Raising and Lowering Rokari

From: Michael O'Brien <mrmob_at_ozemail.com.au>
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 18:43:02 +1100


At 12:32 2003-11-20 +0000, you wrote:
>>I think that although they are strict about caste mobility it is not
>>100% true that every Rokari is of the same caste as their father, with
>>some sons of the Noble caste being marked out as "knights" (soldiers -
>>since the Rokari don't recognise Knight as a separate caste) and
>>Wizards. In support of this I offer the non-canonical How the West Was
>>One, and the following extract from my Characters character sheet...

In Rokari society caste mobility is also possible when long lost records are unearthed which "prove" that someone's ancestor actually belonged to a different caste. This usually happens when exceedingly rich Farmers or highly successful Knights realise that they actually belong in the Lord Caste. They can press their suit to the King to have their rightful status recognised. Often the examination of the petition is cursory (it helps to have the King's favour at this point). Such movement is quite rare; too much mobility smacks of Hrestoli idealism to most Ecclesiarchs.

In rare cases, ancestral records have been used to *degrade* people, often those who have fallen from Royal or Ecclesiarchical favour. Lords are typically sent back to the Knights, while disgraced Wizards become Farmers. Restoration is only possible when new research reveals the documents were malicious forgeries or mistaken, describing the wrong lineage.

The Ecclesiarch claims the right to call in specialist lawyers in the wizard caste who are skilled in the arcane arts of genealogomancy. For obvious reasons the King is usually keen to ensure his parvenu friends' petitions don't end up before the Hereditaritians of the Inquisitorial Order of the Golden Lance, and for this reason most kings don't overly abuse the privelege to raise or lower their subjects.

Cheers,

MOB
.

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