More thicc lore because I'm loosing control of my life and making pudding at 3am send help
Noble Ranks
Adanion follows a nobility ranking structure brought over from over the mountains by the Lowyst and Adandum and are as follows:
The King of Adanion -> The High Lords -> The Archdukes -> The Dukes -> The Counts -> The Viscounts & Knights -> The Smallfolk
The King of Adnaion has always been a member of House Loyce and typically a direct descendant. Most often this is between the King and their eldest child as the crown passes via absolute cognatic primogeniture. There have been time when a sibling or an aunt or uncle takes the throne instead of a child, once there was even a case where a father passed the crown to his son who in turn passed it to his mother, a scandal that was.
The High Lords are those Great Houses given control over the regions of Adanion: the Crownmark, the Arbormark, the Frostmark, the Mistlands, the Stormlands, the Western Marches and the Wildwood. To be a high lord is to rule over the other Archdukes and Dukes of a region. Those Great Houses bestowed with the honor and responsibility are granted the titles of "High Lords/Ladies of X" (IE High Lords of the Arbormark). The title of High Lord of the Crownmark has always been that of House Loyce's and only the Western Marches breaks protocol as instead of a High Lord of the West March, there is the "Warden of the West".
Archdukes are powerful Great Houses who are under the High Lords of their region. Many can trace a lineage back to either a tribal king of the Old Land or to one of the original followers of Adandum Lowyst or his daughter Omera Lowyst. Below them are the Dukes who are majority not Great Houses, although some have become Great Houses through power or favor. There is no law saying that a Great House cannot rule another Great House, only that a Duke is to obey their Archdukes.
Counts, Viscounts and Knights make up the rung of lesser nobility or the "Minor Houses" and are by far the most numerous compared to the other ranks above them. They administer smaller counties, provinces, shires and areas for their Dukes. Viscounts and Knights are not always considered nobility as they are simply titles granted in recognition of great civil or administrative achievement and great acts of martial skill or valor respectively; two sides of the same coin. Viscounts and Knights often do not have any land for themselves aside from their own homes, although Landed Viscounts and Knights can rival the power of Counts. Unlike most titles, each new generation of Viscounts and Knights must have their titles "reaffirmed" or hope to be promoted to Counts. In this, Knights are typically more often reaffirmed than Viscounts.
The King of Adanion -> The High Lords -> The Archdukes -> The Dukes -> The Counts -> The Viscounts & Knights -> The Smallfolk
The King of Adnaion has always been a member of House Loyce and typically a direct descendant. Most often this is between the King and their eldest child as the crown passes via absolute cognatic primogeniture. There have been time when a sibling or an aunt or uncle takes the throne instead of a child, once there was even a case where a father passed the crown to his son who in turn passed it to his mother, a scandal that was.
The High Lords are those Great Houses given control over the regions of Adanion: the Crownmark, the Arbormark, the Frostmark, the Mistlands, the Stormlands, the Western Marches and the Wildwood. To be a high lord is to rule over the other Archdukes and Dukes of a region. Those Great Houses bestowed with the honor and responsibility are granted the titles of "High Lords/Ladies of X" (IE High Lords of the Arbormark). The title of High Lord of the Crownmark has always been that of House Loyce's and only the Western Marches breaks protocol as instead of a High Lord of the West March, there is the "Warden of the West".
Archdukes are powerful Great Houses who are under the High Lords of their region. Many can trace a lineage back to either a tribal king of the Old Land or to one of the original followers of Adandum Lowyst or his daughter Omera Lowyst. Below them are the Dukes who are majority not Great Houses, although some have become Great Houses through power or favor. There is no law saying that a Great House cannot rule another Great House, only that a Duke is to obey their Archdukes.
Counts, Viscounts and Knights make up the rung of lesser nobility or the "Minor Houses" and are by far the most numerous compared to the other ranks above them. They administer smaller counties, provinces, shires and areas for their Dukes. Viscounts and Knights are not always considered nobility as they are simply titles granted in recognition of great civil or administrative achievement and great acts of martial skill or valor respectively; two sides of the same coin. Viscounts and Knights often do not have any land for themselves aside from their own homes, although Landed Viscounts and Knights can rival the power of Counts. Unlike most titles, each new generation of Viscounts and Knights must have their titles "reaffirmed" or hope to be promoted to Counts. In this, Knights are typically more often reaffirmed than Viscounts.
Court Council
The king does not rule alone and sits atop a large bureaucracy of scribes, ministers and inspectors. The most important are the Council Court, a powerful body made of advisors and delegates. Being granted a position is seen as a great honor, and being forced off is also seen as a great insult in most cases. While nobles of Great Houses are the most often picked if for no other reason than politics, sometimes lesser nobles or even talented smallfolk have been elevated to the council, much to the chagrin of the Great Houses.
- Crownkeeper - Chief Advisor and Hand of the King. They speak with the authority of the crown and acts as their proxy in everything from council meetings to overseeing major developments. They are also chief law keeper, enforcing and enshrine old laws or new decrees. Its name comes from the tradition of the Lowyst where when the king was on campaign away from home, he would leave his crown behind with a trusted second to ensure the stability of the realm while he was away.
- Master Minister - The Minister of the Interior who deals with the administration of the kingdom. They keep track of the vassals and their feudal obligations, ensure that the court scribes aren't messing up and the finances of the realm is stable. The nature and power of this position has often lead many Master Ministers to subdivided their duties with a trusted friend or family member.
- Grand Marshal - The military advisor to the throne who trains soldiers, selects candidates for the Crownguard, keeping track of censuses for levying peasants and inspecting defenses of the realm. Most often a Warden of the West is Grand Marshal, given the environment that the western lords are in.
- Master Archivist - The Royal Archives is a place where all the knowledge known to Adanion is kept, collected and recorded, including secrets and whispers on the wind. While the Master Achivist was once a lowly position of library custodian, overtime they became spymasters and keepers of clandestine information who operated networks of agents across the kingdom. The best Master Archivists were the ones that people didn't even realize had such a network.
- Royal Cleric - A religious advisor and spiritual guide for the king and the court as well as liaison for the Church. Their duty is simple, to tend to the good morals and faith of the court to ensure wise and just rulership of the realm. How often this actually happens is up for debate as many kings find the most devout and zealous clerics to be a nuisance while the Church refuses to simply let anyone take up the cloth in the court.
