A bastard is a person whose parents are not married to each other. A bastard can also be referred to as natural son or natural daughter.
Social Status[]
A polite way of referring to someone who is bastard-born is referring to them as a "natural son" or "natural daughter". Others might refer to a bastard simply as "bastard-born". The term "baseborn" is used to refer to a child of whom one parent is of the commoners.
It is not unexpected for nobles to have bastard children, though it is considered rude to pry into the origins of a person's bastards. While it is not typical for a noble to bring their bastards home and raise them with their own children, it is usually expected that they will see to the child's well-being to some degree. Some might chose to have their bastards fostered at the home of another lord, while others might decide to raise their bastard at their own home, in the position of a servant. A noble-born spouse can take insult at their spouse's bastards being introduced into their household and being commensurate in rank with their legally-born children.
There is a certain stigma that comes from being born as a bastard. They are said to be born from lust, lies, and weakness, and as such, they are said to be wanton and treacherous by nature. Because of the stigma bastards have to deal with, they are said to grow up faster than trueborn children. Even after being legitimised, bastards will usually have considerable difficulty in removing the stigma of having been bastard-born.
Nonetheless, a bastard might rise high. On the Summerset Archipelago bastards may study at the College of Sapiarchs and become a Sapiarch. Bastards are also allowed to join the Faith of the Eight (or other Altmeri-rooted religions) and become priests. Bastards can also be knighted, and in most armies anyone may rise to command, no matter the circumstance of their birth.
Acknowledgement[]
At any point, the biological parent of a bastard may acknowledge them and bring them formally into their household. An acknowledged bastard might even be considered to inherit a seat when no direct heirs can be found.
The Redguards are not greatly concerned about whether or not a child is trueborn or bastard-born, especially not if the child born to a paramour, though inheritance laws still favour trueborn children over bastard-born ones.
Legitimisation[]
Besides acknowledging bastards, they can also be legitimised. This power is reserved to monarchs alone. Once a bastard is legitimised, this cannot be undone. The bastard is typically legitimised to the House of the parent that is a noble or to the parent that holds a landed title, or if both are nobles and neither are landed, to the parent who is closest in birth to the head of their respective families. For example, if the fifth-born son of a lord and a second-born daughter of another lord have a bastard, and it is legitimised, they will adopt the House of the mother as she is closest to the head of her House (her father) in birth/succession. Rules are unclear about situations wherein the bastard is born to two nobles of equal distances in birth to their respective head of Houses.
Surnames[]
Bastards, whether highborn or lowborn, lack surnames. When a bastard has legitimate children, these children receive their parent's bastard status (no surname), though a later generation might adjust the name as to remove the taint of bastardy. Legitimised bastards take the name of the parent roughly according to the rules laid out in 'Legitimisation'. Highborn parents can also decide to give their bastard a unique surname. Those who receive lands and knighthood might also take a (new) surname.
Rights of Inheritance[]
The bastard-born have few rights under law and custom. When it comes to rights of inheritance, there are no clear cut laws.
A bastard may inherit if the lordly parent has no other trueborn children nor any other direct heirs to follow them. For example, if a lord were to die with no legitimate children, but they had an aunt who could inherit, the lordship would pass to the aunt, though if no living relative capable of inheritance were alive, the bastard of the original lord would inherit. However, in order to inherit or be installed as an heir, the bastard-born child will first have to be legitimised by a royal decree.
It is unclear whether a legitimized bastard would be placed in the succession according to birth order, or would be placed at the end, after the trueborn children.
Coat of Arms[]
Bastards do not have the right to use the arms of the highborn families from which they descend. Recognised bastards who take arms (noble born, knighted, etc.) often, but not always, take the coat of arms of their lordly parent with the colours or sigil altered in some way to make it unique. A bastard that wants to emphasise his affiliation and minimise his own bastardy may decide to use the same sigil as their lordly parent, perhaps illegally. Other bastards might choose to combine multiple sigils, using imagery from both their parents (if the other parent is a noble) or adding their own charges.
Notable Bastards[]
Summerset Archipelago
- Maethen Telarion, the son of Maeron Arana and the founder of House Telarion.