Inheritance Customs of the Darlunan Gentry

As families rise in wealth upon Darluna, they typically take on increasingly strict and complex traditions of marriage, inheritance, and occupation.

For a wealthy and influential family, there are occupational expectations based on birth order. First children are expected to train in politics, administration, and the family's business so as to prepare to manager the family's wealth and estates. Second children are expected to aid the family in securing connections. They are typically married into the most fortuitous match the family can manage. While the first child is also expected to marry well, their enhanced responsibilities to the family give them additional freedoms to set their own course on the matter. The third and forth child are typically set up with prominent roles in the church or the military, in either order. How high they can rise within these ranks usually corresponds to their family's social status, but astute children may rise higher and thus elevate their family. Children in excess of this number usually take on roles prominent roles administrating family business and supporting their elder siblings.

To prevent the dilution of assets, the inheriting first child typically receives all lands and business endeavors. It is fairly common for them to also receive the majority of the family's fortune, servants, and state titles. However, they likewise inherit the responsibility of caring for their members' well-being, social status, and marriage prospects.

The younger children are the responsibility of the eldest sibling to care for them when their parents retire or pass away. In practice, this relationship is rarely identical to the parental one following inheritance. For this reason, the changing of family politics following a death in the family is closely watched by gossips and business partners alike.