Besides purchasing a standard noble pledge [which is no longer in the store] or wining a modified pledge from a contest there are at least 8 different methods of becoming a king in game.
Requires obtaining favor from your peers and/or the peers of the title above you. This is the standard Dance of Dynasties.
Requires reaching at least a level of fame just below the targeted noble title if not [preferably] higher. Attempting to be king requires at least Exalted level if not Legendary.
Required to accumulate some, yet to be defined amount of wealth based on play-testing, to buy a Casus Belli against a targeted title.
Of course, you still need the land to claim as your own, you still need an army to invade/defend your new title, and you would still have to learn how to dance the Great Dance.
- Tribe-Specific Casus Belli from Culture
See each Tribe write up for the details.
If you inherit from a PC or NPC (with Favor), you become a Noble.
An external Marriage contract which grants a title equal to or below the highest titled spouse.
- Appointment/Assignment from another noble
A noble can remove their subordinates from power and appoint another lesser noble in their stead if and only if there's a vacuum or power struggle. This generally happens during the death of a noble without an heir, or if a title is revoked due to treason.
A noble can use an external contract to assign a title equal to or below their own. Such contracts are how knights, barons, mayors, sheriffs, judges, and many other titles are achieved. A noble can will away their titles using this method. The inherent contract of the noble's Ring of Nobility is overridden by the external contract until it is somehow broken.
The final standard method is mentioned in Down-the-rabbit-hole as part of the use of Story Points in Character Creation.
"All characters you create will require some amount of story points, even if that's zero. The more famous/powerful the character you want to create/take control of, the more Story Points they'll require"
This means that if you have the required number of SP to be a noble you can create a character with at least one of the following options:
- the required level of fame or wealth for Casius Belli for the title
- membership in the royal family and earning the title from parent or gaining the title by standardized inheritance laws. While most noble families will be locked to prevent this, there is still the possibility of more distant relatives gaining the title.
- fulfilling a destined story line which might include finding a long lost Ring of Nobility or other Relic of Nobility [similar to pulling the sword from the stone].
During VoxElyria and Kingdoms of Elyria there will apparently also be certain activities and events in which Gentry may earn a title up to possibly Count.