Generations/Lore/Realms

Division of Land and Rulership

Different cultures divide and rule the land differently. I am going to employ a simplified and unified format for royalty, nobility, and land division to keep things relatively simple and uniform across similar cultures. I will now go into the royal and noble ranks, and what land divisions they rule over, for purposes of the story, by culture.

Western Rulership

Social Status

The Western Model has the following social classes, from greatest to least:

• Imperial: The emperor and his/her immediate family.
• Royal: The line of nobles with the possibility to inherit the crown, no matter how remote. Some characters who would be nobles from their title may be royals due to bloodlines.
• Noble: The ruling class.
• Minor Noble: Landed lords and knights
• Mayor: A freeman acting as the head of a town.
• Freeman: A non-noble land owner.
• Serf: A landless peasant who lives on another's land, and works it for them. Almost a slave.
• Slave: A person that is the property of another.

Titles

Male Title	Female Title	Neuter Title	Social Class	Addressed As	Description
Emperor	Empress	Empressor	Imperial	Your Imperial Majesty, Your Majesty	An emperor rules over an empire. An empire is composed of multiple kingdoms. Not all kingdoms belong to empires.
King	Queen	Quing	Royal	Your Royal Majesty, Your Majesty, My Liege (only ones own monarch)	A king rules over a kingdom. A kingdom is composed of multiple duchies. Imperial princes and princesses may rule a kingdom, in which case they are called king, or queen. Kings are greater in status than imperial princes, unless that prince is also a king, in which case they are lower in status.
Imperial Prince	Imperial Princess	Imperial Princeor	Imperial	Your Imperial Highness, Your Highness	An imperial prince is the child of an emperor. They often don't rule over anything, instead they await their time as emperor.
(Arch)Duke	(Arch)Duchess	(Arch)Duch	Noble	Your Grace	A duke rules over a duchy. A duchy is composed of multiple counties. A very large duchy may be ruled by an archduke, who is higher in status than a duke. Royal princes and princesses may rule a duchy, but they keep their title as prince / princess. Dukes are greater in status than princes, unless that prince is also a duke, in which case they are lower in status.
Royal Prince	Royal Princess	Royal Princeor	Royal	Your Royal Highness, Your Highness	A royal prince is the child of a king. They often don't rule over anything, instead they await their time as king or queen. The prince or princess due to inherit the throne is referred to as the crown prince or crown princess. Some kingdoms have a separate region which princes rule over called principalities. In kingdoms with principalities, said principalities are composed of several duchies. In those kingdoms the rank of prince is always greater than the rank of duke.
Ducal Prince	Ducal Princess	Ducal Princeor	Noble	Your Grace	A ducal prince is the child of a duke. They often don't rule over anything, instead they await their time as duke or duchess.
Count / Earl / Marquis / Viscount	Countess / Marchioness / Viscountess	Counteor / Earleor / Marquiseor / Viscounteor	Noble	Your Lordship / Your Ladyship	A count rules over a county. A county is composed of multiple baronies. A small county with no baronies is ruled by a viscount / viscountess / viscounteor, which is a lower rank than count. Some kingdoms use the title marquis / marchioness / marquiseor in place of count. Some kingdoms use the title earl / countess / earleor in place of count.
Baron	Baroness	Baroneor	Noble	Your Lordship / Your Ladyship	A baron rules a barony. A barony is generally defined by a town of size and it's surrounding land and villages. Small towns and villages may be within the lands of a large town's barony, and thus under its rule.
Lord	Lady	Laerd	Minor Noble	Your Lordship / Your Ladyship	A lord rules a town that is not large enough to support a barony.
Knight	Knight	Knight	Minor Noble	Sir / Dame / Sir	A knight doesn't rule unless they are also a lord.
Mayor	Mayor	Mayor	Mayor	Your Honor	A mayor is a freeman that rules in villages. They are usually either appointed by the local baron or lord, or they are elected by the citizenry, depending on the kingdom.
Freeman	Freeman	Freeman	Freeman	None	A freeman owns land.
Surf	Surf	Surf	Surf	Peasant, Peon	A surf doesn't own land, and usually works the land for others. They are almost slaves.
Slave	Slave	Slave	Slave	Slave	A slave has little to no rights, and is the property of their master. Not all kingdoms permit slavery.

Regions of Shiar'Elestria

Here are a list of the Empires, Kingdoms, Caliphates, what have you on Shiar'Elestria.

Western Regions

These are the regions in the area of Shiar'Elestria that is designated as "The West". Most use the western rulership model, but not all.

Kingdom of Garia

The Kingdom of Garia is an old, island kingdom steeped in tradition. They are a significant maritime power, and are a relatively wealthy kingdom. The closest Earth equivalent would be the Kingdom of England.

Political and Legal

• Garia is a hereditary absolute monarchy.
  • Garia is not a subject kingdom, and falls under no imperial power.
  • The order of succession is gender-unbiased. Succession falls to the monarch's spouse, then to the eldest legitimate child of the monarch regardless of gender.
    • The monarch can circumvent traditional succession by appointing an heir apparent from any of their legitimate children, or even grandchildren. This can negate the monarch's spouse and older children as candidates for succession.
    • If there is no eldest legitimate child, the eldest confirmed bastard is next in line.
    • If there is no direct line of succession (no children, grandchildren, etc.), succession falls to the next in line for the deceased parent of the monarch (thus usually the monarch's eldest sibling, or their eldest child if they are deceased, etc.).
    • The monarch may abdicate the throne to a successor if they are so predisposed.
  • Garia does not divide the land into principalities.
  • Garia has Counts, not Earls or Marquis.
• Polygamy is illegal in Garia. The monarch is permitted consorts however, whose children are considered legitimate heirs.
• Incest is legal as close as second cousins in Garia.
• Bestiality is illegal in Garia.
• Homosexuality itself is not illegal, but homosexual marriages are illegal in Garia.
• The age of consent is 13 in Garia.
• Slavery is illegal in Garia. Slaves from other realms are considered free by Garian Law once they set foot in Garia.

Trade and Wealth

• Garia has trade guilds which have a degree of power within Garia.
  • The most powerful guild is the maritime guild, which oversees maritime trade and shipping.
• Garia's wealth comes predominantly from trade.
• Garia's primary exports are grains (mostly wheat, rye, barley, and oats), longbows (Garia is well known for the quality of their longbows, being the highest quality human-made bows in the world), and ships (Garia also makes arguably the best human-made ships in the world; though a few other kingdoms also vie for that honor).

Military

• Garia has a male military. Females are never enlisted in the military, though female nobles can lead military units along with male nobles.
• Garia has a very strong navy. It is one of the largest and strongest in the world.
• Garia has a relatively small standing army.
  • In times of war, Garia supplements their army with conscripts from the population.
  • Every Garian male is trained in the longbow by law starting at age 13.