(Year 225) It's been a while since I introduced nobility to my Region 12. Historically, the first peers have been around since Year 2, and I know the detailed story of each house.
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| Nobility from several districts gathered at the wedding of Auphor Saxor, Baron of Verde. Left to right: Elvy (Rab-Saxor) Ross, Baroness of Shiningham. Bennet Ross, Baron of Shiningham. Ribra Lynn (Thebe) Ross, Duchess of Rossie. Jarret Ross, Duke of Rossie. Gloria (Roxenfox) Saxor, Duchess of Meadows. Victus Am. Saxor, Duke of Meadows. (Groom) Auphor Saxor, Baron of Verde. (Bride) Morgan (Fyres) Saxor, Baroness of Verde. Dominic Fyres, Lord von Dresden, of Deadgrass and von Haunt. Moira (Rattle) Fyres, Mrs Dominic Dresden. Miss Siobhan Fyres. |
In this post I want to focus a bit more on how my nobility ranks, and their titles. There are four levels, royalty (they reside far away and I don't play them), high nobility, low nobility and noble titles (which often counts as low nobility). I did some RL research over the past year, and I was amazed by the complexity! I had to make my own routines, but there are still certain elements based n RL nobility.
I'm planning a series sharing how nobility rank affects each individual on various life stages. So, a nerdy title overview right now would be in handy, right?
The rank
My system is basically split into two groups; high and low nobility. The difference is actually whether the peerage was introduced by the King/Queen (gives high nobility), or by a high nobility peer (gives low nobility). High nobility peers control a full district (=world), the only exceptions are San Myshuno that originally had 2 districts and therefor has 2 high nobility peers, and Brindleton Bay also has 2 peerages of high nobility. Low nobility peers were normally introduced by a high nobility peer, and typically connects to one hood within that district, but there is also the lower group, noble titles, who don't have a normal peerage.
Only high nobility peers own a Trust that again owns the palace/mansion operated by the peer (and a lot more). They take on community engagement and are granted allowances. Peers often have ordinary careers as stated by the peerage patent. High nobility households normally have 1-2 live in servants, but servants' duties can vary. These peerages are old, and successors must be male.
Low nobility live quite ordinary lives, they don't even have live-in servants, but they will normally be included with the noble society - especially if their children might become spouses to the high nobility descendants. Peerages introduced after Year 100 can have either male or female peer, and all introduced in Year 121 classifies as noble titles with less privileges.
The peer titles
There are two sorts of titles, peer titles and courtesy titles. Each house basically has only one title; Title of the peer himself. In addition the spouse of a Duke or Baron will get a similar title, although not in her own right. Depending on local rules, the dukedoms have one baron title that can only be used by the oldest son. The other children won't get real titles at all, but courtesy titles, which is part of a secondary system (see below).
King/Queen - the royals are situated far away from Region 12, so I don't focus much on them. At the moment the Monarch is female = Queen. The Royal signature color is red.
Duke - There are 4 dukes, all high nobility. They are equal but still rank in the order they were first introduced; Windenburg (Region 28), Rossie (Rossie/Britechester/Hollow, Region 11), Meadows (half San Myshuno) and de Cavalier (half of Brindleton). They normally have 1-2 live in servants.
Duchess - wife of Duke. She benefits from high status and respect, although being ranked second within the dukedom.
Baron - all current barons of Region 12 are high nobility, equally ranked although Myshuno is always listed before Gloom and then Verde. In the past there were several low nobility baronies introduced by the dukes - all but one expired by now. Current high nobility baronies are Myshuno (half of San Myshuno), Gloom (Gloomville - aka Willow Creek) and Verde (Oasis Springs). Because they are high nobility, they have their entire district. In addition there is the low nobility baronies of Shiningham (Rossie/Britechester, Region 11) and Gibbs (Gibbs Hill, /Britechester, Region 11).
Barons normally have 0-1 live in servants.
Baron is also the 3rd rank of a dukedom, given to oldest son and counts as a courtesy title.
Baroness - wife of Baron. She ranks second within the barony.
Lord/Lady - there are three levels of Lord/Lady in Region 12 and beyond:
One unique, old lordship counts as high nobility, Lord Deadgrass (half of Brindleton).
The oldest lordships (introduced before Year 121) are real peerages connecting to land, i.e. Lord von Dresden, Lady de Sür-Blyth, Lord of Prome. These count as low nobility. Wife gets the formal title of Lady, through marriage.
Lord/Lady is not real nobility, but rather a noble title given to a large number of upper crust families in Year 121 (a result of the Great Revolution). These are known as i.e. Lord Foxbury, Lady Crestville, Lord Lykke. They don't connect to land, so there is no of in their title. They are gender neutral, and spouse doesn't get her/his own title.
