Recruiting: high scale Pathfinder, Taldor, aka Byzantium focused

Started by Kolbrandr, June 02, 2013, 03:46:12 AM

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RubySlippers

Daily+ save on Saturday and Sunday can manage likely a post a day then. I'm a gamer I have no life.

EroticFantasyAuthor

Oh, how well would a Qadiraian ambassador fair in Taldor? Provided of course that they've even be allowed given the Cold War atmosphere between the two Countries.

Alliance

So are we using Pathfinder sheets for this?

Like the one on Mythweaver. Because I feel that those sheets are limited. They are great if you're playing in person with friends.

But I feel a GM controlled character sheet allows for more flavor and more detail into the character.

EroticFantasyAuthor

So far I've been using the Mythweaver's Pathfinder sheets.

Why not just use whichever sheets we prefer?

Phaia

I am changing the order and working up a house [doing write ups on both]

Here is the new overview of the Royal Order of Companions, please let me know what you all think and yes anyone bearded class lady [and a few sentorial ones] can and have been a member


New Royal Order of Companions:




The Royal Order of Companions:

Over all Order Alignment Normally Neutral but can depend on Alignment of Grand Princess and Ladies of the Order.

Favoured Deity: None

House Blazon: Taldor Shield of Green and Blue with a White Rose replacing The White Lion

House Motto: Honour from Service

Common Classes: Any



House Structure:
  The Royal Order of Companions are chosen from Noble and a few times from senatorial  houses to serve as ladies-in-waiting in service to the women on the Royal Family, mainly the Grand Princess and eldest Daughter. The Order is in fact a semi chivalric order and normally considered an honor to be in. As Ladies-in-waiting they serve as companions and advisers to the Royal Females, mainly in matters concerning social and cultural events but also at times as researchers and a trusted messenger.

  There are various positions within the order and each has a special perview overseen by that Lady:
Domina: This Lady Over sees the others and coordinates and manages most of the staff that serves the Royal family, as well as being considered the most trusted and 'right hand' of the most senior royal female. She also controls the calendar and access to the Grand Princess and the Royal Family. The Domina also oversees the security for the royal family trying to find the best to serve and protect the royals.
Ladies of the Domina: These ladies [seldom more then three in number] assist the Domina and the Grand Princess as needed
Mistress of the Robes: Normally considered the second most important position within the order. The Mistress oversees the vast warerobe of the entire Royal family though mainly is concerned with making sure the Grand Prince complements the Grand Princess's attire. The Mistress makes sure that gowns are clean and in perfect condition and is in charge of the Royal Jewels.
Ladies of the Robes: These Ladies [normally three to five in number[ assist the Mistress of Robes and her duties often obtaining new robes and clothes and acting as handlers for the Grand Prince retainers concerning attire and warerobe.
Mistress of the Purse: A very important position overseeing the gold spent on various and sundry items and working to obtain the best Value. She is often considered the most trustworthy of all The Ladies.
Ladies of the Purse: Chosen for their ability to handle funds and get the most. Since even with the vast fortune of the Grand Prince making sure one gets the best value just extends that fortune.
Mistress of the Bedroom: This lady oversees the staff of the royal family's bed chambers and assist the royal females in grooming and will stand watch at times while they sleep.
Ladies of the Bedroom: These assist the Mistress in preparing the bed chambers and aiding in grooming and personal attire.
Mistress of the Table: This Lady oversees the cooks and kitchen staff and makes sure all meals are fresh, hot and in good proportions and knows what foods the royal family likes or dislikes. She also oversees the food preparation for imperail banquets and parties.
Ladies of the Table: These Ladies assist the mistress in overseeing the kitchen and the proper table setting for banquets and galas.
Mistress of the Letters: She is in charge of keeping track of the various nobles and their respective ranks and places within sociality. There is many different titles within the empire and all have a place within the noble social order.
Ladies of the Letters: These ladies assist the mistress and keep abreast of who is Oppara and what family connections they have.
Ladies in Waiting: These ladies serve where needed and are normally the newest ladies chosen to the Order.

