Good idea generally but as we see occasionally, they stand and fall by the presence of the noble. As this can affect quite a lot of players who have characters employed by the House and long-term storylines which don't require the presence of a specific character noble, having one go awol can upset a lot of others.
To avoid this happening again, with immediate effect, noble houses will be considered as either fiefdoms or provinces within the structure of the game. Each will have either a valid or a spurious responsibility for some sector of the empire.
THIS WILL HAVE NO DETRIMENTAL EFFECT ON EXISTING HOUSES
The base premise is quite simple. The empire operates on feudal lines already. Specific areas including Valencia, the North East, Thallis, the Southern lands and Nanthalion will be provinces or the equivalent. Other noble houses will be fiefdoms of some area, normally off-map. Nobles are 'appointed' to these areas though they may well spend most time in Nath to be close to the court life. This is also how a noble acquires the funds to run a household - by the local peasants paying for the 'benefits' of his/her presence. Nobles may also be appointed to special positions of responsibility which require them to have a staff.
Again, this will have no practical effect on existing Houses unless a noble wishes to incorporate their house into other aspects. Nobles of existing Houses will be given full support to keep running their Houses as they wish with only a minor adjustment to imply they were appointed at some time in the past.
In all cases though, if the noble poofs, the house will continue and a new noble will be appointed to rule it, by and on behalf of the emperor. Those on the payroll will have the ability to remain there and so continue storylines with maybe just minor modifications, rather than having to abandon them when a house is dissolved due to a lack of leadership.
Further details may emerge once Dev have finished burning my effigy for giving them even more work