Regardless of nobility level, Lord/Lady has limited privileges and can not give courtesy titles to others.
They don't have live-in servants (unless it's a relative).
In addition, Lord/Lady is also a courtesy title that a Duke or Baron can give to his son/daughter, or other close family members.
Mister (Mr) - is not a courtesy title, but more a social title automatically used to address a son of a Lord.
Miss (Ms) - is not a courtesy title, but more a social title automatically used to address an unmarried daughter of a Lord.
Missus (Mrs) - is not a courtesy title, but more a social title automatically used to address the wife of a Mister, and sometimes also used for the wife of a Lord when she holds no Lady title.
Only the peer can give out any title to his household/descendants. A widow/widower has no right to approve courtesy titles for children or other relatives, and can not even knight new members for the District Order. She can lead the Trust board, though, and through this keep receiving allowances and other minor benefits like accessing jewelries owned by the Trust. If she remarries, the new husband will not have any rights to the title nor trust - not even if the late peer had no children.
The only title that involves some rights and that the reigning Duke de Cavalier can give out, is the title of his wife. When they marry, she automatically obtains her social position with the right to use the title Duchess de Cavalier, but she needs to be formally instated by the peer to claim any legal rights, and this investiture can only take place on 1st day of Winter (aka Investiture Day). Her most important legal right is the Widow Rights. As a widow she can operate the peerage in the late peer's name for up to 10 years - which often is enough for a heir to grow up. Widow Rights is seen as a pension, securing an elderly Duchess a decent life as a widow and giving her time to settle her new life. If the Duke dies before his wife was formally instated, she holds no rights regarding the peerage at all. Any legitimate heir will still be first in line, but the peerage will go dormant until the heir is old enough to get crowned (at 25).
In my routine I added a rule saying that the peer can only instate his wife with her peerage title if they reside in the area that the peerage connects to. An example is Dominic Fyres, Lord of Deadgrass who never instated his wife Moira with the high nobility peerage title Lady of Deadgrass. This is because Dominic chose to stay in Windenburg. Being a remote peer will not stop the peer from giving out courtesy titles, though.
The high nobility peer rules over this in his own person, but can turn to the King/Queen for supervising. Any low nobility peer would need to get the high nobility overseer's approval when giving out any title. So, when Baron of Verde wants his wife Morgan to formally get the title Baroness of Verde, he will need to get the Queen's approval and a peer ranked above baron (one of the dukes) must perform the investiture ceremony. This is normally just a formality, though.
In real life there will often be a way to tell whether a title refers to being the peer of a peerage, or being married to the peer. This is important as the person's rights are very different, but I had to simplify this a bit. You can't really tell from the title who is the boss - Baron of Verde or Baroness of Verde (although I know the peer must be male). To be fair - they are supposed to reign together, sort of.
The courtesy titles
Each peerage will of course have only one peer, so there can only be one Duke de Cavalier at any given time. Same goes for Baron de Cavalier. However, there can be numerous Lord or Lady de Cavalier - they are not peerage titles, but courtesy titles with no legal benefits.
These titles will normally be announced at birth or marriage, or at other major life events. The peer can give out courtesy titles at any time, so whenever the Duke feels like it, these titles can be replaced - normally not taken away though. There will not be an investiture ceremony for courtesy titles, the peer's announcement is enough.
A Lord/Lady can not give out any real noble title, but his/her children will get the Mister/Miss title on their 15th birthday. These are social titles for a common branding of the youngest generation of low nobility. Such titles signalizes that these men and women hold a good number in the line of successors to the peerage. There are never any legal or financial benefits connected to courtesy titles, except the social position and the value of a possible (but unlikely) future inheritance. That's pretty good information within the noble society.
First son of Duke de Cavalier was given the peerage title Baron de Cavalier. The Duke can choose to give all sons the Lord title at birth, and then before the oldest son's 15th birthday, decide which son will be more capable of inheriting the peerage. Baron gives higher rank than Lord. Normally this will be the oldest son, like Charlopold Demitris, Baron de Cavalier got his courtesy title at birth.
And so did his younger brother Leon Demitris de Cavalier and sister Lady Merielle de Cavalier. You can only hold one title per peerage, so when Baron Charlopold de Cavalier becomes peer, he will let go of his temporary Baron title. Courtesy titles are normally life long, though.
All 3 children are now young adults, and the 2 oldest will probably marry within a couple years. When Baron Charlopold Demitris de Cavalier gets married, his wife will not (necessarily) become Baroness de Cavalier, at least not unless the Duke decides to give her such a title. Because it would be a courtesy title, not directly connected to the peerage, a statement from the Duke would be enough - no investiture ceremony needed. However, she will most likely not be given that title, but rather wait for her husband to become the next Duke. Meanwhile she will be titled Lady Charlopold de Cavalier. If they get a son before inheriting the peerage, Baron de Cavalier can not give the son any title at birth, the Duke (peer) must do so. The Duke's grandson will most likely get the courtesy title of Lord de Cavalier, because he is the oldest. If the Baron gets a second son, the Duke might not give that grandson a title, but this depends on when the Baron is expected to step up.
