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I’m with Ivetta on this one. I hate politics.
But unfortunately, I write these stories in such a way that politics are unavoidable and integral plot details. At least it’s not real-world current politics. Medieval royalty and nobility are much more interesting to me than present-time politics.
So, let’s start with titles.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24WovGQXlt
Kings & Queens
Okay, we all know and understand the king and queen are at the top of the political food chain here. The king rules the kingdom.
In the game, it seems like ‘queen’ is a title conferred to the king’s first wife, although that’s never explicitly stated. So, Chev’s mother was the queen. But oddly enough, when she died, none of the other wives became queen.
Of course, none of them lived very long…22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL79KGXzCx3
Princes & Princesses
Next up are the princes and princesses. A prince rules a principality.
Oddly enough, there are no princesses among the current Rhodolitian king’s offspring. Several of his wives were princesses, though: Chev’s mother, Leon’s mother, and Yves’ mother. Leon’s mother was a foreign princess of unknown origin (at least to me), and Yves’ mother, Eleanore, was an Obsidianite princess (the younger sister of Gilbert’s mother, actually).
Chev’s mother… is complicated.
She’s called a princess, too, but her father was the Marquis de Michel. So why wasn’t she a marquise? Why did she get to skip rank and be a princess before she even married the king?
This may just be an inconsistency in the game, but it may not be. Princes who do not become king still get to keep their title, after all, and they pass it down to their offspring. The Michel family has longstanding ties to the throne, so it isn’t outside the realm of possibility for Chev’s mother to have inherited the title from a prince or princess born to a king a few generations back.
Another possible reason is inheritance of a granted title. During the Middle Ages in France, a royal could grant the title of ‘prince’ to a non-royal, and that title would also continue through their family line, even though they had no blood relation to the throne.
But for the purposes of my stories, I’m going with door number three. I’ll get into that in the section about marquis.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqNozkRLhZ
Dukes & Duchesses
Called a ‘duc’ in French, a duke rules a duchy and is the highest rank of nobility outside of royalty. The appropriate way to address a duke or a duchess is as ‘His Grace’ or ‘Her Grace.’
I don’t have a single duke or duchess from the game in my character lists. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I didn’t start taking notes right away, and now that I’m doing that, I’m picking up minor characters I had forgotten about or hadn't noticed and adding them to my lists. So maybe there will be a canon duke/duchess who shows up in future drafts of my stories. For now, just know that any duke/duchess you see is purely my creation.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4xwk8YyZ7i
Marquis & Marquises
The English equivalent here would be 'marquess' and 'marchioness,' but the game uses the French titles here, so I’m using them, too. A marquis rules a march. The appropriate way to address a marquis or marquise, and all ranks of nobility below them, is as ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady.’
Chev’s grandfather, the Marquis de Michel, is the wealthiest man in Rhodolite. I get the impression he’s just a step away from royalty to everybody else, so it isn’t a stretch to think people would call his daughter a princess as a token of respect. People can also hold multiple titles, so maybe he’s a prince, too. Who knows?
There is one other marquis I know of in the game, and that’s Marquis Blois, a middle-aged man in Chev’s faction who has a musically gifted teenage daughter. He and his daughter show up in Chev’s main storyline.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3reE0hYnhG
Earls & Countesses
Called a ‘comte’ in French, an earl rules an earldom.
There are a lot of earls in the game. When Belle pretends to be a noblewoman to hide her role from everybody outside of the royal family, she claims to be the oldest daughter of Lord Nicola. I assume Sariel got him to go along with this.
In a side story involving Gilbert, Belle befriends Louise, the daughter of an unnamed earl who is a radical member of the anti-monarchy faction.
I’m sure there are more, but those are the only ones I have written down right now. Earls are everywhere.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtM1lzZlR3r
Viscounts & Viscountesses
Called a 'vicomte' in French, a viscount rules a viscountcy. There are no viscounts in the game (to my knowledge, anyway), but I have several in my stories.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThJLCN1Jhq
Barons & Baronesses
A baron rules a barony, and there are quite a few barons in the game. Barons and earls. I don’t know why the game favors those two ranks, but there you go.
