Droit de seigneur

"It's good to be king!"
— Mel Brooks, History of the World Part I

Basic Information

The droit de seigneur, also called "first night" or "primæ noctis", is the alleged right of a lord to take the virginity of all the virgins in his domain. No proof that such custom existed in medieval Europe has ever been found.

See Also

• Sex Tropes

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia entry

Game and Story Use

• In a domain where the rulers really do exercise this right, there are likely going to be massive problems from large-scale inbreeding, as the ruling families will have many more relatives in the domain than it is acknowledged.
  • This could easily lead to cases of incest, which might result in the customary supernatural retribution by the gods.
• In worlds where supernatural powers run in families (such as the Dragon-Blooded of Exalted), this could eventually result in a whole fief of people with supernatural powers if their rulers start out this way.
  • Perhaps the ruler in such a domain doesn't just have supernatural powers, but is actually non-human - a long-lived elf or a fairy, a nature spirit, or even a minor god.
    • An immortal being such as those could engage in that practice merely so that he has a whole realm of supernatural descendants to do his bidding after a few centuries.
• A beautiful maiden seeks the PC's help! The local noble demands the right to bed her or he shall seize her family's properties! How many creative ways can they come up with to save her Virtue?
  • …and will the PCs be subject to Values Dissonance if they do? Suddenly a "lawful" alignment seems a lot less attractive…