Atlas   Rules   Resources   Adventures   Stories       FAQ   Search   Links



Karameikan Nobles and their heirs

by Giampaolo Agosta

I'm considering what we know about Karameikan nobles and their heir, which can be important if a campaign takes a political bent, or if wars (civil or against goblinoids) cause the demise of some landed noble.
The discussion is based on the state of things at 1000 AC. There are some empty entries, where we don't know enough about a given family.

As a general note, the law of succession in Karameikos seems to be quite flexible -- Stefan and Olivia at some point explicitly name Adriana as their heir, but Valen and Justin would have been acceptable choices. What I'm reporting here are simply the orders of succession assuming no explicit choice has been done, and assuming male and female heirs are equally considered, and that sons have precedence over brothers (i.e., a succession based on primogeniture rather than a lateral succession, as in RW early Germanic and Slavic agnatic succession laws).

Grand Duke

Here the only doubt may be the succession order of Alexius Korrigan and Ludwig von Hendricks -- as the Prothemians of Thyatis may be closer kin to the Duchess, and Karameikan law seems to imply that the Duke and Duchess are co-rulers. So, one of Olivia's brothers might be the nearest relative by blood. However, the possibility that someone outside the Duke's children acceded to the throne is connected with major political upheavals which would make succession more a matter of political support than of actual legitimacy. The Empire of Thyatis might, however, use such an issue to justify a reconquest of Karameikos should Adriana, Justin and Valen die.

Barons

We know very little about most of these families. I assume there aren't other von Hendricks beside Ludwig's sister and nephew.

Alerena Kelvin is mentioned in B12 as being Desmond's daughter, but dates don't seem to support this, so I've changed her to being Desmond's sister. She marries Kaerin Penhaligon after Kavorquian's death in B12. Thus, the pair become heir to both Kelvin and Penhaligon.

There is a possibly of Aleena having a sister (usually named Anielle) to explain her "death" in the Basic set solo adventure. Even if this is the case, the sister would be dead, and therefore out of the picture.

Landed Knights

Retameron and Halia have no children that we know of.
Retameron's father (Teranon, IIRC) may be his closest blood relative, but given the co-rulership thing, Halia's oldest brother or sister (she's the seventh or eight sister...) may be more eligible heirs (especially since Teranon must be quite old).

Sir Ulric Brezovo is an army captain, but the family is mentioned as having some lands, IIRC (I assume he has a small fief on the eastern coast between Dimitrov and Rugalov). Later on, Eric will be killed in a duel with Hugo Strolojca, leaving Constantina as the heir (these events happen in Night of the Vampire).

Sir Reynald of Highdell is mentioned in the "Ransom" adventure in Dungeon Magazine 42. He and his wife have three sons. The elder, Baldwin, may actually be the son of the previous lord (Belesa's first husband).

Sir Bessarion Draconius is a non-canon character designed by Zendrolion, based on the canon NPC Mildred Draconia. He rules a smaller fief on the eastern coast.

Landed Lords

Arteris also has an illegitimate sister, Illyana, who is probably the nearest heir by blood. Kaerin is an adopted son of Kavorquian (Arteris' uncle), but Karameikan law might not be especially restrictive on the rights of adopted descendants (there are also RW parallels in "new" monarchies, such as Napoleon's Empire).

Lev Dromilov and Vlad Lutescu probably have relatives, though we know nothing of them.

Aloysius Vandevic is Gustav's brother, and Laina is Aloysius' daughter.

As for the Marilenev inheritance, it could pass through Magda to her relatives, the Andrios, if the family hasn't been wiped out in the Marilenev rebellion as well, as postulated by Jennifer Guerra. The fact that Magda lives alone seems to support this option. So

The Strolojca and Ourosco have limited basis in canon -- Night of the Vampire tells us Hugo Strolojca has two older brothers, IIRC, and Vasil Ourosco is not married, AFAIR.
The relation between Ourosco and Strolojca has been introduced by me, and the names of the Strolojca relatives of Hugo are also from my campaign.

The Thrakius house appears in the Specularum Series adventures. Theirs is a small fief north of Vorloi (the area can accommodate a couple more fiefs as well, to balance the Traladaran estates of the western coast).

The Kutinov and Miltchev families are part of the Altan Tepee Gazetteer by Zendrolion.

The Karameikan branch of the Retebius family is described in this post by Zendrolion.

To sum it up, I've worked on the following hypotheses:

All of this is assuming the fiefs are never partitioned to fit two heirs. Another issue is what happens when two rulers marry -- e.g., assume Kaerin Penhaligon and Alerena Kelvin marry, and Arteris and Desmond die or step down without children (likely for Arteris, less so for Desmond, but he may die in battle or something like that). Would Kaerin and Alerena become just Barons of Kelvin, or would they become also Barons (or Lords?) of Penhaligon? What would happen to Penhaligon anyway?