westeros. When Tywin dies, the family is considerably diminished as a result.

All right, this post is even longer than the last one. Just going to wrap up with a last few extra notes:

1. Crowns of Blood doesn't have "chivalric," "religious," or "romantic" knights. It does have the status of True Knight, which carries the same 100 Glory per year bonus as a chivalric knight (though the requirements are different).
2. One time, extraordinary (1000 point) Glory rewards like knighthood, being crowned a king, and dying heroic death all still apply. New ones include being elected to the Kingsguard and taking the Black (becoming a member of the Night's Watch), though individuals that do the latter gain no further Glory for there family. It's still a better alternative than getting executed (and adds an extra 100 Glory to their children's Glory).
3. What happens if a couple has more than ten children? Remember that the 10% pull of Glory comes from the couple's CURRENT Glory total at the time the child reaches adulthood. It's 10% of what's left. Presumably, the parents are acquiring more Glory (when they're not spending time procreating), but regardless, it's 10% of the remaining, diminished Glory. The more children a family has, the less Glory there is to go around.
4. While children don't start counting Glory (for themselves or their family) till they reach adulthood, they still accumulate points for things like being crowned or married or any other events. When they turn 16 all points accumulated go into effect (for themselves and their House).
5. Regarding bastards: illegitimate children are a tricky subject, though a prominent one in Martin's setting. My inclination is that acknowledged bastards receive 5% of their father's Glory (10% of half the couple, since the child is not of the mother), and a bastard that is legitimized earns a one-time bonus of 100 Glory. Children born of an adulteress mother (for example, those of Cersei) are an even trickier matter: it may take a while to ascertain the truth and normally Glory is never "lost" (my rules regarding inheritance is simply one of redistribution), and it doesn't seem right that a father would "regain Glory" upon learning he's been the cuckold. Here's my take: if the child's bastardy is discovered prior to reaching adulthood, they receive the normal 5% (as the illegitimate child of one parent)...and possibly more if it turns out the wife's lover is willing to name himself as father (and she wants him to do so...perhaps because he's some famous knight of the realm). OTHERWISE, if undiscovered upon reaching adulthood, the child receives the full 10% of a legitimate child, and anything that comes out afterward is dismissed as vicious rumor.
6. Becoming a septon/septa or maester earns no Glory for a house (and has the same effect as the character dying, as they give up their life and name). There are other benefits to that road, however.

Okay, is that enough? Yes...it's enough for now.

Get legitimized for 100 or take the Black for 1000? Hmm...

Familial Glory (Part 1)

Okay...so after some thought on the subject, I think I've got the Glory-thing hammered out as far as Crowns of Blood is concerned. It actually won't be straying too far from the Pendragon system on which it's based, but there are some important tweaks. First, some foundational information:

In Pendragon, a knight begins with a random amount of Glory...Glory which is inherited from his father (I'm using the masculine pronoun because default Pendragon requires all PCs to be male). This  random Glory is 6D6+150 plus additional Glory based on the events that befell your father and grandfather in the forty years prior to commencement of the campaign.

Inherited Glory is 10% of the father's total amount. Your grandfather begins with 2500 (a not quite "notable knight," which would require 3000), and with fortunate dice rolls can end his career (and life) with a little more than 4000 points of Glory. Your father can thus begin with a maximum of 400 Glory (10% of grandpa) and with good dice rolls, can ring that up to a bit more than 5800. Even if you roll poorly for both your grandfather and father, the worst possibly result could be your father dying with 1570 in accumulated glory (this assumes he only received 250 from a grandfather who died ignominiously after accomplishing nothing more than his starting 2500).

1570 to 5800. This means your character starts with from 307 to 730 plus the result of a 6D6 dice roll (the random events only pertains to exemplary events, the 150+6D6 is supposed to cover the 10% of other "father accumulated Glory;" for example, getting married, holding a castle, exceptional traits/passions, random acts of heroism, etc.) for a maximum possible range of 322 to 766. Working backwards, we can see your character's father was either a "notable knight" (in the 3000+ range) or a "famous knight" (in the 6000+ range). Your character claims only a fraction of that amount, but hopefully he'll ring up a few thousand more in the course of his career/life. I say "hopefully" because 90% of the family Glory dies with the patriarch.

[this is important...we'll come back to it]

Family Glory. It IS family Glory, because in Pendragon you only track the accumulation of Glory for the active PCs, even though "any character, whether peasant of king, may gain Glory" (page 56 of the 3rd edition). Certainly all characters have and receive Glory...when a PC knight takes a wife, he receives Glory equal to that of his new spouse (and she receives Glory equal to his) up to a maximum of 1000 points (no single Glory award may exceed 1000 points)...but thereafter, there's little need to track the wife's Glory. She's not the one going on adventures and accumulating more Glory points.

