The Inheritance Rule

The heir of each House must have corresponding levels of affinity to the predecessor or be as close as possible. Since affinity is practically never shared between parent to child, the heir is usually a random peasant. In order to avoid sabotage from others, the Houses will hunt down children with the right affinity to raise as one of them. The Inheritance Pact indicate that a house has no claim over a child with another house's affinity and must be given away immediately. Sometimes the two Houses, usually if they are of equal power, will form an alliance with the child as sort of a bargaining chip. The minor houses follow this tradition but are generally laxer.

Execution

For heirless Great Houses, the 22nd day of the 2nd month is when they will begin the search, though Houses that follow the religion of the Traveller will begin much earlier, in the middle of winter.