  Members of the order are normally chosen by the Grand Princess and have come from very bearded house and several senatorial ones. If a lady is chosen from a senatorial House it is customary that she receives a minor title as only Titles Females are in the order. This has helped a few senatorial houses to break into the nobility and establish a new Noble House. There have been several instants of a Lady having been chosen by the Grand Prince [often leading to the lady becoming his mistress] as well as being forced into the order by strong houses with a weak Grand Prince. There have at times been grumbling when the order is stuffed with ladies from one or two houses implying whether intending too or not that those houses were the most trusted by the Grand Prince. Smart Grand Princess' make sure that the Ladies-in-Waiting are a good cross section of the noble families. The ladies within the order can be married or unmarried, young or old, they are there to assist and be a companion to the royal females.

  Every Mistress and the Domina is expected to be at all royal functions whether within the palace or out, large or small that the Royal Princess or senior royal female attends. The named Ladies are often invited as well but only are expected to attend the larger event. The lesser Lady in waiting seldom go to anything but the largest galas and banquets.



kckolbe

I can post about 1-2 times a week, and can post a roll or ooc blurb daily.

Phaia, as for the new order, I saw the updated version in the world building thread, but it didn't seem the same as this.
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Phaia

Quote from: kckolbe on June 26, 2013, 05:18:44 AM
Phaia, as for the new order, I saw the updated version in the world building thread, but it didn't seem the same as this.

what was off, I said I was gonna change the order to more represent an Order of Ladies in Waiting and move away from royal whores... the ladies can fulfill that as needed ie escort various lords and nobles [married on not married after all affairs happen] but while the grand prince has numerous advisers, staff etc the royal females do not normally have these....a good example of a lady in waiting comes from Barveheart, Nicolette is Princess Isabella's Friend and lady in waiting and offers advice, is a trusted messenger and spy, as well as bedding various lords. She is a shoulder to cry on and one to offer tales and bits and hints of things she hears in the castle, keeping Princess Isabella up on what is going on. A lady can also slip away with an important message without being noticed.

I see the order as I am redoing it working very similar.

Phaia

kckolbe

Went back and looked, saw that you'd edited the first post.  I was looking at the most recent posts which is why I was confused.
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Muse

I can always post as often as KC, 1-2 times a week.  Quite frequently more often. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Ebb

Quote from: Alliance on June 26, 2013, 02:12:48 AM
So are we using Pathfinder sheets for this?

Like the one on Mythweaver. Because I feel that those sheets are limited. They are great if you're playing in person with friends.

But I feel a GM controlled character sheet allows for more flavor and more detail into the character.

I generally use the online sheets at Plothook.net. But for this campaign I've run into two issues:
1) Not enough room for spells and special abilities, given the extra feats granted and gestalt characters
2) Not enough room for background history, personality, possessions, connections to other players, etc.

(Maybe Mythweaver is better on these points; I haven't used that site much.)

So my plan is to use the Plothook sheet for the basic stats and skills and some highlights of the other things, but then to make a wiki page that has the full character writeup. I'll put a link in the "Notes" section of the plothook sheet to the wiki page and vice versa. That basically gives me an infinite amount of space for the character details, including things like copying in descriptions of magic items, spells and abilities to make it a little easier on me in play. The Plothook sheets should still be useful as a quick reference to the numbers - abilities, saving throws, skill levels, things like that.

I'm not at all saying that other people have to do this. But if you'd like to and you want help, I'm happy to assist. Could probably do the same kind of thing by just doing a post on a Character thread, like most games do.





Phaia

save for doing the the strengths and weaknesses and maybe one current member this is the updated
Royal Order:
Let me know how ya all like it

I am working up a house...basic idea is they are a middle of the road house not big or small rich or poor just one of the many mid level houses of the empire with some history

By the way a question is the Grand Prince's wife still alive?

Phaia

Royal Order of Companions:
The Royal Order of Companions:

Over all Order Alignment Normally Neutral but can depend on Alignment of Grand Princess.

Favoured Deity: None

Order Blazon: Taldor Shield of Green and Blue with a White Rose replacing The White Lion

Order Motto: Honour from Service

Common Classes: Any



House Structure:
  The Royal Order of Companions are chosen from Noble and a few times from senatorial  houses to serve as ladies-in-waiting in service to the women on the Royal Family, mainly the Grand Princess and eldest Daughter. The Order is in fact a semi chivalric order and normally considered an honor to be in. As Ladies-in-waiting they serve as companions and advisers to the Royal Females, mainly in matters concerning social and cultural events but also at times as researchers and a trusted messenger.

