" how should I parcel it among Dukedoms, Baronies, etc? Divide it into cubes of a certain number of light-years on a side maybe?" That aint how feudalism works. Every noble house got it's territories by a combination of war victories, payment for services rendered to a higher-up (possibly military, possibly not), marriage, threats, bribes, court cases, treachery, legitimate purchases and sucking up to the king. That leads to some VERY messy borders.
So take for instance the House of Astropedestria (abbrev. HOAP). It was originally founded by Ekul Astropedestria, a commoner (and rumored bastard*) who was awarded the poor, low-tech forest world of Nivay in direct royal vassalage for bravery and skill in the battle of the same name by King . Ekul married the third daughter, Aiel, of the very poor and powerless House of Olos (abbrev. HOO). The dowry was only a small moon with a barely profitable mining colony. Even with the dowry the HOAP could field an "escorted cruiser"** and about a thousand Arms***.
During the Second Onirroc Revolt the HOO's leige lord Nalurl the Irate (of the House of Lelak abbrev. HOL) was unable to protect them, and much of their territory was taken by rebel nobles. Eluk and his sons (and to some extent even his daughters, the Astropestrian line seems to breed lethal ladies) took back the planets of Nolyc, Remoob, Kubrats. and Susagep. Their relatives decided to give some of it to them in gratitude (and because the Eluk's forces controlled it anyway and would be hard to dislodge if they wanted to keep it). Nalurl, wasn't pleased about this because the HOAP wasn't one of his vassals and so the money and feudal obligations would pass from him to the King Rimisah. Eluk refused to become Nalurl's vassal for these planets as he thought that his negligence had lost these systems in the first place. Nalurl was a Grand Duke, owning over 100 systems and with forces of several Dreadnought fleets**** he was incensed that an upstart common-born with such a pitiful forces wouldn't give him everything he wanted. Only the intervention of the King calmed everybody down enough for Eluk to accept a compromise. Nolyc and Remoob were held by Eluk as vassal of the King, while he would hold Kubrats and Susagep he would hold as a vassal of the King. This was fine for the first 3 years of the revolt when the King tried to strip the HOL of all it's possessions spinward of the Terranova for cowardice at the Battle of Notpyrk. This was a colossal blunder that sent Nalurl into the arms of the Rebels.
By this time the Eluk no longer directly held any of these systems (except Nivay), they were all held by his vassals. Nolyc was given to to his first son Selin, and his wife's cousin by marriage Nehpad on their wedding day. Remoob was given to the third son of Lord Reisarf (Sir Kiderf) in return for providing some of the ships and Arms necessary to protect the new planets and satisfy Ekul's feudal obligations. The king had "suggested" that he accept Eocsirb, the brother of his consort Resalg for lord of Kubrats. Ekul hated the idea but given he was on bad terms with a powerful lord and might need help against him or the Rebels accepted it. Susagep had been given to a former rebel Nitram who deserted the Onirroc cause at an opportune time, tipping a crucial battle in Eluk's favor.
So HOAP had feudal obligations to back Lord Nalurl with the forces of Nolyc and Remoob while opposing them with the forces of Kubrats, Susagep and Nivay. His wife's family were all vassals of Lord Nalurl except her cousin and daughter in law Nehpad who was Eluk's vassal by her marriage to his son. Nitram hearing a summary of this information is said to asked "When you figure out who I have to shoot, message me.".
Nalurl solved the problem, sort of, by sending into the HOO's territory that were far too powerful for the HOAP to take on, even if they were united. These forces however were ordered to hold territory, not advance. Lord Nalurl could barely hold the territory of the HOO if the Royal forces made a concerted push. Attacking HOAP planets would drain forces and force the King to reinforce them or abandon a vassal to an impossible situation. To ensure that the forces the HOAP held as his vassal didn't betray him he sent them as far away as possible. Specifically to the Nero front, where Rebels were threatening to cut supply lines to the capital. Both Selin and Kiderf distinguished themselves throughout the remainder of the war, despite feeling that their lord didn't trust them. By the rebels and the King came to terms they had taken 2 minor systems (Caligula and Claudius), 3 planets in 3 disputed systems and valueless rock somewhere near Anteres. According to the terms of the treaty Lord Nalurl was allowed to keep any territory he held at the time of the signing. He allowed Selin and Kiderf, to choose which of the minor systems they wanted to keep while trading the planets and the rock for territory he had lost elsewhere. This territory was far from any other territory held by the HOAP and Selin's brothers would, at times refer to him as "their distant relative" because he spent so much time on Claudius.
