Concerning the aristocrat subclasses, I mean, that's an option to go the extra mile, really. If we just enabled the standard subclasses, plus a religious one (which I really think the game has been lacking anyways), then it would still have a similar effect. Aristocrat/Diplomat, Aristocrat/Trader, for example. The aristocrat class itself could be largely a courtier class clone, plus the extra restrictions. I'll leave those with more knowledge of the game's code to think of ways to recycle stuff and cut down the workload required to achieve the desired objectives, which is to find a compromise between the desire for many players to have 2 characters again, and the drawbacks that this used to have.
De-Legro, if a realm would need to have people dedicate a second character to be practical, then that would be because the game *already* does, but just didn't grant people the means to do anything about it. I'm not asking for extra maintenance work and debuffs to be imposed upon the realms so as to give these characters something to do. Rather, the point is to give players more options to tackle the needs already present in the game, without having to completely remove themselves from the main aspects of it.
The problem with clones, imo, was never that they were friendly with their main character. This game is set in a feudal society, after all, family was important. Rather, it was that these characters were eerie, in a roleplaying sense. Consistently inconsistent. And most of all, when something happened to the "main" character (wound, death, capture, etc.), these guys would just pick things up where the other guy left off. This was both bad for immersion and for making these mechanics meaningful.
Allowing a second noble that must belong to the same realm addresses none of that. However, adding a new class of characters that's excluded from realm chat and titles, THAT bypasses those issues completely.
