Crowns and Mantles by Brian Cortijo

[Harroghty]

Some new edition Cormyrean lore just hit D&D Insider (full text is by subscription only).

http://wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/dra/crowns

This follows on the heels of a new Suzail backdrop that has some smaller relevance for us in our game's setting.

http://wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=d ... rops#78044

[Harroghty]

Addendum from the author:

Hi folks!

Sorry for the delay in reply. I've been a busy boy these last few weeks (churning out more Realmslore for public enjoyment).

I'm very happy folks are enjoying the "Cormyr Royale" article. I'm quite proud of it.

As regards the issue of male-preference primogeniture in Cormyr, it was not included in the article for issues of space and clarity. I'll do my best to address them here, though perhaps not to everyone's satisfaction:

The rules regarding the inheritance of a particular title are stored in the (lengthy) Crown records surrounding the specific grant of title, and the interpretation of those records by the appropriate royal agents and Heralds (in this case, referring to the High Heralds, not the heralds that assist the local lords). Some titles go to the eldest child, regardless of gender; some titles are inherited via male-preference primogeniture (male children in order of birth, followed by female children in order of birth); some by female-preference primogeniture; some others can be assigned by the current holder (via will or abdication) among all possible heirs. There are some few titles that are male- or female- only, and die out when the last male or female of a line dies (this is usually the case only when the family has other titles to go around). Often, the classification of a given title has to do not with the intent of the crowned head granting the title, but with the clarity of language used by the royal, the hearing of the royal scribe, and what actually gets set down to parchment.

In all cases, inheritance is within the closest generation, not dynastic--which is to say, Cormyr traces eligibility for titles through the last holder of the title. They don't go back to progenitor of the house to see who is the most eligible.

Without speaking to Ed about it, I'd say that some 40% of heritable titles are strict primogeniture (eldest child), 30% are male-preference primogeniture, 10% are female-preference primogeniture, 10% are assignable (although all assignable titles have a default heir apparent, and usually follow non-preferred primogeniture), and about 5% each are male-only or female-only (Laspeera's title of Lady Eveningspire is one such title, though her daughter Alazne wound up inheriting a lesser rank from one of her aunts). The monarchy of Cormyr itself is technically an assignable title which defaults to male-preference primogeniture; the practice, however, can often be far more complex than that.

Please note that I'm talking about *titles* here, and not nobles. A given noble can have multiple titles, and multiple titles generally exist within a given family. Some families (in particular, the old royal houses of Truesilver and Crownsilver, but House Illance is a strong example as well) tend towards male-preference primogeniture for all of their titles, while others might have a mix among its various titles. The older a title, the more likely it is that it prefers male inheritance.

Also note that the Crown has final say about who can inherit, and--though it exercises the right quite rarely--has denied the right of an assigned heir to assume the title of a deceased parent, or changed the grant of inheritance to allow, for instance, a daughter to inherit a "male-only" title.

Culturally, many (not most) Cormyreans still prefer to see male nobles in positions of power, although the time of the Five Ladies (Alusair, Caladnei, Filfaeril, Myrmeen, and Laspeera) has changed much of that perception. It remains to be seen how they will react to the accession of Baerovus (who is both male and older than his sister, Raedra).

That would have been 10% of the final article, and still isn't exactly the clearest statement, which is why it wasn't included.

I hope this helps, at least a little.

Brian