High nobility peers are allowed to retire, while low nobility peers keeps their peerage until they die.
How titles are used
In RL there is plenty of etiquette regarding how titles are worded in speech and writing. I realize that even if I simplify this, there are still many situations when I already addressed someone incorrectly.
Name of the peerage should normally be used for last name by both peer and peer's wife. Victus Amador Saxor is the Duke of Meadows, so he should be addressed Victus Meadows, or just Meadows among friends. Instead I tend to call him Victus Saxor, Duke of Meadows. Although it is wrong according to RL books, I'll continue using this form as I feel it gives more information.
Some peers hold multiple peerages, and therefor several titles. Logically one should only use the highest ranked title, at least when there's no need to list all titles. When several titles are listed they should be sorted by rank.
It's also a bit confusing when someone changes positions, like should a noble woman stop using her old titles when she marries into a higher rank? Mister/Miss will need to go, but they are not real noble titles. How about when Lady Claudine of Lunderclam married to Duke Aquess de Cavalier? She became Duchess de Cavalier, so will she ever again need her old Lady title? I think any related titles would be of some value as they would indicate a connection to a possible future inheritance. Lady of Lunderclam was a courtesy title, which is mostly used to signalize such connections. However, Claudine is now well known as Duchess de Cavalier, and won't really need to serve old titles to introduce herself. She is referred to as Claudine, Duchess de Cavalier, Lady of Lunderclam, only if it is important to include her background.
How about a woman marrying several times, to different peers? She will gain the title when marrying, but as the title is meant to be informative, there is no point in keeping old titles as long as she won't inherit anything. If she got a divorce, she will lose her peerage title, although the next peer of that peerage might give her a courtesy title which would not be higher than Lady. This might be correct, especially if there were children involved. However, in most situations it would be of no interest to others to see a long list of titles, your current position is what counts. Only in court or genealogical indexes, or after a person died, it might be useful to list all titles of a person, including those of the past.
How to entitle Victus Amador Saxor, who is the Duke of Meadows:
Victus, Duke of Meadows
Victus Meadows
Duke
Your/His Grace (in a situation where everyone knows which grace is meant)
I will keep using the form: Victus Am. Saxor, Duke of Meadows or Duke Victus Meadows.
How to entitle Gloria (Roxenfox) Saxor, who is the Duchess of Meadows:
Gloria, Duchess of Meadows
Gloria Meadows
Duchess
Your/Her Grace (in a situation where everyone involved knows what grace is meant)
I will keep using the form: Gloria R. Saxor, Duchess of Meadows, Lady of Lunderclam or Duchess Gloria Meadows.
How to entitle Bud von Kaching, who is the Baron of Gloom:
Baron Gloom
Bud, Baron Gloom
Gloom (by friends)
Your lordship, My lord (by anyone of a lower rank)
I will keep using the form: Bud von Kaching, Baron of Gloom or Baron Bud Gloom.
How to entitle Rose (Bloom) von Kaching, who is the Baroness of Gloom:
Baroness Gloom
Rose Gloom
Rose (by friends)
I will keep using the form: Rose B. von Kaching, Baroness of Gloom or Baroness Rose Gloom.
How to entitle Dominic Fyres, who is the remote Lord of Deadgrass:
Lord Deadgrass
Dominic Deadgrass
Deadgrass (by friends)
I will keep using the form: Dominic Fyres, Lord of Deadgrass or Lord Dominic Deadgrass.
How to entitle Moira (Rattle) Fyres, who is wife of the remote Lord of Deadgrass:
Mrs Lord Deadgrass (because they live remote, she gets no real title
Moira (by friends)
I will keep using the form: Moira Fyres, Mrs Lord Deadgrass or Moira Fyres.
How to entitle Charloman Demitris de Cavalier, who is oldest son of Duke de Cavalier:
Baron Charlopold De. de Cavalier
Charlopold (by friends)
I will keep using the form: Baron Charloman De. de Cavalier or Baron de Cavalier.
How to entitle Merielle de Cavalier, who is daughter of Duke de Cavalier:
Lady de Cavalier
Merielle (by friends)
I will keep using the form: Lady Merielle de Cavalier or Lady de Cavalier.
How to entitle Leon Demitris de Cavalier, who is youngest son of Duke de Cavalier:
Lord Leon De. de Cavalier
Leon (by friends)
I will keep using the form: Lord Leon De. de Cavalier or Lord de Cavalier.
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