Titles of Nobility

The Montaigne book describes only three ranks of nobles: Dukes, Marquises, and Lords. This is a somewhat simplistic view of Montaigne nobility - fine for a survey, but something more is useful in a Montaigne game. Some further information was presented in Noblesse Oblige, but it often lacks context. This page supplements and where appropriate supercedes the information presented in Montaigne and Noblesse Oblige.

The Political Structure of Montaigne

In the Middle Ages, Montaigne - like most of the nations of Theah - had a feudal structure: the king ruled royal lands directly and also had the fealty of great lords, who ruled over their own great fiefs while accepting the fealty in turn of lesser nobles. As Theah moved into the Renaissance and the concept of "nations" began, the feudal structure became more centralized: though they still were great landholders, nobles became instead a privileged administrative and military class serving the central government of L'Empereur.

Today, Montaigne is divided into provinces, the descendants of great feudal duchies and princedoms that rose after the fall of the Numan Empire and were eventually consolidated into modern Montaigne. The governors of these provinces are Montaigne's dukes, and the provinces are in turn divided into districts or arrondissements. The districts are governed generally by marquises, though in fact few nobles do the actual work of governing: instead, they appoint administrators to see to their lands and spend their time at court in Charouse or less commonly Paix or Crieux.

In addition to the noble governors of provinces and districts and their appointed seneschals, there is a separate system of royal administrators created by L'Empereur's father. Intendants - senior bureaucrats drawn from the bourgeoisie or the minor nobility - oversee generalities that encompass several districts. The intendants collect taxes and manage the organs of justice, including local magistrates and Musketeers. In addition to the intendants, there are some 60,000 other administrative posts, most of which are sinecures created by L'Empereur to raise money.

Political Structures Elsewhere in Theah

Montaigne's political structure is the most centralized in Theah - L'Empereur is the first ruler to entirely embrace absolute monarchy and largely abolish the feudal system. In other nations, feudalism has survived more intact.

Avalon

Avalon is divided into seven counties, roughly equivalent to Montaigne provinces, each ruled by a duke or in the case of Balin and Breg a king. Beneath these seven counties are seventy-some earls, peers that fall somewhere between a Montaigne count and marquis in rank. The earls generally rule rural areas known as shires, but dotted throughout the shires are the domains of barons, lesser lords who owe fealty directly to the throne. Villages are usually the property of a baronet or knight who serves as "lord of the manor." The primary difference between Avalon's structure and Montaigne's is Avalon's retention of feudal law: in Montaigne, the dukes and marquises govern their provinces and district for L'Empereur (though they generally have vast private lands within their territory), while in Avalon the dukes and earls are in fact feudal owners of their territory.

Castille

Like Avalon, Castille still has a functioning feudal system - the rancho system - but all of the dons in Castille owe fealty only to the king. Five dons (the so-called "great dons", or grandees) administer vast swathes of land as firsts among equals, but the smaller ranchos within those territories do not belong to them - they just pay deference, according to the traditional rules of Castillian etiquette. As a consequence, Castillians rarely use noble titles other than Don, though many dons could claim titles as "Duque del Aldana" or "Conde Orduño."

Vodacce

Importantly, politics begin and end in Vodacce with the Princes - they rule their lands absolutely, and appoint those whom they choose as governors over subdivisions of their own creations. Lesser nobility may have ancestral lands, and depending on their political acumen and familial pedigree they may exert some traditional rights over those lands, but ultimately titles less than Prince are a matter of pride and history, not actual power.

Eisen

Much like Vodacce, power in Eisen begins and ends with the Eisenfürst - the Iron Princes. Eisen lesser nobles have more stature than their Vodacce counterparts, however, cemented formally by their posession of dracheneisen. These lesser nobles are Grafs, counts, who have a long traditional hold on their lands. A graf's land may move from the königreich of one Eisenfurst to another, but the graf remains in charge.

Vendel, Vesten and Ussura

Vendel/Vesten culture is rooted in its islands, and with little actual territory there is not much structure beyond Guild Council in Kirk for the Vendel or the Althing for the Vesten. Ussura, by contrast, is so large and alien that ordinary Thean concepts of nobility seem to pale. The five Knias rule over lands larger than most Thean nations, exercising almost absolute power within their lands, and the boyars beneath them might be the equivalent of any of a variety of continental noble titles.