How to become a Freeholding Lord?

[Watson]

In our game, that is starting next week, one of the factions (ancient warlocks) is going to aim to become a Freeholding Lord as its main goal - what does they have to do to get this status?

[devonapple]

A Freeholding Lord is, as far as I can tell, a solitary individual (a dragon, Odin, Johnny Marcone) with enough power to count as a faction, and/or enough influence to be a potential threat the the sanctity of the Accords.

If the warlocks are under a particular leader, that would probably be easier to set up using the canonical information we have: that 3 Accord Signatories can approve the addition of a new Freeholding Lord.

If a faction is on the rise and wants to be taken seriously *as a faction* and be added to the Accords, it may be a similar process, but new factions aren't covered as explicitly as new Freeholding Lords.

With this type of thing, it will look to most of the other Accord Signatories as a rebel group splitting from the White Council. If three Accord Signatories think that's a swell idea, then it may fly.

[Richard_Chilton]

I see it as a two part process:
1) Be something that isn't all ready a signatory to the Accords, and
2) Get three existing signatories to approve you as a Freehold Lord.

Point one stops most groups.  Some would say that it isn't supported by the books, but if different groups of Warlocks could walk around with impunity from the White Council then I could see there being countless "we are humans with magic" factions.  Who would counter sign for that? Everyone who wants humanity to be easy pickings.  In other words - the Red Court, the White Court, the nickelhead, the Fomor - that's four when you only need three and all of them would love to see wizards fighting other groups of wizards.

Richard

[devonapple]

Who would counter sign for that? Everyone who wants humanity to be easy pickings.  In other words - the Red Court, the White Court, the nickelhead, the Fomor - that's four when you only need three and all of them would love to see wizards fighting other groups of wizards.

Absolutely!

[zenten]

Or Tessa to become her own faction.  Or one of the non-Raith WCVs to become their own faction.

[sinker]

...the Fomor...

Are they accorded? If so wouldn't Marcone be within his rights to ask for compensation or declare war, etc?

[devonapple]

Are they accorded? If so wouldn't Marcone be within his rights to ask for compensation or declare war, etc?

I believe that bit of Accords politics is addressed in "Even Hand," but I have only heard that secondhand.

1) Be something that isn't all ready a signatory to the Accords

I think this is a good discouragement of the plan. Since warlocks are technically under the White Council's authority *per the Unseelie Accords* (for what that is worth), it may just be that they can't file to be a separate faction (under the Unseelie Accords), whether or not they have the juice and the will to go rogue. But that's our interpretation of the setting and existing canon: that it can't/shouldn't be done.

That said: if you definitely want to go forward with making this a plot element, then I think the bit about having three sponsors is a good start.

Also, you may want to sketch out the narrative role this is serving:
Is this background or scenery?
Is it part of a major Threat's master plan? Or is it something which helps to establish that Threat?
Is this maneuver something the players have a chance (or motivation) to prevent or undo?
Is this to complicate the players' lives vis-a-vis providing non-Council spellcasters who can't be summarily executed?
Is this going to be a faction which the players could join, or which would want to recruit?

When all is said and done, you could... ::looks around nervously:: ummm, you could simply say they are already a Signatory, or that enough legal tomfoolery had occurred in the last few centuries to establish this as a sketchy but legal Accords maneuver. Something the White Council was hoping to quietly squash, but failed to stop.

[Watson]

When all is said and done, you could... ::looks around nervously:: ummm, you could simply say they are already a Signatory, or that enough legal tomfoolery had occurred in the last few centuries to establish this as a sketchy but legal Accords maneuver. Something the White Council was hoping to quietly squash, but failed to stop.

My idea is that the groups leader's struggle to become a Freeholding Lord is going on in the background, without the players knowing it. The players would be involved in the results of the struggle, but not directly involved (until the end).

Having three others vouch for them is interesting, and my initial thought is that the sorcerer would try to trick the other three to vouch for them.

[devonapple]

Having three others vouch for them is interesting, and my initial thought is that the sorcerer would try to trick the other three to vouch for them.

Marcone certainly played hardball to get Dresden's backing.

As Richard_Chilton noted, though, it's likely your warlock group would not need any real trickery (other than establishing the possibility of applying) to encourage three signatories to back their application: many Signatories would easily benefit from the political fallout of division among the mortal spellcasters.

[Richard_Chilton]

Are they accorded? If so wouldn't Marcone be within his rights to ask for compensation or declare war, etc?

Please see Even Hand.

To sum it up:

(click to show/hide)

Marcone kills a few people in cold blood then heads to his office to do some paperwork.  Justine arrives asking for help for her and a preschool child.  A fomor lord arrives looking for his "lost or stolen" property (Justine and the child).  Marcone talks to the fomor lord about the Accords.  By the end of the story, Marcone is looking at having to send someone gold as werguild while weighing the pros and cons of putting a bullet in Justine's head.  When the cons outweigh the pros (but only barely) he goes out for steaks instead.  Not quite a feasting hall, but it got the job done.

Richard

[sinker]

It's been a while since I read Even Hand (one of my friends borrowed my Side Jobs shortly after it came out, still has it), I must have had that whole thing backwards (or sideways ).

[devonapple]

"Even Hand" is not in Side Jobs - it was in a separate collection called "Dark and Stormy Knights."

[sinker]

Ahh, it's been even longer (maybe about as long) since I had that one.

[Richard_Chilton]

"Even Hand" is not in Side Jobs - it was in a separate collection called "Dark and Stormy Knights."

Which is why I use spoiler tags while talking about it.  And if anyone see the man who known as Marcone as a hero, it's a good story to read to disillusion yourself of that idea.

Richard

[toturi]

Which is why I use spoiler tags while talking about it.  And if anyone see the man who known as Marcone as a hero, it's a good story to read to disillusion yourself of that idea.

Richard

But if anyone sees the man who known as Marcone as an anti-hero, it's a good story to read to see it as well.

(click to show/hide)

As I read it, the last part is simply his self-justification for his letting the kid and Justine go. He is trying not to be a hero.