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The current infernal Thrice Damed House of Thrune only came to power 60 years ago. I am going to guess that the "Para-count" etc, are the "new nobility" those who whose power and fortunes are directly tied to the House of Thrune and the "new" infernal regime.
I am guessing that the "para" prefix is used to distinguish the new from the old nobility.
I hope this helps
Hmm. The only paracount mentioned in "Cheliax, Empire of Devils" is the ruler of western Cheliax, suggesting that paracounts/paracountesses are of a higher rank than "ordinary" counts/countesses.
Ah, found a mention in "The Inner Sea World Guide" as well:
Many of the ruling houses claim titles such as paracount or paraduke, with the loftiest titles frequently going to those families who only gained nobility with the rise of House Thrune.
Wasnt it just invented as a cool sounding prefix to titles by one of the module writers (Michael Kortes in J1 - Entombed With the Pharaohs maybe)?
I seem to remember reading that somewhere - that they liked the concept, so it became canon, but that the various titles havent been fleshed out in any great depth.
Isger always feels left out…
If I remember various devs' statements (and I may not), James Jacobs feels they're vanity titles, while others seem to disagree.
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I asked Zarta Dralneen this very question but she said the answer involved a riding crop, three trained monkeys, four gallons of olive oil and a safe word
The safe word was in infernal :(
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There's the canonical origin from Jistka to consider as well. The Hellknight orders supposedly base their ranks (paravicar, maralictor, and on and on) off of old Jistkan military hierarchy, which at its height included parts of southern Cheliax.
I'd go with the idea that the "para-" prefix is kind of a mix of "better than", but there doesn't appear to be regular countesses in Cheliax anymore, so I'm assuming the usage is now kinda a snub to Taldor and other nations with "regular" nobility.
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I asked Zarta Dralneen this very question but she said the answer involved a riding crop, three trained monkeys, four gallons of olive oil and a safe word
The safe word was in infernal :(
Buddy of mine is playing a Chelaxian in PFS, and has made it his unofficial goal to collect all of the "recover this nude portrait of me" Paracountess faction missions. I know there's at least two, and I think there might be three. It's why I drew Zarta Dralneen's Faction Reward (NSFW).
The correct answer is 'my kind of woman'. ;)
But on a more serious note, I figure it's a vanity title, or something akin to an escalation game among the nobility of who is granted (or claims for themselves) a higher title than their peers, like how you end up with Dukes, Grand Dukes, and Archdukes.
See also this thread...
These are faux noble titles created by House Thrune to pad the aristocracy with its cronies and sycophants. These titles are generally for sale or are granted as a reward of service.
Ah yes, it was Erik, not James.
That said, para-titles seem to occupy clear positions in the Hellknight chain of command.
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Hellknights predate the ascension of House Thrune (if not the founding of House Thrune itself, which goes back at least a couple hundred years), and as I mentione before, their ranks are from old Jistkan military stuff. So I could see Thrune liking the idea and "borrowing" it from the Hellknights. Thrune and the Hellknights are on good terms, for the most part, so I don't see why Hellknights would mind if there's governmental para-whatevers to go with their military para-other things. Every man a tyrant, after all.
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Buddy of mine is playing a Chelaxian in PFS, and has made it his unofficial goal to collect all of the "recover this nude portrait of me" Paracountess faction missions. I know there's at least two, and I think there might be three. It's why I drew Zarta Dralneen's Faction Reward (NSFW).
*points* Nekkid.
Q: What's a paracountess?
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Bro Im going to be honest. A quick search of mine did not turn much up.
PF has a basic guide for slave costs but even those get murky when special gets involved.
For instance if the party needs to buy someone to free them, it all cool if you want source material for a level three expert in migratory habits of creatures in garund, but throw in a ninja pirate information broker who has some hot details on the mating habits of a few taldane noles and suddenly your shooting from the hip.
Basically, things get wonky. My advice is dont make the mistake of assuming importance immediately begets one a "bazillion gold ransom.. ah ah ah!!!"
If you feel the rules are not fulfilling your idea of whats needed or whats awesome, spice it up. Just remember, when adding spice one needs to know the difference between teaspoon and tablespoon.
The last time a noble was kidnapped and held for ransom in one of my games, I arbitrarily set the ransom at 5,000 gp.
That ransom was never actually paid, though. Instead the PCs were awarded the same amount for thwarting the kidnapping.
If the PCs begin kidnapping nobles, I would expect similar things to occur. Rather than just keeling over and paying, there would frequently be rescue attempts (perhaps in addition to pretending to seek an exchange).
Contributor
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The last time a noble was kidnapped and held for ransom in one of my games, I arbitrarily set the ransom at 5,000 gp.
That ransom was never actually paid, though. Instead the PCs were awarded the same amount for thwarting the kidnapping.
If the PCs begin kidnapping nobles, I would expect similar things to occur. Rather than just keeling over and paying, there would frequently be rescue attempts (perhaps in addition to pretending to seek an exchange).
