(Year 229) How about a closer look on those sashes? With the high number of peerages in Mazaloom kingdom, one should expect lots of pictures from gala events with sashes and tiaras all over the place. But this far there were rather few such reports on this blog. That does not mean that there is not a rigid system of sashes, though. So, in this article I'll try to introduce you to the most essential. Keep in mind that although my system is based on real life stuff, some details are not ;)
The Peerage of Mazaloom, also known as the large peerage consists of 4 noble levels: Royals, Dukes, Counts and Barons. Peerages close to the Monarch are granted with a so called District Order (aka friendship orders), which make them high nobility. Peerages with no such order stated in their Letter of Patent, will be considered low nobility (or actually, just plain nobility). While the unique sash color refers to the District Order, the star brooch worn with the sash comes in 4 version referring to 4 different rankes within the large peerage.
1. King/Queen
Top notch of this system is naturally the Monarch. Also the spouse (Queen/Prince Consort) and heir apparent (Crown Prince/Princess) are seen as of same top rank. They all wear the 1st level of the star brooch, regardless of which sash they may use for the occasion.
Because noble men normally wear a sash inside a tuxedo, rather than over their shoulder, we'll let a female model display the sashes for this article. Some male uniforms come with the star brooch already, and when that is the case I can not replace the brooch with the correct version. But for females these details are followed rigidly as they are separate accessories.
Most Monarchs will at some point in their lives lead a military career. Most reach Officer levels, either through hard work or granted them as they are head of the military organization. For gala events they will often wear the uniform with a red sash.
The red sash represents the military forces, and is actually ranked higher than the blue sash that represents The Royal Chamber. Blue is the official color of the state of Mazaloom.
The 3rd picture shows a man who is not entitled to wear the military uniform, he might carry the red sash over his shoulder. This hardly ever happens, but theoretically he could have been awarded the High Order of Warriors, despite being below the officer rank. For gala you would simply not wear a uniform unless at officer level. At day time you could were a lower military uniform, but then daytime events are never gala, so you would not wear a sash with it. Also note that the man to the right has no star brooch, which indicates that he is not even considered a member of the large peerage (not ranked as royal, duke, count or baron).
There also exist white and black sashes that will never be used by others than royals. The black one is for official mourning periods and the white one I'm not quite sure about yet - both are rarely used.
2. Duke/Duchess
The large peerage currently contains 5 dukedoms: Windenburg, Rossie, Meadows, Aarbyville and Cavalier. The members of their orders wear a pale blue, rose (cream), pale green, brown or pale purple sash, together with the 2nd rank of the star brooch.
While the royals normally use the blue sash from The Royal Chamber, the dukedoms will normally wear the sash representing their District Order. Because dukes are always the highest ranked nobility in their region, they might be knighted for The Royal Chamber. If so, a duke can of course wear the dark blue sash.
All dukes have a District Order with a unique sash. Each order can have only 8 members, and first 4 are normally representing the House, while the last four will normally be alliances from other districts/worlds. Membership is life long, so granting someone a membership is normally not an easy decision.
Windenburg District Order (DO) has the pale blue sash, Rossie DO has rose, Meadows DO (southern San Myshuno) has pale green, Aarbyville DO has brown, and finally Brindleton DO has the pale purple sash.
3. Count/Countess
There are currently 4 counties in Mazaloom kingdom; Crafthole, Advorton, Tredony and Ticktop. Counts are no longer seen as close to the Monarch, but with their District Orders they will still shine a little. With a few exceptions they won't easily become members of The Royal Chamber, and they are rarely invited to family ceremonies such as weddings and birth celebrations at the royal estate, Chateau Peak. The exception might be when there is no dukedom in the Count's region.
They will use the 3rd rank of the star brooch with their sash. Their DO has 8 members, following the same rules as the dukedoms' orders.
Crafthole county DO has a yellow sash, Advorton DO has green, Tredony DO has violet, and finally members of Ticktop county's DO uses a pink sash.
Say, if the Count of Advorton became a member of the Windenburg District Order, he would wear his 3rd rank star brooch with either his own green sash, or with the pale blue sash that he accessed through the Windenburg membership. When a person owns the right to multiple sashes, they can normally pick freely, but the invitation might suggest a certain focus, mention a guest of honor or simply indicate whether the Count should represent his own order or Windenburg's order. There is also a rule that you can only carry one sash between dawn and sunset, in practice you would never switch sashes during the same day or event, so no need to pack more than one.
4. Baron/Baroness
There are many baronies in the kingdom, as they are the lowest level of the Mazaloom peerage. Only the oldest baronies have their own District Order, because when they were created at the very start of the year count, there were no higher peerage in their districts (worlds). Newer baronies never have a District Order, but must rather fight over the very limited membership openings in other orders.
Sovereign, Spouse and Heir apparent of a barony with an order, will wear the sash with the 4th rank of the star brooch.
Gloom District Order (DO) has an orange sash, Verde DO has pale yellow, and members of the Myshuno DO (north San Myshuno) will use a purple sash.
In addition, the norm is that you should be of noble rank to wear any sash. The only exception is the High Order of Warriors, but to this date it was never given to someone outside the large peerage.
It's also worth mentioning that in larger noble households, most house members will never own a single sash in their lifetime. Because of the limited number of members per order, mostly the head characters of each house will be involved in this system. The 3rd son might establish a life outside nobility, anyway.
There might be created more peerages in the future, as the Monarch is free to create whatever he wants, as long as The Royal Chamber approves. But it is expected that hardly any of those new peerages will be granted their own District Order. Times are changing, it might be wiser for nobility to move their focus from private gala dinners to community engagements.
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Download: Find links to custom sashes on my Heirloom pages. The pictured sashes are recolors by me, based on CC by Batfromwesteros.
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