#if Ionius had at least 10 kids maybe he too is a brother of 9 siblings?

[randomnameless]

Hi, I was talking with some friends, and wanted some help double checking some 3H shenanigans and figured you'd be the best to ask. Do you know when in the game Ionius's whole wives situation got mentioned and what he did that got all the nobles to depose him? I remember something about concubines, but don't know where exactly in the game it was talked about to check and cite. Thank you very much if you're able to help!

I hope I can help then!

In Hubert and Hanneman's C support, it's more or less explained, by Hanneman that Ionius wanted to concentrate power on himself :

In your father's defense, the emperor was attempting to take power from the Seven Houses. The emperor's reform was an attempt to concentrate power in the hands of the throne.

While Hubert presents it the other way :

He conspired with the ministers to usurp power from the emperor. And Lady Edelgard...

But both he and Hanneman later agree, in their B support, that Hubert is aware he is not very objective.

The Jp version gives a bit more insight on Hanneman's explanations, that were removed from the localised version for... well, I suppose, some reasons I still can't understand?

当時の陛下は、“七貴族”と呼ばれる 大貴族や外戚の特権を徐々に廃止し…

There's a mention of the consort kin, that is absent in the localised version.

This translation translated it as :

At that time, His Majesty was gradually abolishing the privileges of the consort kin and the ones referred to as “The Seven Aristocrats” – the great noble [families]

Ionius was thus trying to centralise power on himself, remove privileges and powers of the 7 and the consort kin.

Now, unlike some other settings, Ionius having consorts isn't that developped in Fodlan, so we don't have any clues, in canon, about what those privileges are. We can only surmise things here'n'there based on rl, I guess, as long as it doesn't contradict canon.

So, what could have been those consort kin privileges?

Let's take the Arundel example.

Anselma is wooed by Ionius, bears him a daughter, but doesn't become his official/legal/legitimate wife. She becomes his consort wife.

What is she going to do? She cannot marry someone else, Papa Arundel "lost" his daughter and cannot secure a good wedding for her (as is apparently the fate of Adrestian noblewomen?) because she's already one of Ionius's consort. Hell, given how their daughter isn't the next in line for the Imperial succession, Anselma's role is very shaky -

In Fates, we have the background concubine wars, where the goal was to have their kid become the heir (iirc?) so they would have a place by the King's side, or at least not be demoted as "extras" when the kid from another mother will become, well, king.

In Fodlan, from this line, we know the "kin" of the Imperial consorts had some "privileges" - a sort of crass way to say the Emperor gives them "stuff" so they will shut up if he "wooes" a daughter, relegates her as a baby maker and doesn't marry her, thus her "market value" drops and the resulting child is only an extra?

From the Libary, it's confirmed that :

House Arundel Formerly a minor noble house of the Empire. As head of the house, when Volkhard's younger sister became betrothed to Emperor Ionius IX, Volkhard was granted the title of Lord Arundel. Having worked closely with House Aegir, House Arundel is seen as one of the chief instigators of the Insurrection of the Seven.

House Arundel became "important" when Anselma was wooed by Ionius and became his wife (consort wife though!).

So when Ionius wants to remove the consort kin privileges, aka giving some importance to the families of the women he "wooes", Arundel isn't super happy and spearheads the insurrection.

Now, why was that system created? Was it a way to prevent the Emperor from, say, having their cake and eating it, aka, seducing women, giving them kids and then throwing them (both?) away without strings attached? Or to make sure consort wife #7 will have a role somewhere, and her family will get a "compensation" for her loss?

Or worse, the "consort kin" privileges maybe also applied to the children of the consorts - they would have a lower rank compared to the children of the legitimate wife - but still be worth something?

The Adrestian Imperial family is sadly under utilised, so we don't a thing about what was the status of the consorts or their children (they just poof away in the game events, we never hear anything about Ionius's surviving consorts or his legitimate wife!) - but we know there used to be some sort of compensation (super dowry?) Ionius/the Emperor had to give to families of the women he screwed -

And from what the JP version of Hubert and Hanneman's support says, Ionius wanted to get rid of that.

#holdharmonysacred #sorry for the late reply #FE16 #adrestia stuff #we don't even know what happened to Ionius's legitimate wife #the non consort one #was she 'died of natural causes' off screen? #was she still around by the time Edel went to the academy? #what were their relationship? #if Emperors have a consort kin system and the Vestra were supposed to look after the consorts for ages #why was this system put in place? Is it from the Willy era? #compare with Faerghus and Lambert's dad getting two sons while Lambert only had one #why the difference? #also you can't make me believe Edel doesn't have 150 cousins and 22 uncles #if Ionius had at least 10 kids maybe he too is a brother of 9 siblings?