Lies, Deception, & Deceit

The date in Ives is always said to be the X day of the X month, X year of the Reign of King/Queen So-and-so. For example, we're starting our campfire on, say September 1st, 446, which would be said as: the 1st day of the 9th month, the 29th year in the Reign of King Riordan.

Make sense?

Well, as you can probably imagine, that's going to get a little tricky, so historians/learned folk are taught to normalize all dates back to the founding of the kindom. What follows is a condensed history of the Monarchy, normalized such that if Ives was founded in year 0 (zero), then ...

417-446 (current): King Riordan the Rebel (also known as Riordan the Bold)
410-417: the Zandra Revolution
397-417: King Aldane the Tyrant, of House Attlee, son of King Kinsey
385-397: King Kinsey the Fearless, of House Attlee, son of Queen Loe
382-385: Queen Loe the Pius, of House Attlee, cousin to King Arawn
381-382: King Arawn the Fool, of House Forsyth, son of King Bazyli
375-381: King Bazyli the Bold, of House Forsyth, son of King Baldasarre
370-375: King Baldasarre the Gentle, of House Forsyth, son of King Fairfax
345-370: King Fairfax the Just, of House Forsyth, nephew of Queen Rey
288-345: Queen Rey the Kinslayer, of House Gascoigne, daughter of King Rhory
272-288: King Rhory the Red, of House Gascoigne, son of King Malik
269-272: King Malik the Killer, of House Gascoigne, son of King Sorley
241-269: King Sorley the Moderate, of House Gascoigne, brother of King Valin
241-241: King Valin the Young, of House Gascoigne, son of Queen Kalei
233-241: Queen Kalei the Beautiful, of House Gascoigne, daughter of Queen Ellema
219-233: Queen Ellema the Paragon, of House Gascoigne, niece of King Naresh
184-219: King Naresh the Ardent, of House Gascoigne
178-184: War of Succession
115-178: King Tudor the Persistent, of House Parfitt, son of King Leroy
104-115: King Leroy the Defender, of House Parfitt, son of Queen Aulani
78-104: Queen Aulani the Messenger, of House Parfitt, daughter of King Rex
72-78: King Rex the Despicable, of House Parfitt, cousin of King Ryan
58-72: King Ryan the Joyous, of House Unwin, son of King Vasilis
39-58: King Vasilis the Mighty, of House Unwin, son of King Balthasar
0-39: King Baltasar the First


  All the Houses were revoked by King Riordan, the old families reduced to poverty. Even House Gascoigne, the oldest, most powerful house, was reduced to nothing. In their places, King Riordan awarded new noble House Lines to his closest friends, supporters, and defenders from the Revolution. He created about a dozen Houses, and since then has, in the manner of kings and queens of old, has created a few more during his reign. King Riordan's House is House Lachian.

To be awarded a House Line, to become a Noble, one must do at least one of the following:

1. Buy one with significant donations to the crown.
(King Riordan has never granted one this way, but Aldane was fond of this manner)
2. Distinguish oneself by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of one's own life above and beyond the call of duty in service to king or crown
(early on in his reign, King Riordan narrowly escaped assassination several times. On one occassions, one of his bodyguards died. House Rimmer was created to reward the man's family and his name.)
(House Finlay was created in reward for the acts of their founder, Fitzroy, in turning the tide of battle in the war with Unter (to the south)
3. For lifetime achievement/service, elevation to the rank of Hero of the Realm
(those in the rebellion were created Houses based on this.)
(heros in the war with Unter were also rewarded in this manner)
(King Riordan's first Chancellor was rewarded a House Line for his service when he retired)

House Lines are a presigious accomplishment that persist at the mercy of the crown until such time as they die out or the crown decides they are no longer worthy of the honor. Along with a House, those such rewarded are also granted signifcant lands and a title, to confer upon them their new status as nobility. This is a feudalistic society, so some land-owners are nobles, but all nobles are land-owners.

Nobles manage and police their own lands and any bordering lands under their protection. They tithe money and goods to the crown as taxes every year and are required to ride to the service of the king in times of war (with all their men-at-arms). Nobles have a lot of responsibility, petitioning the king in times of trouble (famines, wars, etc), they are judge and magistrate for any crimes, etc, but they also have a standing invitation to live at the king's castle, dine with him, and seek an audience. Nobles (and a few invited guests) are invited to all Royal Functions (balls, jousts, etc) and also have membership within Parliament, which is a semi-governing authority that advises the king on matters of government. Parliament is a parallel function to the Ministerial body that are the King's main advisors and executors of law.

Reasons House Lines may be revoked: treason, conspiring to commit treason, acting in a manner not becomming of a noble/gentleman/gentlewoman (murder, theft, all the usual crimes), or failure to perform one's duty as commanded by the crown.

To receive a House Line, he/she requesting the honor must, in person, petition the king. Aldane was known to hold petitioners in the city for years before acknowledging them and granting them an audience and even then was more like as not to say he'd think about it and to come back later. Weeding out the true candidates from the many petitioners is part of the job duties of the Chancellor.

The Chancellor is the king's most devoted servant and usually closest advisor, in charge of seeing that the king's commands are carried out. There are many ministers, those who are paid by the crown for their jobs (civil servants), and the Chancellor is like the Secretary of State to the President (the king). The current Chancellor is a woman named Valterra.

Line of Succession:

Only blood relatives of the crown are considered in the succession (these are the royals, as distinguished from the nobility). The crown is traditionally passed to the first-born, but any blood relative may be adopted as the Heir-Apparent and this can change during the course of a reign. Riordan's grandson is the current Heir-Apparent. If the king/queen has not formally announced his choice of successor, by default the succession goes to the eldest child, then the king's eldest sister/brother, then neice/nephew, then cousin. Only once has the succession stalled beyond a cousin of the king (ie grandchild of the previous king/queen). This was known as the War of Succession, in which there was no singular candidate and they all wanted the crown. The nobles all took sides and there was a very bloody civil war. Whole House Lines were destroyed.