Questions and answers, #7: Who gets your stuff?
As stated in this post, I am answering ten questions about Toby's world in preparation for the release of A Red-Rose Chain. Please note that these are questions about the world, not questions about individual people, things which have not yet happened in the series, or what is coming up in the books. I am still taking questions in the comments on the original post.
Our seventh question comes from greenhafling, who asked...
"How does one inherit a title or fiefdom in the October-verse? Does blood count more than power?"
This question highlights probably the biggest difference between the Divided Courts (Seelie, Unseelie, and Oberon's) and the Court of Cats. Among the Divided Courts, blood counts. Among the Court of Cats, power counts.
Functionally, this means that changelings can never inherit lands or titles from their parents, regardless of Court. The Court of Cats would absolutely respect a changeling Prince or Princess who challenged for the throne, but the chances of a) such an individual existing (there is no record of such) and b) winning are vanishingly small. Really, a changeling could challenge, but would lose, because they wouldn't have the power for it. The power levels necessary to be called "Prince" or "Princess" are not directly inherited; they can appear at random in a bloodline that has never shown that kind of strength. Most Kings and Queens are not related to their heirs.
But oh, the Divided Courts. There, only blood matters. Not power, not fitness to rule, nothing but blood. And changelings can never, never inherit. In the case of multiple potential heirs, such as September, Sylvester, and Simon, the inheritance can be split up. This is why Simon got a title with no land, September got nothing, and Sylvester got his father's sword and a letter of introduction to King Gilad's parents, so that he could prove himself a hero and get the land that he believed he deserved.
Now, hope chests can make this interesting. Let's pretend, for a moment, that a King--call him King Bob--had a changeling daughter and no other heir. In time, the girl has a child. If King Bob uses a hope chest on his grandson, does his grandson (now a pureblood) inherit?
Yes.
There are a lot of reasons that some people dislike changelings, and like merlins even less.
Our seventh question comes from greenhafling, who asked...
"How does one inherit a title or fiefdom in the October-verse? Does blood count more than power?"
This question highlights probably the biggest difference between the Divided Courts (Seelie, Unseelie, and Oberon's) and the Court of Cats. Among the Divided Courts, blood counts. Among the Court of Cats, power counts.
Functionally, this means that changelings can never inherit lands or titles from their parents, regardless of Court. The Court of Cats would absolutely respect a changeling Prince or Princess who challenged for the throne, but the chances of a) such an individual existing (there is no record of such) and b) winning are vanishingly small. Really, a changeling could challenge, but would lose, because they wouldn't have the power for it. The power levels necessary to be called "Prince" or "Princess" are not directly inherited; they can appear at random in a bloodline that has never shown that kind of strength. Most Kings and Queens are not related to their heirs.
But oh, the Divided Courts. There, only blood matters. Not power, not fitness to rule, nothing but blood. And changelings can never, never inherit. In the case of multiple potential heirs, such as September, Sylvester, and Simon, the inheritance can be split up. This is why Simon got a title with no land, September got nothing, and Sylvester got his father's sword and a letter of introduction to King Gilad's parents, so that he could prove himself a hero and get the land that he believed he deserved.
Now, hope chests can make this interesting. Let's pretend, for a moment, that a King--call him King Bob--had a changeling daughter and no other heir. In time, the girl has a child. If King Bob uses a hope chest on his grandson, does his grandson (now a pureblood) inherit?
Yes.
There are a lot of reasons that some people dislike changelings, and like merlins even less.