Thane of Falkreath question...

I just picked up Hearthfire the other day. Built my first house in Falkreath. I love it.

The question is, once I become the Thane of Falkreath and Rayya is my housecarl, will she be the housecarl at my house, same as the others?

I ask because I know you can appoint a steward for your house too. Is it one, or the other? For example, if I appoint Lydia the steward in Falkreath, will Rayya still be there too?

I've held off appointing a steward for that reason. I didn't want to miss out on having Rayya guard my palace. On the other hand, if BOTH Rayya & Lydia (or anyone else for that matter) were to be there at all times (along with my wife), that may be quite nice. 3 chicks + 1 Orc = good times!

Yes, Rayya will stay in your house. If you do not have Lydia as your steward, she will wait in the Dragonsreach.

Yes, steward and housecarl are two different positions. The housecarl is appointed to you by the Jarl. The steward is someone you hire. Since the only stewards that you can hire are also followers (including any housecarl), they are all in a class that can do combat and will help defend the estate along with the housecarl.

Get a steward who's tough for Lakeview Manor. That house gets raided far more than the others in my games. My Breton's steward is Jordis and my Bosmer's is Uthgerd--they're both tanks and prefect for the job. My Dunmer has Talvas (Dragonborn DLC) who will ice storm the bleep out of any attackers. My Bosmer has Faendal for steward at the other two houses, although Faeny mainly stays at Windstad, as nothing ever happens at Heljarchen that the housecarl Gregor can't handle on his own. I thought giants would attack there, but they never have. Only the occasional pack of wolves and a couple times, bandits.