by
Krevente
» 26 Feb 2016, 00:05
Each shire is either a Duchy, County or Barony depending upon the size and composition. It also depends upon to whom you swear your vassalage to and what their status would be.
The Silver Sun Republic is a Crowned Mercantile Republic, which is the equivalent of a Duchy and I currently have two Baronies as direct vassals and two fiefdoms. Each of the Baronies could operate as guilds in their own right, but because of the relationship we all have together we have decided to all work as one shire. The fiefdoms I currently hold are longtime Republic members who have proven themselves as leaders and I grant them land and members as a sub-group roughly around 10 or 20 people depending on our activity at the time.
If you were to lead a border group, you would be a March Lord, which could make you a Marquis, but you could also be several other ranks depending upon your involvement/roster.
Ultimately, it all comes down to roster size, activity and involvement. We would negotiate your initial vassalage based upon several factors, but I recommend you join up, be active and recruit guys to your cause. It would be fair to our other vassals if you had three dudes and I made you a Baron. It also makes it more fun to grow with the group, too, so that if you start out with a Serjeantry and recruit enough people to grow then I could eventually name you a Count and split you off into your own County. It is how we've grown the Republic over time. When we go into other games or activity dies, then we may absorb that County back into the main group, but your legacy will stay in tact as recorded by our history and lore.
Several of our legacy military units are considered heritage units and they carry the banners of past famous groups, like our Gryphons of Gulghat who held out the city in Darkfall Online against the entire server for multiple sieges. Our premier infrantry unit carries their name across every game we play.