“Heirs are daggers with your face—sharp enough to carve empires or slit your throat. Breed them wisely, or let the crows inherit your throne.”
In Heilbronn, heirs secure thrones, guilds, and noble houses against the realm's decay—rising dark lords, Blackwound monsters, and endless conspiracies. You might sire legitimate children through marriage, claim bastards as tools, or adopt "worthy" orphans via blood-rites. But reproduction is a game of shadows: Seduce, coerce, or curse your way to progeny, then mold them with iron and intrigue. This path demands carnal cunning, ruthless pruning of rivals, and a tolerance for the grotesque (dark magic twists wombs and seed alike). Fail, and your line withers, leaving your empire to vultures.
Step 1: Choose Your Vessel – Select Mates and Methods
Find fertile ground: Marry strategically—a noble for alliances, a queen for royal blood, or a commoner for hardy stock. Seduce lovers for bastards; use scandals to legitimize them later (e.g., "discover" a hidden marriage). If barren or uninterested, adopt war orphans or squires—bind them with blood-magic to "rewrite" their lineage.
Ensure conception: Bed frequently, with potions from hedge sorcerers to boost virility (at the risk of monstrous mutations). For women, endure the pains of childbirth; for men, verify paternity through torturers' confessions or curses that mark true heirs. In free cities, guilds traffic in fertility relics from the Blackwound—steal one if gold fails.
Embrace alternatives: If natural means falter, use dark rituals at the poisoned springs to "implant" heirs via magic, though many emerge twisted or mad.
Step 2: Conceive and Protect – Navigate the Perils of Creation
Engage in the act: Court with gifts, threats, or enchantments—lust is a tool, not a joy. For forced unions, blackmail or bind with oaths; torture resistant mates into submission if power allows. Produce multiple heirs; redundancy guards against assassinations or monster attacks.
Safeguard pregnancy: Guard against poisons (rivals love miscarriages) with tasters and wards. Hunt threats like Blackwound beasts that prey on the unborn. Use spies to uncover conspiracies—e.g., a jealous consort plotting to swap your child with a changeling.
Birth with caution: Deliver in fortified chambers, attended by healers and torturers (to extract truths from midwives). Name heirs symbolically—a nod to the Eternal Empire for legitimacy.
Step 3: Raise and Secure – Mold Weapons from Flesh
Educate ruthlessly: Train heirs in intrigue, combat, and monster lore from infancy. Send them as squires to knights or apprentices to guilds; expose them to scandals to harden their cynicism. Disown or eliminate weak ones—drownings disguised as "accidents" are common.
Legitimize and protect: Marry off heirs for alliances, or use Church blessings to anoint them. Weed out rivals—poison bastard claimants or torture false heirs into recanting. Bind loyal ones with blood-oaths; watch for signs of betrayal, like secret pacts with dark lords.
Plan succession: Designate a primary heir publicly, but keep backups hidden. If childless, adopt aggressively—claim a "miraculous" foundling from a monster hunt.
Step 4: Build and Manage Your Retinue (Heir's Circle)
Heirs need guardians, or they'll be stolen, slain, or turned against you. Mismanage this, and your progeny becomes your executioner.
Tutors and guardians (2-3): A spymaster to teach scandals, a knight for martial skills, and a sorcerer for dark protections. Bind them with oaths or shared vices.
Protectors (3-5): Sellswords or dames as bodyguards; blood-bound to die before failing.
Companions: A wet nurse or consort for nurturing (watch for poisons); horses for the heir's training; perhaps a small bound creature as a "plaything" to teach cruelty.
Informants: Squires or servants to report on the heir's loyalties—torture for honesty.
Mindset & Warnings
Cynicism over sentiment: Heirs are assets, not loves—bed for duty, raise for power. Lust, wrath, or envy often sire the strongest; embrace them. Torture isn't taboo; use it to test an heir's mettle or extract paternity truths.
Blood betrays: Zero plot armor—one cursed pregnancy or scheming child, and your dynasty crumbles. Dark lords corrupt heirs with whispers; monsters devour cradles.
Pro Tip: Bastards make fierce heirs—legitimize them during wars for "heroic" blood. Use magic to ensure loyalty, but mutations may create abominations.
Peril: Scandals haunt lineages—rumors of infidelity can delegitimize heirs. In Heilbronn, many "heirs" are changelings or puppets; verify with fire and blade.
Example Starting Prompt: “You are [Name], queen of a besieged kingdom, with a barren womb and spies reporting a rival's fertile plot. A dark ritual offers a twisted solution—what is your first move to secure an heir?”