Nobility

**Nobility** in the World of Delve centers around being awakened. The systems of governance vary a lot in details, though.

Different from how it worked for example on medieval Earth, nobility isn't granted by a feudal lord or another figure of power in return for services rendered. In Rellagia, monarchs exist who own courts and may have a more tiered system just like medieval Eurasia, but as far as shown in the story, nobility of Ekrustia and Bellost just calls themselves "Lord" and "Lady", or "Noble". Titles like *vicomte* or *earl* don't seem to exist. Hence there is no strictly tiered aristocratic system of a *baron* being inferior to a *duke*, for example.

## Process of becoming a noble

In theory, everyone may become a noble by becoming awakened, thus gain superhuman/magical powers, and then use them to amass more power and wealth. Delving in the depths yields access to very rare and powerful resources, and thus an Awakening is immensely profitable. Having gained power, an Awakened only needs to secure themselves an estate and produce offspring, in order to found a noble house. If there are already nobles around the area, getting into their exclusive and often refined circles may prove a bit difficult for newcomers, but with sufficient power or by staying around long enough, any new noble house will eventually gain entrance into the caste of nobles, or at least remove themselves from the caste of the commoners who may serve them.

Powerful noble houses own the means to awaken their children, ideally they control a lair which allows for the awakening of even more people, if you keep farming it for essence Monsters. Less fortunate nobles may still have to go through the Bank, the Guild or other allied nobles, in order to continue their heritage. For a house to remain powerful, awakenings are important in passing down the legacy: Accolades, equipment, money and resources can otherwise easily get taken by hostile Awakened who decide that a noble can't defend themselves. Fear of rivalry also leads to nobles working against spreading knowledge about awakenings, and they jealously guard family secrets on their classes, skills and builds.

## Freelords

Scions of a noble house may cut all ties with their family and declare themselves "Freelords", which is (among nobles) seen as a voluntary step towards becoming a commoner. Freelords may however want to prove themselves against the environment they were raised in, or escape sibling rivalries, and found their own offshoot noble house while not having close connections to the main branch. Freelords often find themselves working with the Guild or the Bank.

## Government systems

*Nobles make their own rules.* (Val)
Run long enough without interference, the laid-out nobility system naturally evolves into a feudalistic system where the nobility eventually crowns their most powerful members as rulers, which seems to have happened in many places:

* The monarchs of Rellagia (while we know little about them) have monopolized the awakening process to their aristocratic class, and deny Awakenings to the common people.
* The monarchs of Ekrustia ruled over a lot of smaller kingdoms as well (with little known about their systems), although the current situation has changed: The Empire fell under a dictatorship, and most of the remaining kings banded together and unified into the DKE, which then turned into a sort of meritocratic oligarchy, where new rulers for the cities could be chosen by unanimous decisions of the other rulers, in case a power vacuum opens and a Citizen doesn't have a suitable heir. Inside the DKE, Citizens are the sole and final authority within their respective city. Nobles may still have lots of influence, but are only allowed to exercise that influence as the Citizen allows them. Citizens may more often side with nobility than with commoners, given that a healthy noble class provides more benefits than a destroyed one.
* **Institutional Rule**: An institution run by Awakened may rule a place, which pushes Nobility to the fringes of power in favor of that institution. Xiugaaraa is governed by the Guild, Fel Sadanis was controlled by the Watch. Nobles were tolerated and could conduct their business there, but that was all. In Splendor, the Bank is in control, with many if not most high positions filled by Nobles; but they have to govern within the Bank's institutional framework.
* **Local self-governance**: Some places like Vestvall or Three Cliffs are pretty remote and not claimed parts of any nation: In Vestvall, the nobility governed themselves, none of their Awakened even surpassing Level 10. They entered arrangements with the few travelling adventurers who even got to the city, and mostly stayed among themselves. They didn't even bother the populace, given that the Watch had a presence there.

## Noble houses big and minor

* Nobility of Fel Sadanis
	+ Rill family, Fel Sadanis
	+ Wagarardrogrum family, Fel Sadanis
	+ others, see *Nobility of Fel Sadanis*
* Nobility of Vestvall ("The Three Families")
	+ Urs family, Vestvall
	+ Hakim family, Vestvall
	+ Sale family, Vestvall
* Nobility of Eastspar: ruling Matagar family
* Nobility of North Harbor: ruling Menovik family
* Nobility of Kallias: ruling Vekuavak family
* ...

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 164
2. ↑ Chapter 83
3. ↑ Chapters 112 and 171
4. ↑ Chapter 56