Crucian Inheritance and the Satrapy

Though the outward face of Crux, the Judiciary and the Judicial Enforcement Services, is the most widely recognized, it is the Primeborn who manage the lands, Levies, and day-to-day affairs of the House. Through complex laws of inheritance, marriage, and devious plots made in secret, Primeborn rise and fall, as they have for centuries, an endless game of power and intrigue.

The Levies

In order to manage the immense task of law enforcement across the Empire, and to adequately defend Crucian interests, many serfs of House Crux serve both in the Judicial Enforcement Services and the House Guard. These serfs are not directly part of either institution in most cases, but contracted from the Nobility of House Crux, especially the Primeborn, who are technically their Noble Lords. A certain percentage of a Nobles’ serfs are expected to be available at any time to serve in the JES or the House Guard when called upon, and to follow the orders and chain of command of those institutions when serving them. 

Levies always rank below their Noble counterparts, and are typically not permitted to question or arrest Nobility unless no Noble officers are present and the situation requires expediency. That said, Levies are able to perform many of the same functions as Noble officers when engaging with freepeople and serfs, though they are still expected to follow the orders and direction of their Noble officers.

Levies do not have official titles, simply referred to as “Levy,” by their Noble counterparts, but are still often organized into units and hierarchies that have led to a number of unofficial titles. These “titles,” are not cohesive across Crux, and in fact may differ between different units of Levies serving on the same vessel.

The Crucian Satrapy

Across Hiera and Crux’s other holdings in the Empire, Primeborn are the administrators and governors, overseeing lands, liasing with other Primeborn or local leadership for lands not on Hiera, managing vassals and levies, and handling political matters. This is referred to as the Crucian Satrapy, which is also the name of the leading council of prominent Primeborn that oversees the Satrapy as a whole on behalf of and in subservience to the Crucian government.

Most of the Levies and other Serfs of House Crux can claim a Primeborn as their legal liege. It is the responsibility of the Primeborn to house and sustain their serfs, put them to work for the good of Crux and the Empire, and maintain the training of Levy Serfs when they are not serving the JES or House Guard. House Guard Officers, often Kriegsherr, Kapitän, or Feldherr, are frequently assigned to ensure Primeborn nobles are properly maintaining their Levies, lead training exercises, and manage the Levies in defense of their Noble’s lands or in aggression against another Noble’s lands in a Duel. House Guard and JES Noble officers are not expected to be subordinate to a Primeborn who’s Levies they are working with, and in fact more often than not are put in place to make sure Primeborn are following through on their expected duties to the House.

In terms of land ownership, Hiera and other Crucian holdings are a complex weave of Primeborn and Noble vassals, more often the result of centuries-old negotiations, marriages, and conflicts than some sort of legal grand plan for land division. While some lands may have a hierarchy of Primeborn controlling ever smaller subsections, ranking down from Furst to Freiherr, others may be managed by a single Primeborn, their title often determined by the scope of their holdings or inheritance and tradition. In the context of high-density areas such as Ven City, different city blocks may be run by different Primeborn, or a Primeborn may own several disconnected blocks miles apart, or a single, towering apartment building may be all a Freiherr can lay claim to. At times Primeborn may even elect to work as a council or alliance of families, several working together to manage their combined lands and assets. Primeborn will also sometimes control entities such as corporations, space stations, and other exoplanetary objects that are not tied directly to a specific plot of Hieran land. Additionally, the power of individual Primeborn is always in flux through political maneuverings, lawsuits, marriages, power shifts, and other machinations that constantly shift the playing field. A Furst may wake up in the morning to find themselves a Markgraf in the evening if they are not ruthlessly careful to maintain their lands and assets.

Some Primeborn, desiring assistance in managing their lands and levies, will also employ vassals rather than other Primeborn. The reason for this is simple. Vassals are much less likely to have any ability to overthrow, conspire or politically maneuver against, or undermine a Primeborn than another Primeborn would. Vassals employed to serve the Satrapy must follow it and House Crux’s laws and rules, but their power is considerably less than what a Primeborn might otherwise have in the same position.

Crucian Inheritance

Names hold great power in House Crux. To be born with a name of strength and renown is to live a life maintaining and defending it, and to be born with a lowly name of little repute is to spend a lifetime laboring and plotting to see its power grow. As with the Satrapy, Inheritance is no simple thing in House Crux. Rather than a singular method, the laws of House Crux and the Empire allows for many possibilities, chosen and enforced by individual families. Crucian families are large, powerful, and often fiercely independent of each other, and will typically maintain a chosen form of inheritance out of stubborness and tradition for many generations. Changing one’s form of inheritance is a lengthy and difficult process in order to prevent manipulation of the system, but that doesn’t mean such tactics are never employed.

Primeborn, in addition to their duties listed above, are also the heads of their families. It is they who inherit from the Primeborn before them, and who control the greatest portion of the family lands, wealth, and assets. While a Primeborn may elect to divide such things amongst their Noble kin, it is ultimately their decision if, when, and to whom they should do so. 

Because of Trilliant LET, and the extended lives of modern Nobility in general, certain older forms of inheritance and newly developed ones have become more popular in recent decades, so as to prevent a single individual from reigning as Primeborn in perpetuity. This has led to a great many disagreements, some legal, others verbal, and others still of a more violent and devious nature, but such is the nature of family. 