  There are various positions within the order and each has a special perview overseen by that Lady:
Domina: This Lady Over sees the others and coordinates and manages most of the staff that serves the Royal family, as well as being considered the most trusted and 'right hand' of the most senior royal female. She also controls the calendar and access to the Grand Princess and the Royal Family. The Domina also oversees the security for the royal family trying to find the best to serve and protect the royals.
Ladies of the Domina: These ladies assist the Domina and the Grand Princess as needed
Mistress of the Robes: Normally considered the second most important position within the order. The Mistress oversees the vast warerobe of the entire Royal family though mainly is concerned with making sure the Grand Prince complements the Grand Princess's attire. The Mistress makes sure that gowns are clean and in perfect condition and is in charge of the Royal Jewels.
Ladies of the Robes: These Ladies assist the Mistress of Robes and her duties often obtaining new robes and clothes and acting as handlers for the Grand Prince retainers concerning attire and warerobe.
Mistress of the Purse: A very important position overseeing the gold spent on various and sundry items and working to obtain the best Value. She is often considered the most trustworthy of all The Ladies.
Ladies of the Purse: Chosen for their ability to handle funds and get the most. Since even with the vast fortune of the Grand Prince making sure one gets the best value just extends that fortune.
Mistress of the Bedroom: This lady oversees the staff of the royal family's bed chambers and assist the royal females in grooming and will stand watch at times while they sleep.
Ladies of the Bedroom: These assist the Mistress in preparing the bed chambers and aiding in grooming and personal attire.
Mistress of the Table: This Lady oversees the cooks and kitchen staff and makes sure all meals are fresh, hot and in good proportions and knows what foods the royal family likes or dislikes. She also oversees the food preparation for imperail banquets and parties.
Ladies of the Table: These Ladies assist the mistress in overseeing the kitchen and the proper table setting for banquets and galas.
Ladies in Waiting: These ladies serve where needed and are normally the newest ladies chosen to the Order.
  At times other positions are created but by the order charter these are the only ones defined and listed.

  Members of the order are normally chosen by the Grand Princess and have come from every bearded house and several senatorial ones. If a lady is chosen from a senatorial House is customary that she receives a minor title as only Titles Females are in the order. This has helped a few senatorial houses to climb from common nobility and into the royal caste. There have been many instants of a Lady having been chosen by the Grand Prince [often leading to the lady becoming his mistress] as well as being forced into the order by strong houses with a weak Grand Prince. There have at times been grumbling when the order is stuffed with ladies from one or two houses implying whether intending too or not that those houses were the most trusted by the Grand Prince. Smart Grand Princess' make sure that the Ladies-in-Waiting are a good cross section of the noble families. The ladies within the order can be married or unmarried, young or old, they are there to assist and be a companion to the royal females.

  Every Mistress and the Domina is expected to be at all royal functions whether within the palace or out, large or small that the Royal Princess or senior royal female attends. The names Ladies are often invited as well but only are expected to attend the larger event. The lesser Lady in waiting seldom goes to anything but the largest galas and banquets.

  The order is set at 30 ladies though the number is often much smaller. Those that leave the order for whatever reason can still refer to themselves as Lady of the order. All Ladies in waiting are referred as Milady instead of any title they may have




General Overview:
  The Royal Order acts as companions, confidants, advisers and friends to the Royal Females of the Royal Family. They came into being as an order when 13 ladies of the court died protecting the royal family during the Qadira invasion. The Order waxes and wanes depending on the desires of the Grand Prince, who though traditionally does not choose the members, but who has influence on the numbers allowed and from what families they are chosen, as well as having final approval on the lady. There have been instants of a Grand Prince pushing for a lady that has caught his eye which has lead to some nasty problems. The Grand Prince is often around the Ladies of the Order as are many of his noble advisers and attendants and this has lead to several torrid affairs and at least bastard heir to the crown.

  To be in the Order a woman has to have a title of her own in some way. This could be shared from her husband or father [since daughters of Nobles are considered title in one form or another] or in the case of coming from an important senatorial family they are bestowed a minor title [nomally baronette a low form of baron that does not include land or an estate]. The ladies are at court daily and more then most have an very good idea of what is happening within the palace as well as within the various houses and senate. This lets the Royal Females to at times give advice to the Grand Prince or let him know of influences being exerted.

