Claimants

Claimants are fugitive nobles who all believe themselves wronged, and are seeking to reclaim their perceived right as monarchs of their home factions.

Overview

A claimant to a faction's throne can be found within a random fortification's keep, trying to gather support for their cause. With Fire & Sword being the exception, a claimant will never be found within their home faction's borders. For a small fee, the player can request a Traveller for information on any claimant's current location.

Throne Disputes

On the claimant's side, once you find them, they will tell you their side of the story and will ask you to take up their cause. If you have less than 200 renown, they will tell you that you need to gain more. With over 200 renown, the claimant will allow you to swear an oath of vassalage and your allegiance changes to the rebel faction. If you were starting your own kingdom, you have to give up your kingdom to become a vassal of the claimant. If you belonged to the faction that the claimant is trying to overthrow, the fiefs you currently own convert to the rebel faction of your claimant (temporarily under your control). Pledging fealty to a claimant increases your relations to 50.

On the monarch's side, you can ask for their side of the story. Both claimant and monarch have good reason for supporting their right to rule. Generally, monarchs justify their right to rule with practical arguments (such as that the kingdom is better off under their rule), while claimants justify their right to rule based on law or technicality (such as where their lineage places them in the traditional line of succession to the throne).

As Mount&Blade is a sandbox game, it is never stated in-game who should be the rightful monarch of each faction - it is up to the player to decide.

Once you eliminate the original faction, your rebel faction becomes the "original" faction and you become the marshall of the new king or queen (permanently in Mount&Blade; you can step down, but it can never be taken from you). Strangely, even with the claimant now on the throne, he/she does not get a title in front of his/her name, and the old monarch still retains his/her title. This is because the title is hard-coded inside the name string.

In Mount&Blade: Warband, you also lose all the abilities associated with being a monarch, such as assigning fiefs or sending emissaries. For this reason, beware of turning companions into vassals during a claimant quest as they do not remain 'yours' when the original faction is defeated. Rather, they become vassals of the new "original" faction led by the new monarch. If you'd like to have a companion as a prisoner, it may be easier to give them over during a claimant quest than force them to rebel during your own bid for kingship.

Throne Claimants

Calradia

Eastern Europe

Northlands