A number of posts lately have been made on the subject of nobility and so forth. As the rule stands, to my understanding, to play a noble of any kind from anywhere in the world, you must put a request in. This is clear enough.

What I'm curious about is what constitutes a "nobility" request? Obviously, blood nobility in a feudal manner falls under this. I assume the intention of the rules is to prevent one character from having an unfair in-character advantage over another because of wealth/influence/resources not earned in character. But this gets a bit fuzzier when you start breaking it down.

A request was recently declined involving a fallen Halruaan house. I do not know enough to say how that rule was interpreted, but it presented questions:

1) What constitutes "Nobility" exactly? Blood title?
2) Does the rule apply to aristocracy? Is a request required before one could simply be a member of a House in general? Not all Houses are necessarily noble - Merchant Houses, for instance.
3a) If yes to the above, is a request needed before you can RP coming from a "wealthy" family period? If that's true, how much is considered "request-worthy" in terms of background?
3b) Or for that matter, a large organized family of any type? Is it the perceived wealth (that the character wouldn't have access to anyway) or the percieved manpower? (that..the character also wouldn't have IC access to) If the latter applies as well, then how are things like large dwarven clans, elven houses, and so forth considered in background?

In the request that sparked this, I had understood it in such a way that the requester would have neither money nor resources of the house - as it had fallen - nor would it have presented the character with a title or necessarily even additional respect/influence on other characters (it would've given infamy, if anything)

If something has been covered before, I apologize. Simply looking for input and insights.

Thank you.

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Captain William Jackson Malloy of the Debra Sanchez!
also staring:
Elyon Vassius, Paladin of Kelemvor
Kael Jericko, gentleman of fortune.
Marcus Tyberius of the Eternal Order

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

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Skeletor is noble I have a crown.

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================-<Cory ShadowFlame>-================
Risenlord-Shifter(OMG a Non-Dragon Shifter that can hold his own in PvE)

And to answer your questions seriously....

1: I'm not sure what you're asking here. Nobility is Nobility. You're noble. There's not much to define.
2: Considering aristocracy is by definition nobility: yes. If you are noble you need a request. This has been repeated dozens of times now.
3a: There's a difference between being rcich and being the son of a Baron from Cormyr.
3b: IT's neither. It's being nobility.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Oh, thank you! Layla is daughter from a House of Merchants in Durpar, but she does not carry their surname and.. well... she is not as rich as she would be if still living there.

I was worried I would need to make a request to have her ties approved.

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BlackDahlya

Once Upon A Time Played
Adr'ael Ken'rahel, Auron Teken’ath, Aurora Mesodias, 'Daniel' Daoskinaxarijikkym, Eilin'ira, Helena Rios, Layla Faircurrent, May'Une Do'Ndar, Mellinda Tellus, Michael of Cliffside, Rizzen of Twilight, Valkirya d'Claddath

That's actually exactly the sort of variant I was wondering about.

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Captain William Jackson Malloy of the Debra Sanchez!
also staring:
Elyon Vassius, Paladin of Kelemvor
Kael Jericko, gentleman of fortune.
Marcus Tyberius of the Eternal Order

Simple answer:

1. Would you, your character or anyone else consider him/herself a noble?
   <Yes/No>
2. Does it require an approved request?
   See answer to question one.

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ICly your character can consider itself anything. However how NPC's react is up to the dms.

OOCly is a different matter.

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Dwagin [Duh-wa-GIN] N. - 1a. Small and cute thingum, particularly fond of four legged scaled creatures of the metalic and chromatic varieties.

-Extraordinarily ordinary in the mostest of ways.

I think making a request to be Nobility is kind of lame in my eyes, I would much rather earn it IC by being knighted with out asking to become Nobility so if a DM thinks your worth being Nobility he will come to you.

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================-<Cory ShadowFlame>-================
Risenlord-Shifter(OMG a Non-Dragon Shifter that can hold his own in PvE)

You can be knighted. Titles and Status are still given via DM's for service.

It's just if you want to create a character that comes from a noble family, then you need to make a request. As far as I know, you can't make a request for a character you already have to be made a noble. Doesn't work like that.

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I keels u with my axe!

"Do ye know where the Holy-Flamin' Frost-brand Gronk-slayin' Vorpal Hammer o' woundin' an' returnin' an' Shootin'-Lightnin'-out-yer-bum is?"

Woah, déjà-vu. Makes me happy I am a player and not Tormak.

*sigh* if you don't know that in most if not all cases you are born a noble you shouldn't play one.

recall ff9 if you will, everyone whos a noble is, and all the theives etc act as such because they cannot be noble. as such they are treated as second class citizens for much of the first two disks or so, only to turn around and find out the queen isn't actually that evil and then save the world
(or universe in that case.) and the most notorious gang of theives in their world become somewhat famous for their strange aid to the kingdom.

my point being, they still arn't noble at the end of it, they are the most badass mofo's in the world but other than garnet anyway they arn't noble.

also I imagine the RP behind a noble as a PC would need to be epic to be approved, and all kinks involving their kingdom worked out, and who their kingdom relates with and wars with and trades with depending on how high up the ladder of nobility we're talking here. for example the justicars daughters new son or something (for example...), say he's 18 or something at this point and a PC requested to play it, do you know kohlingen well? who do they accosiate with, who isn't aloud within the grounds, are there new laws you'd back by wealth means or promises to your people if you had the power to do so? even if you don't is there a quirk that makes the character disagree with his mother and grandfather?

also I think I saw that request, if i remember the right one, it was a nobility from a far place request rather than an amia nobility request, you could walk about in a crown and pure gold armour but people are still going to say "who?" just like the traders in howness say "who?" to the dukes face on the coins apparently....

ed: blackadder, go watch go learn =)