  The Order often reflects the strength of the Grand Prince. A strong Grand Prince or Princess often tend to have lesser known Ladies in the order, though coming from important families they are chosen more for how well they can aid the royal females and not because of the strength of the House. When the Grand Prince is weak or without a wife, the Order tends to have stronger women with in it. Higher nobles from various families often decided by duels and military action. The order has no power with the structure of the empire but being in the palace and able to be around the Royal family they can at times bring to fruition plans and influences that aid their house or address various issues.

  Court life "passes in a sort of ballet", with precise ceremonies prescribed for every occasion, to show that "Imperial power could be exercised in harmony and order", and at the center is the Grand Prince and his family and surrounding them are the Ladies of The Royal Order, making sure that the "ballet of ceremonies" pass with ease and harmony.




Notable Historic Members of the Order:
  The Thirteen:
  It was the sacrifice of thirteen ladies of the royal court that brought about the formation of the Order. It was during the time Qadira attacked the Empire and pushed to assault the city that a number of Ladies of the Court were at a Royal function, the birthday of a young princess of the crown, a group Qadira forces broke through and crossed the mighty river and after intense fighting made it into the palace. The enemy numbered over a hundred and quickly overpowered the normal palace guards but were slowed by the Ulfen Guards around the Grand Prince. As other Ulfen Guards spirited the Prince away a group fought a vicious and deadly rear action. While the attack was mostly focused on the Grand Prince a number of the enemy went for the Royal Family. Palace guards and nobles of several houses fought them as the ladies of the court guided the Grand Princess and her two children to a corner of the palace. A force of Qadira soldiers, a dozen strong, broke free and chased the group down, thinking it would be so easy to destroy the Royal Line.
 
  A quick look between the Ladies and thirteen of them pulled away, pulling out daggers and picking up what weapons they could find and charged the Qadira forces. Surprise gave them the chance to close as The royal family was pushed through windows and out of the palace by the rest of the ladies The family was lead through back streets and ally ways loosing any pursuit till they arrived at the one of the estates of House Branas There they found comfort and calm as the Ladies took charge along with the Royal Princess and gathered forces from through the city to drive the enemy back and out of the 'Glided City'.

  Late the next morning after the palace had been made safe so the Royal Family returned. After a heart felt reunion with the Grand Prince they lead him to the area of the palace and there found the bodies of all Thirteen of the ladies as well as 10 bodies of Qadira soldiers. The Grand Prince formed the Order a few months later in honor of the sacrifice made. Officially creating the Royal Order of Companions.
 
  Countessa Helaine Merosett:
  The Countessa was a lovely woman with rich dark hair and alluring green eyes. Her beauty and grace, and whispered ability with magic, caught the eye of the Grand Prince. With in a very short time after the death of the Grand Prince's wife and near death of his son the Grand Prince had begin a torrid affair with the Countessa. For the next ten years Countessa Merosett and House Merosett nearly ruled the empire with the Grand Prince sinking further into despair. It took a coup by his son, who had be exiled from the capital after insulting the Countessa, aided by members of the royal order for a relative strong Grand Prince to again sit on the throne. The chaos that followed, since the countess had given birth to a boy child as well lead to a period of bloody near civil war. Finally House Merosett publicly claimed that the Countessa had used the magic of the House for her own self and arranged her capture by House Branas. The Countessa never reached Oppara to face the new Grand Prince or answer for her misdeeds.

  Duchess Brelina Tymon:
  A distance relative of House Germande the Tymons have long been more 'progressive' then many houses. Duchess Brelina was chosen by Princess Eutropia to be the Order's Domina and was close personal confidant to the Princess. She and all the mistress' and several ladies died with the Princess all were found with weapons and armor and their deaths have caused many Houses to begin questioning the very loyalty of the women within. How many more sided with the princess? The Order is very under strength and most ladies left have a cloud of suspicion over them. The only ladies that seem to have weathered the crisis are the newest ladies of the Order.

RubySlippers

I like it better than the other version, at least they are not whores anymore but classy ladies.

