The Butler Academy

Because several houses in my Region 12 (and beyond) have live-in servants, it's time to focus a bit on their traditional education. The classic courses were designed by the National Butler Academy, and is currently offered by the Butler Academy in San Myshuno, as well as Windenburg Business School in Windenburg *.

Serving a high nobility house is actually a highly rated profession (especially by the families who had this kind of work for generations). Teens can switch to a private high school at the age of 22. The Butler Academy has status as a High School and offers several Servant studies associated with an upper class finer house; Butler, Cook, Governess, Maid and Gardener (industrial farmers/gardeners will rather study at Landgraab Science Institute). Students will choose classes like «How to Serve and be Served», Handiness, Cooking, Gardening, Gourmet cooking, Parenting. There will be additional lighter classes as Mixology, Baking and Piano as well. Students must reach minimum 2-5 skill points in their chosen classes to get their diploma. Houses that hire might have additional skill requirements.

Students will also work on their manners, as manners are so important to get hired by the top notch houses. Also other traits might be requested, such as Frugal, Quick cleaner and Free services. To many houses the Butler is key to keep those bills low. Hardly any house will require more than 3 skills/traits per servant - as the pay check will reflect the list of requirements.

Servants get paid from §200 to §500 - §100 per required skill or trait. This is the minimum tariff set by the academy. Reaching the pro level will of course add a little, and some houses might also pay a little extra when they are pleased with the job done. Mostly the dukedoms have multiple Servants, while other fine Houses might have just one combined - i.e. a Butler who can  also cook or garden - this makes the requirements and pay vary a little.

Butler
The Butler profession comes in two classes; Regular (grade A and B) and Pro (grade C, D and E). Grades are recognized by their uniform - only grade C (the first Pro level) has the option between two versions (brown or teal).

Dukedoms require Good manners in addition to certain skills. Butlers who do not have those perfect manners can still find good jobs, just not with the House of a duke. Also, the academy's skill level requirement is low because you will quickly build skills during your work. This is why some houses focus on traits. Additional traits do not cause a promotion, but might be essential to get the desired job post.

As soon as the grade A or C Butler reaches level 10 of a required skill, s/he is promoted to grade B or D, which also adds a little pay. A grade D Butler who reaches top level (5 or 10) in 3 required skills gets the highest grade E. If you hardly saw the grade E uniform before, it's because very few ever get this far.

The pay is §100 per required skill, and skills can vary a bit from house to house. Some want the Butler to do cooking and gardening, others might combine the job with raising kids of the house. If your Master tells you to tend the cow, llama or chicken you  must say no, though, as that is not included with the traditional Butler standards, but left to a Cook or Gardener. 

Butlers can assist with gardening, but never with farm animals - Butlers are NOT Farmers!

The more servants, the fewer skills will be required per employee, and the pay will also be less per servant. However, the Butler will normally be the one who manages the other servants, which will make you an even more important member of the household.

Cook
Working as a live-in Cook is the perfect option for single women of a better house. When a House gets many daughters, the unmarried will often move to serve other Houses, normally as a Cook. All daughters might switch to the Butler Academy to focus on Cooking and household management skills, to prepare themselves for their future life as the wife of head of House (hopefully). The Missus of a House will often handle the general management, but this can of course vary a bit. High nobility houses will probably prefer their daughters to aim for specific careers, to secure them a good income in case they become unsupported during life.

Cook students will focus on classes like Cooking, Gourmet cooking, Baking, Herbalism, Gardening and perhaps even Parenting, Fishing and Handiness.

This career has only two grades, A and B: Grade A is the starter level which requires the minimum skill level. Once they reach top level in Gourmet cooking and Baking, they are considered a pro Cook (grade B). There are basically only two standard uniforms (A and B) where the obvious difference is the darker color and the white collar. 

The finer Houses (i.e. dukedoms) might use different shades of their signature color. The four more colorful examples are from the House von Heimlich (Windenburg, blue), House of Ross (Rossie, red), House of Saxor (Meadows, green) and House de Cavalier (Cavalier, purple). They will use the standard beige and black uniform if the house has no Butler at the time.

House von Heimlich (Windenburg) many years ago: Grade A, Grade B
(these days Grade B is slightly lighter and with white collar.)

In the older days the top houses could hire a Grade A Cook to assist their Grade B Cook - if so, the former would do the hardest work and wear a head cloth. Today the cloth is normally not in use, but can still be optional at certain events.

Good manners is not required for the Cook, but the trait might be required for dukedoms where the Cook also helps raising the children. Frugal, Free services and Quick cleaner will be appreciated, but normally not required. Cook ranks under the Butler, and they are rarely in contact with guests so their manners will mostly be an issue within the household.

Gardener, Governess and Maid

There are also classes educating servants like Gardener, Maid and Governess, but they are less requested these days. These focus on related classes, but pay is often poor due to few required skills. Some Houses rather combine their tasks with the Butler or Cook servant, as they can easily achieve the minimum skill level in gardening and parenting.

Governesses and Maids are no longer very common, but dukedoms might hire them for a limited period. Instead a Cook or Butler might help with children (and Parenting might be required for that position), and the Butler do most cleaning and hire Maid service as needed. Live-in servants do of course affect household size, so with a young couple, 2 retired seniors, 2-3 children and a dog there won't be room for a huge staff until the seniors hit the bucket.

*) Windenburg Business School offers the Butler and Cook classes, only.