Talk:Amalie Mainbach/@comment-182.55.147.209-20200509112957/@comment-45880342-20200523154132

In the Helmut Kingdom, women cannot inherit titles. If Wendelin died with a male heir, that would be the default. If he died with only a female heir, they can pass the title to their eventual husband even though they cannot be granted it directly. If he has no heir, the default order would be the first eligible brother, then the first eligible nephew, then the first eligible sister, then the first eligible niece (the latter two similarly to be passed on through their eventual husbands). This is the basic construct of hereditary primogeniture.

However, the Helmut Kingdom is not strict on primogeniture rules; if someone is eligible but is disqualified for another reason, they may lose their place. For example, if Kurt had succeeded in assassinating Wendelin (and not also fallen to the curse in the process), he would not have been able to gain Wendelin's titles despite being next in line because he would be guilty of capital murder and assassination of a noble.

Similarly, a noble may choose to break with primogeniture; they can pass the title to whomever they wish (assuming they're in the line of eligibility) if they retire, and may declare a will with explicit inheritance instructions for the title in case they died. Unbeknownst to Kurt, Wendelin had prepared a will that granted the title to Erich's son in the event he had no children, with the oldest sons of Helmut and Paul being next in line after that.