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Having gotten the itch to play Kingmaker again after the release of Paths of Prestige, I was wondering about some of the specifics of the Aldori swordpact and what it demands of its adherents. From what little I've read, it sounds as much a way of life as it is a school for fighting, and I'm wondering how all of it coalesces into a swordlord character.
First off, are the Swordlords different from the noble houses of Brevoy (Medvyed, Surtova, etc.)? It seems like while Brevoy was on the surface a united country, Issia and Rostland maintained their own ways of doing things. Are the noble houses ALL Issians? If not, which ones are which?
Secondly, I read somewhere that when you become a swordlord, you're supposed to change your last name to Aldori as Baron Sirian did. Is that true? How does that affect things like marriage and inheritance? It looked like, when I read about Mivon, which is made up of expatriate swordlords, that that convention wasn't in place, as if it were then all people in positions of power should be [first name] Aldori.
I know there's a bit about "not giving up Swordlord secrets to those not of the swordpact" but I'm not exactly certain what the general swordlord mentality or way of life is. I want to make a character that's knowledgeable about these things so I can do the archetype justice.
I seem to recall that House Lebeda is quite Rostlandic, whereas the others are all predominantly Issian.
I don't see why changing your family name to 'Aldori' should mean you lose any inheritance you may be entitled to. Particularly in a region like Brevoy where the Aldori are so ingrained in society. I doubt there would be any legal issue around marriage or inheritance.
When I ran Kingmaker, I had my players visit Mivon, so I needed to come up with some background and cultural stuff around the ex-pat Swordlords. I simply had them revert to their old family names when they fled Rostland, since they didn't maintain Aldori ideals. That also goes some way to explain why the Mivoni and Aldori are so antagonistic to each other. The Aldori see the Mivoni as weak, cowardly, and betrayers of the Swordpact, while the Mivoni see the Aldori as arrogant and have to make up for the way they have historically been portrayed. Their history also explains why they produce so many warriors and mercenaries now. The Mivoni are overcompensating for their past and their reputation.
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I thought that with the name change came an obligation to your brother swordlords. That by joining the swordpact, you leave your old life behind. Whoever you were before, noble or commoner, that person's gone now. There is only the swordpact and the dream that one day Rostland will be free.
That's sort of something. What exactly DO Issians and Rostlanders have against each other. At least from what I read it's basically that the Issians were largely spared by Choral the Conqueror because they surrendered to him and married into his family, while the Rostlanders chose to fight and were crushed for it. But the books also talk of "years of injustices committed by arrogant Issians" so it seems like this rivalry was present even before Choral showed up. How do swordlords view other people?
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Lebeda and Rogarvia are both old Rostland and have strong swordlord contingents within them. Technically both are now ruled by Choral's appointees(Issian or previously Iobarian leaders). Restov is described as a city that has the strongest Swordlord presence, so it seems almost like a free city that is unofficially ruled by them? I don't think that point is clear. It also seems to imply that since House Rogarvia and Choral disappeared, the area they once directly ruled is sort of up for grabs, hence why Restov can get away with being somewhat owned by the swordlords.
Rostland=Farm belt, Issian= everything north where crops don't grow as well. I think that was the main distinction beforehand.