Dynasty & Succession
You do not begin as anyone. You begin as a ronin — no lord, no house, no name that means anything yet. Everything that follows is what you build.
The founding
The ronin's vow.
A masterless swordsman has nothing but a blade and a reputation still to be earned. You take service where you can find it, prove yourself in the eyes of a lord, and in time swear allegiance. That oath is the seed of a house — the first page of a line that, if you play it well, will still be turning long after this life ends.
The household
Building a house.
A house needs people. Marriage — arranged, or won through honest courtship — brings a spouse into the family. Children follow, each one carrying something of both parents in their bearing and their blood. Retainers swear to serve the house directly, adding hands and swords to a household that is no longer yours alone.
Marriage & courtship
An arranged match or a courtship you conduct yourself — talk, gifts, invitations, a walk together — before a proposal is ever on the table.
Children
Born into the house over time and aging with the world, each one a blend of their parents rather than a copy of either.
Retainers
Sworn hands who serve the house, not a single head — so the household outlasts its founder.
House prestige & mon
A family standing and a treasury of its own, built up by the choices of everyone who has carried the name.
The succession
The line continues.
Death is not the end of the save — it is a succession. When the head of the house falls, a living child takes up the name, and the world carries forward unbroken: the coin, the gear, the villages, the retainers sworn to the house, and the family that passes with the generation. With no heir at all, the house ends.
That single rule is what keeps a dynasty a game rather than a foregone conclusion. A storied ancestor buys the heir a roof and a family — never a rank they haven't earned for themselves.
Alongside the house
Where the house stands.
Standing with a lord, a school, or the court is a separate thread from the dynasty — it belongs to whoever is currently holding the sword. See how service, rank, and commissions work on the standing page.