User:Octavius/Table of Ranks

Table of Grades and Dignities

All inhabitants of the Imperium shall be measured according to the following Table of Grades and Dignities, to be granted liberties as prescribed herein in accordance with service, propriety, and courtesy as recognized by the Golden Mango Throne.

	Noble Grades
	Grade	Style of Address	Entourage	Peerage	Military	Laqs	Civil
The Throne	I	Your Magnificence		Kaiser
Highest Service	II	Your Serenity	1 Cpt 2 Wm 12 MAA	Prince of Shireroth			Steward Chamberlain
	III	Your Illustriousness		Duke			Minister
	IV			Count-Palatine	Master of Soldiers
	V						Commissioner
High Service	VI	The Admirable and Illustrious	1 Wm 6 MAA	Marquis Count	Standard Legate	Nypḥyk'u	Lord Lieutenant Ambassador
	VII	The Admirable	1 Wm 4 MAA	Viscount	Tribune (Broad)	Paš	Director Chief Superintendant Distinguished Professor
	VIII				Tribune (Middle)	Tamtḥemat	Senior Councilor Deputy Chief Superintendant Consul General Professor
	IX			Lord in Shirekeep Baron Lord	Tribune (Narrow)	Tḥemat	Councilor Superintendant Consul Curator Associate Professor
Upper Service	X	The Honorable	2 MAA		Captain Ordinate	Bysym Ẑyŝypq	Lead Inspector Prosecutor Circle Notary
	XI		1 MAA		Undercaptain	Feġzek'u	Senior Inspector Attaché
	XII					'Epe'as Zoak'u	Inspector Junior Inspector Jurist Assistant Attaché
	Vulgar Grades
	Grade	Style of Address			Military	Laqs	Civil
Middle Service	A	Position			Principals		Aides, Clerks, Constables, Agents
Lower Service					Soldiers
Without Merit	B	Good			Free Persons with no contracted service obligations or blights upon their character or record. All residents of the Imperium default towards this grade unless they have inherited higher status.
	C	Loyal			Free Persons who are under government-authorized service contract. They have the same legal rights and recourse as Grade B, but are regarded as having an inferior social standing due to being bound to and constrained by a service contract. This includes tenants on public land or titled estates, the latter of which are classified as public land under the management of the titled peer (as opposed to being under the management of an Imperial endowment or under that of the Lord Lieutenant's office).
	D	That			Persons who have been reduced to criminality, debauchery, captivity, vagrancy, etc. Catch-all grade for all residents of the Imperium who are found to have violated the laws, peace, and norms of the Imperium (no matter their original standing) and are obliged to submit to the justice of the Golden Mango Throne. Upon completion of their penance, their previous standing may be restored, so long as their repentance is determined to be good and genuine. This shall include those who have diminished the status of denizens generally by allowing one's own status to be diminished personally into that of servility.
	X	-			Unclassified persons, i.e. resident aliens, foreigners, etc. May be temporarily endowed with a higher courtesy status.

Respect

All Subjects shall give and receive demonstrations of respect in accordance with their degree of service.

The prescribed manner of demonstrating respect to someone of equal or greater degree of service is as follows:

Same or One Degree	Head-Only Bow
Two Degrees	Belt-Low Bow
Three Degrees	Belt-Low Bow, with One Hand to the Ground
Four Degrees	A Light Earth-Low Bow
Five Degrees	A Heavy Earth-Low Bow
Six Degrees	Prostration

During the Installation, all attendants of the coronation shall lower themselves by two steps.

Liberties per Grade Set

Middle Service

Those of the Middle Service are granted the following liberties:

• The right to deliver petitions to the Kaiser in person.
• Priority consideration by organs of the Imperial Government.

Upper Service

Those of the Upper Service are granted all the liberties above as well as:

• Personal non-heritable noble dignity.
• The right to vote for the Adelsraad and eligibility to stand for election to the Adelsraad upon obtaining majority.
• The right to purchase and own real estate and to retain a share of the rent and productive use of the estate (in accordance with local law). Upon death or discommendation, the surviving members of household may retain personal use of the property until their own death or departure, to which point it devolves to the lord paramount.
• Guaranteed admission for one's immediate descendants into the Imperial Academy.
• An entourage of One (Grades XI-XII) or Two (Grade X) Men-At-Arms while in the Imperial Presence.

