Count/Countess

Duties

A Count/Countess will be the leader of 4-7 Viscounties and is expected to rule over them and negotiate with other counties and other nations to ensure trade, peace, and prosperity can flourish within their lands. They are charged with granting Baronhood to those who will serve the Empire dutifully although they often grant it for more political or self-benefiting reasons. They are the first entering into the highest echelons of Imperial Politics and as such, they must be intelligent and shrewd if they wish to hold their position for long.

Responsibilities

Counts/Countesses are used as executors of the will of their masters. They represent a significant amount of power individually and as such, they are used much like the blades of the Empire. Counts may be ordered to conquerer sovereign nations to bring under the wing of the Empire, they will be expected to use their own armies and resources to accomplish this but if they succeed they will be granted the conquered lands as an addition to their counties.

Benefits

Counts/Countesses are granted some of the finest castles and manors that can be afforded to them. They usually reign from within an important city to their realm. Their wealth reaches the point where very little is beyond purchasing, with the income of their fiefs ranging in the several thousands of gold pieces (although not all income is literally gold coins, horses, armor, weapons, and many other items that can be offered instead of coinage). They will have large personal guards of raised Lords/Ladies maintained within their castles. If need be they may also raise armies numbering in the high thousands sometimes reaching into the tens of thousands.

Accoutrements & Equipment

• 5 Viscounts
• 15 Barons
• 90 Lords
• 270 Knights
• 1620 Line Infantry

Type

Nobility, Hereditary

Form of Address

His, Her, Your, Royal Highness

Source of Authority

The County can be gained either by personal birthright or upon promotion by an Imperial Soveriegn

Length of Term

Lifetime

Reports directly to

Duke/Duchess

Related Organizations

• The Eltree Empire