Adoption in the Hapes Consortium

Adoption of children (especially girls) was a fairly common procedure during the first dynasties of the Age of Queen-Mothers and to a certain degree, the Dark Age, particularly in the upper echelons of the nobility and royalty. The need for a heir, preferably female, and the expense of raising children were strong incentives to have at least one daughter, but not too many children. Adoption, the obvious solution, also served to cement ties between families, thus fostering and reinforcing alliances. During the Age of Queen-Mothers, the system also acted as a mechanism for ensuring a smooth succession, with the Queen-Mother taking her chosen successor as her adopted daughter. In some cases, the monarch would adopt grandchildren or other members of their family, skipping a generation or two.

Causes

As the Hapes Consortium was ruled by a select number of powerful noble houses and a Royal Family, every noble's duty was to produce daughters and sons to inherit the estate, family name and political tradition. Sometimes, not having enough children proved to be a wrong choice. Infants could die and the lack of female births was always a risk. For families cursed with too many sons and the ones with no females at all, adoption was the only solution.

Some monarchs enjoyed long reigns. At the end of their rule, they would sometimes find that they had outlived their children or, in some cases, their children were nearing the end of their own lives. They would therefore adopt their own grandchildren or other relatives which were younger and more suitable heirs to the throne.

Practice

In Hapan law, the power to give children in adoption was one of the recognised powers of the ruling nobles. The adopted child would usually be the oldest, the one with proved health and abilities. Adoption was an expensive agreement for the childless family and quality had to be ensured. Adoption was agreed between families of (for the most part) equal status, often political allies and/or with blood connections. A noble adopted by a member of the Royal Family would also become royalty, however, at least after the creation of Lorell Hall during the Second Antiquity Era, this required the consent of the grand council. (A sum of money was exchanged between the parties and the boy assumed the adoptive family's name, plus a cognomen that indicated his original family (see Hapan naming convention). Adoption was not secretive or considered shameful, nor was the adopted child expected to cut ties to his original family. Like a marriage contract, adoption was a way to reinforce inter-family ties and political alliances. The adopted child was often in a privileged situation, enjoying both original and adoptive family connections. Almost every politically famous Hapan family used it.

Probably the most famous adopted individual in the Age of Queen-Mothers was Thian Tini'duran who became the third Queen-Mother of the Tini'duran dynasty during the Antiquity Era. Her mother, Princess Zelin was considered too old to succeed Leni Tini'duran Queen-Mother Tini'duran II. The Queen-Mother therefore adopted her own grandchild and made her the heir to the throne. Another example is Princess Da'tanah's adoption of her distant relatives Ynsin Ci'hani and Alexander Tylger (who are second cousins) and her plans to have them marry.

Royal Succession

In the Age of Queen-Mothers, adoption was the most common way of acceding to the throne without use of force. The third Queen-Mother of the Tini'duran dynasty, Thian Tini'duran, was the adopted daughter of Queen-Mother Tini'duran II, beginning a general tradition that the Queen-Mother, especially if she lacked daughters or sons of her own, would adopt a successor.

Adoption proved a more flexible and workable tool for orderly succession in the Hapes Consortium than natural succession did. It guaranteed that people of promise, and often of proven competence, were named as official successors to what was in effect a military dictatorship.

Abolishment & Revival

The practice made it in to Hapan law in 759 at Queen-Mother Tini'duran III's request. It was maintained until 2873, the last days of the Second Antiquity Era when Queen-Mother Dal'kuran XXVI abolished it in favour of natural succession (only in the Royal Family). Queen-Mother Pal'durath II reinstated the possibility to adopt heirs in 3651 and removed the Royal absolute primogeniture act from the Laws of the Hapes Consortium which had previously granted the firstborn the right to sit on the throne. This eventually caused trouble when Queen-Mother Pal'durath VII died in 3946 without having appointed a heir among her issue.

The Draconian Union was known for the strengthening of ties between its noble houses, both in the form of adoption and marriage.

Post-Hapan Civil War monarch, King Andrew, also decided to choose Jessy James as his successor instead of his own son.

See also

• Hapan culture
• Hapan law
• Royal Succession