High Service

Those of the High Service are granted all the liberties above as well as:

• Heritable noble dignity for one's spouse (excepting morganatic marriages), legitimate children, and adopted children after ten years of cohabitation. Such inherited noble dignity shall have a status equivalent to the Upper Service behind those who have demonstrated the mettle of their heart.
• Inheritance of real estate by the household. Upon discommendation, it shall be inherited by the new head of household, if one is present, of-age, and of-status to inherit. Otherwise, the surviving members of household may retain personal use of the property until their own death or departure, to which point it devolves to the lord paramount. At the extinction of the household, the property devolves to the lord paramount.
• An entourage of One Watchmaster in command over Four (Grades VII-IX) or Six (Grade VI) Men-At-Arms while in the Imperial Presence.

Highest Service

Those of the Highest Service are granted all the liberties above as well as:

• Heritable noble dignity of a status equivalent to the High Service behind those who have demonstrated the mettle of their heart.
• The right to demand a private audience.
• An entourage of One Captain and Two Watchmasters in command over Twelve Men-At-Arms while in the Imperial Presence.

Entourages

The granting of entourages is restricted in the following manner:

• Prospective Men-At-Arms shall be vetted by the Chamber of the Crypteia before a household may employ them as Men-At-Arms. Only authorized Men-At-Arms may be retained by a household and counted towards an entourage.
• Members of the household may appear with an entourage without the presence of the grantee themselves. Such an entourage shall be limited to one Officer and a maximum of Four Men-At-Arms.

Private Audience

• Any subject may be summoned to appear in private audience in the Imperial Presence. While in private audience, only those summoned to appear, imperial pages, and imperial sentinels may be in the Imperial Presence.
• When in private audience, only Officers of the entourage (if so earned) may accompany the subject into private audience. The remaining men-at-arms shall take station outside the private chamber, interspersed with imperial sentinels as an honor guard.

Relative Status within a Grade

The table is laid out to indicate that positions above and leftward are of senior status (standard before legate, peerages before military before civil ranks). Those of the same grade and rank are ordered according to length of service at that grade.

Corporate Status

Corporate bodies (associations, colleges of priests, executive agencies, universities, corporations, etc) may be elevated to a designated grade. The corporate body shall be accorded dignity equal to that grade. The president shall be accorded a courtesy dignity one grade below that of the corporate body when representing it, e.g. in the Adelsraad. Former presidents shall be accorded courtesy dignity two grades below the corporate body. Such courtesy dignities, by definition, are personal and cannot be inherited. Rank for corporate bodies is restricted to those bodies with Shirerithian-only voting membership and will have their status removed should the voting membership of the body diverge from that requirement.

Examples of a ranked corporate body include:

• The College of Nineteen, Grade II
• University of Sir John Metzler III, Grade III corporate body
• Keepers of the Valley of Mors, Grade VI

Inheritance

Upon elevation to Grade XII, one is endowed with personal nobility. All immediate descendants of nobles, whether inherited or uninherited, are guaranteed admission into the Imperial Academy. Graduates of the Imperial Academy are assigned to a Grade XII position in accordance with their training, and endowed with honors therein.

Upon elevation to Grade VII, nobility is extended to one's descendents in perpetuity. Such inherited noble status shall be ranked and honored at Grade IX behind those who have demonstrated the mettle of their heart, and shall be addressed in a manner that concatenates their inherited nobility and their personal nobility, e.g. "The Admirable and Honorable".

Upon elevation to Grade V, immediate descendants shall be ranked and honored at Grade VI behind those who have demonstrated the mettle of their heart, and shall be addressed with "The Illustrious" in their concatenation, e.g. "The Illustrious and Honorable".

Peerages are inherited according to their grants and/or house rules.