Rulership
Retainers and Administrators
A lord can make a Governance action each month, including:
A lord can do all these things themselves, but while they personally go fight perils for one community as an agent, other communities go neglected. Any prospect they have earned that month is lost because it goes unobserved, and threats quietly accumulate without the lord being aware. No lord can manage everything themselves. To this end, they acquire retainers that can help them with their problems.
The type of person that becomes a retainer depends on the size and type of the communities over which a lord rules. A Matriarch or Patriarch of several Households might have children or servants as retainers. The Boss of a Shop or Chain of Shops may have employees or associated merchants. A lord and his or her retainers for an organization of sufficient size make up a Court. More examples of collections of types of retainers for different lords can be found in The Influence Game under Creating a Court.
Once a Retainer has been acquired, they can either perform Ruler actions in place of the lord, or be dispatched as Agents to resolve a Peril or Hazard.
- Bringing on a Retainer
- Replacing an Administrator
- Sending out an Agent Group
- Building a Feature
- Lobbying for Influence or Taxes in Court in The Influence Game
- Seizing the Taxes of Other Communities in Mass Battle
- Identifying a Hidden Peril
- Gaining Information on surrounding communities
A lord can do all these things themselves, but while they personally go fight perils for one community as an agent, other communities go neglected. Any prospect they have earned that month is lost because it goes unobserved, and threats quietly accumulate without the lord being aware. No lord can manage everything themselves. To this end, they acquire retainers that can help them with their problems.
The type of person that becomes a retainer depends on the size and type of the communities over which a lord rules. A Matriarch or Patriarch of several Households might have children or servants as retainers. The Boss of a Shop or Chain of Shops may have employees or associated merchants. A lord and his or her retainers for an organization of sufficient size make up a Court. More examples of collections of types of retainers for different lords can be found in The Influence Game under Creating a Court.
Once a Retainer has been acquired, they can either perform Ruler actions in place of the lord, or be dispatched as Agents to resolve a Peril or Hazard.
The amount of Bonus Successes a community receives from a successful Taking Responsibility roll is also modified by that community's Features.
Influence and Acquiring Retainers
Retainers are purchased with Influence.
Influence cost is relative to the size of the community you are in.
You can increase, trade, wager, and otherwise manipulate your influence in a higher court that encompasses your community using the Influence Game.
If you are a Clan champion, you can modify and manipulate your influence in Imperial Court. As a local daimyo, you can manipulate your influence in the court of your Family Daimyo, and Family Daimyos manipulate their influence in the court of the Clan Champion. If you are a Matriarch or Patriarch, you may be able to manipulate influence in the court of your Local Daimyo.
In story, acquiring a Retainer might mean marrying them in, persuading them to work for you, elevating the position of a lower ranked person by using influence to allow them to take the position, or pleading with your own lord for having a retainer assigned.
The cost of a Retainer is determined by their Skill level.
Influence cost is relative to the size of the community you are in.
You can increase, trade, wager, and otherwise manipulate your influence in a higher court that encompasses your community using the Influence Game.
If you are a Clan champion, you can modify and manipulate your influence in Imperial Court. As a local daimyo, you can manipulate your influence in the court of your Family Daimyo, and Family Daimyos manipulate their influence in the court of the Clan Champion. If you are a Matriarch or Patriarch, you may be able to manipulate influence in the court of your Local Daimyo.
In story, acquiring a Retainer might mean marrying them in, persuading them to work for you, elevating the position of a lower ranked person by using influence to allow them to take the position, or pleading with your own lord for having a retainer assigned.
The cost of a Retainer is determined by their Skill level.
Retainer Skill |
Relative Cost in Influence to Acquire |
Poor |
2 |
Adequate |
3 |
Skilled |
5 |
Extraordinary |
7 |
A GM is encouraged to allow a lord to recruit retainers as a RPed experience, as part of an intrigue or otherwise encountering them.
Types of Retainers
Different Retainers are able to perform different tasks. Each Retainer is focused in specific Community Attribute: Fortune, Milieu, Security, Resilience, or Virtue. All Retainers are considered Poor in any Attribute they are not focused in.
Retainers can fulfill their role as a member of the Court, they can act as an Agent, or they can act as an Administrator for a Community. As a member of a Court, they translate to the Duty or Roles found in The Influence Game (under Creating a Court). Note: You do not have to play The Influence Game in order to commission Retainers. Note: Retainers acting as an Underhand cannot be Administrator: their roles are incompatible.
Retainers can fulfill their role as a member of the Court, they can act as an Agent, or they can act as an Administrator for a Community. As a member of a Court, they translate to the Duty or Roles found in The Influence Game (under Creating a Court). Note: You do not have to play The Influence Game in order to commission Retainers. Note: Retainers acting as an Underhand cannot be Administrator: their roles are incompatible.
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Retainer Tasks
In addition to their special task ability, all Retainers may do the following:
Underhand retainers do not have a specific Attribute. They are not able to act as Administrators. They are, however, able to act as an Agent of their own Skill level vs. any kind of Peril or Hazard . If they do so, the lord loses Honor equal to their Honor Rank. Spiritual Advisor retainers may request a temporary Blessing on a community. A blessing will elevate a community descriptor for one Attribute by 1 level for the following Season. Example: Golden Petal Village's Security may be raised from Stable to Good for one Season with a Spiritual Advisor's blessing. |
Like a lord, a retainer can take one governance action per month. If they are dispatched as an agent to fight a peril or hazard, they cannot take any other governance actions until the peril is resolved.