Additionally, through marriage, a Crucian Noble and their spouse may elect to begin a new family, choosing a new surname and sometimes hyphenating it with their previous one or ones. This can drastically reduce their power and notoriety, simply by choosing to distance themselves from a powerful birth name, but it also allows one of them to become a new Primeborn of their new family. It is a dangerous choice, taking one’s own lands, wealth, and assets under the title of a new family, but can also afford new opportunities for growth and freedom.

Below are some of the methods of inheritance employed by Crucian families. It is by no means an exhaustive list, but serves to exemplify the system. Less legal methods of inheritance also exist, but these are deeds done in the dead of night or with careful planning, executed by only the most devious and cunning of Nobles.

Absolute Primogeniture

By this method, the firstborn of each generation inherits the role of Primeborn when the firstborn of the previous generation dies. This method has become rarer in recent years, as Trilliant LET has brought the prospect of immortality into the equation, but with two recent wars and LET still an expensive procedure, many families have yet to encounter the difficulties that others have faced. Some Primeborn have also allegedly encountered “rare LET side effects,” or had “terrible skiing accidents,” that have handily resolved the possible problems of extended life.

Tenure

In more recent decades, a system of passing inheritance from firstborn to firstborn after a set number of years has become more popular. Typically, the maximum duration of a Primeborn’s rule has been set to around 200 years, though shorter durations have been utilized, at which point they abdicate their responsibilities to the next generation’s firstborn. This method of inheritance is largely designed to prevent younger family members from conspiring against their long-lived elders or splintering off through marriage into families of their own.

Appointment

Rather than passing the role of Primeborn directly from firstborn to firstborn, Appointment puts the weight of the decision entirely on a family’s current Primeborn. At any point in their life, though some families may set limits as with Tenure, a Primeborn will appoint their heir and choose a time of that heir’s inheritance. While tradition dictates that the heir be a firstborn, or a firstborn of some branch of the family at least, more controversial Primeborn have chosen other family members instead, often causing familial divides and conflict.

Absolute Gavelkind

A more complex but sometimes necessary form of inheritance, Absolute Gavelkind distributes land amongst all direct heirs when a Primeborn dies or elects to abdicate their position. While a Primeborn may choose who receives which portions of the inheritance and how much, it is more often the case that a family’s assets are divided equally. Unlike historical Gavelkind, which focused exclusively on male heirs, Crucian Absolute Gavelkind places no distinction upon gender for the purposes of determining inheritance. This often results in a more powerful Primeborn, such as a Furst, being replaced with many less powerful Primeborn, such as Markgrafs, and indirectly divides a family into many smaller families or family units. Absolute Gavelkind is more rare, but may sometimes be invoked when it is apparent that a family would otherwise lose their lands or assets to another family and when the Judiciary steps in to prevent too much control from a single family. Land monopolies are very closely watched for and actively prevented through the legal imposition of Absolute Gavelkind.

Elective Succession

Rather than placing the power within the hands of a current Primeborn, some families choose an elective method, a chosen number of the most powerful and renowned family members picking who will succeed the current Primeborn. Again, as is tradition, the choice is often a firstborn, but as with Appointment this method allows for flexibility. At a predetermined point, sometimes the death of the current Primeborn, other times a certain number of years, the chosen family members gather, deliberate, and cast votes to determine who will be the next Primeborn. In the case of a tie, revotes may be held or a family member designated as the tiebreaker. In rare cases, with indecision proving insurmountable, the case may be taken to the leadership of House Crux to decide.

Noble Duel

In some families, inheritance and the role of Primeborn may only pass down when the current Primeborn either dies or is successfully dueled for their title under the legal supervision of House Reticulum and House Crux. Because Noble Duels are legal within the Empire, employing them as a method of inheritance and succession is also technically legal. Typically, a firstborn will spend many years either finding the right Reticulum duelist or training themselves to face the current Primeborn. Should they succeed, killing either the current Primeborn or the Primeborn's own chosen duelist, the challenger inherits the role of Primeborn. Should they fail, losing their life or that of their duelist, the next in line, either a firstborn of another branch or a second-born etc., is tasked with achieving victory. Rarely, if they did not die themselves, will the challenger be allowed a second chance. This method has also at times led family members who are not firstborn to rise to prominence, managing to convince the sitting Primeborn to a duel and landing an unexpected victory.

An amusing result of this method of inheritance has been the difficulty a challenger has in matching the resources a Primeborn is able to expend towards recruiting a skilled duelist. Because the challenger will often be less directly wealthy, some have taken to proposing marriage to Reticulum duelists they wish to employ, or finding themselves proposed to first. Should the duelist succeed, they would thus not only gain a great deal of power and wealth for the challenger, but also for themselves.

The exact terms of the duels are somewhat fluid between families, beyond the requirement that these always be duels to the death. Some families establish a certain age a Primeborn or their challenger must reach before the Duel can take place. Others require only firstborns be eligible, or that a limit be set on spending towards the hire of a Reticulum duelist. The list goes on.

Council Rule

More a form of family management than inheritance, Council Rule has a powerful impact on inheritance because it involves several Primeborn running a family or alliance of families as a council. Often the result of large and powerful families marrying into one another, Council Rule requires that a certain number of Primeborn always be at the head of a family or alliance of families, and as such various methods of inheritance, including those above, will be employed to bring younger generations into power. This often results in Primeborn of several generations sitting together on their family’s Council, but is often necessary for the largest and most powerful families of House Crux.