Retainers
Retainers are servants and companions with personal bonds of loyalty to your character. Depending on the character, they may be actual servants, fellow veterans of a crusade, fellow members of a monastic sect, childhood friends and the like. They may be ghouls, bound to the character by the ties of blood, or may not, depending on the character's preferences.Work out a description of these retainers and the nature of their commitment to your character so that you and your Storyteller know what to expect in play (and what might make interesting surprises).
Keep in mind when designing retainers that feudalism evolved in large measure to limit the power of those in authority. Feudal lords do not have absolute authority: They take oaths committing them to defend their vassals and to attend to their vassals' needs. Retainers ought to matter to the characters, and if the characters abuse their retainers, the Storyteller can and should make this a matter for scandal or even legal action by the characters' own lords. Untrammeled power is a nightmare to the medieval past, something feared as the source of both physical and spiritual suffering, and it would be greatly out of character for most medieval masters to feel at liberty to treat their retainers any way they might want.
Most retainers are of average ability and competence: In game terms, they have two dots in most Attributes, perhaps three in one or two and relevant Abilities at no more than three dots. If you want to acquire one or more particularly competent retainers, you can do so by merging dots.
1) One retainer.
2) Two retainers, or one of unusual competence (three Attributes at three dots, most professional Abilities at three dots and one at four).
3) Three retainers, or two above average retainers, or one remarkable retainer (built to the same total as a starting character.)
4) Four retainers or two above-average and one typical or one remarkable and two typical.
5) Five retainers or three above-average or two remarkable.
