Path of Flowers

The Path of Flowers is a Kaiganese tradition in which the unwanted sons of a noble house are cast out into the wilderness upon the ascension of the desired heir.
== Practice ==
If a Kaiganese noble house has more than one son, the succession of power becomes problematic. Gavelkind is not usually an option among the more powerful families, due to their ambitions to 'unite the flower' and hold all of Kaigan. Gavelkind would split their holdings, while their eventual goals are always to gain more. Only if the siblings are very close and genuinely hold no designs on the birthright of the others, can the Path of Flowers be avoided.
Once the head of the house dies, his titles are legally divided equally between his sons. However, usually the head of the house indicates which of his sons he desires to rule after him, and as long as the dying head has chosen his advisors well, they will agree with him. Once the head dies, then, the advisors will assist the de facto heir in evicting his brothers, known as petals. Their absence at their father's funeral legally gives the heir the right to assume all the house's titles, while his brothers are left with nothing.
These petals are generally left one thing - a new surname. They take the name of the family's sacred flower as their new surname. After this, they wander the land, and are generally forgotten by their old family. Sometimes they are taken in by other noble families as servants or squires, but much more commonly they fail to find refuge or are assassinated - either during their eviction or afterwards - if the new head of the house distrusts them.
It is not given that the old family entirely discards the unwanted sons. On the majority of occasions, the brothers are all on good terms and want the best for their house. They petals are sometimes given their new surnames and then accepted back into the household as servants, squires, or occasionally as the heads of vassal branch families. The noble house Kitabatake in particular tends to give its petals control of minor fortresses and marches, allowing them to strengthen the position of their family even more.
Category:Concepts
Category:Kaiganese