1. All domains still retain a central river, but the terrain of the river hexes should now be whatever terrain type is optimal for that particular race. Humans still get grassland as their optimal terrain, elves get forest, dwarves (and gnome Tricksters) get hills, and saurian (aka, "Thrassian") gladiators get swamp. The surrounding terrain is still determined by the world map, and the roll to see the terrain on both sides is rising, level, or descending is still made as usual.
2. Since I can't think of any other way to solve the problem of diluting a domain's land value, it is now possible to divide a ruler's domains into multiple estates. This is an optional rule that can be ignored if desired. The land value of each estate is calculated independently, and its population is tracked independently. An estate's population is assumed to be divided evenly over all hexes in that estate. By default, your starting domain is made up of a single estate, the ruler's "personal estate".
At any time, you may divide an estate into two separate smaller estates. New construction of towers or secondary strongholds may expand an existing estate, or create a new estate based around those structures. Once an estate is created, it must be tracked separately from that point on. It can never be recombined with another estate (this could lead to various rule exploits affecting population). Once a family settles in an estate, it cannot be moved to any different estate except by subdivision.
Monthly population gains and losses may be distributed in any way desired over any estates within the domain, but the extra social bonus from ruins always applies to the estate that contains it.
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| Because a witch needs to rusticate now and then! |
3. By default, estates are owned by the domain's ruler. A ruler may gift an estate to a hero of that domain, establishing the estate as the personal property of that hero. In order to do this, the ruler must first create a manor house, a civilian structure that may be as large as desired, but must be equal in size to at least a longhouse. The hero then becomes a lord (or lady) of the estate, and runs a small staff at the manor house as a member of the gentry.
The monthly cost of upkeep for a manor house is 10% of the cost of the structure, reflecting the expense of food and drink, household servants, and grounds-keeping. This monthly expense counts as though it were "income" for the manor's lord, for the sake of calculating experience gains, at the end of any month when the lord is not doing anything else. (Even if the lord doesn't get this experience, the expenses must still be paid.) A lord can never be replaced while alive; if you want to create a new manorial lord, you'll need to create a new estate. The manor house itself, however, may be enlarged at any time.
Example: Robart Cradley, a knight of the realm, is to be gifted the small estate of Crantham by his domain's lord. An 8000 gp manor house (Dinton Abbey) is constructed for Sir Robart -- now Lord Crantham! -- and will cost the domain 800 gp each month in maintenance costs. Since Sir Robart is 1st level, his experience threshold is 25 gp. The challenges of managing his household staff grants him 800-25 = 775 exp of administrative experience every month.
Revenues and expenses for all estates are still combined each month, for ease of calculation, since (unlike full vassals with their own domains) an estate's lord is always a perfectly loyal hero (i.e., a player character). However, certain events (like a group of assassins) might strike at a manor's lord at the same time that they also make attempts on full vassals.
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