Social Order¶
"Honor is the real currency in the empire." — notes on the Sancturi Imperium
Rank, caste, honour and slavery among the peoples of Terrun. The Sancturi Imperium has the most elaborate order, a caste system marked in ink on every body within its borders; the Silek have castes and bred strains; the Eldritch wear their rank in their names; and the human peoples of the Compendium each have their tiers of nobles, freemen and serfs. The governing bodies that sit on top of these orders (the clergy, the great houses, the Naher clans) are their own pages.
The Sancturi caste system¶
The Imperium recognises four estates: the religious caste, citizens, freemen, and slaves (S323).
The religious caste¶
"Those belonging to the religious caste are given deference over ordinary citizens. They make up the judicial system as well as the top levels of the police force" (S323). It has two sub-castes: the Divine Grace, the high clergy, who "must disavow all familial ties" and "enjoy a sort of elevated citizen status", and the Faithful, the lower priests, who may marry and keep their families and "enjoy all the same privileges as ordinary citizens" (S321). Their branches and ranks are on Sancturi Clergy.
Citizens¶
"Citizens of the empire all belong to one of the houses in the empire. There are many houses, from great to tiny" (S323). Houses split, most often over patronage, when part of a house becomes tenant to one great house and the rest to another. "Citizen races of the Sancturi include all human subraces, as well as some dwarves and oesterkull. Citizens are all tattooed on the wrist with the sigil of their House." The houses and their parties are on Great Houses.
Citizenship can be earned. "A freeman in good standing with the church may be sponsored by a house and provide the empire with a citizenship application fee (usually about 100 gold/suns)", then serve four years "either in the military, service corps or clergy"; without a blemish on his record, he is raised to citizen at the end (S321). Citizens pay a higher tax, and failing to pay costs them their status. The Imperial Service Corps, one of the three paths, takes "aspiring citizens" for three years of free labour under a magistrate or minister, "and will rely on their good report to be elevated to citizen" (S323).
Freemen¶
Freemen are "non-slaves and non-citizens. They can own any property except land, but may lease it from a house/citizen. They are required to pay a flat tax to maintain their status as a freemen" (S323). They have property, safety, life and privacy "so long as these do not infringe upon a citizen's or the community's rights" (S321), but no right of trial by combat.
Slaves and the Grey¶
"Slaves are considered property and have no rights. Their face is usually tattooed with the symbol of the house that owns them. Humans, Dwarves, Orcs, Oesterkull and Lizardfolk are common slaves" (S323). Slavery is "especially common for Rivenfolk", and unbelievers taken in war are enslaved rather than killed "as it provides more honor in the form of currency/labor" (S132). Elysium's Gate gives a principle to "Slavery & Grey (Unclean)" (S321), and the political structure heads the lowest estate "Slaves & The Grey" (S323); neither says more of who the Grey are than that they are unclean. Those convicted of Blasphemy "have the same rights as slaves" (S321).
In 704 SM the Sanctuary Age Timeline counts 70,000 wood elves, 180,000 black orcs and 210,000 green orcs in the Imperium, all marked as slaves (S326); see Demographics. The slave trade is the business of Great House Ocassus (S322).
The Marks¶
"Everyone inside the empire bears one of four marks (Tattoos with Praestic Ink). A person with no mark has no rights (and will probably be sold into slavery by the nearest able citizen). The marks are applied/removed/changed by the Clergy only" (S132):
| Mark | Sign | Place |
|---|---|---|
| Mark of Slavery | Normally a house sigil: the slave is the property of that house | The cheek: "Left for unbelievers, right for believers" |
| Mark of Freedom | "Normally, a four pointed star" | The back of the right hand or wrist |
| Mark of Sancturi | The Sancturi symbol, varied by rank; reserved for clergy | The hand or wrist |
| Mark of Citizenship | A house sigil | The right hand or wrist |
To lack a mark is "an assumption of being an outlander, heretic or slave". Marks are also removed as a punishment, "for example House Exile". The ink is described on Praestus.
Honour¶
"It is doctrine that Honor stems from the Sancturi and their representatives. To harm or fail to follow the direction of a member of the clergy is considerable dishonor. Houses gain honor from colonies, financial success and expansion and military victory. Houses lose honor from losing battles, financial failures, failed colonies, etc." (S132). Honour is the third of the Seven Guiding Principles: "Every individual is responsible for their own destiny. Failures belong to the individual and honor is an individual's most prized possession" (S321). A house that changes its loyalty from one kingdom to another is seen by every other house as a turncoat, and it "has only been done a handful of times" (S132).
Dishonour is judged by the Qeokrati, who can strip a house of its election tokens and a person of succession or citizenship, and who often grant ritual suicide as the way to regain honour (S323). The laws are on Law.
In the legions¶
"The majority of the Sancturi military is made up of slaves, freemen and mercenaries. Only the command structure is filled out with Sancturi nobility" (S314). House officers hold the high command, but may not hold any enlisted rank they did not earn before joining a house, and report to non-house officers while in the company ranks. The common soldier is "a slave, conscript or mercenary", and the servants who cook and clean are "often a slave or mercenary". See Sancturi Military.
Slavery in the Riven kingdoms¶
Of the five great Riven Kingdoms, Alghert does not tolerate slavery; Brusau, Ozaustein and Uthein have outlawed it, though "existing slaves and even Undead are tolerated"; and in Miydal "Slavery and Undead are legal" (S319). Uthein is "a haven for Sancturi and Riven outcasts alike, as well as for runaway slaves and magic-users."
