right, bugs....
so I tried experimenting with hired companions (sucks they don't even have last names, even the local lords), and I tried giving one a fief, and checked to see if I could re-hire him, and I could
so I did that, talked to him on the world map, wore the same armour he had before, I changed it in my party, and it changed on his lord counterpart too
now, after I hired him, he was a trainer I think, I was able to hire another trainer bodyguard
this way you can get every hired companion as a lord + in your party
now, I'm going to try this later with the local lords, see what happens (I just got a peace offer, so I'm not at war with anyone)
edit: right, so when you make your bodyguards lord, you can hire another one of the same type (pathfinder, monk, trainer), but only one, so you can't hire every trainer
when you look at that screen, their name changed to lord, on the right it says "unavailable", but you can still hire him
when you make a "local lord" a lord, they aren't available to recruit anymore
oh, and when you fight with the lord counterpart party, that lord doesn't spawn, only your party member lord, but with their own banners above them, same when you fight on your own
I just noticed, when the lord's party loses, your party member's health goes down to 0%
I have no idea why I'm even testing this, it's just a silly exploit
on a sidenote, why would you make your own companions lords? they don't have any renown, so their parties are like 70 strong at first