The player character knight, as head of his household holds the bulk of his family's Glory; for all intents and purposes, his Glory IS the family Glory. But then, Pendragon is a game about personal Glory, and the accumulation of that Glory through individual knightly adventure. Indeed, the reward mechanic encourages players to showboat and accumulate Glory individually as A) there is a maximum amount of Glory to be received from any event/encounter, and B) Glory is divided amongst all participants. Since Glory is not just a measure of the PCs' success, but the method by which one achieves extraordinary abilities (each 1000 Glory accumulated gives a PC a +1 bonus to stats, skills, or traits that can exceed normal human maximums), it behooves PCs to find their Glory in ways that exclude other participants (i.e. the other PCs). There can only be one knight that wins the tournament, you know?

But while that's Pendragon's bag, it doesn't really equate with A Song of Ice and Fire's setting, as I wrote previously. Eddard Stark may be worried about his personal honor (well...until it interferes with his love for his family), but not his personal Glory. Otherwise, he'd be jumping at the chance to become Hand of the King, marry his children to the King's heirs, and fight in whatever tournaments become available. Honor is personal...but Glory takes a backseat to duty, a common theme of Martin's books.

Being dutiful is more important than Glory; one might argue that it's the failure to do one's duty (because of its inconvenience to a person's life) that leads to all the pain and suffering in the saga. Robert Baratheon allows his passions to get in the way of doing his duty to his wife and kingdom...it results in the shaky status of the realm, the lack of a legitimate heir to the throne, and (ultimately) his early demise. Cersei's lack of duty to her king (because of her hatred for him and lust for her brother), leads to civil war which creates the suffering of her children (whom she loves), up to and including their untimely deaths. Eddard Stark fails to do his duty to his king (being "merciful" by giving Cersei a chance to flee with her illegitimate children) which leads to his betrayal and ultimate death. Robb's failure to honor his commitment to his promised bride-to-be provides the opening for his betrayal and death. Theon allows his ambitions to get the best of him, and it ends up costing him limb and liberty...well, you get the point. I think it's fair to say there's a theme here of "karma's a bitch" and one's karma being ultimately reaped from how well folks fulfill their dharma (i.e. their duties/responsibilities). It's a very non-Western way of looking at life and very "new and unusual" for those of us more familiar with the Western/American/Hollywood form of heroism. You know what I'm talking about: it's the guy who pushes the boundaries of what's acceptable (or who goes "outside the box") that ends up being rewarded by winning the day, or the girl, or whatever. It's the police procedural according to Die Hard.

This "romanticism of the individual" (i.e. the dude who goes out and grabs personal Glory for himself) doesn't fly in Martin's world. Really. Look at Tywin Lannister...he talks a good game about doing one's duty, but ultimately he's brought down by his own selfishness, too. Tywin's not so much interested in doing his duty as he is in having duty looking the way he wants it to...he has a son (Tyrion) that could carry on the family line, but his hatred for this son (because he is a dwarf, because he's a lecherous an lush, because his birth resulted in the death of his beloved wife) causes him to engineer all manner of machinations, hoping to bring his "true son" (Jaime) back to become his heir...this includes even perverting justice (rigging a court system to frame his son for murder, rather than finding the true regicide). In the end, he fails in his duty as a father, as a vassal (to the throne), and as a liege (to his own people). And he suffers an ignominious and untimely death because of it.

"I am a terrible person and must die."

Now there's a very good reason why things hit the shitter so often in Martin's books, and it has less to do with "because it makes for good drama." The fact is that...just as in real life...it's hard to do one's duty all the time. Humans do have passions (hates, fears, loves, consciences, compassions) and a sorry lack of enlightened perspective that tends to get in the way of doing what we're supposed to do. And all that stuff gets amped up and exaggerated when you're talking about the warrior class of a feudal system...people who have been taught from birth to be active and direct...to fight...not to sit back and let shit happen. These are folks that are supposed to lead...at court and on the battlefield...and so when they are slighted or their passions are touched off, they are unlikely to respond with apathy. "Oh, well, that's just how life goes," is NOT the response of people whose God-given birthright is sticking people with swords and spears (and that applies to the non-fighting women-folk who are raised to marry these barbarians). Duty (dharma) gets stepped on and/or forgotten when humans give in to their ego...and people with big egos mess that up more than others.

[to be continued...because this is getting REAL long]