So you assert. But as I explicitly said, I have seen no evidence for the assertion that (young) greens cannot choose to be long-term employees of a baron and must choose one of (1) join a ministry, (2) stay in a sect, or (3) be a vassal (along with the implication that their choice must be permanent).
Maybe this is all a perfectly accurate logic chain deriving from Word of God that was passed down from on high (probably in discord) and all these assertions of great certainty are, in fact, correct, but (again) I have seen no evidence that warrants these confident statements that certain things are impossible rather than unusual (and therefore unlikely).
I never even entered discord. I just marathoned all 4000 pages of discussion instead of going through the story via reader mode.
I do not want to play with hidden cards, so I'll state the things I do know, followed by extrapolations I made due to them. I do accept that most extrapolations could be wrong, but I think the logic they are based on is sound.
- The MoI really REALLY doesn't want anyone to be outside the chain of command that starts with the emperor. How you get in that chain of command is not very relevant, but they want you well and truly bound. Extrapolation: I doubt mercenary relationships are tolerated, unless said mercenary is already bound via some other way.
- If you wander off after your obligations are fulfilled, you are given a grace period of... I don't remember exactly, but it was no less than seven and no more than 10 years. Extrapolation: Most likely the truth is somewhere in between mercenary relationships being tolerated and not being, so mercenary relationships may be able to buy a bigger grace period with excuses such as "I am gathering money to kickstart my barony" but such excuse won't work forever.
- The sect is protective of its higher level secrets. That means that while one can leave the Inner Sect with a NDA, (extrapolation starts here, but I cannot segue into it) the core sect is likely harder to leave. Further extrapolation: the stronger you are, the more strongly the system wants you bound. That said...
- You are right that career changes seem possible, Jiao being the biggest example, so I never disputed that. Extrapolation: Reaching to Indigo while our classmate is Green/Cyan is possible, and although poaching her from another lord will have political consequences, it could be possible. Poaching her from the Sect/Military/Ministries should be even easier. We don't know for sure, but I never opposed this course of action because we have too little information. My argument went towards people who wanted her now
- It is also technically possible to become a hermit, but that requires a Way incompatible with society and not dangerous to it, so you are still unrecruitable.
Finally, some WoG of things that may be less well known. Sorry for quote pinging yrsillar (Unsure how to avoid doing it though. New to SV). Since I am pinging you anyway though, may as well tell you to place my two omake points to war.
Generally if the scion of a commoner family promotes like that, the 'proper' thing to do is for their lieges to find them a fief within a reasonable time frame. If your direct liege is a baron, you get passed up the chain to their liege. If for some reason the liege fails to provide, it is considered reasonable to put in a request with the ministry of law to resolve the issue, which might result in a severing of obligations. Of course this is only theoretical for the most part, it would be incredibly embarrassing for a higher house to be unable to provide like that, and so they wouldn't let it get that far. If for some reason they don;t want to spin off the family it is far more likely that they'd go through other channels, like adoption or marriage to absorb them outright than for them to leave things hanging.
I am sure there was at least 1 more relevant quote,and a more definitive one at that, but I am not adept enough at search fu to find it. Either way, it implies that if you employ a baron full time without them being part of your family and without "you" being the abstract "you" of an organization, you have to provide land
Again, may I note, being a baron/of baronial rank =/= being a green=/= being a landholding baron. Baron means green before 17. We can employ commoner greens with impunity. Landholding Baron means baron that holds land, but Barons that go to the ministry or the military or the Sect get a Writ of nobility all the same, so they are still considered peers to other barons. And, see, the fox we hunt for is a baron