Allanaki Social Hierarchy Roleplay

[triste]

Williamson has an interesting post here: https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,56516.msg1055535/boardseen.html#new

I am not a staffer, but I have two two thousand cents on this topic.

First off, our social hierarchy docs are organized like this:
http://armageddon.org/help/view/Allanak%20Hierarchy

My favorite thing about this chart is how some ranks are arranged laterally (AKA a House Guard is roughly equivalent to a Junior Merchant), and how Gemmed are listed separately because "The status of the Gemmed is much more nuanced - their worth and status is derived from those that they serve," but that they "Generally finding rank below that of even Rinthis and breeds." I have found this a very good guideline in game as some Gemmed can ascend to aide like roles in the War Ministry that will get them a lot of clout, but generally are indeed lower than breeds.

Now why am I blabbing about this -- two reasons:
- One, I think the Allanak Hierarchy chart is spot on for having rough lateral equivalency for some ranks as shown in the chart linked. I am unpopular for having the opinion that literature and art can inspire good roleplay, but one of the most interesting things about Shakespeare if you've noticed is he was very intentional about matching people of similar social rank, even if they had wildly different circumstances, and he liked to focus on these plotlines because they are interesting, a good example of this being Tamora [Queen of the Goths] and Aaron [her Moorish lover] in Titus Andronicus. When staff reply to Williamson's post I am sure they will keep in mind the range of influence Gemmed can have and the fact that Allanaki hierarchy is not a single top-down thread.
- We might want to discuss and update this hierarchy chart to focus on the lower right quadrant. The vast majority of players who do not fit into the "unaffiliated non-elven commoner bucket" fit into that "Tribal, Rinthi, Breeds and Elves" bucket. What's the relative social clout of each of these social groups? Well it's hard to say, and because it's ambiguous I think we sometimes see annoying things, like Tribals never catching flak when they should and so on. I think this is something Williamson's post highlights well, that there is a lot of ambiguity here left to clarify in the docs.

[Maso]

It's also worth keeping it mind that that table is very much from the perspective of a human Allanaki citizen. And different (or perhaps more nuanced) social hierarchies may exist outside of 'Nak or additionally inside of 'Nak within certain smaller social circles. Williamson's question was a good one, and I think different answers may and should apply dependent on whose perspective.

[williamson]

Thanks for the doc, Triste. If I had ever seen it, it slipped my mind. I'm still curious to know the "rankings" of non-humans.

[triste]

It was a good question and I think Brokkr had a good answer <3