Bastardy

The term **bastard** refers to anyone born out of wedlock. All major religions in the Kingdom of The North - the Faith of the Four and followers of the Old Gods of Alba - attach extremely negative social stigmas to bastardy.

## Legal and social status

### Lack of inheritance and discrimination

Bastards are not allowed to inherit their father's lands or titles, and have no claims to the privileges of their father's house. It is up to their father, if he knows they exist, on how to raise or treat them. At worst (also the most common as it is considered a great shame to have a bastard), they are unacknowledged and ignored by their father and left completely in the hands of their mothers. Some may fare better and be discreetly sent funds to ensure their well-being. At best (again the rarest), a lord will acknowledge his bastard children, but send them away to one of his distant castles to be raised away from his lawful family.

Faced with very low expectations for inheritance, many noble-born bastard sons, even acknowledged ones, voluntarily join various organisations such as the City Watch to seek prestige and equality. Bastards may also attempt to take up the life of knighthood in the hope of being granted a place in a lord's household, or even gaining lands and titles for services to their liege lords, however this is very rare due to the religious disgrace of being a bastard. Bastard children may also be given over to the Faith of the Four as underlings, to join the clergy, and bastard sons may be sent to train as Curators. Because the Guild is all-male, bastard daughters face limited prospects outside of the clergy or a good marriage.

There is no outright law punishing noble men or women for having bastard children. Instead it is considered a social and religious disgrace.

Despite a bastard having highborn blood, they are rarely ever considered as a challenge to a claim of a legitimate heir as the stigma of bastardy is so great that people would rarely ever follow a bastard over a trueborn claimant.

It is possible for the king to legitimise a lord's bastard children, but this special dispensation is difficult to acquire and does not happen frequently, a very strict rarity. It will usually be granted only if a lord has no legitimate children (or at least no male children) to carry on the name of his House. However, the social stigma is not automatically removed after the bastard is formally legitimized. Legitimised bastards are still usually called bastards and are treated as lesser by trueborn lords.

### Bastards and Heraldry

Due to the strong anti-bastard social stigma across the Kingdom of The North (with it being slightly more relaxed in the Borderlands due to the Alba not really having the concept of bastardy), noble-born bastards are nor permitted to carry the heraldry of their noble parent's House. On the battlefield, they may carry a flag displaying the heraldry, or use weapons and equipment that display the heraldic symbol - but only as much as any common foot soldier in their noble parent's army may do so. If an acknowledged noble-born bastard began openly displaying the heraldry of their noble parent's House, specifically as a representation of themselves, they would face legal troubles and punishment.

Noble-born bastards are in a legal state between highborn nobles and commonfolk, yet unlike the commonfolk, acknowledged bastards *are* allowed to display their own heraldry - just not the heraldry of their noble parent's House. A very common practice in Aqoris is for bastards to use the heraldry of their noble parent's House but with the colours inverted (which is known as "breaking" the design scheme), though a notable exception to this rule is House Boyce of Winter's Rock where the sigil of the House with it's two background colours inverted is not signifying bastardy but was the personal sigil of Marlon Boyce, younger brother of King Barden I Boyce.

In the rare case a bastard is legitimised by a royal decree, thus allowing the bastard to take the family name, they are allowed to use the family heraldry.

## Terminology

The stigma of illegitimacy is so great that all acknowledged bastards born to a noble in Aqoris have to identify themselves through a specific surname marking them as a bastard, which varies by region:

* **Winters**: The Borderlands
* **Hill**: The North
* **Streams**: The Domainlands
* **Fields**: The Southlands
* **Pond**: The Lakelands
* **Reeds**: The Marshes

However, this system does not apply to the bastards of commonfolk. At least one parent (usually, but not always, the father) has to be a member of a noble house. The low-born commoners of Aqoris never use surnames at all. Therefore, possessing the bastard surname is simultaneously a mark of distinction and badge of shame. Anyone who encounters someone with the bastard surname will immediately know that they are not simply a bastard, but the bastard child of a noble.

Bastards only use the special surnames if they have been openly acknowledged by their noble-born parent. In some cases, their noble parent will usually try to make sure that they are well cared for, or send money for their support, but it is extremely unusual for a noble to raise their bastard child in their own household.

There is no official distinction between bastards who have one noble-born parent, and those whose parents are both noble-born. In practice, however, a nobleman would be much more likely to acknowledge a bastard child born to a noble lady than he would a child born to a commoner.

Bastards are commonly (and rudely) referred to as "bastard" or "baseborn" while a Lord's children with his lawfully married wife are termed "trueborn".