Which reminds me of an entirely unrelated idea I had this morning.
Obian Mercenaries
While I was looking at the noble counts of other realms on other continents, it occurred to me that the wealthier ones could afford to purchase the services of Obian noble families. Say, for example, that Swordfell had the script to pay mercs to join the realm and assist them in their war against Arnor. For 1000 gold/knight, players who main in SOS and do not have a character in that realm/continent can then make one, rolpelaying that they were knighted specifically to bring glory to their House and their Goddess by serving abroad.
At wars end, thee nobles can then transfer to the next troubled State and fight upon the next battlefield. Writing Obeah's name with swords as their stylus and fire as their ink.
I thought for a while on how the gold transfer would work. Since all the continents exist in the same world, i do not think it would be "gamey" to use family wealth to accomplish this. For example, Let's say that Gildre, who currently rules SOS, has a character in Swordfell that we'll call Bob for now. Gildre has Grandmistress Jessica Pen a later cousin bob stating that SOS is willing to commit Templars oversees in exchange for whatever, in this case gold at the aforementioned price. Let's conitnue by saying that swordfell comes up with 5k in gold which they then send to Bob. Bob sends 4k of that gold to the Gildre family coffers, whereupon Jessica uses that gold for concurrent investments in Obian cities to maximize taxes production. We track the 4k amount by debiting each family investment Jessica makes (should be 4-5 in total). Meanwhile, 5 Obian players create new characters in Swordfell and Bob, who you'll remember kept 1k of the Fellish payment, then gives each new knight 200 gold to develop thier forces on their own.
We could write the 'contract' like a treaty even. And should any of the terms be broken on the Obian end, Swordfell will have the right to demand their payment back (again in the form of family investments OR personal gold, should bob be afluent enough.
From a purely gameplay perspective, I don't think this breaks any rules. having a new way to make gold is surely a plus, and the whole Obian Merc idea gives us a lot of new room for a vastly different RP playing field. Furthermore, should any of our Beluaterran characters die, they can immediately be replaced by immigrating one of the mercs back home.
I haven't had time to put too much thought into all of this, but I knew I had to write and share before i forgot. Am I completely off my rocker here?
