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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 22nd Feb 2019 at 4:37 PM Last edited by justine.chiro : 23rd Feb 2019 at 1:47 AM.
Default Aristocratic Rhapsody Challenge
Aristocratic Rhapsody
Introduction
Your family has known financial ruin and all you have now is your title of Baron, your wife and children. You must start over and rebuild your dynasty, pride and honor.
The goal of this challenge is to bring up your dynasty in rank while avoiding bankruptcy and dishonor.

Inspirations
The idea for this challenge comes from the Dynasty Challenge posted by VT45, I liked the idea very much but I didn’t want to know in advance what was coming so I made the timeline random and things built up from there.
Their are some things (most of the inheritance laws for example) that are almost copy-paste from the Dynasty Challenge, Thanks again VT45

Before starting
Expansions owned: Seasons, Cats and Dogs, City Living, Get to work, Parenthood, Spa day, Outdoor Retreat, Laundry day, Toddler Stuff, Vintage Glamour
MCCC makes things easier but I think you could do without it
Note that there is a lot of anachronism in my challenge (taking a selfie before enrolling for a crusade? why not!) I tried to take all the things that can create drama in an Edwardian society while playing with all that the possibilities a modern life can offer
You will see that I often use the term non-preferred gender and preferred gender, this mean my challenge is design so a gender is preferred from the other, but you can choose wich is wich

Ranks
There are 7 ranks in the nobility of your world (abbreviation)

0.Commoner
1.Baron, Baroness (B)
2.Viscount, Viscountess (V)
3.Count, Countess (C)
4.Marquess, Marchioness (M)
5.Duke, Duchess (D)
6.Prince, Princess (P)
7.King, Queen (K)

Each rank costs $8200 (buying a Knight of the Octagon Table)
Once buying it to increase your family's rank, you can never sell it.
Means you do begin with one Knight of the octagon table to represent the title of Baron

Titles
When a sim has a title, write it before his first name. ex: Duke Eric Lewis and Duchess Alice Lewis (Kim)
When a parent of a title owner is still alive (and therefore is a Dowager) write ‘’DowX’’ and replace the X by the abbreviation of her former title. ex: DowD Vivian Lewis (because she is the mother of Duke Eric Lewis)
When a sim is an heir to a title write (HX) after the first name and replace x for the abbreviation of the title. ex: Alexander (HP) Goth (HP for heir of Prince Mortimer Goth)
When a sim is a spare to a title (second in line of succession). ex: William (SP) Goth (for Spare of Prince Mortimer Goth)
When a sim is not an heir or a spare and is the child of a title owner simply write the abbreviation of the title in parenthesis after the first name (so you’ll know the rank). ex: Olivia (D) Lewis

Getting started: choose your succession laws
Gender Law
Which gender has preference in your dynasty? How much preference will you give that gender? There are several choices here:
1.Salic Law - Only members of your preferred gender can succeed to the title.
2.Traditional - Members of the preferred gender inherit before members of the non-preferred gender.
3.Absolute Cognatic - Your heir is the oldest child, regardless of gender.

Inheritance Law
What way will the title and fortune pass in your dynasty? There are five different variations:
1.Vertical - The crown passes from parent to child
2.Seniority - The crown passes not from parent to child, but from sibling to sibling. Once all the children of a monarch have ruled in turn (or died beforehand), the crown passes to the eldest descendant of a previous monarch (ie going to a cousin if their parent ruled over a sibling's child).
3.Marumakathayam - The crown passes vertically, but from the monarch to the preferred gendered child of their eldest non-preferred gendered sibling.
4.Elective - A vote is held to choose the heir upon the death of the monarch by choosing the candidate with the highest average relationship among the members of the dynasty.

Heir Designation
Once you've chosen the direction to pass the crown, there are two other variants that you have to choose from:
1.Primogeniture - Starts with the eldest, and works its way younger.
2.Ultimogeniture - Starts with the youngest, and works its way older

Getting Started - Founding family
Create generation “zero”: one married couple (man and woman)
-At least one bad trait each, random or choose the others
-they must be both elders

Create generation 1 by playing with genetic
-create at least as many children as necessary to have an heir, a spare, and then one more child (randomize the genders 50-50)
-Use the legacy challenge randomizer to select the traits
-The oldest child must be an adult, the youngest child can be a teen

Setting up the family
-Determine the heir of the title
-If he is an adult, create him a spouse, She can be the same age or younger than him
-If he is a young adult, leave him be, he will have time to find someone

You now have your starting family tree
-You can decide before starting what to do with the other adult siblings of the heir (Married? Spinster? Nun?) Do not give or take honor points or money for these arrangements
-Add a pet to your household

Creating the neighborhood
It is all up to you but I suggest having at least one of each rank in the neighborhood for a start.
For example I used the family that are already in the game, got them to buy some Knights of the octogonal table and gave them their title accordingly to how many they were able to purchase. I created some extra children to reflect the reality of having to produce an heir.
I personally keep all the noble families and one commoner family in my ‘’played households’’ so they won't go rogue and do non-noble things

Gameplay Rules
Mainly like the legacy challenge rules for cheats and life expanding devices.

