Hey everyone, I have some questions about modding nobles (that have nothing to do with the mod in my signature). I'm trying to see if I can get the flavor of a meddlesome central government.
First, who actually hands out sentences in the justice system, and does this person's personality matter at all? It is the LAW_ENFORCEMENT responsibility, the site ruler, something else entirely? Can two different nobles hand out sentences?
Second, is there any advantage to a hierarchy in the local fortress military? For example, having a Captain that commands Lieutenants that command Sergeants (squad leaders). Is there a way to ensure that each one can oversee a limited number of subordinates (like five Sergeants per Lieutenant and five Lieutenants per Captain)?
Third, if a position has a single SUCCESSION choice, does it happen automatically or is the player still involved in making the promotion?
Fourth, is there any way to force a non-monarch noble to immigrate to the fort from off-site, rather than be chosen by the player? I suspect this would involve DFHackery.
The concept is that at a certain point the mountainhome sends a Seneschal to your fort who makes some demands in the monarch's name and can mete out punishments if things aren't run the way the Seneschal thinks the monarch wants them run. You also get a Captain from off-site who (ostensibly) runs your militia until your fort is sufficiently mature to handle this responsibility. Ideally, you'd have the option to voluntarily retain the Captain when you are allowed to choose (since he/she probably arrived with a lot more military skills than your Starting Seven).
Since it takes a while to get good at all of the politicking in this kind of system, each officer designates an Ensign to succeed him/her (preferably due to promotion, more likely due an untimely end) and allegedly grooms that person for promotion. The Captain's Ensign is probably one of the Lieutenants, a Lieutenant's Ensign is probably one of the Sergeants, etc. but since they are chosen by the player there are no guarantees. Ideally this Ensign system allows the player to do some succession planning that self-executes during combat.