Ranks

With **ranks**, power and responsibility, the ninja world’s system within each sect follows a surprisingly uniform structure, despite individual quirks. At its apex sits the sect leader, aptly titled “lord”, wielding influence alongside a ministry of elders and family heads. This centralized core orchestrates a symphony of various groups to help balance out the duties each ninja must take in and outside their respective sects.

One sect may have a multitude of groups, or subgroups. However, no one group is singled out when it comes to performing missions. These groups can range from a sect’s medic corps to their M.I.A. teams. Within their ranks, a meritocratic ladder ascends from the fresh-faced graduates to the seasoned commanders of a squadron. For those honing specialized skills, a unique path exists, bridging the gap between the different ranks with their singular expertise. In this meticulously woven structure, every ninja plays a crucial role, ensuring the sect's stability and upholding the unwavering code of what it means to be a ninja.

## Echelons

### Students

By day, aspiring children study through textbooks and hands-on training, wielding both pens and weapons. Their fundamentals often involve learning how to be stealthily, balance energy, and practice using different weapons. Their minds and bodies are also trained with soft physical exercises.

### Officers

Officers are recently graduated students. For those with talent, this is a mere stepping stone. Yet, for many, it takes years to advance. Officers are often paired in groups of four, including a colonel as one of their new teachers. As an officer, their days are not solely filled with training. They are instead employed as carpenters, surveyors, and couriers for their sect. Officers are tasked with missions of minimal risk, bound to the hierarchy of their duties.

### Captains

Captains are the middling rank, the bridge between fledgling officers and veteran colonels. No longer burdened with proving their basic skills, they've honed themselves to a finer edge. Whether navigating the political minefield of an inter-sect trade deals or orchestrating the discreet sabotage of enemy patrols, captains shoulder the responsibility of covert operations with aplomb.

### Majors

Cloaked in shadows and sworn to absolute loyalty, Major Intelligence Agency ninjas represent the hidden fangs of every sect. Comprised of elite ninjas handpicked for their ruthlessness, skill, and dedication, these operatives undertake missions deemed too sensitive or perilous for conventional forces. Their units, divided into teams, cater to the sect’s specific needs. Yet, secret agencies are not limited to the M.I.A. Such as the LEAF organization, led by Dan Soros, is just as shrouded in enigma. Operating on the murky fringes of authority, LEAF’s operatives undertake missions of questionable morality, blurring the lines between loyalty and ambition.

### Colonels

Colonels are seasoned veterans whose expertise and skills elevate them to an elite military personnel status. These formidable individuals normally stand alone on missions of the highest caliber, navigating the landscape and, for the truly accomplished, venturing into other countries, where success and failure hang by a thin thread. In their hands rests their sect’s fate, as their every action determines their sect's security.

### Generals

Within the ranks of the elite, only three have earned the title of General. It is not an official rank, but these titans of combat are not merely powerful but tactical geniuses with leadership qualities.

* Octavius
* Tibor MacArthur
* Diana Levine

At any time, any one of the three may contend for the role of a lord in any sect by force if they chose.

### Heads

#### Family Heads

The head of a family navigates political webs with diplomacy, ensuring their family's survival in sects of shifting loyalties. They inspire loyalty among their kin, shaping their youth. The burden of the family head is to safeguard their people and protect their legacy for later generations.

#### Sect Heads

Sect heads, also called lords by which sect they sever under, are titles granted only to the strongest, smartest, and most successful ninja who was born and raised in their sect. These leaders bear the immense burden of safeguarding their sects. From orchestrating intricate missions and wielding destructive techniques to navigating political alliances and ensuring the well-being of their people, lords stand as the embodiment of power and responsibility, their every decision echoing the fate of their sect.

### Unclassified

* Hosts
* Majestic Nine
* Medical Ninjas
* Outlaws
* Pandits
* Weapon Artists from Aqua Sect