At the beginning of every week (Sunday morning)
1.Roll for random events (see Random event section below)
2.Roll100 to ‘’Play the market’’ for every household (including yours)
70% (1-70) chance of gaining 10% increase of household value
20% (71-90) chance of gaining 20% increase of household value
10% (91-100) chance of losing 10% of household value
(This step can be a little tedious for some players because you have to go play every household every week so you can change their household fund (I didn’t found any cheat that could make you change a household fund without playing it), I personally like it very much because doing it adds to the drama when deciding for marriages and dowries. But I guess you could only do it for your played household and maybe the household who are close to them.)
3.Manage the households of your neighborhood
4.Change of titles : new lord if his father died during the week and re-attribution of heir and spare nominations
5.Mariages (see the marriage and dowry section below)
6.Spawning children (if there is no more toddler) (see children section below)

Cadet Branches
Younger children that do not inherit the title may receive a new title. Do do so:
-They must be Good Friends with a title holder at least a rank above the present title (ex: the son of a Viscount must befriend at least a Count)
-They must be able to afford the patents of nobility ($8200, by buying the Knight of the Octagon Table)
-They can only have a Title that is at least one rank under his parents
-The new title holder must now move out of the main house at the expanse of the latter to begin his new life.
-Each week, you receive the equivalent of 5% of your cadet branches household value once he/she is moved out of the main household

The help
Depending on the rank, a title owner is bound to have servants to do the chores around the house, these a the requirements but you can hire help sooner:
-A Baron must have a maid
-A Viscount must have a gardener (and a maid)
-A Count must have a caterer (and a maid and a gardener)
-At Marquess rank or higher you must have a butler (Having a Butler dispenses you of the obligation to have the other hired help)

Work/Occupation
All careers for title holders, teens and non-preferred gender members are considered non-authorized
If an heir is working when the title holder dies, he must quit the same day
Spinsters can be Writers, Painters, Social Media, critic or Style Influencers
Heirs, Spares and other prefered-gender members can work when they reach Young Adulthood these are the authorized careers: Detectives, Doctors, Scientists, Astronaut, Business, Secret Agent, Painter, Tech Guru, Writer, Politics or Critic

Skills
The authorized skills are the ones you can gain honor points by mastering
Preferred gender authorized skills: Charisma, Fishing, Fitness, Guitar, Logic, Pet training, Programming, Rocket Science, Video Gaming, Writing
Non-preferred gender authorized skills: Baking, Charisma, Comedy, Flower arranging, Herbalism, Painting, Photography, Piano, Singing, Violin, Wellness, Writing
An unauthorized skill doesn’t mean your sims can’t do them, it only means that it is badly seen in noble society to do those and you can lose honor point by doing it too often.
As you can see, none of the ‘’domestic’’ skills are authorized so cooking, gourmet cooking, parenting, gardening and handiness can give dishonor point when mastered, meaning you better leave some chores to you hired help if you don’t want to fall in dishonor
When you master an unauthorized skill, lose the honor points and then cheat the skill level back to nine, you will lose honor points again if you re-master it. (see honor system section below)

Children
In general, noble families will have children until they have an heir, a spare and then one more child. Keep in mind that each non-preferred gender child will cost you either a dowry to pay or a slot in your household until death.
For non-played household, you can add a toddler when the couple’s youngest child is no longer a toddler (or is about to) and if the mother is YA or A. To decide the outcomes of the pregnancy:
-roll100: 90-92 the mother does not survive, 93-100 the baby is stillborn
-roll100: 91-100 you get twins
-roll100: 1-50 boy, 51-100 girl
For your played household: he twins and sex is determined by the core game but you have to do the first roll to see if mother and baby survive
Also traits and aspirations should be generated by the legacy challenge generator instead of random
Teens of the non-preferred gender can be taken out of school at any time.

Money
Cost of things in these rules are often calculated with the household value, note that this includes the household funds and the lot value (don’t keep anything in the household inventory, it’s not included in the lot value there)
Several money obligations comes with a title:
-Pay the in-game bills including the servants
-Be prepared to pay for a ‘’bad week’’ in the market (see Gameplay rules above)
-Pay the Dowry for marriages of the non-preferred gender
-Pay the inheritance tax at transfer of title to the heir (10% of household value)

Marriage and dowry
For preferred gender members: their spouse comes with a dowry and comes live within the household
-Preferably with a sim of the same rank or higher but a impressive dowry can be a good reason too marry beneath (see fortune hunter section below)
-They marry when they reach adulthood with the exception of young adult title holders who are normally anxious to have an heir and will marry as soon as possible
For non-preferred gender members: the family must pay a dowry and they go to stay with the spouse’s family
-They start to search for a spouse in late teens.

