Bloodlines of Anuire

[DM B]

BLOODLINES IN ANUIRE
The blood endures, but men are mortal. This important axiom tells use that while the divine blood has a great ability to preserve itself over the ages blooded humans are no less mortal or prolific than commoners. Disease, feud, war, injury, infertility...all the things that make life difficult for nobility in non-blooded circles are also a problem for the blooded. Moreover the divine blood needs to rule, or it will grow weak...so that lesser branches of great houses will wither have to forge their own destinies elsewhere, intermarry with a ruling family, or face eventual degradation and extinction

So while you would think that after 1500+ years there would be loads and loads of scions the fact is that the number has remained relatively stable over the years. In the 16th Century there are perhaps slightly more scions that existed during the dark years from 1200-1350 HC, but those that exits are on average quite a bit weaker than the norm was in earlier ages.

BLOODLINE STRENGTH
True - There are no True bloodlines in Anuire anymore, except if you count the Gorgon's True Azrai bloodline. The Roele Emperors used to have True bloodlines of Anduiras (at least up until 800 HC) - by the time of Michael the Last, the Roele line was only Great. El-Arrasi had a True bloodline of Basaïa following his victory over the Anuireans, but this lineage is but a shadow of its former self. A few other powerful awnsheghlien have True bloodlines of Azrai (or at least the Serpent does).

Great - There are but two Great bloodlines in Anuire - that of Boer and Avan (both Anduiras). King Raenech's bloodline was said to have been Great at the height of his career (but sources disagree if it was of Anduiras or Azrai). The Spider and Rhuobhe the Manslayer (though some claim that his line is True) may have Great bloodlines of Azrai. During the heyday of the Empire more bloodlines were Great; Aeren (Masela), Diem (Brenna), Alam (Basaïa), Mhor (Anduiras), as well as that of the Chamberlains - Dosiere (Anduiras). Other lineages might have been Great for shorter periods of time.

Major - Major bloodlines of every derivation are found in Anuire today, but they are not very common. Only the greatest of the noble houses (royalty or high nobility) have major lines today; basically the ruling houses (most, but not all!) of major realms and a smattering of lesser houses that rule small realms but have much prestige. Those lines that remain Major are very concerned with preserving their status (through marriage or otherwise). The Diem line is a famous (and once Great) bloodline that has survived since Deismaar, while the Roesone line is a Minor line that has grown in strength and prominence to major.

Minor - Minor bloodlines are by far the most common variety. Although it's rare for sovereigns or major high nobility to have Minor lines they are all the more common among the lesser nobility (those that actually rule significant fiefs, plus some that constitute the true lesser nobility of any realm) and in non-noble circles. Minor lines are forever trying to improve in station, preferable by marriages to more powerful lines.

Weak - Weak bloodlines are just...weaker...varieties of Minor bloodlines. They are also 'common', but less so than minor lines. Weak bloodlines are usually possessed by those lineages that lack ties to the nobility altogether, lesser branches of stronger lines or the result of scion/commoner liaisons. A Weak line that does not rule a significant fief, fares badly on intermarries with commoners will soon find that their divine blood dissipates forever.

BLOODLINE SCORE
For RoE II (slightly altered from RoE I). The strength of a bloodline is directly tied to bloodline score; if the score passes a threshold your line automatically qualifies as being of a better strength.

Weak 1-15 (previously 1-20)
Minor 16-30 (previously 21-40)
Major 31-60 (previously 41-60)
Great 61-100 (as before)
True 101+ (as before)

BLOOD ABILITIES
In RoE II you can only have blood abilities that are no more powerful than your bloodlines strength. So tainted lines never manifest any abilities (but can still rule domains), minor lines get max minor abilities, and so on. There are no True blood abilities - True bloodlines just get a lot of lesser abilities 

BLOODLINE DERIVATION
The most common bloodline derivation in Anuire is that of Anduiras (about 30-40% of the total).

Other common derivations include Masela, Brenna and Basaïa (about 15-20% each).

Derivations of Reynir and Vorynn and are relatively rare in Anuire (about 5-10% each).

The derivation of Azrai is also not common (less then 5%), and scions with this derivation also face a social handicap (if the derivation is known).

[DM B]

The following information also touches upon the Noble Titles subject

NOBILITY AND THE BLOOD
The noble class of Anuire - those people that traditionally/legally/whatever belongs to the noble class that is - make up between 3-5% of the total population of Anuire. This number can vary somewhat from realm to realm; in the ancient and aristocratic Diemed the number exceeds 5% with a good margin, in young and vigorous Roesone the number is also quite high (around 5%) owing to completely different reasons, in Tornilen the number is down to perhaps only 1%. The Dieman heartland has more than half a million people, meaning there will be around 25.000 members of the noble class living there - the outlying areas have somewhat less, but in all there is at least 35.000 people in greater Diemed that are considered nobles.

The greater majority (three quarters at least) of these nobles belongs to the lesser nobility. They are the landed knights and baronets that rule anything from a single poor manor and up to large conglomerations of wealthy manors. Although vastly richer than a commoner they are not really wealthy in any sense of the word; they usually have obligations to match their incomes. The families of such lesser nobles are considered to belong to the noble class, even if they do not, as individuals, always come under the definition of noble. So if we concentrate on the Dieman heartland that accounts for near enough 20.000 of those 25.000. It is very uncommon for nobles such as these to be scions. Not impossible, but rare - since they will usually either rise to greater station or vanish altogether.

The remaining 1% of the total population (this figure is relatively stable throughout Anuire, varying less than the percentage of lesser nobility) comprises the upper echelons of the nobility. The high nobility is divided into a number of families (or Houses as they are more commonly called - House Diem being the most prominent). Here the word 'family' must be taken in the widest possible sense - a House normally comprises all scions that bear common blood, unless they are females that are married of, or scions that have been given the right to found their own lesser Houses (which is a fairly common way to reward loyal and/or troublesome nobles - most such minor houses die out within a century or two, if not sooner). A very large house could have a hundred (or more!) members...spread over multiple generations...and often living in widely different places (in feudal Anuire relatives are used to oversee your affairs - to keep them fed, occupied, and out of the way). A lesser house could have only a few members, but would then be in very real danger of being extinguished. More typical houses will have from a dozen and upwards; the family head, his uncles/aunts, cousins, his own immediate family, his children, and perhaps grandchildren.

Continuing with the Dieman example we have 5.000 people spread over a number of Houses. House Diem is the most important, followed by the Houses of the Counts, and a smattering of other semi-major families (OOC: Viscounts that do not appear in the P&H). If we assume 25 scions per House (perhaps somewhat low, but we'll just say there are quite a few smaller sub-branches) that's 200 Houses in Diemed. About 20 of those are big and important enough to be considered to belong to the topmost level; they are the families of Barons, Counts - and perhaps important Viscounts. The rest are of lesser station, but still far above the lesser nobility, and fit to serve and mingle with their betters. The topmost tier of nobles will always be scion families (even should a commoner rise so high in station he would certainly marry into a noble bloodline - a viable, if costly, option). The lower tier of high nobility may or may not be blooded - and even if they are blooded their lines will likely be very weak.

So in Diemed there will be at least 500 scions of good breeding; Minor bloodlines that is, with correspondingly fewer Major (and above) lines (most realms will have only a couple of those - the). But remember that this number includes everyone...the old, the young, women. So the real number of male adult scions will be quite a bit less. There is also going to be some scion families within the lesser Houses - some might have Minor bloodlines (lower end) and some will have Weak lines. Perhaps another 500 scions or so.