Kolbrandr

Quote from: Alliance on June 26, 2013, 02:12:48 AM
So are we using Pathfinder sheets for this?

Like the one on Mythweaver. Because I feel that those sheets are limited. They are great if you're playing in person with friends.

But I feel a GM controlled character sheet allows for more flavor and more detail into the character.

Mythweavers and Plothook are pretty good for sheets that are pretty smoothly organized and easy for me to access basic information from. I've also had people send them to be as a written up pm, and that's also alright. I was otherwise going to make a character thread for people to include the fuller versions that won't fit, but if you and Ebb want to  use the wiki, that's perfectly fine as well.

Remember, I'd like to see the organized backstory and family notes first before a sheet though.

Kolbrandr

QuoteBy the way a question is the Grand Prince's wife still alive?

Dead as a doornail and some years ago in my view (if he's only had the one daughter in all this time he and his wife are either amazingly unfertile, or she dead, and dead is more interesting). Makes it a potential succession issue for people trying to lobby the Grand Prince to take another wife and try to get an heir popped out, and his current seeming inclination to not.

Quotesave for doing the the strengths and weaknesses and maybe one current member this is the updated
Royal Order:
Let me know how ya all like it

Quick notes: the senatorial caste are nobility, just lesser nobility than the royal caste. Certainly possible some ladies hope for membership in the order to be a springboard into the royal caste by, say, attracting a royal caste husband via being part of it and such, but they are extant nobility and most senatorial families are fairly and fiercely proud of their social strata.

Otherwise looks all good. With both Princess and her mother super dead now, the Order is probably feeling itself to be in something of a weird flux/limbo state which is an interesting conceptual concern.

EroticFantasyAuthor

I was planning to work on the mechanics first(have character and cohorts all done) and then do barkgrounds and faction building, is that okay?

Kolbrandr

Considering I'm determining level off things like backstory work and the like, and have said so repeatedly, from the first post of this thread, right down to multiple pages across it, specifically to you, and unlike say, someone coming in right now you've been about to see that being said no less, why would you think that to be the case?

RubySlippers

Maybe we need to get the houses and things we directly have affecting characters so we can get something started, fleshing out the rest can be done later. Just an idea but if House (whatever) is not being played by someone and they are not a member is it that important at this time?

Phaia

are all Houses of the royal caste? does not seem that way

I would guess a royal catse is a house that has produced a Grand Prince?


Phaia

Phaia

can there be a house that came into creation by spliting from another house?

phaia

EroticFantasyAuthor

#694
Quote from: Kolbrandr on June 27, 2013, 07:58:02 PM
Considering I'm determining level off things like backstory work and the like, and have said so repeatedly, from the first post of this thread, right down to multiple pages across it, specifically to you, and unlike say, someone coming in right now you've been about to see that being said no less, why would you think that to be the case?

Oh no, I didn't mean it like that.

Crunch first, fluff later is just how I've always built characters.

For this campaign it's easy enough to do, I was planning to just build level 8 main character(he's done with this stage, waiting to for the cohorts to be done in order to send you their sheets that way I'm not cluttering your PM box) with level 6 cohorts, don't do equipment. Once that base foundation is done, then I do backgrounds and faction building. When final level is awarded, then I would do equipment for each character and "level" them up to the current level.

Is that not okay, or does it not work?

I suppose I could do it the other way around if it's important, I just normally find that when building the mechanics of a character, often it helps to influence and inspire their backstory/personality/etc.

Meliai

Senatorial Houses are still Houses. A handful of them have already been described in this thread, and they're listed on the main wiki page.

They're nobility/of the Bearded class, they just rank lower than the Royal Houses do.

When he gave me the notes for House Sclerina Kol specifically mentioned that they'd produced a couple Princes which I would assume means that no, not all Royal classes have produced one. Again, they're just of higher rank, the 'Royal' name is probably just self-importance.

I think a house splitting from another would only work if the head of the new house was granted his/her own title by the Grand Prince, the same way an Unbearded might get their own house.

Quote from: EroticFantasyAuthor on June 27, 2013, 09:38:08 PM
Oh no, I didn't mean it like that.

Crunch first, fluff later is just how I've always built characters.