This was an honourable and respectable tradition in the Middle Ages, so long as the kidnapping happened on the battlefield. In the 1360s, the Comte d'Eu was sold for 80,000 florins. That's gold pieces - florins were the standard gold coin of Europe.
While some of these posts are usefull and others not as much, the question of their ransom value remains unanswered.
Considering there is no hard and fast set of rules on ransoming nobility, that's a GM call. Since these paracounts/countesses appear to be more powerful, politically, than their non-prefixed counterparts (no pun intended), it would stand to reason that kidnappers would demand high ransoms. How much, however, would depend on varying factors: Is the family known to be wealthy? How smart are the kidnappers? How much in liquid assets could the house feasibly gather together in a short amount of time? Would the kidnappers be aware of that fact?
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The Lands of the Linnorm Kings book has some prices for ransoming off captives. It's based off of HD or CR, but I don't have it at-hand ATM, and when I do, I won't be near internet, so no good on that front. IIRC, it also includes suggestions for how to ransom off more politically important folks.
So even though a 1st-level aristocrat, say, might normally be ransomed cheap, if she's Paracountess Blabbity d'Stuffnsuch, the price could go up considerably. Price can also be affected by some weregild considerations, so if you beat the crap outta that Paracountess when you captured her, or are ransoming her body for burial, price drops dramatically. You're supposed to keep them pretty well cared for if you want big ransom bucks.
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Don't forget, of course, that what's big bucks vs. chump change varies from PCs and NPCs as well. A castle in Ultimate Campaign (which I just picked up and am still working my way through) can be bought for 7,390 gp in cash, should one somehow be on the market. That's the kind of money that high-level folks spend on baubles to fill out their equipment christmas tree. Or it's a simple laborer's earnings over the course of over 202 years of working 365 days a year.
Obviously, the nobility have more cash than an unskilled ditch-digger. And nobility with actual class levels can be assumed to have quite a bit more. But I wouldn't expect some tens of thousands in payout for a paracountess. If she's worth that much, it's prolly easier/cheaper for the NPCs to hire NPC adventuring types to get her back than give some ransomers the price equivalent of a small barony.
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The Jistkan rank thing, possibly somehow retconned (but I don't think so; I think I've seen it mentioned twice now), could just be for the titles like vicarius, lictor, and armiger. The addition of Para- and mara- could be from new Chelaxian titles or something. Like they borrowed them to add to extant titles to fill in more ranks.
Though para- in the Hellknight context is definitely inferior to the non-prefixed titles. A paralictor (officer) is lower in rank than a lictor (head of a Helknight order).
But this is now pretty much off-topic, so I'll take my comments off the air. :P
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The old-time canonista in me might further suggest that "Para" is in fact intended to be an inferior title, like House Thrune had to cut a deal so that their new breed of devil-involved aristocracy were granted title, but title that would mark them as "inferior" to the existing aristocracy. In the meantime, the "lesser" title became a badge of courage and a sort of badge of loyalty that increased their fortunes in Cheliax with the rise of House Thrune and its allies.
That's how I'd consider putting it, were I to write about this stuff officially.
I thought it could have indicated both a normal 'secular' title to nobility, and role in the church of Asmodeus.
big A is all about heirarchies and power and what not, so he wouldn't want the church ranks to establish parallel power,
but rather accept, coopt, and surpass the existing power structures... thus "para countess".
erik's idea is pretty cool too though, maybe they could even intersect...
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I'm still thinking you should set up the ransom as a CR-appropriate treasure award. That way it's not a pittance (which would be "punishing" clever behavior) but it's also not a game-breaking Monty Haul (making kidnapping more lucrative than adventuring and turning your game into Countessfinder). Grab your PC's APL, look up an award for an encounter in the Core, and pass out the cash.
If they're planning on ransoming off paracountesses as a regular thing, I've got my copy of Lands of the Linnorm Kings, and the simple math is 25% of the expected treasure value for the creature's CR, but that is modified by piles of different factors.
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Para- means, in Greek, "beside, abnormal" (as in paranormal).
So a Paratrooper is an abnormal trooper? :)
I'm down with that. Anyone who wants to purposely jump out of a perfectly good airplane into the teeth of armed defenses has to be a bit crazy.
Actually, paratrooper is from parachute, which is from Parare - to ward off, and 'chute,' French, "a fall."
That reading gives "para-" in a title as potentially meaning "to protect."
Interestingly, the prefix "vice-" as in viscount (Latin vicecomes) means 'beside, in the place of,' like the Greek para- and hence we could read paracountess as a variation on viscountess. This is a lower ranking noble that acts in the stead of a count; it's also = Vice-President.
So there's a perfectly logical etymology I overlooked that corresponds to the usage of paralictor among the Hellknights: a noble or officer who is given the duties of a higher ranking person for when they can't be present.
This also agrees with what the devs said above. It's a lesser title. However, Thrune could be appointing Paracounts or Parabarons to act in the stead of greater nobles they don't trust...
"Para-" can also mean "as good or better than" as in Philip von Hohenheim's psuedonym "Paracelsus".