Is becoming a banneret knight common for PKs in the KAP? Or is there any advice on how to handle them? My Jute has survived the KAP since 480 and we are heading into year 500 with the epic campaign being run by Tempest621. My wife of 15 years died in childbirth and I now need to remarry after crit fumbling my passion wife, converting to British Christianity, and spending a year with a priest trying to covert the Saxons of Kent. One of the options to remarry presented to me is the only child of a Salisbury banneret knight. Now, my character is 40 but still unaged (very lucky aging rolls and extremely high stats could see him last quite awhile yet!), has over 10k glory, is the current Marshal of Salisbury, and is the owner of a very wealthy freehold manor that has pledged to Salisbury with 3 male heirs, the oldest of which is 13 and will be coming into play in the next 5-7 years.

If I marry the banneret's heiress, I won't become banneret until the death of her father. When that happens, as he is older, what would be the normal course of action? Would my eldest son then become my heir to the banneret holdings, or would it be the eldest son of my 2nd marriage as his mother is the actual direct line? Should my character retire from play, at that point? Or should I adventure less? How do others handle banneret knights as PKs? I sure would not mind making it to at least see the sword pulled from the stone as I helped smuggle that cute little bugger Arthur to safety back in the day... All thoughts welcome!

Is becoming a banneret knight common for PKs in the KAP?


No.



Or is there any advice on how to handle them?


There is some advice in Book of the Estate on what things might be worthy of being granted an estate by the King.



If I marry the banneret's heiress, I won't become banneret until the death of her father. When that happens, as he is older, what would be the normal course of action? Would my eldest son then become my heir to the banneret holdings, or would it be the eldest son of my 2nd marriage as his mother is the actual direct line?


The banneret estate is in the heiress' bloodline, so only HER children would inherit. If the marriage is childless, your children from the previous marriage would not inherit her. (Unless the liege re-grants the estate to you after her death, which is very unlikely.)



Should my character retire from play, at that point? Or should I adventure less? How do others handle banneret knights as PKs? I sure would not mind making it to at least see the sword pulled from the stone as I helped smuggle that cute little bugger Arthur to safety back in the day... All thoughts welcome!

Nah, there is no reason to retire. Banneret/Estate holder level landownership scales still quite well with KAP. You naturally would have more of a political weight to throw around, but as a 10K Glory Marshal of Salisbury, you are probably used to that already. Talk to your GM, though. Presumably the heiress was presented as an option by the GM, so clearly he/she has no problem with your character marrying her, but best to check that you are both on the same line as far as adventuring is concerned. Definitely there should be no problem participating in wars and significant political events like the Tournament of 510 and the Sword in the Stone, since the majority of the nobility would be expected to be there. However, it might be a bit harder to go off adventuring in the Forest Sauvage during the Anarchy on a whim, but that should already be the case because you are the Marshal and have a duty in Salisbury.

Thanks, Morien!

Whether or not you need to retire your PK dpeneds a lot on the type of game you play. If you are more like knight errants I would not expect a banneret go running around in Forest Sauvage for a whole year. If the game is more centered around the courts you could go on until you are over 60 (if you live that long).

For example:
In my game one of the PK has also become a banneret, but this has not changed the game a lot. During the anarchy phase the PKs made sure that Salisbury remained together and united behind Robert. They each took up the role of officer to the Earl and formed a sort of council. The Banneret, being highest in rank, got the job of Chancellor, although I think they also gave it to him as he is also the one who is the most political savvy. This is how they managed things during the anarchy phase. They still had to deal with al kind of things, but there were also a lot of political manouvering in game.

As for the inheritance:
As Morien states you have no claim to the estate. It is her child that gets a claim. So as long as you remain childless there may be uncles in the wings trying to get their hands on the estate. Even if there is an heir it may be that they wish to claim stewardship of the estate until the heir comes of age. Being the father of the child you may be the logical choice, but it also depends on the political strength of your wife's family. So you could be in for some powerstruggle. ;)

As for the inheritance:
As Morien states you have no claim to the estate. It is her child that gets a claim. So as long as you remain childless there may be uncles in the wings trying to get their hands on the estate. Even if there is an heir it may be that they wish to claim stewardship of the estate until the heir comes of age. Being the father of the child you may be the logical choice, but it also depends on the political strength of your wife's family. So you could be in for some powerstruggle. ;)

(Just to add a bit to what Cornelius said in the above...)

That is, assuming your wife dies before the kid is old enough to inherit. As the husband of your heiress wife, you are solid. As a widower... it gets a bit more iffy. In some cases, the widower kept his title and lands until his death. In others (and this is the way I GM it), as soon as you lose your claim, the legitimate inheritors flock to the scene. Also, remember that even if there are no other heirs, that only means that the estate would escheat back to the liege who granted it in the first place, whether King or Count, who naturally would have an incentive to keep the land for themselves.

As for the potential powerstruggle, yep, a foreign Jute vs. a banneret family, who has likely intermarried to most of the landed families in Salisbury. Hope you have been friendly with the other PKs, so that you are not left all by yourself. :)

Oh, boy. Don't give Tempest any more ideas. He makes life for his PKs complicated enough! Here's to getting an heir early! Much thanks for the input!