Meanwhile the Loyalist side of the family did well from the war too, although not for the same reasons. While no HOAP admiral or general was ever incompetent they were nowhere near as successful on the battlefront as the family Rebels. Lig and Leon, Ekul's other sons had some success but found that their ships were constantly needing more repairs and supplies than they expected, preventing any exploitation of their victories. Eocsirb located the problem, whole damaged assemblies were being taken out of battle-damaged ships and replaced for quick turnaround. These assemblies were taken apart and the parts sold as new to the fleets of the less powerful lords. Some of thelords had realised this, butkept quiet as those who profited by the false labeling were powerful and connected. Eocsirb gambled that his sister was even more connected and pushed for more and more investigation. It wasn't long before he received several challenges to duels from professional deulists, "offended" by some question tangentially related to them. This would have been fatal, if Lig and Leon hadn't challenged the challengers and won handily.
Eocsirb spread the rumor that Lig or Leon would kill anyone who dueled him, except for people of higher rank than Viscount. People believed this as they knew the HOAP was on shaky ground politically and couldn't risk killing powerful nobles. He then practiced with the Blaster day and night, while allowing people to believe he was practicing with the energy sword. Three very corrupt Earls were conned into doing their own dirty work for once.
Eocsirb specified that they fight on a certain asteroid with high and unstable magnetic fields, using his granddad's old deuling blasters. Directly before the deul told the Earls that these blasters did NOT compensate for magnetic fields, and the shots would curve. He knew how to compensate for this as had studied the effect of magnetic fields on uncompensated blasters for years. He had told them the date, the place and the weapon a day beforehand, so they couldn't complain about unfair conditions. The Earls agreed to cooperate with his investigation, pay him a handsome sum for merely grazing them for honor's sake and grant the HOAP 2 systems close to Nivay.
That turned the tide of the investigation and nobles who were connected to the corrupt trade started rolling on their superiors, bribing Eocsirb to ignore their crimes or simply threw their former comrades to the wolves and pretended ignorance. Some tried to resist the tide but the combination of angry minor lords who had lost battles and friends to this treason, the influence of Resalg with the King, solid investigation by Eocsirb and Lady Zor (Ekul's daughter), the backbiting that came as everyone tried to roll on everyone else, and opportunistic score settling in the King's inner circle doomed most of the criminal conspiracy. In return for exposing so many criminals (and for not ever implying the King got a cut*****). Eocsirb was given a further 2 systems located coreward from Nivay (one of which, Julius was in rebel hands, it has not ever been in the possesion of the Eocsirb, his descendants or the HOAP) and confirmed his possession of the 2 system extracted from the deuling earls. Lig and Leon were able to return to the battlefield and actually win useful victories, although by this stage they were not strategically significant, as war was negotiated to an end. In return for saving his life when he was originally challenged by the professional duelists Eocsirb gave them each one of the planets. This was a bit of a rash decision as it meant that, in the event that they inherited their father's title, they would be his liege lord and his vassal. As it was he was their father's vassal and their lord. This would only have gotten more confusing if he'd married Lady Zor as he appeared to be aiming for at one stage.
At the end of the revolt the HOAP had 10 systems. One was directly controlled by Ekul, 2 each held by Selin and Kiderf, 4 by Eocsirb but 2 of those were in turn held from him by Lig and Leon and one by Nitram. The revolt had been good to the House. However the territory it controlled was long and thin, with some systems completely disconnected and held in vassalage to 2 lords, who didn't get on. This would complicate the history of the House for generations to come. The fact that so much of their territory was held by one vassal affected the House's status and politics for some years. Particularly when Resalg's son was claimed to be the Emporer's true heir some decades later. The legal (and at time military) struggles of Eocsirb and his descendants to claim Julius continued for over a century and contributed to the Third Onirroc Revolt. After the Divni invasion 40 years later Caligula and Claudius were both lost to the Divni empire then regained by the forces of another noble house who made the HOAP swear fealty to it to regain those systems. So the house had 3 liege lords for different territories. They swore that was the last time, and since then any time they have been asked to swear fealty for a territory they've paid money instead and held it as a vassal of the King.
* Don't say that in front of a male of the Astropedian line, they tend to be very good with the energy sword. Come to think of it don't say it in front of a FEMALE of the Astropedian line. They're trained by the same teachers.
** An escorted cruiser is a cruiser accompanied by 2 destroyers, 1 squadron of anti-capital-ship fighters and 1 squadron of anti-fighter fighters as well as tenders.
*** An Arm is a large humanoid vehicle accompanied by, 2 light artillery pieces, 3 light tanks and about 100 troops. It is a standard unit of military strength in the Nearrift Sector.
**** A Dreadnought escorted by 4 Battleships each escorted by 4 cruisers, each escorted as detailed above.
***** He probably did not know of the crimes, but he was bribed to get the original supply contract.
PS Sorry for all the terrible names.
You have my permission to use this history, in part or whole, as you like, no rights reserved.
