Hm I guess that works too? I was thinking of the knights being more along the lines of Royal Corps / Elite Soldiers and she is supposed to be a new knight right out of academy or something.
I may or may not have been looking at Reinhard when making her backstory
Now I guess she needs to prove herself by taking on quests so she can get herself recruited into a decent noble house? That does of course raise why there aint direct placements from the academy but >.>
I am going to need a bit of clarification on how are we making the noble structure before we decide which way we should do this,
- Do Nobles have personal armies or just personal guards? <-- If no personal army, is it just a standing Royal army?
- I saw @fyrre mention something about a knight academy for his knight guard. I think we should coordinate on making it a proper place.
- Is knight/dame considered a noble position? I personally think of it as sort of the middle awkward place where you are not nobility but are sort of above the commonfolk
- If it is a noble position, that implies it is possible to become pseudo-noble by getting into the academy. Are the established houses a-okay with this?
- I remember that the islands were sort of following feudalism with all land belong to the queen which she lends out to dukes and so on. I dont see knights getting land tbh even if they were like honorary nobles - it is just a bunch of islands afterall, not exactly a continent with free land everywhere
My personal headcanons, one by one:
Question 1:
Noble Armies probably exist, in my opinion. The Archipelago is obviously very feudal (Holy Roman Empire levels of 'what in the feudalism is this mess', while also being advanced enough technologically to have standing armies.
Question 2:
Sure, that's cool!
Question 3 & 5
I'm going with the 'lower nobility' interpretation, and it's possible to make the title one of unlanded aristocracy.
Question 4
In fantasy worlds where a random portion of the populace has the potential to become a super-soldier through various means, I suspect that a lot of meritocratic institutions to promote them will arise.
Look from the perspective of a Big Person.
You not only want these super-soldiers in your service, you actively want as many of them in your service as possible.
How do you do this? Simple. Recruit and train those with talents that have yet to be uncovered.
Give those with great talent but no resources scholarships, they are worth it.
Merchant's child wants to become a Knight, though their talent is mediocre? Ask them to shell out money from their own pocket, so that they are basically paying for themselves to become an alright super-soldier that will ultimately be beholden to you.
Great, you've just got your fresh batch of graduates. Now, how do you behold these young super-soldiers with no ties with any other person to your cause?
Carrot and stick. Grant them Knighthood, which gives them social benefits that these peasants, can't possibly refuse.
After all, this is basically a free rise in the social strata you are offering them, and in this medifantastical universe, such opportunities don't come by easy.
And all they have to do is to promise to fight for you when they are needed- the rest of their time belongs to themselves, and service in the name of their liege is simply more opportunities to prove themselves worthy of higher honours. They dream of the day where they can win some land, and thus secure their future.
