A "noble house" could have an honor and prestige rating as well as gold reserves. This would function differently than a guild in that these ratings could span realms and continents and would change depending on the conduct of it's members.
Permanent members:
Head of Household: FOUNDER or heir of the founder)
Permanent members through marriage: OTHER PLAYERS including a declared heir. Once you join a house, you cannot leave. (Or maybe you can with a huge penalty...?)
Conditional members: VASSALS of permanent members excluding those already belonging to a family...? I'm not sure how to handle this aspect. Maybe just leave them out of the equation all together not have vassals of members tied to the house. If they're a vassal, they're already indirectly tied anyway.
And it goes without saying you could make a guild and call it a noble house... But this post is about the potential benefits of creating an in game mechanic to "To encourage cooperation and competition on a noble to noble basis rather than realm to realm, religion to religion etc..." rather than using an existing mechanic and RPing the gaps.
Thanks for the notice Tom! And thanks for your hard work as well.
