Changing the World: All-New Tales of Valdemar

:Yes, with the Herald Mages underfoot, we had an internal elite . . . it got to the point where being a Herald wasn’t quite good enough. There was something a notch higher, a Herald Mage, that you were either born with or not. A lot of people thought it was descended from the male line, so every HM who peed standing up was hip deep in noblewomen ready to breed their own mageling on the spot . . . and not a few noble husbands looking the other way.

:It created real problems within the Heralds, and not the least when the sovereigns saw their magecraft dim, those that had them. There were even whispers among the nobility that not only should heraldry be a condition of sovereignty, that magery should be as well. We were well shut of it.

:Now, it’s good enough to just be a Herald. Those that have magecraft now have an extra weapon, but that’s all.:

“Umm, Okay, then. Internal elites. Let me write that one down.” Dave tapped his pencil against his jaw, the way he had seen reporters do when they were going to ask a thoughtful question. “Okay, then. What about all of the bratty nobles. Every book has at least one. Aren’t they an elite?”

:Same deal, really. Valdemar is an old-fashioned monarchy, common people, nobles, honcho. Garden variety. None of that “constitutional” business. The sovereign’s is absolute but is subject to outside interests. The nobility forms the foundation of the power of the sovereign . . . and that foundation can shift when interests diverge.:

“Oh, that’s crass.” Dave said.

:It’s pragmatic. The Companions are the mortar that holds the foundation of the kingdom together . . . there isn’t a noble family that can’t count exactly the number of Heralds in their ancestry and exactly how many the other noble families have had.:

“So, if someone gets crosswise with the monarchy, then no more Heralds?” :Not exactly, more to say that if you stray too far from the ideals of Baron Valdemar . . . but it’s sufficient that the major Houses are unlikely to take the chance. So, it amounts to the same thing.:

“Wow. Good old fashioned interest politics.”

:Is there any other kind?:

“Now who’s being cynical?”

:Think it through . . . where does succession lie?:

Dave considered a moment, walked back to the car and opened the trunk. He pulled out a marked-up DAW copy out of the cardboard box that served as his filing cabinet. He tucked his notepad into his pants pocket. He riffled through pages. “Sovereign and consort are both Heralds?”

:And?:

“The only way your family gets a shot at being in the royal bed is to be a Herald.”

:Yes. The system is very stable, Sovereign to Heir, to Sovereign to Heir. All in neat succession . . . with the distaff side coming usually from the noble houses, so each major family has an equal shot. No pun intended.:

“Okay, so much for the heroics, then. It’s all about maintaining social order.”