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So, "Cheliax, The Infernal Empire" gives some brief definitions of a bunch of noble titles that're used in Cheliax. Among them are Archcount(ess) and Archbaron(ess). Both of these titles share the same definition as a standard Count(ess)/Baron(ess): A hereditary rules of a County/Barony, respectively. The sidebar also explains that the titles are ranked from highest to lowest rank, suggesting (reasonably) that an Archcount(ess) is higher rank than a Count(ess), and the same for (Arch)baron(ess)es.
I was wondering if anyone knows of any source that further clarifies the differences between the titles with Arch-, and the ones without. If not, I'd appreciate anyone's ideas on how they'd differentiate the two. My first instinct, based on the fact that Archduchies are a higher region than duchies, would be to say that Archcounties are an administrative region between counties and duchies, and archbaronies are between baronies and counties. But that feels like it's overly complex. My second idea would be to say that Archbaron(ess)es and Archcount(ess)es are part of a noble house that allied with House Thrune during the Chelish Civil War, and thus have special legal privileges/rights, written into the Cheliax Covenant (the deal between Thrune and Hell)- such as it being much harder for House Thrune to revoke their titles.
But that's just me spitballing, and it's possible that there's already a published answer for this. So, if anyone knows, or has their own ideas, I'd love to hear!
When you find that, we can go look for the Paracounts and other Para-stuffs.
Creative Director
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When I started working on Hell's Rebels, I discovered that to that point, we had done pretty much zero work on defining the complicated list of titles the aristocracy gets in Cheliax. Until that point, we'd kinda been just making things up as we went, and that meant it was pretty complicated to then go back and figure out what all of them meant and what their hierarchy orders was. I remember Rob and I having some frustrating conversations as we tried to work that out so that the titles would make sense between "Hell's Rebels" and "Hell's Vengeance", the two Adventure Paths we were simultaneously working on. We started that work before Mark Moreland started work on developing "Cheliax, The Infernal Empire," and as I recall, while Rob and I had both assumed that a big section about the titles and names of the aristocracy was going to feature in that book... that information hadn't been communicated well.
As a result, we had to squeeze in those titles in the sidebar on page 3 of "Cheliax, The Infernal Empire," cutting some of the text from the book to make it fit. It was far from a perfect solution, but at least we got the list in there!
As far as I know, that sidebar is pretty much the sum total of what we've said about those titles in print. I'm sure we've mentioned a bit here and there scattered over the past 20 years or so of products, but that sidebar is pretty much the go-to spot for definitions.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
When I started working on Hell's Rebels, I discovered that to that point, we had done pretty much zero work on defining the complicated list of titles the aristocracy gets in Cheliax. Until that point, we'd kinda been just making things up as we went, and that meant it was pretty complicated to then go back and figure out what all of them meant and what their hierarchy orders was. I remember Rob and I having some frustrating conversations as we tried to work that out so that the titles would make sense between "Hell's Rebels" and "Hell's Vengeance", the two Adventure Paths we were simultaneously working on. We started that work before Mark Moreland started work on developing "Cheliax, The Infernal Empire," and as I recall, while Rob and I had both assumed that a big section about the titles and names of the aristocracy was going to feature in that book... that information hadn't been communicated well.
As a result, we had to squeeze in those titles in the sidebar on page 3 of "Cheliax, The Infernal Empire," cutting some of the text from the book to make it fit. It was far from a perfect solution, but at least we got the list in there!
As far as I know, that sidebar is pretty much the sum total of what we've said about those titles in print. I'm sure we've mentioned a bit here and there scattered over the past 20 years or so of products, but that sidebar is pretty much the go-to spot for definitions.
Funnily enough, I'm trying to dig up that info as I try to flesh out Ravounel for my Hell's Rebels campaign!
That's a shame that that section about the aristocracy wasn't able to make it into "Cheliax, The Infernal Empire", but I'm sure that that (and other compromises) was what was necessary to put out an otherwise great book- and the sidebar is a great jumping off point.
Thanks for taking the time to share how things went on the production side of things, Mr. Jacobs!