Life is Feudal Official Forum

[Roelen]

I have some ideas for a semi-historical-based RP guild... if you like them, let's see if we can get this put together and start recruiting! (I don't really want to be leader in-game, but will run everything until the actual game comes out..)

Real Cultures - Each order within the kingdom would be very similar to a real European medieval culture, I'd personally be an Irish Baron/Baronet, but there could be orders for any countries/cultures that existed in the middle ages! Why let awesome cultures go to waste, right?

Feudal Realm System - The high-ranking officers within guilds could make their personal claim into a "Keep", not necessarily the actual "keep" building, but a small castle. New recruits and lower ranking members would be instructed to group their claims around these developed castles, and would pay tribute to them (determined by the leader of the order, not ruler of that claim), who would in turn, pay tribute to help build the main city, who in turn would pay tribute to whatever order was "on top" with kingdom status... similar to medieval feudalism.

Increased role for priests - This is the middle ages Though the game gives priests relatively few options, players RPing priests would be more powerful, and do more stuff. They'd perform sermons on special events, marriages, etc. Not sure if it would be better to go full immersion and have real religions or have imaginary ones that mimic the real ones so people don't get into crazy OOC chat wars about religion and ruin it all... but we're all mature players here right?

Have suggestions? Interested in helping me form a order to start the kingdom? Want to join your order into the kingdom? Post below!

EDIT: I feel it is important to distinguish what "Historically-based" RP is. It basically means no fantasy... it doesn't matter if you worship a non-existant religion or have your own culture. it'd be great to have everyone RPing together. As long as you aren't RPing vampires and demons, and accurately portraying feudal life, you're Historically-based in my opinion. Keep in mind this is an idea for a single kingdom, which will trade with other kingdoms etc! Not trying to say some of us should go to a corner of the map and purely historical RP together

[Altus]

I don't know if you've ever heard of the Kingdom of Hyperion, but we have been all about the idea of organizing clans feudally into a kingdom ever since we first did it in Darkfall 2009, and at our height reached a kingdom of over a thousand players and dozens of vassals, allowing us to conquer the majority of the server map to the point where the rest of the server formed a Goon-led coalition to fight back.

The Kingdom consists of "shires". A shire can be any clan of any culture, and the shires are feudally tiered: fiefdoms, baronies, viscounties, counties, marquisates and duchies, depending on their size and status. The Duchy of Wessex is a shire of Hyperion, with a medieval-English culture.

We also have the "Serjeanty" which is a basic unit ideal for clans who are starting up and only have about 5 people. Once they reach a number of around 20 actives, they become a fiefdom and their leader is knighted.

The clergy has certain rights and degrees of independence given to it by the Carta Solis, which is the Hyperion constitution. The Carta Solis might be of interest to anyone trying to learn about Hyperion, since it is the document that fundamentally regulates its function.

Article 1 of the Carta Solis:

1. First, that we have granted to Auros, and by this present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the Church under Hyperion, so long as its bishops shall follow our Crown to the exclusion of others, including that of the pontiff of Sanguine, shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired. That we wish this so to be observed appears from the fact that of our own free will, before the outbreak of the present dispute between us and king Robert of Mercia, we granted and confirmed by charter the freedom of the Church's ecclesiastic courts - a right reckoned to be of the greatest necessity and importance to the spiritual lords. Likewise have we granted to other divinities, and by this charter confirm the allowance of a prelature of those faiths which support good and wise rulership, always allowing one bishop only to each shire. This freedom we shall observe ourselves, and desire to be observed in good faith by our heirs in perpetuity.

[Roelen]

No, I haven't heard of it ?ut it sounds amazing! Do you have any medieval-irish shires yet or should I form my own? How do I join? And if I form a shire what would my feudal title be? Also, which group is going to lead the kingdom? Sorry for all the questions...
Edit: Okay I see that you are knighted upon becomimg a fiefdom... so what would the rank be prior? Thane/yeoman or similar? What about RPing a Baronet.

[Altus]

No, I can't remember there ever being any Irish-themed shires in Hyperion. I haven't actually ever read about Irish culture in the feudal era, but it sounds like a cool idea.

The way it works is that already functioning and active clans choose to become vassals. When a clan gets going and learns what they're all about, what they can offer as a vassal and what they need in return from their liege lord, a fealty can be discussed.

The Kingdom is led by His Majesty King Manus, who through "The Crown" constitutes the supreme executive and judiciary government. As for legislation, there is the House of Lords consisting of Peers (tenant-in-chief Barons and higher), and the House of Commons consisting of knights. Laws are passed when voted through by parliament and signed by the king. Shires are free to create their own local laws in addition to this.

The smallest unit that can be made a vassal is a Serjeanty, led by a landed Serjeant. Since they are so small, Serjeanties are usually made vassals of existing shires of the kingdom.

A Thane is traditionally a variant of the knight role for leaders of clans who may not be very feudal in their own internal clan structure.

Baronets are traditionally a civilian variant of the knight. I don't think we've ever had any landed baronets since all our vassals were usually warriors. A baronet can technically still be a military officer, but it's rare since historically only knighthood was associated with chivalry and heavy mounted combat.


It takes a lot of time and energy to build a clan. Normally you want a couple of loyal friends to found it together with, so you have some trusted right-hand men. Having a very good idea on paper, and finding some interested co-founders on a forums can work too.

Those with a social talent for leading and rallying people around an idea or cause can become knights very quickly, since that's very much what being a knight is all about.


edit: Ops, I forgot to actually link the Carta Solis.

http://www.lumensolis.com/showthread.ph ... arta-Solis

The section in which it is posted, you also have a lot of Oaths of Fealty sworn by various clans over the years.

[Krevente]

As a Knight of Hyperion I have taken on several squires and the squiring system is a legitimate way to vet potential leaders who may be granted their own lands in the form of a fiefdom.

The great thing about Hyperion is that you can still participate as a 5 or 10 person guild and retain your identity, but be part of something larger. It also means that each feudal tier in the hierarchy represent an actual living part of the Kingdom. Duchies feel like duchies and not hollow 5-man self proclaimed empires. Each of the Shires within the Kingdom also have their own unique culture. The Crowned Republic of the Silver Sun is Italian while the Duchy of Wessex is English as Altus explained. It's pretty cool to see the whole thing in action.

Also, Azerath is our Bishop and plays a fire and brimstone leaning priest.

We also do historical re-enactment through the Society for Creative Anachronism, so a lot of the mechanics that drive Hyperion are something we do in RL with thousands of fighters on the field in grand melees with archers, siege weapons, the whole thing. It's not your typical LARP with fireballs and lightning bolts, but a full contact sport with some of us doing full steel combat even.