The big name here is Lord Flandre, both in Chev’s main storyline and in ADT/ABT. He was once one of Chev’s knights, and his military service earned him his title and a barony on the border between Rhodolite and Obsidian.
I need to fix his character a bit. He’s supposed to be a young man who seems kind and agreeable and who Clavis characterizes as compassionate. But appearances can be deceiving…
In the game, there’s also an unnamed baron who shows up in a side story involving Chev. He adopts girls and basically turns them into his personal spies so he can get the dirt on everyone. The cost of disobedience for these girls is severe. One of them, Lisette, befriends Belle to get info about Chev, which was not a wise decision on the baron's part.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9pM6oGtZ8
Chevaliers
Nope, not the character. This was an actual title in France in the Middle Ages for a knight. In the early Middle Ages, the most outstanding knights earned titles of nobility, which then became hereditary. Later on, these titles were usually not hereditary and had no legal bearing. They were just signs of honor.
Flandre was one of Chev’s knights. Another Chev-related knight shows up in a side story event with Clavis. The Knight of the Roses lived one hundred and fifty years ago and had a sickly wife named Vivian, whose portrait is in the palace vault. They had a beautiful tragic romance and were among Chev's ancestors.
Clavis has a trio of former Obsidianite soldiers who defected to him, and I think they’re probably all knights (or deserve the title for putting up with Clavis, anyway). Cyran, Clavis' right-hand man, is a red-head with a sharp tongue and a strong personality (and a small fan club of his own). He’s been with Clavis for 10 years, ever since Bloodstained Rose. Hugo and Kai are a pair of young men who show up in Clavis’ main storyline.
Leon’s knight, Julius, gets a pretty big role in ADT/ABT. He’s also a fairly big part of Leon’s main storyline.
The rest of the named knights in my stories are my creation, and six of them are a nod to Midnight Cinderella, Ikémen’s first royalty game.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWbEfhAlrR
Lords & Ladies
Wait a minute. Isn’t this what you call marquis, earls, viscounts, barons, and their female counterparts when you’re addressing them?
Yep. But this is also a separate and distinct rank of nobility. In French, this would be a 'seigneur' or a 'sieur,' neither of which are terms used in the game.
But there are a lot of Lords with no stated titles in the game. They could belong to any of the above ranks, or this one, or the next two. Basically, if you know someone is nobility but you don’t know which title they hold, call them a ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady,’ and you’ll probably be fine.
Lord Keith is a member of the neutral faction working to further the development of arts and culture. In Chev's main storyline, he directs Marquis Blois and his daughter to Lord Keith with the goal of furthering the girl’s musical career and winning the man over to Chev’s faction.
Lord Barrande is a member of the anti-monarchy faction who shows up in Luke’s main storyline.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBermsAwiNU
Gentilhommes
This is a term for someone who inherited their title. In other words, they didn’t earn it, but somebody in their bloodline did, so now, they get to be all snobby about it. This can apply to any of the above ranks, and it is not a term used in the game.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPFq74VCC9
Squires
And neither is this one. In French, this is called an ‘ecuyer.’ Members of the nobility who don’t have a title fall under this heading.
I think Clavis’ mother, Leticia, would land in this category. The Lelouch family is an old, established noble family, but they have also been servants to the Michel family for a long time. So, although Leticia was like a sister to Chev's mother, she was actually the queen’s maid.
The long-standing family dynamic between the LeLouches and Michels also explains Chev and Clavis’ relationship, at least partially. Clavis is a prince and Chev’s half-brother, but he is also Chev’s servant.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzMNf3L0xR
Don’t worry. I’ll put up character lists eventually, but I want to finish setting the stage first. Let me see… I think political factions and holidays are the main pieces I have left before characters, and holidays can wait until later. There’s a natural transition from politics to the princes, and I want to take advantage of that.
Plus, I need to plot out holidays, birthdays, and key plot points on a calendar so I can keep myself straight.
Welcome to my mind, people. It’s crowded in here.
The site I used for reference is linked here.
ns216.73.216.146da2