The basic dowry a non-preferred gender family will pay is 10% of their household value
-Add 3% value for each rank lower than the preferred side
-Remove 3% value for each rank higher than the preferred side
(ex: if the son (preferred gender) of a Baron wants to marry the daughter of a count (2 ranks above him) the dowry will be 16% of the Count’s household value)
-Add 15% to the final value of the dowry if, at the moment of the wedding, the married couple become title holders or heir title holders.
-Add 25% to the final value to de Dowry if the non-preferred gender sim is one age older than the spouse
The minimum value of a dowry is 1000$ (aka the price of the wedding)
When you have a wedding for a non-preferred gender from your family you pay the 1000 of the wedding + the dowry (because you ge to keep the wedding gifts...I know its weird)

Fortune hunters
a fortune hunter is a preferred gender sim (eligible for marriage) whose family does not have enough money to pay a bad week of market change (aka their household fund is less than 10% of their total household value)
The preferred gender side will accept a marriage with a lower rank if the Dowry is at least 50% of their household funds

Spinsters
A non-preferred gender sims is considered a Spinster when they turn in adulthood without being married
They can now have a career but cannot do chores in place of a hired help
Once a week they must go and do volunteering

Monasteries/Nunneries
You can create a monastery where sims can join the orders
-A non-title holder can decide to go instead of marry (or becoming a spinster)
-Pay 75% of a basic Dowry value (even for preferred gender)
-Gain honor for the family (+10)
-The honor point that this sim is responsible is not halved (not until she-he dies) but he/she cannot add nor lose more points

Honor system
You begin with zero honor points
You honor score determines whether you can buy a higher rank or not: 75 for Viscount, 150 for Count, 225 for Marquess, 300 for Duke, 375 for Prince, 450 for King
Your honor score determines also who you can share invitations with (to come and see you at home or go see them at their house)
- As long as you have more than enough to buy a rank, you can invite the rank that is one level above: ex. your family’s honor score is 80 son you can share invitations with a Count level family
The total score of your household is the one that counts, but you have to keep score of the points every family member is responsible for
Unless specified otherwise the honor/dishonor points goes to the person responsible for the win/loss
At the death of a family member or when he/she goes to live somewhere else, the honor points he/she is responsible for is counted for half of its value.

Dishonor points
Falling asleep, urinating, fighting or benaked in public: -5
Insult a higher rank: -5
Insult a lower rank (other than commoner): -2
Making contact with a disowned family member: -10
Having your sim killed by something other than old age on the family lot: -10
Having a non-played sim die on your family lot: -10 (lord)
Having a household sim die elsewhere from your family lot: -10
Having a child or teen fail in school (D or less): -5
Having a Spinster in the household: -5
Having a marriage with a lower rank: -10/rank
Join an unauthorized carreer: -5
Days having to go to work in an unauthorized career: -1
Illegitimate child born in household: -10
Days while having a bill to pay to hired help: -1
Mastering an unauthorized skill: -5 (cheat it to 9, than -1 each time you re-master it)
Non-preferred gender romantic relationship with a commoner: -10
Non-preferred gender pre-marital sex: -15
Non-preferred gender infidelity: -15
Pregnancy before marriage: -10 (mother)

Honor points
Producing an heir: +15 (mother)
Producing a spare: +5 (mother)
Cadet branch created: +10 (lord)
Passing successfully the title to the heir: +10 (lord)
Having a child be brilliant in school (grade A): +3 (child)
Having a preferred gender teen be brilliant in school (grade A): +5 (teen)
Having a preferred gender child/teen reaching top of scouting carreer: +5
Mastering an adult authorized skill: +10 (except for non-preferred gender teen)
Mastering a child skill: +5
Having a non-preferred gender teen master an authorized skill: +15
Having a marriage with a higher rank: +10/rank (married sim)
Having a non-preferred gender member becoming a title holder: +5/level of rank
Reaching the top of an authorized career: +10
Marry a non-preferred gender sim in the first week of young adulthood: +5 (married sim)
Non-preferred gender members doing non-mandatory volunteering: +1/per member, max once a week
Hosting a gold medal event with at least 4 non-played guests: +1 (lord) limit of 1/week/event type (no limit for birthdays and weddings)

