Titles and Honorifics

Titles

The majority of Eastern society are strictly hierarchical, and importantly feudal. The East/West divide for the most part actually comes down to the separation between agrarian feudal societies and the rest of the larger world. Therefore, most of the eastern groups tend to use the following titles:

• Lord - Basic title for a landowner with enough land to support themselves and the people required to farm it, called a Manor. Becoming a lord is generally a matter of impressing a Duke on the less populated fringes, whereas Lordships in the central core of the East tend to be very hard to get due to the scarcity of inner lands.
  • March Lord - as a result of the relatively abundant land on the edges of the kingdoms, and the disdain for the peoples of areas like the Adderwall, Lords in that area tend to be called March Lords (or Marquis), this is generally used disdainfully, and many a duel has been started by someone inserting the word March into an introduction.
  • Baron - as a result of the relative peace around capitals and such regions, the lords of places which don't often see conflict are generally called Barons. This is often used insultingly to mean soft or weak, but it's also common to see it used to imply that the would-be Baron is more important than an outlying Lord. Calling one person a March Lord and another a Baron has definite strengths in implying heirarchy.
  • Lady - The title Lady is a gender neutral one meaning "Spouse of a Lord". Due to the relationships to titles being different in this world, titles pass first to spouses rather than child first sons (though they still pass over daughters to first sons), meaning that Lord or Baron tends to mean "the one who maintains the land" and Lady to "the one who maintains the household". This does mean that upon the death of a Lord, it's common that their Lady will change their title to Lord, and then find another Lady. Once the first son is of age, the title will pass to the first son over the spouse.

It has happened that a Lord has married a woman who could not bear a child, died childless, the spouse becoming a Lord, and then marrying a younger man, the new Lord then also dying childless, and a formerly untitled man inheriting a Lordship through marriage, but most families will fight this tooth and nail.

• Count - A county is a region of several Manors. Usually in the Marches a count will run a few dozen manors, most of which don't have a Lord to manage them. However, in the capital regions a count may only be in charge of as few as 5 Barons.
  • Viscounts - Counts, especially on the Marches, will have an issue with very large parcels of land with very little administration. As a result they will segregate their lands between Lords, generally no more than 4 Manors of land, and delegate them to Viscounts. Technically, the Viscounts don't have any power in the system, and are not recognized by the king except as Lords, but the count treating them as important is enough to render that true.
  • Female counts tend to go by Countess, but are not considered different than their male counterparts. The spouse of a Count generally is still known as a Lady, since they run the household.

• Dukes - A Duke is in charge of a Duchy or Province, which is made of several dozen counties. A Provincial Duke like the Duchess of Barrowcross will generally have several counts reporting to her, and basically be a Queen, unless the actual monarch somehow sends a message to the Adderwall. An Eastern Duke will have fewer counts, but similar amounts of power on those lands, though the monarch visits more.
  • Female dukes tend to go by Duchess, similar to counts, with their spouses being Ladies as well.

• King - A King controls as much land as they can, and the number of Dukes they oversee is completely at their whim. The only thing that compels a king to be a King instead of a Duke is that they swear allegiance to no one.
  • Queen - the titles of King and Queen tend to be gendered, but their houses are large enough that they are generally administered entirely by Butlers and Maids, and therefore there is no distinction between the titles.

• Emperor - only a Lich has ever used the title Emperor, and therefore it's basically considered a synonym for Tyrant.

Some things do change slightly when you leave behind the human-majority cities.

The Elves use the title Althing in place of Lord generally, though Elves in the wild tend to not recognize any master, and there are no Elven peasants, just lands known as "Elven Forests" or so. In the rare occasion where an Elf receives a Lordship over fields, they generally rewild the land, and displace/sell the peasants, or simply use the title Lord. Some humans tend to consider the title Althing to be equivalent to Mayor in that it's the person in charge of a city, but the difference is that the Elves give tithe to their Althing.

The Elves also use the title Etharch. Humans tend to consider this the Elven King, but that is entirely wrong. Firstly, Elves swear allegiance to a king, almost always a human king. However, they also all revere the Etharch. It is understood that there are several Princes in Elven society. The Princes might have any jobs. Many of them are important Lord Protectors of the Elven Military (raised from Citadels, controlled by Althings), but some are Wanderers or Loremasters, or even Artisans. But when an Etharch manages to die or goes West, the Princes are all called by the Council Caller song, and engage in a months to years long process to become the new Etharch. The title of Etharch is functionally closer to Pope for Elven kind rather than King, but straddles the line.

Elven societies relationship to human society is often confusing, and is an artifact of the long live of the elves combined withe the fact that Elves used to be from the West only.

Unlike the Elves, the Dwarves tend to live *inside* mountains with completely segregated societies. Obviously, when dwarves live outside the mountains, they are considered part of the external society, though they are generally considered Exiles by the rest of the dwarves.

Dwarven Mountains are ruled by Kings, with Princes acting as their dukes. However, dwarves generally don't have other lords, their Longbeards being a combination of Foreman and Elder, the group that's the leader of the community. Generally the mountain is run by the King and a council of Princes, with each prince having Longbeards and Master Artisans as advisers. The majority of the community never sees a prince and has all their leadership comes from Longbeards.

Orcs generally don't live in the East. They tend to have The Great who are Named. For the most part, anyone Named is considered important enough to be allowed to control the life and death of any Unnamed. Leaders of war bands are known as Hussars, with a rare orcish Great One appearing and uniting clans and Hussars into a single Orcish Horde.

Honorifics

Nobles

Peasants and Serfs are not able to accept any honorific.

The terms Mr, Mld or Laird is often used for addressing a Lord, and in some cases, a Viscount. Using the titled Mld or Mr or Mrs is generally considered acceptable to satisfy the required subservience required by the nobility. The equivalent title in Dwarven culture is Gov, which is often used for addressing any elder, but especially your Longbeard.

Eminence or Your Eminence is the only acceptable title when addressing a Count, and shortening it is considered rude. Addressing a Viscount as Eminence in the presence of a Count is considered rude to the count, but most Viscounts insist on the title. Elven Lord Protectors and Althings are best called the title Eminence.

Your Grace is the only way acceptable to refer to a Duke, Elven Prince, or Dwarven Prince.

Spouses of any rank up to Duke are referred to with the honorifics Mistress or Mrs.

Kings and Queens both are referred to as Your Majesty.

Courtesy Titles

The Children of nobles generally receive Courtesy Titles which live with them until they inherit, or their inheritance is no longer passing to them. Human princes who are the children of Kings and Queen get to be referred to as Your Majesty like their parents. The same is true of Counts and Dukes.

Viscounts and Lords do not grant courtesy titles as honorifics to their children, meaning that they are referred to as would any freeman.

Free Peoples

The terms Goodwife/Gentleman refer to any adult who is married and are free. These are generally shortened to Goody and Gentle.

A free person in the employ of a noble receives the title Master from their peasants/serfs.

Anyone who is capable of healing often receives the title of Doctor, generally this is a guild designation, and using it in a city without being a member of a guild can get one run out of town (or fined in the East).

Anyone who can read and write may receive the title of Professor.

Anyone who can cast a spell, or who can sing the Lyric Of Law, may receive the title of Magister.

Those who are tonsured (or Ordained) receive the title of Brother or Sister. Older roden, and Vested humans receive the title of Father/Mother, in the same way.

A Dwarf that knows any of the smithing Arts receives the title of Maestro.

An Elf who knows the Council Caller song receives the title Councillor, and the Verse of Decision gives the title Honoured.