The first born son.

[Cenghiz]

Oh I know I'm male.. But %20 of my chars are female.. Not that hard. I know probably my chars are more masculine or feminine than a real woman but; I want to play them.
Only problem; I was damned good at rolling 1,2 or 3 over 1d20.. I'm great I know. I never got pregnant. That's why I suck in tabletop RP games.

[EvilRoeSlade]

I'm not disputing that some PCs will do it, but I don't think it should be the policy of any House.  If you need somebody you can trust in any given position, than you always have one of your own family members.  If lower-level grunts wind up having children with each other, is there honestly any point in paying for it?  How do you know the child will be talented?  Intelligent?  Dedicated?  Even if the child is suitable for a position, it's still only one employee.  A large investment for a result that is marginal at best.

[Cuusardo]

For fanatic loyalty, slaves are cheaper, and for other employees, adults off the street are cheaper.

No, I fail to see the rationale of spending as much money as you would on a slave without the garunteed loyalty that comes with having a slave.

There are a lot of things that commoners can do for the House that slaves can't do.

[EvilRoeSlade]

There are a lot of things that commoners can do for the House that slaves can't do.

And yet, it isn't as if there's any short supply of commoners.

[spawnloser]

Fanatically loyal commoners?

Fanatically loyal slaves, sure...that can't do everything a commoner can do.

Other random commoner, okay...but not fanatically loyal.

I'm not saying they'd do it for everyone in their employ, but they could happily do it.

[EvilRoeSlade]

Very few positions necessitate fanatic loyalty.  All that's required is to take a promising, ADULT applicant, start them out at the bottom where they're doing something for you a lot more valuable than 'carrying stuff', don't give them an opportunity to betray your trust, and in several years, when you think you know them, move them up to more specialized work, or perhaps simply give them more authority now that you know they won't abuse it.

No, I don't see any place for paying for other people's children in the overall scheme of things.

And furthermore, there isn't any way to garuntee that they'll be fanatically loyal to you even if you DO pay for their upbringing.  Not unless you take them away from their parents while they're still infants and raise them to be the essential equivalent of a slave.

[spawnloser]

Now you're starting to understand, ERS.