Disowning
A family member can be disowned by the title owner, preventing the family to gain the dishonor point. The faulty family member must now move out, becomes a commoner and virtually a stranger to his family.
The total number of dishonor point this member was responsible for (positive or negative) is reduce by half and dishonor point for the present event are not counted at all.
If the faulty is from the preferred gender his wife and children must go too
If the faulty is from the non-preferred gender his spouse can disowned him/her and demande divorce, the children can stay
Title owner (Lords, Ladies and Dowager Ladies) are immune to disownment

Illness
With Get to Work, your sim can become ill. Each time you see that one of your sim as a illness symptom, random the outcome:
1-50: minor illness: nothing special
51-100: Quite sick: must take these actions before being cured: take a nap, take a bath or sauna, take medicine and they must stay home and quiet for 24 hours (no party, no physical activities, etc.) after that, the score gives you the after effect of the illness:
-51-79: no after effect
-80-85: Personality After Effects: his adult trait is switch for another one of these (at random): clumsy, gloomy, hot headed, Insane, Lazy, Loner, Mean, Slob and Squeamish)
-86-90: Fertility after effect: this sim can no longer have children
-91-95: Lifespan after effect: age up that sim immediately (no effect on elders).
-96-100: Fatal illness, this sim dies immediately.

Random events:
Each week (sunday morning) make a random check:

Major events (these events can occur only one time, reroll if the number turns up again)
1. Worldwide plague: 30% chance of dying for everybody in neighborhood
2. Artistic inquisition: 30% chance that each of your artwork pieces (created or bought) is now considered heretic, you must burn them (delete them without profit)
3. Barbarian raid: one of your family member (preferably a teen) is kidnapped and you must pay ransom (two times what you would have paid for a basic dowry) or loose the sim forever and lose 20 points of honor.
4. Crusades: sims of the preferred gender who are not title holder nor an heir can enroll if they are teens or older, they have 40% chance of dying but if they make it thru they earn a free title which would be one rank beneath their parents. Rules for cadet branches apply after that
5. Great war I: All preferred gender sims (except elders) of your world goes to war and have 20% of being killed, those who return take one of the following trait: Gloomy, Hot headed, Clumsy, Insane, Lazy, Squeamish, Mean, Noncommittal
6. Great war II: idem Great War I
7. Great market crisis: every household loses 25% of their household value and every Lord as a 30% chance of committing suicide (counts as a non-old age death so dishonor points must be given)
8. War effort: every consumable except art piece on the lot or in inventories is taken to participate on a war effort, delete them without profit. This includes the harvestables that are not yet harvested and everything you have in your fridge and chests.
9. Millennium bug: every electronic device in your household are now bugged and irreparable, delete them without profit

Minor events, can be rolled more than once
10-19 - Fatal Disease: a random sim in your neighborhood is ill, they must pay 5% of household value for medical fees that gives a 20% chance of surviving.
20-29 - Infertility: a strange disease as struck, roll to see which one of your non-elder neighbours can never have children from now on.
30-34 - Distant Cousin comes to visit: create a distant relative (roll to set its age (YA to elder), gender and rank (can be two rank down too one rank up from your house) and add it to your household, they will stay with you for two weeks and must be treated like a guest, have its own room and not lift a finger for the chores. This guest is single and available for marriage but does not have a title.
35-44 - New fashion: pay new garments for every non-preferred gender member (1% of household value each)
45-49 - Distant relative caught red-handed, pay 5% of household value to pay off the media or lose 20 honor point
50-58: Disownment: a preferred-gender member (with no title) of a neighborhood family (can be elder to teen) as fallen into disgrace, his family disown him and he loses all claim he could have to a title.
59-67 - Hunting accident - Randomly pick one male from teen to elder in your game, this sim dies in a hunting accident.
68-77 - Skill demonized: lose 1 honor point for each point of a random adult skill that your family members have gained.
78-83 - Distant family is in debt: you can help at your will, each 1000$ helping then gives you 1 honor point
84-89 - Distant relative needs pension for their (probably illegitimate) child: random its trait , gender and age (toddler to teen). Make sure everyone begins with a zero relationship with it. You must keep it until YA and give it a start in life
You can eventually adopt this child as part of your direct family if both Lord and Lady are Good Friends with him/her but they cannot become a heir.
90-93 - Unsuspected inheritance some distant and childless relative just died and you were the next in line for inheritance, gain 30% of your household value.
94-97 - Secret admirer : randomly pick a unmarried sim in your neighborhood (your household included) this sim has now eloped with a unknown secret lover (witch rank is random but is not a title holder (from commoner to one rank beneath his/hers)
98-100 - Unmarried pregnancy: randomly pick one unmarried female of childbearing age in the neighborhood (your household included): this sim is now pregnant of a unknown father.

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I hope you will enjoy it, I know I have enjoyed creating it!
I tested it a bit, but not a lot, so if you have any questions or if something isn't clear (english is not my first language after all...) don't hesitate!
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