For this campaign it's easy enough to do, I was planning to just build level 8 main character(he's done with this stage, waiting to for the cohorts to be done in order to send you their sheets that way I'm not cluttering your PM box) with level 6 cohorts, don't do equipment. Once that base foundation is done, then I do backgrounds and faction building. When final level is awarded, then I would do equipment for each character and "level" them up to the current level.

Is that not okay, or does it not work?

I suppose I could do it the other way around if it's important, I just normally find that when building the mechanics of a character, often it helps to influence and inspire their backstory/personality/etc.

So maybe I'm just missing something but...exactly what are you asking about? I mean you could just do their stats on your own, then do the fluff, then level them like you said. Why would you need permission for that? Especially if you've already done it? It seems like in the end it has absolutely no effect on anything.
    {{A/As updated 5/8}}           

EroticFantasyAuthor

#696
Quote from: Meliai on June 27, 2013, 09:44:58 PM
So maybe I'm just missing something but...exactly what are you asking about? I mean you could just do their stats on your own, then do the fluff, then level them like you said. Why would you need permission for that? Especially if you've already done it? It seems like in the end it has absolutely no effect on anything.

I had planned to PM Kol all the character "foundations" for approval then work on backstory/factions based on that.

Phaia

you know I just found out something that changed my idea of the size of Taldor and the number of royal.noble houses.
I found a very detailed map online  and looking at the scale miles....Taldor is only about 280 miles Nw-Se along the coast of the inner sea  and maybe 700 miles wide at its deepest inland area which is about 500 miles deep. This is about the size of the entire island of Great Britian.

With some of these houses like Branas having huge areas under their control it would lead one to think there may  be at best 25-30 actual full royal/noble houses....but I would bet there are lots more most of which are very minor in nature and created by the grand prince as the yearly rewards

Phaia

Ebb

Quote from: Phaia on June 27, 2013, 10:16:35 PM
you know I just found out something that changed my idea of the size of Taldor and the number of royal.noble houses.
I found a very detailed map online  and looking at the scale miles....Taldor is only about 280 miles Nw-Se along the coast of the inner sea  and maybe 700 miles wide at its deepest inland area which is about 500 miles deep. This is about the size of the entire island of Great Britian.

With some of these houses like Branas having huge areas under their control it would lead one to think there may  be at best 25-30 actual full royal/noble houses....but I would bet there are lots more most of which are very minor in nature and created by the grand prince as the yearly rewards

Phaia

That's a nice piece of data.

I think that the canonical Taldor suffers a little bit in that it needs to be squeezed in along with all of the other fantasy countries in order to fit the world, but it's modeled on the Byzantine Empire, which kind of has to be huge in order to support the culture, architecture, elephants, etc. So there's a mismatch, which maybe it's best that we don't look at too closely. Same thing with the population; the Byzantine Empire was up in the millions of people which is probably what you need in order to justify the construction. We'll just have to imagine that having magic makes up for a lot, maybe.

25-30 noble houses plus a bunch of minor ones works well for me, though.

Kolbrandr

Okay, some things:

Again, the shtick of Taldor is that the royal caste is bloated with nobility. I'd really like people not to go "but the map!" if you want to go but the map and use it to say we should ignore shtick, you really shouldn't be playing around in fantasy, where again, even Westeros, the purported gritty and realiest-est of fantasy boils down to complete and total nonsense. You kind of have to let some things go.

On Houses and social strata generally:

As I said earlier, the Senatorial caste are nobles. They're part of the bearded. They're hereditary nobility that the Grand Prince can also elevate people to, they are just lesser nobility, with lesser lands/wealth/powers.

The difference between them and a royal caste house/family is that the Grand Princes come from the royal caste, and are picked out/adopted by such from one if he has no heirs for instance. The Royal Caste are also well richer, and higher in prestige. They are the greater nobility. They have the more powerful titles and powers. While the Grand Prince can also raise people up to the royal caste, he does so more rarely. The main thing the Senate has against that is that they control, well, the Senate, and thus the imperial bureaucracy that runs a lot of things in Taldor. They don't, for instance, have private armies like a really powerful high noble family could.

While a royal caste family /can/ produce a Grand Prince, not all of them have. They just are the legal source of doing so.

And yes, a house could be made by splitting off another house. As long as everyone is of royal caste blood, it's really not much different than a change in the letterhead really.