SOCIAL HIERARCHY

Every nation on this earth is ruled by a class system in one way or another. It is not limited to the machinations of monarchies. Even in the so-called democratic regimes of the Federal Republic of the Rus and the Union of the Thirteen States, the class that an individual and their family belong to determines the life he gets to live. At the base of the pyramid is the slave. Whether they were stolen in times of conflict, sold because of poverty, or born into it, a slave remains a slave throughout their entire life under the servitude of another. It is common to see them caged and chained, but they are kept away from the eyes of the public. The majority of the population of the world is made up of freemen: commoners and citizens. The only difference between the two is that citizens are specifically folks who live and work in the city, whereas commoners come from the country. Without freemen, countries would not exist. Slightly placed above them are burghers. Owners of companies, manufactories, shops, and farms, originally, burghers referred to privileged city dwellers, but in recent times, it has begun to encompass businessmen as a whole. Working closest with the burghers are barons, lords, and mayors, the first of the many noble ranks in the social hierarchy. Typically, a lord has holdings over a small parcel of land directly granted by the head of state, equivalent to a neighbourhood in a city, town, or village. Above them are counts and burgraves. Sometimes, they are masters over a few lords. Other times, dozens. It is highly dependent on the population of the county it rules, but unlike some of the higher-ranking nobility, a county can be created as long as the individual is influential, hence, the state is often most wary of them. Most marquesses and margraves are related to the ruling family to some extent, whether through centuries of friendship or distant familial ties, as they sit as mediators between the lower and upper nobilities. The duke presides over a duchy and sits in command over swathes of land encompassing counties and baronies. He is the most influential in the ladder and is the highest any one commoner can reach in his lifetime through luck and hard work. The prince, the grand prince, the king, and the emperor are titles ordained by the gods, and they cannot come into the hands of any commoner unless they are ready to break the laws of heaven.

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