New December Rule Proposal: Age, Death and Succession
So here's a particularly cheery revision to our current rules on age and death rolls to go some way towards solving the current huge glut of old characters that seem to hang around forever:
Death and ageing:
The medieval world is rife with disease and untimely death, with infant mortality and an early grave being common thanks to most serious diseases being nigh untreatable.
A character ages at a rate of 1 year per in game week, and will, at some point, be subject to various death rolls. These can be divided into two categories: child death rolls (representing the high infant mortality rate) and adult death rolls (representing the low life expectancy of a typical adult)
Child death rolls:
Newly born children have a death roll every five years of their life, up until the age of 15. The chance of death begins at 5/20, gradually scaling down by 2 each time (so that the chance of death is 1/20 by the time the child is on her/his third roll). These rolls can be negated by survival traits, but there will always be a minimum 1/20 chance of death regardless of the survival stat.
Adult death rolls & roll table:
Adult death rolls take place at the age of 30 onward, once per year. Though the chance of death initially will be very small, this will of course increase with age. As always, the minimum chance of death is 1/20, regardless of any survival traits.
30 – 35: 1/20 chance
35 – 40: 3/20 chance
40 – 45: 5/20 chance
45 – 50: 7/20 chance
50 – 55: 9/20 chance
55 – 60: 11/20 chance
65 – 70: 13/20 chance
70 onward: 15/20 chance
When a character dies, you are expected to kill them off by the end of the in game year. You'll be allowed to clear up any existing situations and resolve them, but following that your character must be declared deceased as soon as possible.
---
Heirs and inheritance:
A very important tradition within medieval society would be the inheritance and passing on of family titles. Traditionally, the succession laws of Englands were based around agnatic primogeniture - male only succession, with the eldest child inheriting all land and property. However, this depended on the wording of the letters patent bestowed; usually, they detail something called a "remainder" which is basically determining the succession laws for the title. There are three kinds of succession specified within the remainder:
- "Male heirs of the body" specifies that only males can inherit said title. When the Lord passes away, all his lands and titles shall pass on to his eldest son, and then failing that, his nearest male-line relative. If none exists, the title becomes extinct, and falls into a state of abeyance.
- "Heirs of the body" specifies that both males and females can inherit, though male succession is preferential with all titles and lands succeeding upon the eldest son. If the lord leaves only daughters, then the inheritance shall be divided as equally as possible amongst the heiresses. Should the lord leave no children, then it passes on to the closest male then female relation, respectively.
- "For life" simply denotes that the title is a life peerage only, and is therefore unable to be passed on via inheritance. Upon the holder's death, the title reverts to the crown.
Important notes:
These succession laws do not necessarily have to be followed, and can be abused, ignored and bypassed as seen fit for a player character's advantage. However, it is worth noting that there may be considerable consequences for your character should you do so, though this is entirely dependent on how other players react to such actions.
Money can be divided as seen fit upon a character's death, so long as there is proper justification for doing so - attempting to use this as a loophole to transfer money between unconnected characters is strictly forbidden. If you are unsure as to what constitutes this, ask the moderators for more information.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Gandalf.