The Silek¶
"Silek society is organized around a caste system with some mobility. An intelligent Silek can expect with loyalty and effort to be promoted to the highest castes" (S025):
| Caste | Members |
|---|---|
| Ruling caste | Silek only, "seen as the direct representatives of the Silek God: Belos/Bhaal". Its sub-castes are the Council of Belos, absolute rulers chosen equally from the others, and the Priests, Warriors and Scholars of Belos. |
| Common caste | Ordinary Silek in agriculture, warfare, scavenging or burrowing. |
| Confederates | "'Friendly' non-Silek races that are part of the Silek nation", goblins, orcs and trolls among them; they may join any caste but the ruling one. |
| Horde caste | "Less intelligent creatures ... managed as laborers"; the feral are kept "not much better than most civilizations keep their livestock". |
| Enslaved caste | "Enslaved enemies and criminals ... used for labor, ritual sacrifice and food". Valuable slaves such as duergar smiths get some leeway but are still beaten if they fall out of line. |
Beside the castes are the strains: every Silek is born into one "by a bloodmother created by Belos", identical to the rest of its strain. "Weak strains are wiped out, while strong ones prosper", and powerful strains hide their own bloodmothers and hold those of weaker strains hostage. The Silek "frequently plot against one another in order to improve their own station, or that of their strain." See Silek.
The Eldritch¶
The ranks of the Eldritch are carried in the prefix of the surname: Nar for the ArchConclave, "the Eldritch ruling body of Magi"; Vaj for battle-mages and renowned mages; Xal for commanders, generals and governors; Nae for knights, watchmen and soldiers; Ral for builders, creators and workers (S147). See Names.
The human peoples of the Compendium¶
The Compendium of the Earlier Ages gives each human people its tiers (S372):
| People | Tiers |
|---|---|
| Aesean | Three castes within the clan: the warrior-nobility, by blood and breeding; the freemen, "also blood-relatives, and held as near equals by the nobility"; and the serfs, whose lineage is "non-Aesean, unknown, conquered or disgraced", bound by contract to the nobility. |
| Curci | Three tiers, nobility, landed gentry and freemen; "it does not recognize Serfdom." |
| Danari | Four tiers: the peerage, the landed gentry ("often very wealthy merchants, plantation owners, etc"), freemen, usually craftsmen, and serfs. Landless wandering freemen "are looked down upon even more than Serfs." |
| Korun | "Very little social structure": the family patriarch and the tribal chief, elected as war leader. A king is "simply a chief which has forced other tribes into submission", and such kingdoms "rarely, if ever, survive the death of the conqueror." |
| Naher | "Two tiers and is very flat. The nobility and freemen." Individuals own no land; the clan does. |
Titles¶
| People | Nobility | Gentry and freemen | Unfree |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aesean | Hertug/Hertuginne, a chieftain over several clans; Ealdorman/Ealdorinne, regional chieftain; Greve/Grevinne, local chieftain; Ridder, knight | Huskarl, landholding warrior; Vaepner, landholding squire; Hauld, landholding non-warrior; Karl, landless | Thrall |
| Curci | Domnitori, king; Domn, duke; Hospodar, earl; Boyar, baron | Jude, landed gentry; Raze, freeman | none |
| Danari | King, Duke, Earl, Baron | Knight, Esquire, Mark or Marquet; Freeman | Serf |
| Naher | King, elected by the Eorls; Eorl, head of a clan, elected by the Aethelings; Aetheling, local nobility | Thegn, freeman with military honours; Ceorl, freeman | none |
Aeseans of the first two tiers call each other "brothers, sisters (used in the familiar case) and cousins (used to greet associates)". A Danari serf "exists under the protection of a noble", owes only part of his labour, and may "eventually buy their freedom"; his child "is automatically bonded to the same noble as their mother" (S372).
Among the Naher, "Eorls and Aethlings are men / patriarchical. Household is equal, gov is not," while "clan membership is matriarchal", and an Eorl who cannot ride loses his position (S524). The Korun hold that "it is considered a significant disgrace to survive a battle in which your leader dies" (S372).
The Boreal Elves¶
The Boreal Elves are organised in "separate clans or tribes, each ruling over a specific region", with "a hierarchy ... based on strength (Warleader) and wisdom (Elders)", a meritocracy that is "neither Patriarchal or Matriarchal" (S100). Their tattoos and scars record "achievements, status, and clan affiliation".
Draconian Pherox¶
In the Earlier Ages the Draconians of Pherox kept slaves who "outnumber the draconian population approximately 12 to 1" (S372). They will not enslave elves, whom they hate, but use them "as fodder in gladiatorial arenas"; orcs, humans and dwarves are "prized slaves", gnomes and goblins "less-useful slaves" kept for "cooking and housekeeping". Much of the slave population is bred in captivity, and "children of slaves are sold off by law at an early age to break up familial ties between slaves." After the Thyssal Empire conquered the Olboc dwarves, "the entire dwarven population was sold into slavery."
Gap
No source describes commoner life or rank in the Fifth Age kingdoms (Brusau, Dalmar, Floren and the rest), the order of Proturan society, or the position of freed slaves anywhere.